Old-school basketball and community connections

Who rocks the house? - J-Roc rocks the house. Ja’Vaughn Burton is Eastern Basketball League early 1960s old school. He is Wally Choice, Bruce Spraggins, Roman Turmon and Bob “Butterbean” Love old school. J-Roc belongs on the court at Trenton High 58 years ago playing for the Trenton Colonials versus the Allentown Jets. He is a freakish scorer – makes no sense, fits no mold – he just gets to the basket and often gets searing hot from way downtown. And the players mentioned here are either pushing 80 or have left the planet. And they all were big-time community guys working with youth groups and senior citizens. Wally Choice, a schoolboy star out of Jersey, went to Indiana University and was the first Black player to captain a Big 10 team. His son Wally Anthony captained Penn State, graduating in the 1980s. Bruce Spraggins out of Virginia Union led NCAA small colleges in scoring 1960-61. Spraggins went on to own a sporting goods store in Harlem. Roman “Big Doc” Turmon was the biggest/widest low post player I ever saw score 40 in a game. Turmon died in 2001. A three-sport star for Clark College in Atlanta, Turmon owned two restaurant franchises in Manhattan and Brooklyn. In 1958, he was MVP for the Harlem Globetrotters. Bob “Butterbean” Love came through the Eastern League to a career with the Chicago Bulls. After retirement, he became the Bulls’ director of community relations. When I saw JRoc before the game last Friday night wearing his Slaughter Neck Community Center shirt, all that old-school basketball and community history bubbled to the surface of my consciousness. I don’t know what the 10 fans in the stands were thinking. 

Chalk outline - Old-school Cape, first-floor hallway by the business rooms, the lunch room filled with students. A young and strong and very smart Afro American girl pleaded with me, “Tell her to shut up, Fredman, because I am getting ready to roll.” But the instigator just kept jabbering about what she was gonna do. I faced my student friend, extending my arms like a linebacker using the “forearm shiver,” the palms of my hands on her shoulders. This gentle girl transformed into pulling left guard Reggie McKenzie of the 1973 Buffalo Bills that led O.J. Simpson through the off-tackle hole to the NFL’s first 2,000-yard rushing season. I got rolled. I later came back to the hallway and drew a chalk outline on the carpet. Here’s what I know about women. There are plenty who are smarter and stronger, faster and more focused and could pin my shoulders to the mat if I were foolish enough to lock up with them. 

Beauty and the Beast - But what if beauty becomes a beast? Happens in sports when you get an honor society, multisport athletic woman who can turn up the dial on game day. “She’s a gem and an absolute beast and we just love her” is familiar commentary from coaches and teachers. Milford wrestling sophomore Emily Thode and junior Brooklyn Grant are the beautiful beasts for the Buccaneers. And both have older brothers who are stars on the mats: junior Jack Thode, a 2020 state champion at 120, and senior Trent Grant, second in the state as a junior at 126. Emily was in the varsity lineup at 106 against Cape Jan. 16. She had Arthur Bennett all but gone, but an arm under his neck prevented his shoulders from touching. Brooklyn grabbed two wins during JV matches, and to be honest, it used to be a thing – “You got beat by a girl” – but now it’s more like “Better you than me.” 

Fans in the stands - I covered the girls’ and boys’ basketball doubleheader Friday night, then a wrestling match Saturday. There were no visiting fans and just one fan per athlete for the home school. I counted 10 fans during the boys’ game. Wrestling had more athletes if you include JV matches and a starting lineup of 14, but it was still pretty empty. All sports fans would like the fan capacity increased to allow two tickets per athlete both home and away, then pull out both sides of the bleachers. And the socially distanced chairs for benches just look dumb because we are a species of huggy bears, especially teammates.  

Snippets - It is Showdown at the Okey-Dokey Cape Corral Tuesday, Jan. 19, featuring the undefeated Caesar Rodney boys versus Cape at 4:30 p.m. followed much later at 7 p.m. with two undefeated girls’ teams, Caesar Rodney at Cape. The Cape wrestlers will be at William Penn Saturday, Jan. 23, for a 1 p.m. match. The Colonials have a full lineup of tough wrestlers under the direction of coaches Joe Archangelo and Dennis Fromel. How about a Bucs versus Bills Super Bowl? If you make that bet, be sure to get points. Go on now, git!