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Pardon our construction. The blog has moved.
Please see this post at http://nmsportsblog.com/2014/01/28/animas-winning-streak/record.
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[This post below is a contribution from our friend Ben Moffett, New Mexico basketball historian and author of an upcoming book on the history of New Mexico high school baskeball.]
ON MARTIN LUTHER KING'S BIRTHDAY, REMEMBERING THE END OF SCHOOL SEGREGATION IN HOBBS AND NM, 1954 Following is an excerpt of a chapter from Ben Moffett's forthcoming book on the history of basketball in New Mexico. It outlines the end of school integration in the state, brought on by the landmark Supreme Court decision of 1954, Brown v. Board of Education, just six decades ago this year. The last school to integrate was Booker T. Washington in Hobbs, and its merger with Hobbs High created the longest big school basketball dynasty in New Mexico, a legendary NBA player, Bill Bridges, and better basketball throughout the state. This segment of the chapter includes the names of the members of the last segregated team. New Mexico and Hobbs were well ahead of Texas in responding to the Brown v. Board decision, and had made changes much earlier in anticipation of it. In 1953-54, Booker T. Washington and the segregated Lincoln-Jackson High of Clovis were allowed to compete against white schools in regular and post season basketball. Before 1953-54, the black schools were members of a Segregated Schools League in New Mexico. They played an abbreviated schedule brought about by tight budgets and the limited number of segregated prep schools in New Mexico and across the sparsely populated state line in Texas. The performances of Booker T. Washington in the 1953-54 season-ending district tournament gave some indication of the black talent base. A tiny school in numbers, it compiled a 13-9 season record in the small school division, with three of those wins in the district tournament. Coached by Arlee Jackson and assistant Freddie H. Sewell, the school lost its tourney opener to Eunice, 41-40, but bounced back with consolation wins over St. Peter's of Roswell, 48-47, Hagerman, 55-30, and Jal, 47-38. The team consisted of James Atkinson, Curtis Battles, Londell Butler, Thomas Clay, Preston Davis, Harvey Edwards, Willie Lee Evans, Cornelius Patterson, Aaron Williams, Harold Jackson, Louis Owens, and student trainer J.C. Gambles. In 1954-55, the first season after integration, Hobbs became a team to be reckoned with in state basketball circles. Aided by a black player, sophomore guard Ray Clay, for the first time, and with but one returning letterman, Ed Bryson, the Eagles stunned their neighbor and district rival, defending state champion Carlsbad, during the regular season. Although Carlsbad, which had integrated earlier, would win a second straight title that season, the totally rebuilt Eagles just missed out on a state finals rematch. They fell in the semifinals, 65-63 in overtime, to Los Alamos. Carlsbad, coached by Ralph Bowyer who played at Albuquerque High and the University of New Mexico, won its second straight title by defeating Los Alamos, coached by Bob Cox, 58-51. The Cavemen had two black starters, John Wooten and Joe Kelly, both of whom were on the all-tournament first team. Wooten would go on to become a football all-America at the University of Colorado, a guard in the National Football League (Cleveland and Washington) for nine and a half years, and a fixture in NFL front offices before retiring in 1997. Kelly competed in four sports at NMSU, most notably as a quarterback, and was inducted into the school's hall of honor. Wooten said he was “blessed” by the early integration of Carlsbad. “We didn't have enough people at the Carver School, grades 1 to 12, to field a football team,” he said. “I'm only half joking when I tell people I might have wound up picking up trash for the city, like my father did, or working as a laborer. He attributes early integration at Carlsbad to enlightened leadership including head football and basketball coach Ralph Bowyer, Carlsbad principal Guy Wade, former principal and school superintendent Tom Hansen, and black community leader Emmitt Smith. As the 1955-56 season got underway, Carlsbad seemed on its way to an unprecedented third straight state title despite the graduation of Wooten and Kelly. But by then, Hobbs was loaded with lettermen. In its second year of integration, the Eagles, who since 1949-50 had been guided by a kind and caring coach named Ralph Tasker, had an awesome scorer in senior Kim Nash, soon to be a fixture at