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| Jimmie Carr as a senior |
Very few Streaks fans realize the story about the “other
transfer” that made the ’59 team. Something big happened at Mary Allen West
School on one day in December of 1950. Early in the day, a young African-American
boy from Texas walked into enroll in fourth grade. Shortly after, another
African-American boy from Arkansas walked into enroll in fourth grade. Jimmie
Carr was coming from Texas, and Otis Cowan was coming from Arkansas. That day,
their fourth grade teacher, Miss Witherspoon recognized the unusual event. She
instructed the boys that since they were both new and both lived in the same
neighborhood, they should plan to become friends. As wise as Miss Witherspoon was,
she didn’t realize that she was greeting one of the greatest guard tandems who
would ever play for Galesburg High School.
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| Otis Cowan |
As a sophomore, he got to practice with the great ’57 team
of the Kimbrough’s and Al Williams. As a senior, he and Otis Cowan were joined
by Bumpy Nixon. After going to college, when Jimmie came back to Galesburg,
Roger Coleman hired him to work in advertising and then broadcasting the
Streaks basketball games. And as he got older, he became close friends with
John Thiel. For over 60 years, Jimmie has followed Streaks basketball.
While Galesburg has many good fans, there is only one other
person who knows Streaks basketball as well as Jimmie- and that is Pete
Thierry. There are fans who went to a lot of Streaks games in the ‘60’s, ‘70’s,
and ‘80’s- they can talk to those eras. And a lot of fans have gone regularly
for the last twenty years- they can talk about those years. But there are very
few fans who can honestly talk about all sixty years.
Massey- Where did you grow up in Galesburg?
Jimmy- On Ferris Street, Otie (Cowans) and I grew up one
block from each other. I was two blocks from the old high school. I started
school at Mary Allen West School, then Churchill, and downtown at GHS.
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| 1959 basketball team- 29-2- Third in State |
Jimmy- Actually the only heroes I had were in baseball until
I got a lot older. Growing up it was of course Jackie Robinson and Roy
Campanella. Then when I got to Galesburg from Texas at 9 years old, Ernie Banks
was an idol and why I was a Cub fan. He was from Dallas area too.
Massey- Did you have an awareness of high school players
when you were growing up?
Jimmy- Yes, I was only two blocks away from the high school.
I would go and watch Pete Thierry and Phil Johnson, they were two small guards.
I watched those guys play. Coach Menke was their coach and I was only ten years
old. I didn’t really start watching a lot of basketball until I got to junior
high. Then people like Mike Owens and Russ Lind, and that whole group. It was
just so much fun.
That is when I got to know John Thiel. I was just a little
boy watching and he would come up and talk to me. And he would have me keep
some stats at the old Steele Gym.
Massey- Did you play in Steele Gym or in Thiel Gym?
Jimmy- I played at Steele Gym. I never got to play at Thiel.
We were supposed to play at Thiel my senior year in 1959 but they delayed the
opening because of some water issues.
Massey- Describe Steele Gym.
Jimmy- Ironically enough, it was ahead of its time. It had
two swimming pools, three basketball courts, and of course the big court for
games. It only seated about 2,000 but it was bigger than most gyms of the time.
It was packed every night. The fans were really right up on you. You really
felt close to the fans and we had some rabid fans.
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| Streaks heading to Champaign |
Jimmy- Yes. It was much bigger than the Rock Island gym.
There was just a balcony on each side and not at the end. There were bleachers
at one end on the main floor.
Massey- There was no Western Big Six at that time. Obviously
Wharton Field House was great but Rocky and East Moline did not have as
impressive of gyms as Steele Gym.
Jimmy- No, they did not have as nice a gym as Steele. At UT,
we played on a stage with bleachers on one side and theater seats on the other
side. Alleman and Rock Island were small, so that made Wharton Field House so
great.
Massey- When I first started coaching girls, we played on
the stage at East Moline.
Jimmy- Oh, really. I didn’t know it still existed then.
Massey- They didn’t have anyone sit on the theater side.
Jimmy- It was different.
Massey- When you first got to the high school, Thiel had
only been here a short time.
Jimmy- Yes, he came in 1956 and I started at GHS in 1957. We
still went to junior high as 9th graders.
