by Maylon Rice
It was on a cold, rainy night in late January I hitched a ride with a Warren couple on the way to see their sophomore son play a basketball game.
I was, you see, just a 16-year old kid without a car of his own, writing basketball stories for the Warren Eagle Democrat and phoning in the box scores and stories to the Pine Bluff Commercial and the Arkansas Gazette for a little spare change.
My mentor, Bob Newton, made all the arrangement for me to “catch a ride” with G.C. (Sonny) and Wickie Morgan down to the 8AA Conference barn-burner at Hamburg on a Friday night.
I made two adult friends for life that night on that car ride from Warren to Hamburg. And none of us knew or could have guessed that the outcome from that game that night would feature a very reluctant guard taking a game winning shot.
But don’t let me get ahead of myself.
I was locking up the Eagle Democrat offices about 5:15 p.m. when Mr. Sonny Morgan pulled up in front of the building at the arranged time for me to gather up my jacket, spiral notebook and slip into the back seat of his sedan.
We headed to the West, stopping at the Morgan home, as Mr. Sonny said, to pick up “Miss Wickie,” a name I grew to use every time I saw her over the next 30 plus years, to join us.
Mr. Sonny hopped out of the car, opened Miss Wickie’s door for her and made my introduction. Miss Wickie I knew from her being a home-room mom at various elementary school functions. This was my first time to meet Mr. Sonny.
I was armed with brief introduction by Bob Newton they were Hendrix classmates of his. Mr. Bob clued me in that ‘Miss Wickie,” was from the East Arkansas hamlet of Mariana. Mr. Sonny, I knew was a Warren boy.
I am in the back seat being a quiet addition to their trip. They discussed the day at Potlatch where Mr. Morgan was in sales and Miss Wickie has been volunteering at the Warren Branch Library until 4 p.m. when she rushed home to get dressed for the game.
After some initial conversations about school, my grades, my work at the Eagle and how did I think the basketball Lumberjacks would do this evening, Mr. Sonny announced he were stopping to get “supper.”
He swung the sedan into Ben Young’s Grocery Store on the eastern edge of Monticello.
It was now about 6:15 or so and dusky dark.
“Just stay in the car,” Mr. Sonny said. “I’ll be right back.” He took soda pop orders and Miss Wickie, stepped out to smoke a cigarette beside the car while Mr. Sonny and Ben Young stood at a white meat counter and talked.
He emerged with three giant barbecue sandwiches on white bread. His and mine dripped with a sweet, red sauce. Miss Wickie, per her placing her own order, eschewed the sauce.
He pulled over out by Drew County Fairground, at a large paved turn around off the highway and we all three attacked the sandwiches and sodas.
After a bit, we merged back into the traffic headed to Hamburg. The gym was packed as the Lions were also in contention for the 8AA district, as were the Dennis Helms led Lumberjacks.
The ‘Jacks were 11-4 at this juncture and it looked like WHS was again positioning itself for a district crown if not a trip to the State Tournament held in Barton Coliseum in Little Rock each March.
We got into the gym, where I marched down to the wooden scorer’s table on the Hamburg home side and found a seat where I could write in my spiral notebook. The Morgan’s joined the locals on the opposite side of the gym.
The Warren Junior High, Junior Jacks were finishing up a 40-34 loss to the Lion Cubs.
Out came the Lumberjacks led by the late Jerry Watts, Otis Young, Tommy Mitchell, Steve Lipton, Robert Green, Steve Halley, Gary Thornton, Charlie Morgan, David Taylor, Earl Scott, Russell Woodard, Joe Davis, and Ronald Blackmon.
The game was a real battle. It was 14-14 at the end of the first quarter. The home team Lions surged to a nine point lead early in the next period, but the ‘Jacks sliced the lead to trail by one, 32-31 at the half time buzzer.
The game went back and forth. Hamburg lost their shooting guard, Ellis Lowe to fouls early in the fourth period. Both sides were making trips to the charity stripe. Odis Young, Tommy Mitchell and David Taylor, all fouled out for Warren.
In came sophomore guard, Charlie Morgan, Sonny and Miss Wickie's youngest son and a classmate of mine.
The game was so electric. With four seconds left and a last chance for the Lumberjacks to win, trailing 71-70, the ball was inbounded and the play was set for Jerry Watts to charge the lane.
Watts instead flicked a laser like pass to the left corner where Charlie Morgan stood, dribbled once and let it fly.
With less than one-second left; Morgan’s jump shot zipped through the net.
Lumberjacks won 72-71 and are now 12-4.
As preplanned, I found a payphone somewhere in the Hamburg area and telephoned in the game story to the late Frank Lightfoot, sports editor of the Pine Bluff Commercial.
The ride back to Warren in the cold, winter evening was long and I guess I fell asleep as Mr. Sonny had to wake me when we hit the city limits.
The headline the next morning, a Saturday, was simply this:
MORGAN’S BASKET
BENEFITS WARREN
On that following Monday afternoon, I had a plate of homemade cookies waiting for me at the Eagle when I came to work after school.
And a friendship with one of the finest basketball playing families in Bradley County’s modern history that still exists today.
It was a Pastime that I’ll never forget - seeing Charlie drain that jump shot from the corner of that Hamburg gymnasium.
That shot and some other wonderful basketball play started the Warren Lumberjacks on a run of back-to-back District 8AA Championships and play in the state tournament.
