Anna Eatmon-Johnson hasn’t played a competitive basketball game in nearly 30 years, but is still brimming with confidence about her game.

“I am 50 years old, and I guarantee you I can get out there and play with some of the high schoolers now,” she said with a laugh.

It’s a bit of bragging, but Eatmon-Johnson has earned it. The legends always do.

Eatmon-Johnson, a Vicksburg native and former Vicksburg High star, will be honored as a member of Jackson State’s All-Legends basketball team at a banquet Friday night on JSU’s campus. She’s one of 41 women’s players and 55 men’s players to receive the honor from the JSU Alumni Players Association.

Eatmon-Johnson was a two-time All-Southwestern Athletic Conference selection and earned several other team awards during her career at Jackson State from 1982-86. She said being on what’s essentially JSU’s all-time team tops all of that.

“This has been one of the greatest achievements, as far as my basketball career,” she said. “It’s a great honor. It’s such a tremendous honor to be placed in the likes of Lindsey Hunter and (former men’s coach) Paul Covington. To be placed among household names like those is a great honor.”

Another former Vicksburg star, Eric Strothers, is one of the men’s Legends.

Strothers played only two games of varsity basketball his senior year at VHS and arrived at Jackson State as a walk-on in 1987, yet he grew to become one of the the team’s best players. He led the Tigers in scoring with 17.0 points per game during his junior season of 1989-90, then averaged 17.4 points his senior year.

The 6-foot-7 forward also averaged nine rebounds per game over his last two seasons. He finished his career with 1,251 points and was a first-team All-SWAC selection.

After a brief professional career in the CBA and in Holland, Strothers returned to Jackson State as an assistant coach. He stayed there for 20 years until leaving to take an assistant coaching position at Mississippi Valley State in 2014.

Eatmon-Johnson graduated from Vicksburg High in 1982 and emerged as a star player for Jackson State two years later. She played guard and forward and led the team in scoring as a junior and a senior, averaging 15.9 and 14.9 points per game.

The Lady Tigers’ program was still in its infancy when Eatmon-Johnson played, but she finished her college career as JSU’s all-time leading scorer and held that distinction for a few years afterward.

She credited her success in basketball to running track and being in good shape. She could drive the lane or shoot equally well. She hit 50.4 percent of her shots as a junior.

“I knew if I put in the hard work, it’d pay off,” Eatmon-Johnson said. “All the hard work off the court made me a better player. I was conditioned that I could play every minute of the game. I could get in the lane, and my teammates knew if I got the ball I could score.”

Eatmon-Johnson largely left the game behind after graduating from Jackson State in 1986.

“I played rec ball and got invovled with my children’s sports,” she said, adding with a laugh, “I used to play against their parents and teachers, but once they realized my talent they didn’t want me out there.”

Eatmon-Johnson’s children are now in college, and she said she hasn’t played basketball since they were in junior high. She still enjoys the game, though. She’s also confident she’s in good enough shape to hold her own if she ever does step back out there.

“I saw Michael White recently,” she said, referring to a former JSU men’s player, “and he said you still look like you could shoot the ball.”