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Good morning, folks.
I have been blessed to meet a lot of memorable people covering sports in this community over the last 34 years.
I’m also fortunate to still occasionally cross paths with many of them — sometimes professionally, other times on a personal level.
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Mostly though, I simply just cherish in my memories: post-practice chats or a road trip pop with Cal Murphy; dinner with John Candy; watching hockey with George Allard; the smile and laugh of Rod Hill; fishing with Todd Kabel; golfing with Emerson Mahoney.
And, chatting with Jerry Hemmings.
Maybe it was the southern drawl. Or, perhaps it was his flamboyant courtside personality and colourful ties. It could have been that as a young man I saw him as a gentleman who seemed to treat people with a certain dignity and respect. Most importantly a certain cub reporter, who was trying to learn the intricacies of the game — on and off the court.
He would always politely address me by name: “Let me tell you, Steve… “
Whether I was calling Jerry to probe why he was giving a player implicated in the Tulane University point-shaving scandal a second chance or what his thoughts were on an upcoming GPAC showdown with the Bisons or the Wesmen, he would thoughtfully answer every question.
I remember visiting Brandon to do a feature story on perennial All-Canadian John Carson, and Jerry took the time to sit with me and explain how he had recruited Carson from his home state of North Carolina. He told me how many of his recruits — mainly from inner-city high schools in Toronto — were guys growing up in less-fortunate environments that might not get a chance to go to school and play hoops anywhere else.
Hemmings did a lot of things in Canadian basketball history — the Bobcats competed in 18 national championships, winning four gold, three silver and one consolation championship, and with 734 career wins, he is the winningest coach in Canadian university basketball — but perhaps nothing was more important than this: before many took notice that Black Lives Matter, Jerry Hemmings did.
In today’s edition of the Free Press, Taylor Allen, who, ironically, is about the same age I was when I first chatted with Hemmings, picks up the baton and in honour of Black History Month looks back on the 1987 men’s basketball national title game, when the Bobcats made history by becoming the first Canadian university to start five Black players in the championship game.
Taylor chatted with coaches and players from the ‘87 team who defeated the UBC Thunderbirds to win the final — the first of three straight Canadian championships for the Bobcats — and files this report.
I asked Taylor how his interview with Hemmings went and he relayed a tale that gives some indication of both Jerry’s character and the loyalty and gratitude his players feel toward him.
To help Taylor with his story, Jerry went the extra mile and texted a number of his players to get them to chat with us. Courtney Bailey, the point guard of the team who works as a school principal in Egypt these days, had just returned home to Toronto to deal with the death of his mother earlier, but as a favour to Hemmings he took the time to chat with Taylor.
Oh, and Taylor’s interview with the coach was about an hour long.
Ha! Some things never change.
I’m taking a longer-than-long weekend, folks, so you won’t hear from me again until Tuesday morning. Hope you have a good one. Meantime, as always, you can reach me by replying to this mailing or by sending me an email here.
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