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Page 4B 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