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McMurry basketball players take trip back into
history
By Bill Whitaker
Several weeks ago, McMurry University basketball coach Ron
Holmes led some of his players on a needless side trip through
one of the roughest neighborhoods in Little Rock.
Except maybe it wasn't so needless.
At trail's end: Central High School, to many a shrine in the
civil rights movement, to others a symbol of dark times then gripping
all America.
Forty years ago desegregation reached its fever pitch in Little
Rock, culminating in the arrival of troops at Central High to
ensure that nine black students could attend the all-white school.
By all accounts, it was an explosive moment dividing not just
the South but the nation.
For a handful of McMurry basketball players, in Little Rock
for the Hendrix College Tournament in nearby Conway, the sight
of the old, four-story high school was searing, especially after
passing through an area reportedly boasting a high concentration
of gang activity.
But unlike other buildings in the neighborhood, no graffiti
marred the aging school.
"I think they respect the school too much, respect what
it was," 23-year-old Tyerone Washington said, referring to
Little Rock's gangs. "I don't think anyone could not respect
something like that.
"That's history," he said.
CALLING IN THE TROOPS
Certainly it was an unusual trip for a McMurry basketball coach
to make. In a day and age when so much in athletics focuses on
egos, self-gain and winning, the idea a coach, an athletic director
and some players would venture off to see a piece of American
history not only surprises but reassures.
But then, that seems to be Coach Holmes' doing. When I strolled
into the McMurry gym at the end of practice last week, the West
Texas native had his team assembled and was admonishing one or
two - not over their basketball skills but their grades.
He reminded one student that if his grades didn't improve,
his mother would certainly get after him. Then he pointedly reminded
the player that his mother was well over 6 feet tall and able
to carry out any and all threats.
"Really, there wasn't that much to it," Coach Holmes
said of the trip, which I'd heard about from one of the coach's
friends. "We had an hour to kill and some of us didn't want
to hang around the airport.
"So we took in a little history."
Happily, McMurry athletic director Mike Daniel was also on
hand. Having taught at Hendrix College at one point, he knew about
where the old school was. So he offered to guide Coach Holmes,
a couple of McMurry staff members and several players to the site.
Coach Holmes and the others say Central High looked "more
like a church than a school," complete with Gothic architecture.
The building was locked up at the time, but its imposing grandeur
cut through the cool of the night, leaving its visitors in awe.
Back in 1957, that building became a symbol of desegregation
efforts after a state court issued an injunction against integration
there. A federal appeals court quickly overruled the state court,
effectively re-establishing integration as ordered by the local
school board.
As the situation threatened to turn ugly, colorful Arkansas
Gov. Orval Faubus called out the National Guard to "maintain
order," which really meant keeping blacks out of Central
High.
Out of patience, President Eisenhower federalized the National
Guard and sent in 1,200 paratroopers. The troops carried out their
orders, too, clearing the way for the so-called "Little Rock
Nine," despite mobs of citizens hurling insults and threats
at the terrified black students.
REMEMBERING THE NINE
"I'd just read about it in Newsweek, about how the nine
had gone back to Central High for the anniversary this year,"
said 22-year-old Adrian Callis, who is black. "Even then,
I didn't know what to expect when we got there.
"I guess I figured it'd look like any other school - not
this big building."
Even the brick wall out back, surrounding the football field,
showed not one trace of graffiti.
"There wasn't even any trash," 19-year-old Abran
Aragon marveled.
"Today the place is just beautiful and even has a memorial
garden," Coach Holmes said. "We got to look inside,
past those old oak doors, and they had pictures of the nine, pictures
of how they looked then and how they look now."
Coach Holmes and his entourage didn't linger long. They had
to make for the airport and back home. But the memory of the old
high school, sitting there in stone-like silence, dared one and
all to imagine a far-off time when differences in color were cause
for great alarm.
"I'm glad I got to see it," said Tyerone, who's black.
"I'd always heard how they paved the way for us. It was important
to see what it was like and to imagine what it might have been
like. I mean, to have actually been in the shoes of the nine."
For all their hopes and dreams on the basketball court this
year, that brief trip to Central High put everything else in stark
perspective for the McMurry Indians.
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Copyright ©1996 or
1997, Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps. Publications
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