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[[9 images - scenes from the luncheon]]

Unsung heroes of the past

John Hunter: Imagebuilder for youth
by HOWIE EVANS

I have just left the Hall of Fame Luncheon, sponsored by the John Hunter Camp Fund Committee. It is an annual thing. A must for me. Because it is here, once a year, I get my injection of strength from people like Lorraine and Eddie Younger, Bob Douglas, Charles "Tarzan" Cooper, and all the other folks associated with the impressive John Hunter Camp Fund.

I regret only one thing. I hope it's done in a bigger room in the future so that we can cram it full of high school kids. Then they can rub shoulders with the people who made it possible for them to record their achievements today. Blace youngsters, today, have no sense of history, especially that of their parents and grandparents.

They look at you strangely when you talk about John Isaacs. They give you the "Oh Yeah" look when you tell them Tarzan Cooper inspired basketball's pivot play, the handoff to a speeding, cutting teammate. They roll their eyes when you mention that Pop Gates is among the greatest of all who ever played the game. They say "who's George Gregory?" Even the kids of the Columbia University basketball team, where George became an all-American in 1930-31. The walls of Columbia are filled with photos of Lou Gehrig, but where are the pictures of Gregory?

In this light, the work of the John Hunter Camp Fund committee must be maintained and supported by every Black man and woman who would like to see our young people acquaint themselves with those Blacks who took it on the chin and in the wallet so that they would have a better way. The Hall of Fame has been re-named in honor of Bob Douglas and, hereafter, will be known as the Bob Douglas Hall of Fame -- a fitting tribute to a gallant warrior, now 96 years of age and still a figure of inspiration to all of us. One day, the National Basketball Association will recognize him for the contributions he has made to the sport.

Forgotten heroes

So you see, it's difficult today, to write a story about high school sports, when I realize these youngsters have not been given an opportunity to identify with their Black heroes of yesterday. Every Black athlete can tell you about Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Red Grange, George Mikan, Jack Dempsey, Walter Johnson, and Gene Tunney.

But can these same high school youngsters tell you about Fats Jenkins, Josh Gibson, Brud Holland, Paul Robeson, Fritz Pollard? Have they ever heard about Sidat-Singh, Charles Drew, Eddie Tolan, DeHart Hubbard, Ben Johnson, Rube Foster, Cyclone Williams and Jud Wilson? I don't think so.
And as I watched Benny Garret, nervously running about the room, lighting cigarette after cigarette, I thought "He must have been some kind of athlete." I gazed at Eddie Younger on the dais, and I thought about Calvin Murphy, Charlie Criss. Man! what Eddie Younger could do in the NBA today. Pop Gates walked past, and I recalled Bill Speigel who coached him at Ben Franklin. Said Bill: "Pop is the greatest player I have ever coached." Others thought that Pop was the greatest player of his day.

The high school kids of today in our Black communities are, again, being systematically deprived out of learning their past. It is for the likes of the John Hunter Camp Fund, which, over the past 6 years, has sent 349 to summer camps, and which has donated thousands of dollars to worthy community programs, to remind these youngsters of the glorious yesteryears of their forebearers.

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