Massey- As a player, what were your impressions of Thiel?
Jimmy- When I first met John, we were all excited. Our
coaches were good guys and good coaches but a little older. John was in his
twenties and he could still play. He was a real good player. We were excited
about him. I can still remember when I was a sophomore and he came and asked
Dave Cox and I to come workout with the varsity players. It was such an honor
in those days. It was such an honor. I can remember I couldn’t go to sleep
because I was so excited. I was going to be able to workout against the
varsity, which included the great ’57 team which included the Kimbrough’s and
Al Williams. I was so excited!
Massey- What is your perspective on what Thiel did for
African-Americans in basketball and what impact it had on the community?
Jimmy- John had been around the game and new that there were
African-Americans who could play the game. He knew we could play, and he was
going to play anyone who could play. He had been assistant football coach, he
was familiar with the Kimbroughs. When he started in 1956, there was only one
African-American on the team, Otie Young.
Thiel worked out against the Kimbrough’s, Range, and Al
Williams. He knew how good they were. He always said that after working out
with them, he knew they were the guys who were never going to quit. During the
season, he had a close relationship with the African-American players. He was a
player’s coach. He had a big interest in what was going on with the
African-American kids.
Massey- What was the community’s reaction?
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| 1959 team celebrating Sectional title. |
Massey- I have heard other players, who played for him talk
about his toughness and how competitive he was.
Jimmy- When I played, he used to play us one on one all the
time. And he would not let us beat him one on one. He would always pick one of
us and play one on one. He would never play Al Williams or Bumpy Nixon, the big
guys, but he would say he could have beaten them. He couldn’t have, they were
just too big. Anybody else would go after him but none of us could ever beat
him. Physically he could dominate us. Boy, he would come at you.
Massey- Despite the success, there is the story of being
hung in effigy. That had to affect him.
Jimmy- It did. They started questioning who he was playing
and his moves. That really got him. When he got back and saw that, he came up
with some jokes but it hurt. He felt like he had taken teams to State and now
they didn’t appreciate it. He was adamant that nobody was going to tell him who
to play.
I really think it changed John. There were certain people
who thought they should be able to dictate who should play. With his pride and
the way he coached, he was not going to allow that. When he got back and was
hung in effigy, it took Marilyn (his wife) to keep him from going off. She was
a great influence.
Jimmy- We started Otie Cowens and I at the guards, Bumpy
Nixon at center, and Dick Nichols and Dave Cox at forwards. We went 29-2, were
rated #1 in the State for much of the year, and finished Third in State. Ralph
Cannon was a super sixth man. John seldom substituted at that time.
Massey- Who did you lose to?
Jimmy- We had been rated #1 and lost to Pekin in the regular
season. We dropped to #3. By the time of the tourney, we were back to #1 in
State. We beat Herrin who was #2 in the quarterfinals before losing to Aurora
West in the semis.
Massey- People talk about who they think were the best teams
in Galesburg history. You have seen most of them, who do you see as the best
teams?
Jimmy- Until 1998, I thought our ball club was the best team
ever at GHS. I thought we were the best ball club that John ever had, and John
concurred with that. We weren’t his favorite team to coach. His favorite team
to coach, I am not sure why, maybe a psychologist could explain it, it was his
1957 team with the Kimbroughs. He really related to the toughness of those
guys.
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| 1959 scores |
Massey- Bumpy Nixon and Joey Range, how do they compare?
Jimmy- Evan, people have asked me that and I really think it
is tough to compare players from the 60’s and ‘70’s with players today. It is a
different game. Players have improved their games so much. Bumpy was just not
as good as Joey. Joey could do so many things- he could jump and run faster.
Bumpy could maybe shoot better from short range. Everything else, Joey could do
better. Joey played so much more basketball than we did then. Good players
today just play more basketball than we did. You know how your kids play, you
have to play in the off-season.
Massey- Bumpy coming to Galesburg caused a lot of controversy.
What is your spin on what happened to get him in Galesburg?
Jimmy- Otie (Cowans) and I went to a teen club up in the
Quad Cities. We would go up there, and our junior year Bumpy would come all the
way up there from Quincy. He would come up to Galesburg and stay with relatives
overnight then go up to the Quad Cities to the teen club. We didn’t know him
from Adam. We had played against him when he was a soph at Quincy, and we just
knew “big Bumpy Nixon” and figured we would never see him again.