Southern Methodist University, tournament-tested point guard Clay, and junior Aubrey Linne, a 6-7 inside man who would play college football at Texas Christian and in the Canadian Football League. Finally, they had Bill Bridges, a fast-developing African-American up from the junior varsity, who was about to become a legend. Bridges, like Wooten, stands as an exquisite example of the value of diversity and the flaws of the “separate but equal” concept. Had he stayed at Booker T. Washington, strapped with a short schedule against small schools and with virtually no media coverage, it is unlikely that he would have become a famous and well-paid professional player. It is equally unlikely that Hobbs would have won a state title. Thanks in large part to integration, Hobbs won the championship in Bridges' initial varsity season (1955-56) for the first time in school history. “Hobbs, defeating Carlsbad for the fourth time this year...took the lead, 79-77, with three minutes to play on a follow-up shot by Bill Bridges in a hair-raising finale,” wrote Hobbs Sun-News sports editor Art Gatts. The final score: Hobbs 89, Carlsbad 82. Bridges' rebound and put-back was surely one of the most important plays in his young career, spotlighting the Eagles rise from obscurity to statewide dominance. The information here came from a variety of sources. It is difficult to keep the footnotes in place here, but a big contributor was The Rev. Dr. Charles E. Becknell, Sr., who played for Hobbs just after Bill Bridges left, and wrote a book, "No Challenge, No Change: Growing Up Black in New Mexico," 2003, Jubilee Publications, Kearney, NE.  McDonald was born in Roy, NM (Harding County) where he attended school through his freshman year in high school, before moving to Albuquerque and graduating from Highland High School. He then attended Oklahoma University. At OU, he was a Consensus All-American (1955 and 1956) and won the Maxwell Award in 1956 as Best Collegiate Player. Tommy scored touchdowns in 20 of his 21 games in college. He was primarily a running back at Oklahoma under Coach Bud Wilkinson, having the distinction of playing on a college team that went undefeated his entire three years on the varsity squad. Two of those years (1955 and 1956), the Sooners won the National Championship.
In 1956, he finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting behind winner Paul Hornung of Notre Dame and Johnny Majors of Tennessee, ahead of such other notable players as Jimmy Brown of Syracuse and John Brodie of Stanford. He also won the MVP award in the North South Shrine Game in Miami. Tommy was a third-round draft pick of the NFL Philadelphia Eagles in 1957, and spent most of his career with Philadelphia. In the NFL, he was primarily used as a wide receiver, selected for the Pro Bowl six times (1959-1963 and 1966). Following his time with the Eagles, he played one year with the Dallas Cowboys (1964), two years with the Los Angeles Rams (1965-1966), another year with the Atlanta Falcons (1967) before retiring after his final year (1968) with the Cleveland Browns. During his years with the Eagles, they won one NFL Championship in 1960, defeating the Green Bay Packers 17-13. Twice (1958 and 1960), he led the league in receptions for touchdown and once (1960) for receiving yards. His NFL statistics include appearing in 152 games in 12 seasons, gaining 8410 yards on 495 receptions (17 yards per reception) and scoring 84 touchdowns. Used on special teams early in his career, he had 72 put returns for 404 yards and 1 TD and 51 kickoff returns for another 1,055 yards. In 1985, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. In 1988, he was inducted into the Philadelphia Eagles Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 1991. Tommy was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1998, along with such other players as Mike Singletary, Anthony Muñoz, Paul Krause and Dwight Stephenson. Coach Ralph Tasker of Hobbs, NM died on July 19, 1999 at his home after a short battle with cancer. He was 80 and had also suffered from pneumonia prior to his death. He left behind his wife of almost 49 years, Margaret, his three children, a host of former players and assistants including Ross Black (played for UNM), Bill Bridges (played for Kansas and in the NBA), Rob Evans (played for Lubbock Christian and UNM and coached at University of Mississippi and Arizona State), Larry Robinson (played for Texas), Larry Williams (played at Kansas State), Jeff Taylor, Sr. (played Texas Tech, in the NBA and in Europe), Vince Taylor (played at Texas Tech, the NBA and Europe, now coaching) and Kent Williams (played at Texas