I had an opportunity to talk with Al Williams from the GHS Class of 1957. Al was part of the 1956 Sweet Sixteen and the 1957 Elite 8 basketball teams for Galesburg.
Massey- You attended the old GHS on Broad Street. It was a different era. What are some of your memories of the old GHS?
Al Williams- I lived on West Brooks so I walked to school. For lunch most of us went to Coney Island. When I come back to Galesburg to visit, Coney Island is my first place to go eat.
Massey- Was the old high school crowded?
Al Williams- I didn’t think so, I liked it. I think we were closer to our teachers than kids are today. The teachers seemed like they really cared about you. I really liked all the coaches.
Massey- What was the old Steele Gym like?
Al Williams- Steele Gym was home away from home, I loved it. It was louder than the new gym. The sound just echoed. I think every game when I was in high school was a sell-out.
Massey- I heard you had started out playing football, but you weren’t on the varsity for the undefeated season.
Al Williams- I wish I would have been with those guys. We were undefeated as 9th graders. I went out in 10th grade and played end. I could catch the ball with one hand. I got hit in a practice scrimmage and hurt my knee. Coach Thiel told me, “No more football for you, you’re a basketball player.”
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| 1955-1956 Silver Streaks |
Massey- A lot of people don’t know how good the ‘55 and ‘56 teams were. The ‘56 team lost in 2 OT’s vs the State Champs. As talented as the ‘57 team was, you were the only underclassmen who played much with the ‘56 team. The thing I wanted to ask you was about practices in 1956. The ‘56 season was an all senior starting five led by Mike Owens, and the backups would be the juniors who then made up the great ‘57 team with you and the Kimbroughs. Mike Owens and the Kimbrough’s were really great athletes but very competitive people. What were the practices like between those guys?
Al Williams- They made it very, very competitive practices. It wasn’t like they were competing to be on the first team and to beat Owens, none of them wanted to let someone else beat them in anything. We all played hard in games but played just as hard in practices.
Massey- In ‘56, Galesburg lost in the Super-Sectional to Rockford West in double overtime. West went onto win State. What do you remember about that game?
Al Williams- Coach Thiel started me in the first OT. He told me to go in and get the tip, and I did. The second OT was sudden death. Coach Thiel didn’t play me in it. I can still see Nolan Gentry tipping the ball three times and the ball going in the third time. Nobody was jumping with him.
Massey- When your name comes up among Galesburg basketball fans, the first thing they say, “Oh man, he could jump out of the gym.” You were only 6’1” but jumped center. And back in ‘57, you had a jump ball to start every quarter. So if you had someone who get the tip, your team got 4 extra possessions each game. Did you ever lose a jump ball?
Al Williams- I was 6’1” but I was the tallest starter. Frank Youngquist was our tallest off the bench at about 6’4” or 6’5”. Our senior year, I only lost the jump ball to one player- Don Nelson. When we played in the 23-21 game, he got the tip to start the first three quarters. He did it by jumping into me so I couldn’t jump. He was 6’7” and I was 6’1”. I said something to the ref but he didn’t want to hear it and said something like,”He’s 6’7”, you aren’t going to get the tip.” So starting the fourth quarter, I decided to jump into him and I got the tip.
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| 1956-1957 Silver Streaks |
Massey- Everyone who knows Galesburg basketball, knows about the slowdown win over Rock Island and Don Nelson. Had you prepared for this?
Al Williams- Coach Thiel had us use his “open court” when we got leads in games. Every practice at the end of practice we ran the “open court,” so we practiced it regularly.
Massey- You had lost to Rocky twice in the regular season. Explain how the strategy came about.
Al Williams- The starters were riding up with Coach Thiel in a station wagon to the game. Coach said to us, “Listen up, here is what we are going to do.” He explained the strategy while he was driving the station wagon. The strategy was if Rock Island got a lead of 4 or more points then we would play our regular game. If we were within 3 or less, we were going to run the open court.
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| 1956-1957 Players/Schedule |
Massey- Did they ever get up 4 or more?
Al Williams- Twice they went up by 4, but we came down and scored.
Massey- What was the reaction of the fans when they realized what was going on?
Al Williams- When Albert (Kimbrough) first came down and stood with ball under his arm, fans from Rock Island and Galesburg started booing. By the time we got to the second quarter and people realized we could pull it off, the Galesburg fans would cheer loudly when we held the ball. Even some Rocky fans cheered us. We knew we just didn’t have the size to play with them and run with them.
Massey- You were unranked and pulled it off. What was the reaction of the Rock Island players?
Al Williams- They were in shock and tears. They couldn’t believe the game was over.
Massey- What strikes me is that almost 70 years later, you know the score of the Rock Island game. Sadly the season ended with a controversial loss in the Elite 8 to Collinsville. Is your memory as sharp about that game?
Al Williams- The fouls were 23-7 in the game. I still believe the game was taken from us by the refs, and we would have won State if we had won that game. My understanding is that the two refs were later suspended by the IHSA.
Massey- DuSable lost in a controversial game in the 1954, and most attribute their loss to bias toward an all-Black team by the refs. You were playing only 3 years later with four Black starters. Most Galesburg fans and players from that era feel that Galesburg was viewed by some refs as a “Black school,” and perhaps treated unfairly.
In the Collinsville game, the Kahoks shot 37 free throws to Galesburg’s 12. Galesburg outscored Collinsville 50-34 from the field. Galesburg had two players foul out, while Collinsville had one player with 3 fouls and two starters with no fouls.
The game finished with fists being thrown. What happened?
Al Williams- It was not the players. It was Galesburg fans and Collinsville fans. They had to have police come in and break it up. As players, we had no problem with the Collinsville players.
Massey- It was a different era for an African-American playing basketball in Illinois.
Al Williams- Coach Thiel told the team that he was going to play the five best basketball players, he didn’t care about color. Thiel would tell us when we went on the road,”You know what they are going to say, forget it, just play our game.”
Most places you didn’t hear a lot. At Pekin both the players and fans would say stuff, it was tough.
There were places where when you were fouled, it was always a hard foul. And you knew there was no sense trying to say something to the referee.
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| Range, Williams, Hoffman, the Kimbrough’s At GHS HOF Induction |
Massey- There are people who claim that Coach Thiel said that his favorite team to coach was the ‘57 team. And many think that is because you played with a toughness that was like his personality. Your thoughts?
Al Williams- We were not super basketball players. Individually, we were just average players, but when you put us together, we were not average. Something just clicked with us.
People don’t realize that Bobby Hoffman was our leader on the floor. Back then we didn’t have “point guards”, but he was our point guard. He started our offense, told us where to go, and told us what to do. When he told us what to do, we did it.
We were just average players, but we would have won State if we had beaten Collinsville.
Upper Left- Al McGuire, Upper Right- Gary Fencik
Lower Left- Norm VanLier, Lower Right- Ben Davison
Massey- Tell me about your life after GHS.
Al Williams- I worked in management at Maytag for 42 years. During that time, I became President of the Management Club and arranged speakers to come for the leaders. I brought in Al McGuire, Norm VanLier, Gary Fencik, Ben Davison, and others. I retired to Las Vegas and have been here for 25 years.
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