So one night at the teen club, Bumpy came over to Otie and
I, and said, “I think I am coming to Galesburg.” In those days it was like Rod
Thompson coming. As players, you just kind of said,”Ok.” And the rest was
history, we didn’t realize what the ramifications would be.
Going into my senior year, we were glad to have him, but we
really didn’t know what a big deal it was for him to transfer. It wasn’t until
years later talking to John, I became aware of all the stories told about it.
We had seen Bumpy and we knew he could play. John loved
coaching him. John had a lot to do with Bumpy’s progess. He improved so much
that year. When he came to Galesburg, he couldn’t dunk the basketball and by
the time he left, he certainly could. People didn’t dunk in those days but he
sure could. John refined Bumpy’s skills so much.
Massey- During your time as an announcer, they put in the
three point line. You have seen a lot of shooters at Galesburg in your time.
Who were some shooters before the arc who would have really benefited with the
three point arc?
Jimmy- Russ Lind, Dale Kelley, and Otie Cowans would have
benefited greatly. Otie could hit that shot from outside. Doug Mills could
certainly could shoot.
Massey- How about Eric Johnson?
Jimmy- Eric would be the #1 guy in Galesburg to shoot the
outside shot. Eric was in a class by himself when it came to shooting the ball.
He was a pure shooter. That’s because that is all he did in his back yard was
to shoot the ball. He worked at it.
Massey- You interviewed lots of coaches, who were some of
your favorites?
Jimmy- Dick VanSyoc, of course, I like him a lot. He’s in
his 90’s today, and I just like him a lot. Don Morris and Jerry Leggett were
fun to talk to. Jerry had a great basketball mind. Luther Bedford out of
Chicago Marshall was someone I respected very much. A coach I really enjoyed
but I only interviewed twice was Virgil Fletcher from Collinsville. He left a
lasting impression on me.
Massey- Last ten seconds of a game, who would you have
wanted on the bench.
Jimmy- Jerry Leggett would be one. Chuck Westendorf won so
many last second games. Quentin Sullins who coached Scheyer knew what he was
doing.
Massey- If you were hiring someone to build a program, who
would you want?
Jimmy- This is where John Thiel would come in. John would
always get out into the community to know who the kids were. That means so
much. And the man who emulates him even though he never knew John, is Mike
Reynolds. It does the same things today that Thiel did. Mike gets out into the
community, people don’t realize the work he does in this area. People don’t
know this because Mike is really a little more introverted or quiet about some
of those things. Mike knows kids and he knows how to build relationships. You’ve
done that, you know that is how you build a program. You build from the ground
up.
If I was going to build a program, I would want John Thiel,
Mike Reynolds, Don Morris, and Dick VanSyoc. Dick did it at Peoria and then
everyone tried to copy him. Dick didn’t have a problem of people stealing kids
because he had built relationships.
Massey- You went into radio. I am guessing it wasn’t
something you had planned on in school. You had not trained for it. Yet, you
are so polished and so professional. But what has always struck me is that you
never try to let people know how much you know, it is never about you. It
always about the kids and you seem to remember they are just high school kids. Who
helped you and what advice did they give you?
Jimmy- Roger Coleman put me in the business and hired me as
a salesman. Russ Lind was doing the radio, and Roger asked me to jump in with
them. And then we would sit down and talk about how I had done. He told me that
he noticed I didn’t talk a lot about my playing days. I told him that I wanted
to make sure I didn’t talk about myself because it should be about the kids. It
is the kids that I love talking about. And Roger made sure I stayed true to
that.
I really loved broadcasting so I listened to lots of sports
on radio to learn. I always thought it you knew the game, and I wanted to know
the game. And still today I watch teams like the Warriors and tape them to
replay plays to see what they are doing. I want to know the game to be able to
relay it to the fans.
It’s not about the guys bringing you the games, it is about
the players. You can criticize a pro but not a high school kid. I didn’t want
to do that. I wanted to get close to the boys and then the girls when I started
doing that. I wanted to know the kids. It is just so much fun. You can always find
something good in these kids, no matter who it is or how they play the game.
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