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City of Perry 175th Birthday, Nov. 17, 1999, Houston Home Journal
Where there's Perry history, there's high school basketball
By JOAN DORSETT
Home loqrnae Staff
Wilson Martin, 87, was here
when basketball began, having come
to Perry from Adairsville when he
was 8 years old. When he and his
brother Herman attended Perry High
School frpm their home near where
the fire tower stands along U.S. 4IS,
he drove a school bus with a home
made body for neighbors who
included Hilda and Virginia Gray.
Wilson Martin was on the basket
ball team, but school bus driving
kept him from playing as much as
Herman played. He didn't mind; he
really liked to drive! When he gradu
ated from Perry High School in
1929, he soon turned to keeping
score to retain his association with
the sport.
In 1935 Wilson Martin married
Una Wilder of Fort Valley and their
children grew up to become four ol
the best known basketball players in
Georgia cage history. Little did he
know back then that he would
become “Mr. Scorekeeper”, the
undisputed “dean” of middle Georgia
basketball scorekeepers, probably the
most respected member of his “pro
fession.” He has scrapbooks “so old
the paper is rotten” to show for it all
at the Washington Street home he
and Una share.
Teacher Lottie B. Clarke wrote for
the Houston Home Journal, Jan. 25,
1968, “Perry and basketball have
been Siamese twins for nearly half a
century. The two will probably never
be separated.”
In 1919, fresh out of WWI, J.M.
Gooden came to Perry to be in
charge of athletics. He introduced
basketball to the boys and to the
town.
The first court was outdoors just
across from the corner of the Perry
Baptist Church. Some of the Perry
boys who played in the pioneer
Iff —USSBBHMEBSi - *1 ■SSBbBBOBB!
Photo submitted by Wilton Martin
WK ARE THE CHAMPS Coach J.M. Gooden, kneeling. Players
left to right are Jimmy Etheridge, Ben Hall, Hoke Griffin, Chester Edwards,
Earnest Edwards, Nick Harper, Glea Gran and Herman Martin. Wilson
Martin is missing from photo due to driving the school bus.
•Vf.-Sj •• • . JKW;' «<• -»* -I- •
Photo submitted by Wilson Martin
RED LETTER DAY .A Red Letter Day for the Martin Family
included (front) ’’Red” Lawson-UGA Coach, Lee Martin, Eric Staples, (back)
Frank Holland, Paul Hartman, Una and Wilson •Martin, Herb St. John.
games were: Alfred Edwards,
Dennard Skellie, Marion Houser,
Vernon Wallace, E.A. Murray, Hal
Gilbert, Louis Gilbert, Homer Davis,
Wordna Gray, Jake Murray, Emmett
Rainey, George Johnson, Harris
Hardison, Louis Harper, Pat Muse,
Phil Anderson, Freck Skellie, Raleigh
Ward, Morris Howard, Red Edwards,
Glea Gray, Jimmy Etheridge,
Herman Martin, Wilson Martin, Bill
Dorsett, Bunyan Watson, Hilt Gray,
Chester Edwards, Jube Strother, Nick
Harper, Hoke Griffin, Grady Griffin,
Bennie Hall and Bowie Gray.
At those early outdoor games
played in the afternoons there was no
fence, no admission charge, but a hat
was passed for contributions.
Spectators had to stand or bring a
chair. The visiting team was enter
tained in homes which included
meals and sleeping accommodations.
Transportation was provided by par
ents.
In the ’2o’s Perry got tired of see
ing the game they had come to love
on an outdoor court. Therefore
under Mr. Goodens leadership, pub
lic subscriptions of townspeople, not
the state, built an indoor court, one
of the earlier ones in Georgia in
1928. It was located where Perry
Elementary School is today; later
moved across the street behind where
the Billy Beckham home is today.
The pioneer players chose
maroon and gold as the school colors
and the Panther as the mascot. These
have never changed. The boys now
had uniforms to pass down to the
succeeding team. Tournament play
ing started. Middle Georgia was
ahead of the northern and southern
portions of the state.
Quotes from a book of Mr.
Gooden entitled Perry Consolidated
School:
“We have adopted the following
codes of Sportsmanship:
1. Keep the rules.
2. Keep faith with your comrades.
3. Keep fit.
4. Keep your temper.
5. Keep your pride under in victory.
6. Keep a stout heart in defeat.
7. Keep a sound soul, a clean mind,
and a healthy body.
Remember: Whether you win or
lose does not count as much as how
you play the game.”
Gooden was first of all a principal
though he loved basketball and won
six district championships. E.P.
Staples came to Perry as teacher and
coach in 1933. By then the game was
dear to the hearts of Perry folk and
under his leadership it became more
so. Perry became known as a com
petitor throughout the whole state
and his boys won eight state champi
onships. Out of 924 games played
while Staples was coach, they lost
only 198. They won 20 district
championships.
Wilson Martin remembers the
rivalry with Fort Valley and a fight
that occurred at the gym. He was
keeping score with young Wilson sit
ting right behind him. Somebody
came flying right over their heads
and later he realized his hand was cut
and bleeding.
He remembers a state tourna-
ment when Staples brother’s Heard
County team hadn’t lost a game and
Perry hadn’t lost a game brother
against brother 2or3 of his
brothers from Florida had come all
the way to see his son Lee play. Boot
Hunt as a senior and freshman Lee
made 16 points apiece and Perry
won by 2 or 3 points. Una Martin
said she turned green!
During the last year Staples
coached he was prepping Paul
Hartman to continue as head coach.
That was also Wilson Martin’s last
year of keeping score for the boys.
However he did keep score three
more years tor the girls' team on
which his daughter Jean played for
Coach Earl Marshall.
Hartman’s first PHS team won
the state championship and was the
last Perry team to w'in state,
Houston Home Journal Serving Houston
County since Dec. 17, 1870.
Happy 175th Birthday!!
(miaratuhitions to
the Gifuof h£a m
on a leyam oj stmuj
schools and churches ,
intea/itu in government
and the vision to nude
host/we change.
although the Panthers played for the
title in 1997. Martin’s son Joe was
an excellent senior member of that
team and went on to play for Troy
State.
Lee played basketball for Georgia
and when he came to Westfield in
1971 as athletic director and boys
basketball coach, Martin came with
him. Four consecutive years
Westfield hosted region playoffs and
state tournaments and won one, and
Martin was the official scorekeeper
at all of them.
Note: The Perry Baptist Church
mentioned earlier is the subject of the
fourth and latest in a series of Perry
landmark ornaments being sold by
Balvaunuca Club. It can now be pur
chased for sl6, S2O with stand, at
Impressions or from a club member.
Larry Walker
Representative
District 141
Georgia House of
Representatives