Monticello Black History in Sports
(Editor’s note: James Campbell is a native of Jasper County who graduated from the Jasper County Training School. He went on to work for the Atlanta Police Department from which he is retired and now adds author to his many accolades. Mr. Campbell has offered to share his perspective on some of the community’s moments in Black History throughout the month of February.)
By JAMES CAMPBELL
In 1955 Professor Glover and Andrew Thompson built what would become a “dynasty” in high school basketball. The team was formed while Jasper County Training School (JCTS) was still in the old school on Mason Street and the dirt basketball court was between the original Cargile Institute building and the later built school at the dead end of Mason Street.
During every home game, Mason Street was lined up with spectators, both black and white to watch a history-making team play basketball. This team gained a fierce reputation of being “unbeatable” on their own dirt court, and was totally unstoppable whenever they played away teams on hardwood. They lost very few games on the road and zero games at home. The team was so quick that they became synonymous with the term “fast break.”
The 1955 Monticello squad included (left to right) Joseph Alexander, Tom Driskell, Rufus Standifer, Joe Green, James Jordan, Wallace Rooks, Frank Grier, James Charles Allen, Richard Standifer and team manager Percy Smith Jr.
In 1956, Lester Davis Jr. was hired to be the new coach when the school began playing in the new J.C.T.S. facility with a brand new hardwood floor gymnasium.
The year prior to going into the new gym, a visiting coach once asked Mr. Thompson, “If these boys are this good playing on dirt, how good do you think they will be playing in your new gym?” Mr. Thompson could only visualize what his fantastic team would be like playing on their new hardwood floor.
However, with the hiring of Coach Davis, Mr. Thompson then became the agriculture instructor, and Coach Davis was handed the keys to a well-oiled machine of players that would rule the basketball world for the next two years.
This team became such a feared group on the basketball court until many teams refused to play them. They were the “Beasts of Middle Georgia Basketball.” In fact, they were the team that caused the creation of regional match-ups in Middle Georgia.
By 1957, other schools in Middle Georgia such as Gray, Covington, Greensboro, Sparta and Washington, had all managed to find their own “superstar” players to try and out score the greatest player in the history of Monticello— Joseph “Bubba Jenkins” Alexander. Whenever Monticello played one of these schools at home, it was standing room only in the school gym. White and black fans alike came out to watch the “greatest show” in high school basketball with Alexander averaging 35 to 40 points per game.
Joseph Alexander and Joe Green were two sports stars; they both played baseball as well. Joe Green was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals to play professional baseball before graduating from high school. “Bubba” was recruited by several major historically black colleges and universities to take their sports programs to the next level.
