Fri, May 16 2008
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”Remembering Julius McCoy: A Retrospective and Tribute” was submitted by Paul Frankovich of Hermitage, a childhood friend of Julius McCoy in Farrell. The two remained friends for nearly 60 years.
On Friday, April 4th, I received the sad news that Julius McCoy had passed away in Harrisburg. The shock has still not worn off because we, somehow, come to think that great athletes like Julius, John Fridley and Dave Johnson are somehow supposed to stay with us forever.
I first met Julius more than 50 years ago. I was in the 7th grade at Farrell Junior High School when the McCoy family migrated from South Carolina to Farrell. The McCoys lived 1118 1/2 Market Ave. I was born in my grandparents’ house at 1114 Market Ave. By the time I was in Junior High my parents and I lived in the 900 block of Lee Ave. All of my playtime, however, was spent with the Market, French and Maryland Ave. guys.
This is where I met Julius. As kids, we all played the usual street, sandlot and alley games that kids played. Julius did not possess the great skills he later developed in football and basketball. However, I found out that Julius could run like the proverbial deer. In 4-on-4 “touch” street football, in our huddle I told Julius to “go long.” I took the direct snap, dropped back two steps and with my skinny, 8th-grade arm, threw the ball perhaps 35 yards. Trouble was, Julius was already 45 years down the street. After that, I told Julius to go long ... but not at full speed.
The previous year, when I was in 7th grade, Julius had been moved up a year from 5th grade to 6th grade. The South Carolina “separate but equal” system had not given Julius the best education.
In my early basketball years, I was cut every year from 6th to 9th grades. Julius, of course, made the team in the 8th grade and became high scorer in the 9th grade. In 1948, the summer after my freshman year, our basketball and social friendship really began.
For four straight summers, ‘48, ‘49, ‘50 and ‘51, we played every day at the J.A. Farrell School playground. We played from morning ‘til sundown with short breaks for dinner and supper.
Julius and I whetted our appetites for basketball and honed our skills against the great playground players like Marion Lampkins, Bobby Stewart, Bobby Rapper, Ike Mitchell, Harry “Sam” Boatner, John Duich, John Perich and a bruiser I only knew as “Mr. Dunnavant.”
Naturally, Julius honed his skills much better than I did. In my
sophomore year, I was again cut by Coach Eddie McCluskey (his first year). Many people, myself included, thought that Julius, as a freshman, could have played on “Mac’s” ‘48-‘49 team. To this day, I don’t know whether Julius did not play varsity because Farrell was on the 6-3-3 system, i.e. six elementary grades, three junior and three high school, or because of McCluskey’s decision not to play freshmen.
In my junior year (‘49-‘50) a long bout with the flu took me out of tryouts. Julius, as a sophomore scored 288 points, second to Joe DeLise as that team lost a bitterly fought game to Homestead, which went on to the state title. Diehards still moan about that loss.
In my senior year, “Wes” Hood and I walked away (I hate to say the word, quit) one week before the season started. Julius went on to score 455 points and led Farrell to the state finals where they lost to Allentown. (No sour grapes, Allentown was the better team).
I was in the crowd that greeted the Farrell team bus as it pulled into the high school driveway. When Julius got off the bus, he apologized for the team and said, “We’re going back next year, and we’re going to win the championship.” Talk about Joe Namath saying, “I guarantee it” in Superbowl III. Farrell had to win section 3, the WPIAL (District 7), the Western Regional over the great Pittsburgh Westinghouse team and the state final over Coatesville. Julius had over 700 points on the season and 29 in the final despite missing 10 foul shots. That team’s only loss was to Sharon - when Sharon’s great center, Walt Bedich, outscored Julius 23-19, and depriving “Mac” of a perfect,
undefeated season.
Getting back to the J.A. Farrell playground, we played 3-on-3 or 4-on-4, often half court, and sometimes 5-on-5 full court. Winners “kept” the court while losers got in line behind teams who had “next.”
Many times, we played for Popsicles. Losers had to buy at the small store across Staunton Street, next to the Croatian Club.
Summer of ‘51. I had graduated but continued to play at J.A. Farrell playground. The ‘51-‘52 team was nurtured there. Julius, Ron Crosby, Paul Flint, Sy Alli, and Nick Dan spent hours there. The other two players, Tony DeCello and “Herky” Hoffman honed their skills elsewhere. Tony lived “up the hill” east of Fruit Avenue and “Herky” was from Wheatland.
