THE WALL OF FACES

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. The remembrance from Kenneth Robinson is especially poignant. Mr Robinson's characterization of William Bouton makes one mourn for what he might have become had he had the opportunity to live a long life. As long as he is remembered he will remain in our hearts forever.

I pause today to honor the memory and service of my friend Lieutenant William I. Bouton and five of his men from Company B, 4th Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 199th Brigade who gave their lives for their country 50 years ago on January 8, 1969. Their names appear on Panel 35W of the Vietnam Memorial. I also honor the memory and service of several of the men in my platoon who were seriously wounded in grenade and mortar attacks a few days later. These men were among the thousands of young men who served in the 199th Infantry Brigade in Vietnam. Of these men, 755 were killed in action and 4679 were wounded in action. Those of us who served with you and who are now old men, salute you, our brothers in arms. May God bless you all.

Lieutenant David Hopper

DEAR LIEUTENANT BOUTON,
THANKS FOR YOUR SERVICE AS AN INFANTRY UNIT COMMANDER. SUNDAY IS MOTHER'S DAY. IT HAS BEEN FAR TOO LONG FOR ALL OF YOU TO HAVE BEEN GONE. WE APPRECIATE ALL YOU HAVE DONE, AND YOUR SACRIFICE. WATCH OVER THE U.S.A., IT STILL NEEDS YOUR COURAGE. GOD BLESS YOU. MAY THE ANGELS BE AT YOUR SIDE. REST IN PEACE. YOU ARE ALL IN OUR PRAYERS.

Building A Legacy: An In-depth History of Greenville High Boys’ Basketball

A Senior Project by Matt

Introduction

Through the years, Greenville Senior High School has established itself as one of the premier schools in South Carolina. Greenville High’s success and recognition stem not only from its reputation for a strong academic program, but also from the community support the school draws. At the heart of this attention are Greenville High’s legendary athletic teams. Basketball, one of Greenville High’s most prestigious sports programs, has provided experiences and relationships that last a lifetime. In my Senior Project, I am providing an in-depth history of the Greenville High School Boys’ basketball program, from the construction of the present building in 1937 to the present. It will be a valuable resource and reference for anyone interested in the basketball program for years to come. Through the use of research in the form of Greenville High newspapers, basketball programs, yearbooks, and personal interviews, the project details why the Greenville High School Boys’ basketball program has been so successful and how it continues to impact everyone involved.

Facilities

The construction of the present school building had no effect on the basketball program, although it did provide the team with a new practice gymnasium. From 1937 to 1977, Greenville High School never had a "home court" advantage. The lack of this edge coveted by so many sports programs was due to the fact that the teams practiced in the present day library on the second floor up until 1977. The gymnasium on the second floor provided a practice gym that was convenient and available, however, it could not accommodate the Red Raider games. It had a small set of bleachers on one side, and a wall on the other side. The lack of size and accommodations for fans kept the team from playing games in the school. Thanks to Bill Phillips and Bill Johnson, two former Greenville High coaches, I learned that the Raiders played "home games" in Greenville Junior High School until 1960 when the team moved to the newly constructed Memorial Auditorium. Greenville Junior High was actually the old Greenville High School up until 1937 when the present day school building was built on Vardry Street. Greenville Junior High was located on Westville Street in the same location where the Greenville Water Works building stands today. The teams rode to the gym on buses just like the athletic teams of today. In 1977, J.A. "Slick" Moore Gymnasium was built adjacent to the school in memory of legendary coach James Moore. The construction of "Slick’s Place" (as Bob Bouton, present varsity basketball coach, once called it) secured Greenville High’s first "home court" advantage in nearly forty years of basketball competition. These facilities supplied the foundation for the Greenville High Basketball legacy.

