A Tribute to Coach Walt Moore and the 1968 Terrier Basketball Team
This is a video from a 16mm film of the 1968 Carbondale Terrier Basketball Team playing against Centralia. That year Carbondale returned to the Elite 8 after beating Mt. Vernon. In their first game at the Elite 8 Tournament, Carbondale got beat by 1 point against Crane Tech (from Chicago). The team in this video was Walt Moore's first Varsity Team as the Head Coach. The players from Carbondale are: Bob Westberg (#14), Chuck Taylor (#52), Les Taylor (#54), Doug Woolard (#20) and Bob Pankey (#34). A second video has been added from a game with Harrisburg, Il in the same year.
Carbondale vs. Centralia
Carbondale vs. Harrisburg
A Writing To Bob Westberg from Pankey On Growing Up With Basketball
Hi Bob,
Glad you enjoyed the DVD video of our game in 1968 against Centralia when we were Juniors. I was so surprised to find the 16mm film in my mother’s stuff that she left behind. You are right, the players we see in high school seem to be very regimented toward playing good defense and controlled offenses. I think we learned a different style of basketball from playing in your back yard, playing pickup in the gym and having coaches that believed in pushing the ball up the floor and looking for opportunities to score between teammates. We all played together and against each other from the 6th grade on, and we learned what each other could do in a game. There was a sense that the team made the difference rather than the individual. Most kids just don’t get these kind of experiences today. When you look at that film from 1967, there is a lot to be said about the talent diversity as well. We had a good ball handler, a great outside shooter, and slash and driver, a post up jumper, and a gifted player who could do almost anything around the paint and from the outside (Les Taylor). It was a perfect match, much different than the team a year earlier. The 1967 team had to walk the ball up the court and feed it inside. They did that very well, I might add ;=)
It was great watching the dynamics of a bunch of rag-tag guys that were figuring out how to win, and pull together as a team. We peaked at the right time that year. I think we reached our peak a few weeks prior to the playoffs in the next year when we were seniors. But we had a great run at it in 1969, and for the most part, I think we were the best team in the conference. I’ve never looked back with shame because we did not return to the Elite 8 during our senior year, we won two out of three times against Mt. Vernon that year! Those two years in basketball coupled with the two years in football helped all of us (both students and athletes) feel like we were successful, and nobody could ever take that away from us. At our 40th football reunion last year, many of the guys expressed that the era that we played in 1967 through 1969 made a big impact on us and our community. Those teams were just good for our Community. They helped people, momentarily, take their minds off of the unrest in Viet Nam, and all the racial issues that our country was going through. It gave the community something interesting to read about in the SI newspaper or something fun to listen to on the radio. That era was our Community’s perfect storm, the gathering of kids from Attucks, Giant City, The University School, Desoto and Lincoln Jr. High. We had great bands, drill teams, cheerleaders and the individual classes and students who all came together to support the teams. Kids were making banners to hang around the town, families were driving to watch the Terriers, kids were taking busses and trains to the away games. There were days when you couldn’t find a seat at the football or basketball games in Carbondale back then! With all those factors churning together at one time, you just knew that something great was going to happen in our sport programs. It was like a “Perfect Storm.” The feelings of optimism, support and hope that we all shared going into our seasons taught us how to achieve and be successful then and throughout our lives. Most people do not go through those positive “affective” types of experiences as they grow into adults. As a person with over 35 years of teaching behind me, I’ve seen the dark side of having unsuccessful sport programs and it isn’t a pretty picture.
Bob, we were all certainly fortunate growing up. Even on days, when the sun is high, and there is nothing to do, I occasionally find myself sitting back in my lawn chair and thinking back on how fun it was playing basketball in your back yard, or trying to hit the baseball over the alley at the field behind Vanhorn’s house. Shooting hoops on a cold night under the back porch light, until the heat was visibly rising from our heads and shoulders, until mom or dad would tell the kids to all go home and demand that we came in to eat our supper. Those images have never left me, and I’ll take those with me to the end!
