Thursday, January 17, 2002

The Natchez Democrat

John Nix and the late Charles Weeks played high school basketball

against each other back in the 1930s. John was a center for Mars

Hill of Amite County, Charlie a center-forward for Natchez Catholic

High.

Some 17 years later they squared off many times in adult City

League Basketball games down at the City Auditorium. Both worked

at Armstrong Tire & Rubber Co., and both liked to talk about

the &uot;good ole days of high school basketball.&uot; Especially

after they had played City League games against each other.

In 1953, I wrote about the old CHS-Mars Hill series. CHS had

just beaten Mars Hill, and I allowed as how it had taken 17 years

for Cathedral to &uot;get even&uot; for a loss John Nix and

Mars Hill hung on the Greenies back in 1936 in the finals of the

Natchez Boy’s Area Invitational Tournament.

CHS coach Paul Doherty’s Greenies administered a 63-42 licking

to Mars Hill that 1953 night in a tournament game played over

at Summit. Seems the Black and White clad Mars Hill five was seeded

second in the tournament, Cathedral, which was then called the

St. Joseph Greenies, third.

I could write a book on oldies like that, but I’ll just remind

you of who played back then. Some of them anyway. First I want

to tell you, though, that Charlie Weeks and John Nix were both

later standout players in the Service during WWII.

In the mentioned ’36 tournament, St. Joseph (Catholic High)

won three games in one day. And instead of getting into who beat

who, I’ll just tell you that four centers were named to the first

all-star five.

John Nix and Charlie Weeks were two of those centers, and a

boy named Hunter of Central High of Louisiana and a Cotton boy

from McCall made it. According to an old Democrat clipping I still

have, the 2nd team was composed of St. Joseph’s Sam Junkin; Vidalia’s

Unger; Waterproof’s Fife; Mars Hill’s Calcote; and Burris of Mars

Hill.

High school basketball was the rage back in those days, particularly

the tournament brand. I used to get a kick out of hearing John

Nix and Charlie Weeks jawin’ back and forth about the games they

used to play against each other. Again, those were the good ole

days. We all have ’em.

HURRIED HASH…In a landmark occasion of sorts, the Golden

Eagles of Southern Mississippi and Jackson State will collide

on the football field Aug. 31 for the first time since 1987…The

Golden Eagles will have the home field advantage at Roberts Stadium

in Hattiesburg, but JSU’s so glad to get one of the state’s biggies

to stand still for a game it won’t matter to the Tigers.

When the two schools met in’87, the 33,687 fans set a record

at that time in Roberts Stadium. Only once since then has USM

drawn a bigger crowd, and that was in 1989 when 34,189 fans jammed

the stadium to watch Mississippi State shade USM 26-23. I don’t

go around telling State, Ole Miss and USM what to do when it comes

to scheduling other teams, but games with each other like ’89

are sure-fire biggies.

State played a litter tougher slate of teams last season than

Ole Miss, but both could have improved their schedules with Southern

Miss.

Again, I’ve never been a writer to tell a school who to play.

Truly that’s their business, but one has to think how interesting

it would be if State, Ole Miss and USM did play the Tigers. And

each other when feasible.

Glenvall Estes is a longtime sports columnist for The Democrat.