It was on a cold, rainy night in late January I hitched a ride with a Warren couple on the way to see their sophomore son play a basketball game.
I was, you see, just a 16-year old kid without a car of his own, writing basketball stories for the Warren Eagle Democrat and phoning in the box scores and stories to the Pine Bluff Commercial and the Arkansas Gazette for a little spare change.
My mentor, Bob Newton, made all the arrangement for me to “catch a ride” with G.C. (Sonny) and Wickie Morgan down to the 8AA Conference barn-burner at Hamburg on a Friday night.
I made two adult friends for life that night on that car ride from Warren to Hamburg. And none of us knew or could have guessed that the outcome from that game that night would feature a very reluctant guard taking a game winning shot.
But don’t let me get ahead of myself.
I was locking up the Eagle Democrat offices about 5:15 p.m. when Mr. Sonny Morgan pulled up in front of the building at the arranged time for me to gather up my jacket, spiral notebook and slip into the back seat of his sedan.
We headed to the West, stopping at the Morgan home, as Mr. Sonny said, to pick up “Miss Wickie,” a name I grew to use every time I saw her over the next 30 plus years, to join us.
Mr. Sonny hopped out of the car, opened Miss Wickie’s door for her and made my introduction. Miss Wickie I knew from her being a home-room mom at various elementary school functions. This was my first time to meet Mr. Sonny.
I was armed with brief introduction by Bob Newton they were Hendrix classmates of his. Mr. Bob clued me in that ‘Miss Wickie,” was from the East Arkansas hamlet of Mariana. Mr. Sonny, I knew was a Warren boy.
I am in the back seat being a quiet addition to their trip. They discussed the day at Potlatch where Mr. Morgan was in sales and Miss Wickie has been volunteering at the Warren Branch Library until 4 p.m. when she rushed home to get dressed for the game.
After some initial conversations about school, my grades, my work at the Eagle and how did I think the basketball Lumberjacks would do this evening, Mr. Sonny announced he were stopping to get “supper.”
He swung the sedan into Ben Young’s Grocery Store on the eastern edge of Monticello.
It was now about 6:15 or so and dusky dark.
“Just stay in the car,” Mr. Sonny said. “I’ll be right back.” He took soda pop orders and Miss Wickie, stepped out to smoke a cigarette beside the car while Mr. Sonny and Ben Young stood at a white meat counter and talked.
He emerged with three giant barbecue sandwiches on white bread. His and mine dripped with a sweet, red sauce. Miss Wickie, per her placing her own order, eschewed the sauce.
He pulled over out by Drew County Fairground, at a large paved turn around off the highway and we all three attacked the sandwiches and sodas.
After a bit, we merged back into the traffic headed to Hamburg. The gym was packed as the Lions were also in contention for the 8AA district, as were the Dennis Helms led Lumberjacks.
The ‘Jacks were 11-4 at this juncture and it looked like WHS was again positioning itself for a district crown if not a trip to the State Tournament held in Barton Coliseum in Little Rock each March.
We got into the gym, where I marched down to the wooden scorer’s table on the Hamburg home side and found a seat where I could write in my spiral notebook. The Morgan’s joined the locals on the opposite side of the gym.
The Warren Junior High, Junior Jacks were finishing up a 40-34 loss to the Lion Cubs.
Out came the Lumberjacks led by the late Jerry Watts, Otis Young, Tommy Mitchell, Steve Lipton, Robert Green, Steve Halley, Gary Thornton, Charlie Morgan, David Taylor, Earl Scott, Russell Woodard, Joe Davis, and Ronald Blackmon.
The game was a real battle. It was 14-14 at the end of the first quarter. The home team Lions surged to a nine point lead early in the next period, but the ‘Jacks sliced the lead to trail by one, 32-31 at the half time buzzer.
The game went back and forth. Hamburg lost their shooting guard, Ellis Lowe to fouls early in the fourth period. Both sides were making trips to the charity stripe. Odis Young, Tommy Mitchell and David Taylor, all fouled out for Warren.
In came sophomore guard, Charlie Morgan, Sonny and Miss Wickie's youngest son and a classmate of mine.
The game was so electric. With four seconds left and a last chance for the Lumberjacks to win, trailing 71-70, the ball was inbounded and the play was set for Jerry Watts to charge the lane.
Watts instead flicked a laser like pass to the left corner where Charlie Morgan stood, dribbled once and let it fly.
With less than one-second left; Morgan’s jump shot zipped through the net.
Lumberjacks won 72-71 and are now 12-4.
As preplanned, I found a payphone somewhere in the Hamburg area and telephoned in the game story to the late Frank Lightfoot, sports editor of the Pine Bluff Commercial.
The ride back to Warren in the cold, winter evening was long and I guess I fell asleep as Mr. Sonny had to wake me when we hit the city limits.
The headline the next morning, a Saturday, was simply this:
MORGAN’S BASKET
BENEFITS WARREN
On that following Monday afternoon, I had a plate of homemade cookies waiting for me at the Eagle when I came to work after school.
And a friendship with one of the finest basketball playing families in Bradley County’s modern history that still exists today.
It was a Pastime that I’ll never forget - seeing Charlie drain that jump shot from the corner of that Hamburg gymnasium.
That shot and some other wonderful basketball play started the Warren Lumberjacks on a run of back-to-back District 8AA Championships and play in the state tournament.
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