Skyline basketball coach Derek Bunting might have grown up in New Hampshire but even he knew about Utah's Danny Vranes, who was then playing in the NBA.

Bunting thought it was important that the players on this year's Eagle team that improved to 10-0 Friday with a 57-41 victory over Hunter know a little bit about Vranes and his teammates, who led Skyline to its only state boys' basketball titles in 1976 and 1977.

So Bunting and athletic director Steve Marlowe brought Vranes back to retire his jersey, hear a tribute from Vranes' cousin Jeff Judkins -- the current BYU women's basketball coach whose son Jaxson plays for the Eagles this year -- and honor many of the players on those great Skyline state title teams.

Bunting felt that honoring Vranes was so important that he didn't even bring his team into the locker room at halftime, instead allowing them to listen to the ceremony.

"There is not an argument that he is the best basketball player Utah produced," said Bunting. "I want people to know he played here and to know that somebody of his skill level and accomplishments was a high school player just like these kids are high school players now. It should be an inspiration to them that you can be an NBA player and come from Skyline High School."

Other than the fact that the 6-foot-7 Vranes' trademark long black hair had grayed slightly, the Skyline setting differed little from the one the now 50-year-old played in over 30 years ago other than the fact that the gym wasn't packed to the rafters like the old days.

Vranes' teams, coached by Neil Roberts, lost six games in three years including two to Judkins' Highland team in 1976 before Skyline upset the Rams in the state title game. He played in three state championship games, winning two.

Vranes would go on to play at the University of Utah where he was a three-time all-Western Athletic Conference performer and, with center Tom Chambers, formed one of the Utes' top front courts of all time.

Vranes ranks seventh in scoring and fifth in rebounding in Utah's record book, was a member of the school's all century team and had his jersey retired.

He went on to play eight years in the NBA with Philadelphia and Seattle before finishing his career in 1992 in Italy. He currently owns a construction company and lives not far from Skyline in Salt Lake County.

Vranes said one of the big reasons for Skyline's success during his career was that every member of the Eagles' starting lineup was 6-foot-4 or better, something rare now but very unusual in the 1970s.

"Thirty years doesn't seem like that long ago," Vranes told the crowd at halftime as his jersey was retired. "It seems like yesterday. I am honored and thank my teammates."

He added that being able to play basketball with his best friends in this gym amounted to some of the best times in his life and told the current team it was time for them to put another state title on the men's basketball banner.

Skyline's team must have learned something as it pulled away from a tenuous 38-35 third quarter lead to score 12 straight points to open the fourth quarter and put a good Hunter team away. Ryan Osterloh led the way with 20 pints though Kevin Wagstaff had a big fourth quarter and finished with 10.

wharton@sltrib.com