The 1959 Galesburg basketball team is considered by many to be the best Silver Streak basketball team of all-time. Obviously deciding such a thing is open to debate. Clearly, the ‘59 Streaks must be in that debate.
Anyone who knows history would not be surprised for me to start out talking about how a transfer impacted the team, but they would be surprised to find out that i am talking about two transfers that took place clear back in 1950. Two fourth grade boys moved into Galesburg on the exact same day in 1950. Jimmie Carr was from Texas, and Otis Cowan was from Arkansas. They lived a block from each other, and were in the same fourth grade class.
They developed a relationship early on with Coach John Thiel. They lived within a couple blocks of GHS and the Steele Gym. The Streaks varsity would hold evening practices on Wednesdays that were open to the public. Cowan and Carr as 8th graders would walk over to watch practice. Coach Thiel would take time to talk to them and set them up to do some stats or run the scoreboard for him.
Today, Jimmie Carr is famous as an all-time great radio announcer for Streaks basketball. People probably don’t realize how great he was as a player. In 1959, Carr (6’0”) and Cowan (5’10”) were Galesburg’s starting backcourt. Together they brought havoc on opponents with their quickness and pressure defense, and offensively pushed the ball. Together with what they could do offensively and defensively, veterans considered them one of the all-time best backcourts in GHS history.
The 1958 season ended with a disappointing 69-61 loss to Fulton in the first round of the Sectional. According to Carr, after the game Coach Thiel entered the lockeroom and shared two short messages,”Damn, I am glad this is over. Sophomores and juniors will meet with me on Monday, we’re not going to let this happen again.”
In the Spring of 1958, there were high hopes for the 1958-9 team. Cowan and Carr had experience and would be back at the guard spots. Dave Cox (6’4” Sr) was a strong post who had played. Dick Nichols (6”2” Sr) was a real athlete who had played some, and Roger Fox (6’4” Sr) looked to fill out the lineup. With the core of Carr, Cowan, and Cox, the players had high expectations for the season to come.
In the Summer, Cowan and Carr went to a dance in the Quad Cities. Also at the dance was a player who had led Quincy in scoring the year before as a sophomore. Lawrence “Bumpy” Nixon saw Carr and Cowan, and went over to them. According to Jimmie, Bumpy told them, “My mom is moving us to Galesburg to be closer to her brother.”
The legend is that the first John Thiel heard about it was when Rodney Bunch ran into Thiel in the stairwell of Steele Gym. Rodney said, “Coach, did you hear Nixon is coming to Galesburg?” Thiel’s reply was, “Is Eike coming too?”
Galesburg already had high expectations for the 1959 season, but adding the 6’6 1/2” Bumpy Nixon put expectations through the roof.
As the season went on, six players saw most of the playing time- Carr and Cowan at the guards, Nichols at a forward, and Nixon and Cox inside. Nixon and Cox were big, physical, and dominating inside. Cowan, Carr, and Nichols were athletic and applied tremendous pressure defensively. Early headlines in the season would read, “Streaks Speed By (name the opponent).” The sixth player was Ralph Cannon (6’4” Jr). While big, Ralph was primarily a perimeter shooter.
Cannon started a couple games but usually came off the bench. He was labeled by sports editor, James Swickard as “the best sixth man in the State.” Through the first 15 games, Cannon averaged only 4.7ppg, so the label was probably more wishful than true. In the last 10 games Cannon averaged 14.6ppg, so he definitely was “the best sixth man in the State.”
Few teams faced the pressure and the expectations the 1959 team faced. By my count, the Galesburg Register-Mail had 27 articles during the season that were about Galesburg being ranked #1, the likelihood of Galesburg winning State, and the scouting report on the other best teams in the State.
Galesburg was ranked #1 in AP most of the entire year. Herrin was ranked #1 in UPI most of the year. After the Streaks lost to Pekin, they slipped down to #2 for two weeks until Herrin also lost. After Herrin lost, Galesburg was #1 in both polls the rest of the year.
Early in the year, the Streaks faced what were supposed to be some tough tests. Moline was supposed to be good, East Peoria was undefeated, Decatur Eisenhower had one of the best players in the State, and a road trip to Rich Township. The Streaks not only passed all of these test but in most cases blitzed these good team. They won these early season tests by an average of 18 points, but in many cases they were up that much in the third quarter and coasted.
Thiel appeared to always try to set up two games vs teams from other parts of the State. Earlier seasons they had played state powers- Pinckneyville and Paris. This season they had Decatur Eisenhower and Rich. On the way back from Rich, the bus broke down so they had to stay over night in a hotel. According to Jimmie Carr, for many of the players, they had never stayed overnight in a hotel before.
A mid-season brutal schedule had the Streaks going to Canton to play Dave Downey at Alice Ingersoll Gym, then hosting East Moline, and Rock Island. Downey was considered by some to be the best player in Illinois and went onto star at Illinois. East Moline and Coach Ernie Kivisto were the best in the Quad Cities.