Pank
Interesting Pics From the Elite 8 Tournament At the End of the Game Against Crane Tech. In the pictures are Doug Woolard, Bob Pankey and Jim Wilson of Carbondale, and from Crane Tech is Jerome Freeman, who scored on a free throw with no time remaining in game (the result of a controversial charging call on Doug Woolard at the end of the game). Woolard is the current Athletic Director at South Florida, an NCAA DI University.
This is Walt Moore's Junior Varsity Basketball Team in 1966.
On Walt Moore, Our Hometown Basketball Coach
A Letter ot Mike Given - June 2, 2004
By Dr. Robert Pankey, Professor at Texas State University
I watched a movie not long ago on a 1960's football team (the Titans). The school in the movie was forced to integrate, and the stress that was placed on their community, like so many in the 60’s, was so difficult to overcome. This movie depicted the trials and tribulations that the football team went through as a result of an integrated team and newly hired black coach. As I watched the movie, it brought back so many experiences that we all shared at Carbondale during the 60’s, especially with the struggle that both Black and White athletes had just trying to figure out how to get along. But on top this struggle, we had this wonderful coach, an ex-college basketball player, originally from Mt. Vernon, who was previously coaching at Attucks High School and was now placed on the forefront of athletics as the Head Basketball Coach in a white, middle class community. In 1967, when Coach John Cherry unexpectedly resigned after Carbondale lost in the State Championship, Walter Moore inherited a team that had virtually graduated all of the Attucks best, and was faced with a bunch of inexperienced kids who had little or no varsity playing experience. Our season started out horribly, and I would expect that many of the Carbondale "good ole boys" were bad-mouthing Moore in the first part of the season. Moore was patient and driven, and he started turning our team around by mid-season. Walt also had a secret weapon, Les Taylor, who he coerced into playing with us. Les later became one of the best players in the State of Illinois.
As the Holiday Tournament rolled around, it was evident that Walt saw something special in all of us. When we took the floor each weekend, we progressively got better and better and by the time we reached the regional tournament, we were dominating teams, often scoring over 80 points a game. Team after team dropped in disbelief and as we reached the Sectionals, a bomb dropped on me and my family. My dad passed away, right in the middle of all the hoopla. I was called out of my English class by our AD, Reid Martin, to return to my home as quickly as possible. When my brother, Tommy, and I arrived, we were devastated to learn that our Dad was already gone. Everything was a blur for me for the next hour until there was a knock at our front door. When one of the ladies comforting my Mom opened the door, there stood Walt Moore. He dropped everything at school to come over and sit with me. Without saying a word or giving advice, he just sat beside me and showed me, in a silent way, that he was there for me. We had a game the next day against a stronger Centralia team for the Sectional Finals. Before the game, Walt wanted to dedicate our performance to my father, Harry Pankey. We won that night and found ourselves at the top of the Southern Illinois teams going into the Sweet 16 Tournament. We were going to be playing a stronger opponent, Mt. Vernon (Walt Moore's home town team). In that game, our entire team from Carbondale played above our ability and we beat Walt's hometown of Mt. Vernon by a convincing margin. We were again heading to the "Show" for the second straight year, with a new coach and an entire new team. All good things have to eventually come to an end, but we went down fighting in the Elite 8 at Champaign. We were beat by a stronger opponent from Chicago Crane Tech, by two points in a controversial ending. Crane Tech was allowed to go to the free-throw line with no time left on the clock. In all the confusion at the score table, Walt displayed the calm and coolness of a basketball coach who had been in this position for many years, even though he had reason to adamantly object to the final call. Crane's point guard sunk his two free throws that ended Carbondale's run for the State title. On our return home, after losing to a much stronger opponent from Chicago, Walt and our team were graced by a parade leading to Teen Town and a glorious reception. In his usual brief and sincere speech, Walt Moore attributed our team success to his players rather than his coaching. In an unselfish show of emotion, Carbondale finally embraced this coach and gave him the respect that he deserved. The next year, Walt took his team to the top of the heap again, with a rag-tag bunch of guys that really didn't have much talent. It was the third straight year that Carbondale made it to the top 16 teams in the Illinois playoffs, a feat that has never been duplicated by Carbondale since.