In ‘51-‘52, by dint of perseverance and hard work I made the
Youngstown State University (then College) freshman team. My academic and basketball endeavors went undistinguished and I was drafted into the U.S. Army from ‘53-‘55. Julius went on to stardom and All-American honors at Michigan State.
At MSU, Julius had a lot to overcome. As a sophomore (Big 10 rules prohibited freshmen from playing) he averaged 16.7 points per game and was second team all league. As a junior, he averaged 18.6 ppg. He received a special award for sportsmanship and for the good of the team for subjugating his own talents so that MSU could promote and lobby for his teammate, senior Al Ferrari to make All-America. Julius
was “only” all-league. As a senior, Julius was 2nd in Big 10 scoring and 5th in the nation at 26+ ppg, and made several second team All-American.
Earlier I had said Julius had much to overcome. In his senior year, I went to the old Pitt Field House under Pitt Stadium to watch MSU vs. Pitt. I think MSU won, but I did note that Julius’ teammates “froze him out” not passing him the ball ever when he was “wide open.” After the game, I talked to Julius. He kind of apologized for scoring “only” 16 points. I said to him, “Julius, they froze you out.” He would not denigrate his teammates, saying only “You can’t do much when you don’t get the ball.”
Years later, I was working for the Ohio Education Association,
attending a joint conference of the OEA with the Michigan EA at Battle Creek, Mich. I met an MEA staffer who had gone to MSU in ‘55 and ’56. We talked basketball at length. I told him about the Pitt game where Julius had been frozen out. He knew of it. His roomie was a varsity soph sub who told him that the MSU coach chewed out the team, saying, “When someone is open, pass the ball! ... When Julius is open, especially, pass him the ball!” We know what happened after that.
Fast forward to ‘58. After graduation in ‘56, Julius was drafted into the U.S. Army. He served his term, was discharged and went to St. Louis and tried out for the NBA Hawks, who had drafted him and owned rights to him. Julius went down to the last cut. When he came home, he was very down and dejected. I asked him what happened. I still remember his exact words. He said, “I did all they asked of me; handled the ball, rebounded, scored and played defense.” Julius never bragged or beat his own drum. He told me further, “In one scrimmage, I scored 16 points on Cliff Hagan in 10 minutes.” (Hagan was already an NBA All-star and #2 player behind Bob Pettit.) I dug into this story with the late Herald sports editor, Johnny Pepe. Johnny, along with Gene Cunio, sports editor of the Erie Times, and Gene’s brother of the St. Louis Dispatch researched the story.
This research revealed that Ben Kerner, owner of the Hawks, was an avowed racist and the allegations were that he would not have a Negro player on his team. It was also alleged that even some players said that they would not play with a person of color. (And I have phrased that politely.) When I told Julius of our finding, he said that he suspected that that was true. He was such an idealist that he did not want to believe it. When he had told me about being cut by the Hawks, he was almost in tears and I have never forgotten it.
Further, the Hawks (Kerner) refused to let Julius sign with the Detroit Pistons who wanted him knowing of his exploits at Michigan State. Julius went on to play in the Eastern League and became that league’s all-time scorer. That league was then basketball’s equivalency to AAA baseball.
By the early ‘60s, Julius and I only saw each other sporadically since he worked for the state government in Harrisburg while playing weekends for Sunbury. Once or twice a year, we would run into each other at a Farrell game when he was in the valley visiting family or on business. Twice I saw him at the Big 33 football game in Hershey.
Sometimes I saw him at a playoff game where he remained a staunch booster of “Mac” (and he never called him “Mac”) and Farrell hoops. Invariably, he always asked, “How are you, Paul, how’s your job coming; how’s the family” and we would always discuss basketball. His knowledge about high school, college and pro basketball was immense. (He had coached at Harrisburg John Harris High School.)
Our talks always ended with one of us saying, “Maybe we’ll play for Popsicles again someday.”
One final vignette. Summer of ‘51. Julius came to our house in the morning, carrying a basketball and ready for us to head up to the J.A. Farrell playground. My brother Mark was two years old. My mother was lightly scolding Mark, saying, “Eat all of your cereal so you can grow up to be a good basketball player like Julius McCoy here.”
Julius, looming in our kitchen doorway, and as usual, always looking larger than his 6 feet, 1 ½, took this in and said, “Let him get as good as his brother and he’ll be good enough.” I was so proud to hear such unsolicited and gracious praise from “Ju-Ju” (as we all called him then) that I played better than usual that day. As a last word, I can only say, as great an athlete as Julius was, he was an even better person.
Julius, you may be gone, but you’ll never be forgotten. We all miss you.
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