Tickets for the Canton game were over the top. Canton did pre-sales and said they had requests for over 5,000 tickets. It was rumored the game might be moved to Robertson Field House in Peoria. Six Big Ten coaches plus scouts from Kansas and Kentucky were on hand. In front of 3200 fans, Galesburg came out as a 66-60 winner with Bumpy scoring 28 and Dave Downey scoring 26. Today, Jimmie Carr says Downey was the best high school player that he ever played against.
Next up the Streaks had the 13-1 East Moline Panthers with Ernie Kivisto. By the end of the third quarter, the Streaks had raced to a 60-42 lead and coasted to victory. This game shows the balance of the ‘59 team- Carr 24, Nixon 18, Cowan 15, Cox 13.
The Streaks then in the next game blasted Rock Island 77-50. Dave Cox had 23 points and 16 rebounds. They appeared to have survived the tough stretch.
Next up was Pekin was unranked and had 4 or 5 losses already. Pekin did not allow live radio coverage so the game was tape delayed. Pekin jumped out to an early lead and Galesburg could not recover. In 1959, Main St was still busy on Saturday night. When news broke that the Streaks lost, people were in disbelief. One man was quoted as saying, “This is the worst news I have heard since the bombing of Pearl Harbor.”
The rest of the regular season involved blowouts, including an 18 point win at Steele vs Canton and Downey. The close game was up at East Moline, where the Streaks pulled off a 48-43 win. At this time, East Moline played in their old high school on a court that doubled as a stage. It had bleachers on one side, and a 4-5 foot drop off with theater seating on the other side.
In this game, a Panther fan was heckling Coach Thiel badly from 2-3 rows behind the bench. It is told that during a timeout Thiel turned to one of his assistants and said, “I am sick of him, I wish someone would shut him up.” A player deep on the bench heard this and loyally charged into the stand to throw a punch at the guy. Player and fan were removed by the police. Jimmie Carr said,”After the win, the bus went to the East Moline police station to pick up our other guy.”
The Streaks hosted the Regionals and beat Avon, Abingdon, and Galva. The Abingdon game produced some excitement. After jumping to an 18-4 first quarter lead, the Streaks appeared to be going thru the motions in the second quarter as the Commandos cut the score to 26-22 at one point. Coach Thiel evidently had seen enough, he pulled the entire starting five for the remainder of the half. The squad appearing to be more motivated in the second half, went onto win 77-51.
The Sectional at Moline meant having to beat East Moline a third time. The Streaks trailed 17-10 late in the second quarter but went on a 16-1 run over the last two minutes of the first half to eventually win 64-47. Ralph Cannon came off the bench to score 17 points.
Next up was Fulton, who had beaten Galesburg the year before. Fulton featured Drake recruit, Larry Prins. When Galesburg played him as a sophomore, he was 6’6”. Now he was 6’10” and a force. The Streaks raced to an early lead as Cox (21) and Nixon (15) controlled the boards vs. Prins. Cox also had 21 points.
Galesburg handled Rockford West in Super-Sectional game to advance to State. Galesburg was up ten at half and then up 46-29 after three. The Streaks had 5 players in double figures.
Galesburg #1 was scheduled to play Herrin #2 in the Elite 8 matchup at Huff Gym. The Galesburg Register-Mail, knowing how to keep expectations low had a banner headline, “Galesburg Favored To Capture State Title.” And had a feature with the captain of the 1913 Galesburg State Champs.
The Galesburg vs Herrin matchup was to be between Nixon and Herrin star, Gene Turni. Turni was 6’6” and their leading scorer. It seems that often when the other team had a great post player, Dave Cox was the one to step up with big games. Cox had 21 points, 21 rebounds, and 10 assists. The Streaks had 5 players in double figures. In a close game, Galesburg beat Herrin 73-69.
The upset came in the semi-finals vs unranked West Aurora 74-61. Galesburg got down early and had no answer to get back into things. Jimmie Carr would later say, “I don’t know why, but it was just one of those days that nothing seemed to work.”
The Streaks came back and beat Waukegan. But finishing third was tough for the players to swallow.
Galesburg had a huge welcome back with players being driven in convertibles to a reception at Steele Gym. Jimmie Carr described the scene, “As players, we just stood and cried.”
This was one of the greatest teams to ever play for Galesburg High School. They dominated almost everyone they played. It was a dream season that didn’t quite end the way they had hoped.
Galesburg Regional
Galesburg 96- Avon 45
Galesburg 77- Abingdon 51
Galesburg 68- Galva 46
Moline Sectional
Galesburg 64- East Moline 47
Galesburg 66- Fulton 45
Moline Super-Sectional
Galesburg 65- Rockford West 49
Champaign-Huff Gym- State
Galesburg 73- Herrin 69
West Aurora 74- Galesburg 61
Galesburg 78- Waukegan 61
Galesburg Roster
Jimmie Carr, Otis Cowan, Dick Nichols, Dave Cox, Lawrence "Bumpy" Nixon, Ralph Cannon, Lincoln Nixon, Ted Olson, Ed Havens, Jesse Perez, Jeff Sanburg, Roger Fox, Bob Coe.
Coach John Thiel, Assistant Coach Bob Franks
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