Coaches

Now that the school had the facilities to accommodate competitive play, it needed someone to organize a basketball team and lead the Red Raiders to victory. From J.H. Speer, who coached through the years from 1934-1939, to Bob Bouton who presently coaches, Greenville High School has had many excellent coaches since its construction in 1937. Regardless of their win-loss percentages, all of the coaches have become "greats" for everlasting values, such as hard work and discipline, which they instilled in the minds of their players. At the other end of the coaching spectrum lie the following accolades: Conference, County, Upper State, and State championships, along with Tournament championships and Coach of The Year awards. In 1934, J.H. "Speedy" Speer began a coaching tenure at Greenville High School which lasted until 1939. Although he compiled a losing record of 35 wins and 59 losses, "Speedy" served many years as Greenville High Athletic Director and made a lasting impression on the school and basketball program. In speaking of Coach Speer, Bill Phillips remembers a time in which "Speedy," then Athletic Director, nearly had a fit when one of the players, Harold Burns, contracted the mumps and had to be sent home from a tournament. Bill Phillips recalled laughing, "Coach Speer watched the penny and it killed him to have to pay the bus fare from Durham, North Carolina to Greenville." In 1940, J.H. Speer’s longtime football and basketball assistant, James Moore, took over as the Greenville High Basketball Coach. From 1940-1953, and again in 1962, J.A. "Slick" Moore established himself, as Bill Phillips described him, as a "legend." Phillips said that Coach Moore was such a great coach because he was a "likeable person" and a "good disciplinarian." He taught his players the values of hard work, discipline, and commitment to the team. Although he pushed his players to get better and disciplined them for mistakes, his players developed a deep respect for their legendary coach. He showed them compassion, caring, and understanding which greatly outweighed any punishment they received. His knowledge of the game, along with his love for the players and the game made J.A. Moore a great coach. Along with "Slick’s" admirable coaching style came 7 State Championships and State Coach of the Year awards. He compiled an outstanding record of 254 wins and 58 losses and was the first Greenville High Coach to lead the Raiders to become one of the premier teams in the state. In 1954, "Slick" Moore handed over the coaching reins to long time friend Don Linn. During his residence as the Greenville High School basketball coach, Coach Linn maintained the level of basketball supremacy established by his predecessor. In his first year coaching, Don Linn proved his coaching excellence by leading the mighty Raiders to a South Carolina State Championship. In 1960, Don Linn left as head coach with a final record of 74 wins and 53 losses. However, Coach Linn was crucial in transferring the basketball program’s success from the 1940’s to the teams of the 1960’s. Bill Phillips continued this success as the Raiders’ coach in 1961 and from 1963-1969. In an interview with Coach Phillips, I discovered the reason why he did not coach in 1962. In 1962, Greenville High School’s principal Dave Stanford, a pilot in the U.S. Air Force, was called to service in Cuba. The school requested that Coach Phillips, a three-sport coach, give up one of his coaching responsibilities and serve as principal for a portion of the year. Ironically, Bill gave up basketball and "Slick" Moore, still employed by the school, led the Raiders to the State Championship. However, the very next year Coach Phillips resumed his position and led the team to the State Finals only to lose as the result of a controversial call. Mr. Phillips said, "We were playing Dreher in the old Carolina Field House in Columbia, and we were losing 51-50 with about ten seconds left. One of our players intercepted a pass and scored a lay-up that gave us a one-point lead with seven seconds left. The radio announcer even said, ‘Greenville takes a 52-51 lead with seven seconds to play.’ But, during the play, one of the referees called a foul on one of our players although he never blew his whistle to stop play. They took our basket away and awarded foul shots to the Dreher player. He missed the free throws so I called a timeout with seven seconds left in the game. On the next play, our first and second options were not open so we had to settle for a shot from the corner. The shot went into the basket and rolled out. We lost the State Championship all because of the call that the referee made." Fortunately, Coach Phillips led the Raiders to State Championships in 1964 and 1965. From 1970-1977, Greenville High Basketball underwent a restructuring. They had good teams, but not the typically dominant teams from the previous decades. From 1970-1973, Smith Danielson, also known as "Smitty" or Coach "D", was the head coach for the Raiders. Coach Danielson had a career winning record of 31 wins and 27 losses. He will always be remembered for the four decades he spent as a valuable assistant coach. Don Hall followed Coach "D" in 1974. He coached the Red Raiders to 41 wins and 32 losses until he left in 1977. In 1977 another coaching "legend" arrived at Greenville High School. Bill Johnson amassed more career victories than any other coach in Greenville High history. He retired from coaching in 1999 with 507 career wins and only 239 career losses. I talked with Bill Johnson about the beginning of his coaching career. He said, "Back in the early seventies, we were just an average team, so we slowly began to rebuild the program." Coach Johnson did more than rebuild the program; he brought Greenville High Basketball back to the status of supremacy that the team enjoyed in the past. During his illustrious career, he won seven Conference Championships, coached in six Upper State Finals, was a State Championship Runner-up, and won a State Championship. He also received nine Conference Coach of the Year awards, not to mention three State Coach of the Year awards. In 1999, shortly after his 500th career victory, Coach Johnson turned the program over to his assistant coach and former player Bob Bouton. Coach Bouton recently finished his second year of coaching and will surely continue Greenville High Basketball’s level of excellence through his dedication and knowledge of the game.