My heart was broken when I heard that Walter Moore passed away last week. I only wish I could have been with his family as he was with mine in 1967. Years have passed since I last saw Walt, but his lessons and spirit has lived in all of the athletes he had touched. During those tumultuous times of integrating our black and white schools, Walt refused to believe that students and athletes should make an issue of race. His goal was to teach us to play together and be the best at playing basketball, no mater what color we were or physical barriers we had. Carbondale owes a lot to Coach Moore for those years in the 60’s, when his teams dominated high school basketball. More importantly, our community owes him much gratitude for teaching those athletes he coached how to strive for success in the face of adversity. May you rest in peace Coach!
Rams hoop star Moore dead at 71
May 28 2004 12:00AM By
By JEREMY HALL
jhall@register-news.com
MT. VERNON ˜ Ray Shelton, like many of his classmates, was in awe of Walt Moore when the Mt. Vernon Rams basketball star walked the halls of the high school in the late 1940s and early ‚50s. But when he shared a physical education class with Moore and saw him step aside to let others have a turn at bat, or serve as an umpire to make room for one more participant, Shelton gained a deeper appreciation for the standout athlete.
He was an outstanding basketball player, said Shelton, a 1952 graduate of Mt. Vernon Township HighSchool. „But he was a fine gentleman, too. He was well-respected.
Moore, 71, died early Wednesday morning at McDonough District Hospital in Macomb. Moore was a starting guard on the Rams‚ back-to-back state championship team that finished the 1949-50 season undefeated. He was a first-team all-state selection three times.
Walter was highly respected, said Max Hooper, a Rams teammate of Moore. (He was) just a true friend. I‚m going to miss him. Hooper said he spoke with Moore about a week-and-a-half ago. "I was going to go up and see him, and he talked me out of it," Hooper said. "Walt was a good, close friend and a fine man, added. John Riley, another member of the championship teams. "There were a lot of times during the season we were completely inseparable, and that was both on and off of the court." Teammate Eddie King recalls playing against Moore when the two were on different grade-school teams. "He was a year younger than I,‰ said King. We played them in the Casey tournament, and I had to guard Walt at that time. He was one of the quickest guys I ever played against." Later, when King was a high school sophomore, he sought advice from Moore when the freshman had made the varsity squad. "I was really challenged by Walt,‰ King said." He told me, "You‚ve just got to keep working." He and I became very close friends. We were roommates at the state tournament. I tried to persuade him to come to Bradley with me. Instead, Moore attended the University of Illinois and Tennessee State University before graduating from Western Illinois with a degree in physical education.
He started at forward for the No. 2 ranked Western Illinois University basketball team in 1957; he was selected to the Little All-American team that same year. Moore taught and coached at Carbondale Central High School, Carbondale Attucks High School and Macomb High School. In 1968, he was named Coach of the Year by the Evansville (Ind.) Courier, Southern Illinois Coaches Association and WJPF Radio. Two years later, Carbondale declared June 20, 1970, as Walt Moore Day. The Walt Moore Trophy is presented each year to the most outstanding basketball player at Carbondale Community High School. Moore worked as an assistant coach at Western Illinois from 1970-73 before serving as head coach for the Leathernecks from 1973-77. Later, he worked as an admissions counselor at the school. Additionally, he served in the U.S. Army from 1952-53. In Mt. Vernon, Moore will be remembered for his lifetime of success that started here. "He was someone people could look up to," said Larry Goldman of Dix, "Growing up in Mt. Vernon, he was the first basketball player I heard of, said WMIX basketball announcer Dave Farley. "I knew there was something special about him." Circuit Judge Terry Gamber, a former Rams star himself, said he will cherish a visit he had with Moore during his senior year at Western Illinois. Gamber‚s father was in charge of the Mt. Vernon Kiwanis basketball banquet that year and arranged for Moore to speak with his son while he was in town. "I was 12 years old, Gamber said. "It was really neat. What I remember is he was such a soft-spoken, nice guy. Moore is the second player from the 1949-50 team to die recently; Bobby Brown died earlier this spring, and that has been hard for a group that Riley said came through Mt. Vernon in an era that produced a tight group of classmates. "The fact of the matter is, we became a very close-knit group, he said. There was a special closeness, a special feeling, that over the years never diminished. Moore was laid to rest at Memorial Gardens, Mt. Vernon.
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