|
Post by SixtiesAggie on Feb 11, 2007 10:57:29 GMT -5
Great interview in today's paper with Joe Howell. I would like to have seen a bit more substance, but still a nice article.
|
|
|
Post by SixtiesAggie on Feb 11, 2007 15:21:20 GMT -5
The Interview: Joe Howell built Aggie pride in 1950s
Print Email this Article ADVERTISEMENT To hundreds of Philadelphia-area men and boys, Joe Howell will forever be Coach Howell, the bespectacled junior high physical education teacher who coached basketball, tennis and baseball for 33 years in the School District of Philadelphia.
To N.C. A&T fans here in the Triad, Howell is best known as the man who led the Aggies to consecutive CIAA basketball championships in 1958 and 1959. Shortly after the second conference title, Howell received two awards, the Philadelphia Alumni Chapter's Jack Gibson Memorial Plaque and the Aggie Letterman's Award for the most outstanding basketball player of the year.
Next month, 48 years later, the CIAA is honoring Howell all over again by inducting him into its hall of fame.
The News & Record's Robert Bell caught up with Howell by phone in Glenside, Pa., where he is three months into what he hopes is a long retirement.
Q: Were you surprised when you got the call from the CIAA?
A: Not surprised. Well, maybe a little because it's been a long time. Fifty years is a long time. I hadn't given it too much thought, so I guess it was a nice thing to hear.
Q: How has basketball -- the game itself -- changed in the past 50 years?
A: It's changed a lot. We played during a time when your coach stressed fundamentals and you don't see that anymore. A lot of players do their own thing. The good teams still stick to the fundamentals, but there aren't many out there these days. Another thing is dunking. We hardly ever dunked. And there was no such thing as a 3-pointer. I wish there had been. I would have scored a whole lot more points, because all my shots were 3-pointers.
Q: Are college players any better than when you played?
A: Well, they're in better condition, but I wouldn't say they're any better. One big difference now you'll see is in height. We didn't have too many 7-footers playing, but nowadays every team seems to have one on their roster.
Q: Why do you think that is?
A: I don't know. Maybe kids changed their diets or something. I wish we had one when I was playing. It would have made my job a lot easier.
Q: Your four years at A&T were spent playing mostly historically black schools, correct?
A: Right. We played Shaw, Fayetteville State, North Carolina College, Virginia Union, Virginia State. The thing is, A&T and all those other black schools got the best black basketball players in the country. We were pretty good.
Q: Did you ever wonder what it would be like to play the big boys like North Carolina or N.C. State back then?
A: Not so much now, but when we were playing, yeah, we wondered how we'd do against the big boys if they gave us a shot. In '59 and '58, we could have played well with any school in North Carolina and held our own. I don't know if we could have won -- maybe, we'll never know -- but I guarantee you we would have played them tough.
Q: Tell me about your coach, Cal Irvin. Was he as strict as people say he was?
A: Let me say this: If we were slow in games, if we got tired down the stretch of a game, Coach Irvin would have us out on the track the next day to get in shape. Not just the starters. Everyone on the bench -- even if they didn't play. It didn't matter if it was November or January. If we looked slow in a game, we were running the next day.
Q: Do you still keep in touch with your teammates?
A: As much as we can. There's always some excuse for us to get together. It took me a long time to come back to Greensboro for (A&T's) Homecoming, because I had other things to do. But I've been coming for, I think, seven years in a row and we still get together and talk about those days.
Q: I'll bet you have some good stories.
A: Oh, yeah. You never know what stories are going to come up when the guys get to having a couple of beers. Some of them are even true.
Subscribe for home delivery Print Email this Article BIO: JOE HOWELL • Age: 71 • Family: Wife, Beatrice Micky Howell; children, Dustan Howell and Lisa Shepherd • Professional: Retired late last year after 33 years teaching in Philadelphia • Residence: Glenside, Pa. Email this Article Print this article Search ArchivesJoin N&R eNewsletterReader Advisory NetworkAdd N&R RSS FeedsADVERTISEMENT Contact Us | About Us | News & Record Jobs | Terms of Use Subscribe | Help | | Online Advertising RSS Feeds | © 2007 News & Record 200 East Market Street, Greensboro, NC 27401
|
|