Seasons

With the coaches and facilities in place, the teams were formed and the seasons passed. Since 1937, Greenville High School has had many excellent seasons. In its 64 years of existence, the Greenville High basketball program has won Conference, County, and Upper State Championships too numerous to count. Greenville High School has won eleven State Championships. More information about these great teams and their seasons will be provided on the display board that accompanies my project.

One important aspect concerning a few of these seasons cannot be found in any record book or statistics sheet. This underlying part deals with the impact that World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam had on the Greenville High School basketball program. Although none of these tremendous events kept the seasons from passing, they did affect the psychological aspects of the game. The Korean War and Vietnam didn’t have as large of an impact on the seasons as the Second World War. However, each of the players’ minds was focused on loved ones over seas or the war in its entirety. Bill Bouton, for whom the Greenville High Most Valuable Player trophy is named, lost his life in Vietnam. In speaking with Bill Phillips, I learned a great deal on the impact that World War II had on each season. As opposed to the Korean War and Vietnam, which filled America with violence and protest, World War II brought the country together as a whole. He said, "Everything was geared towards the armed forces…all of the textile mills made clothes or parachutes for the army, while the car companies made vehicles. We didn’t have televisions or computers, so the main source of information was the radio. I remember going to the movie theater and watching news clips from what had happened the previous week." I asked him why the seasons continued if the war was impacting daily life so greatly. He replied, "As in Major League Baseball, no one wanted to stop basketball from being played because it boosted the morale of the country."

*** This article appeared in the Greenville News 22- years ago so these words are re-copied. They are not being shared with you as a political statement but rather beautiful and poignant reflections from a friend of our fallen classmate, Bill Bouton.

Editor’s note: The personal reflection on Inauguration Day was written by a Greenville native and Washington lawyer for whom the festivities evoked poignant memories of a friend in the graduating class of 1961 at Greenville Senior High School.

FESTIVITIES LED GREENVILLE MAN TO REMEMBER
BY KENNETH M. ROBINSON

WASHINGTON-Today over 300,000 people converged on the mall in Washington, DC to celebrate the arrival of our new president, a time of “hope” and “unity”.

The crowd and security kept us ordinary people from the front steps of the Lincoln Memorial, so I used that as an excuse to get my 22-year old daughter and her friend to veer right and help me find an old friend whose patriotism, courage and bad luck resided at W 35, line 53, on a black granite wall.

Thirty years earlier I had stood in an even larger crowd with my friend and listened to Dr. Martin Luther King speak; unaware that we were witnessing what was perhaps the greatest speech in the 20th century.

My friend at the wall is well remembered by those who followed basketball in Greenville in 1962. He led the Red Raiders to the State Championship and was voted the best player in the entire state. He went on to UNC to pursue learning, not basketball. He wanted to be a lawyer like his father, yet, he accepted his draft notice in June 1966 when many of us shirked our responsibility.

He had intelligence, integrity, character, a sense of humor and good looks. My friend could have accomplished whatever he pursued. He supported “Clean Gene” McCarthy, the peace candidate, but still went to Vietnam, as a lieutenant, because he was a leader and accepted the risk despite a stated fear of dying in the jungle.

Bill Bouton left his mark with many people before he died in an ambush outside Saigon in January 1969. He had a fiancée waiting at home, three brothers and a sister in college and a mother and father who loved him dearly.

I have practiced law here in Washington since 1968. The politicians have come and gone. Today and the next four years belong to Bill Clinton. He may achieve great things; he already has.

However, let the masses cheer him and celebrate. The contrast to Bill Clinton, the young man, and Bill Bouton is revealing. How many young men fought and died in Vietnam, men who were like Bill Bouton, men who took character, honor and duty to a war they resented?

I’ll never know the answer; I didn’t go to Nam; like Clinton and Quayle I stayed in school.

Today I walked away from the masses and found my old friend Bill at wall 35, line 53. He was the hero I honored. When any of your readers come to D.C., tell them to stop and tell him, “Thanks.” There weren’t many young men who lived in the 60’s who measured up to Billy Bouton.