Tech). Longtime assistant Don Abbott of Farmington, said of Tasker, ''He basically changed the way the game of basketball was played,'' said Abbott. ''He made better coaches out of all his opponents because of his ability to get the best out of them as well as out of his own teams. He is well respected all over - not only among high school coaches, but college coaches have used some of his innovations,'' Abbott added. ''He was a wonderful teacher in the classroom as well. I was fortunate enough to have him as a teacher, too. He taught government and history.'' [Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, July 20, 1999] Tasker was born and raised in West Virginia and played his college ball for the Alderson Broaddus Mountaineers. Upon his graduation and after coaching for one year at Sulphur Springs High School in Ohio, Tasker enlisted in the US Army Air Corps, having been motivated by the attack on Pearl Harbor. After his military service, he accepted a coaching position in Lovington, NM in 1946. That is a story of its own, but Tasker was hired by Lovington's superintentent of schools, H. C. Pannell. Both Tasker and Pannell happened to be in Albuquerque at the same time. Tasker was being mustered out of the US Army Air Corps and Pannell was there for a meeting. Pannell offered Tasker the job and Tasker accepted. Three years later, he won his first state championship in Lovington, which proved to be Lovington's only championship for the next 34 years. Tasker then moved to Hobbs in 1950 where he served as head basketball coach for the next 49 years. By the time he retired in 1998, his combined record from the three schools included 1,122 wins, 291 losses and his teams had earned 12 state championships. His last team finished third in the New Mexico state tournament, one game short of notching what would have been Tasker's 37th 20-game winning season.  Tasker's teams were known for a productive offense and a merciless full-court press defense from start to finish. His 1970 team averaged 114.6 points a game, a national high school record set before the institution of the 3-point shot. Coach Tasker's twelve New Mexico state basketball championships are as follows: one in Lovington (1949) followed by eleven in Hobbs (1956, 1957, 1958, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1980, 1981, 1987 and 1988). He was twice named National High School Coach of the Year and was inducted into the National High School Sports Hall of Fame in 1988. He also received the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Morgan Wooten Award. Tasker was named to the New Mexico High School Coaches Association Hall of Honor and the Walt Disney Coach/Teacher of the Year both in 1991. [Arguably one of the most effective coaches in the history of high school basketball, Tasker will likely be the subject of several blog posts.]  Bill Bridges was a 2014 inductee into the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame. Bill was born in 1939 in Hobbs, New Mexico and graduated from Hobbs High School, playing ball under the legendary coach Ralph Tasker. He attended Kansas University where he joined the basketball team as a walk on. While at KU, he went on to earn a scholarship, was an All-American and team captain in 1961. His KU team tied for the Big 8 championship in 1960. Bill was the first player in KU history to score over 1,000 points and pull down 1,000 rebounds. His field goal percentage was 0.401 and free throw percentage was 0.653. During his college career, he scored 1,028 points and had 1,081 rebounds. The Bill Bridges Rebounding Award is presented each year to KU’s leading rebounder.
Upon graduating from Kansas University, he was drafted by the NBA Chicago Browns, but joined the Kansas City Steers of Abe Sapperstein's ABL where he led the league in rebounding and was named All-ABL in 1962. The league folded after which Bill went on to play 13 seasons in the NBA (1962-1975) for the St. Louis/Atlanta Hawks, the Philadelphia 76ers, Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors where he played on his only NBA Championship team his last season in 1975. During his NBA career, he averaged 11.9 points per game and 11.9 rebounds. His NBA career included appearing in 926 games, scored 4,181 goals, made 2,650 free throws for total points scored of 11,012. On the defensive side, his rebound total was 11,054. Upon his retirement from the NBA, Bridges worked as a business consultant in Santa Monica, California. He was inducted into the Kansas University Hall of Fame in 2002 and his jersey number 32 was retired in 2004. |
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