UTC Hoop Stars McCray, Golden Back Together

It’s Saturday afternoon of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four Weekend and one can find Herbert “Book” McCray and Wayne Golden in a familiar place – a basketball gym.

 

While Willie, Mickey and the Duke were “Talkin’ Baseball” back in the day, McCray and Golden talk hoops and the importance of mentoring and leading young boys to be productive citizens as adults.

 

Golden was in town (he and his family live near Austin, Texas) to be part of McCray’s Chattanooga – Atlanta-Chattanooga Middle School All-Star game held at McCallie School (won by the Atlanta squad, but Golden’s son Caleb, playing for Chattanooga, won the 3-point shooting contest) and sponsored by the local Independent Youth Services Foundation.

 

“Our friendship goes back to playing ball at Shawnee High School in Louisville (Ky.) and later at UTC,” said Golden who is a member of the Greater Chattanooga and UTC Sports Halls of Fame.

 

The duo led Shawnee to the 1973 Kentucky state championship (only one classification) and followed that with a NCAA D-II national title for the Mocs in 1977.

 

Today, he works with youth in crisis through Life Works as he and others provide counseling, shelter, mentoring help and for those 18 and older help in the transition process of being on their own.

 

Asked the best part of playing ball for UTC (besides winning the national title), “The huge crowds at Big Mac (Maclellan Gym) for our home games were great,” said Golden.

“Our fans really made a difference.”

 

Sixth Man: “They (fans) were our sixth man,” McCray stated. “They really supported us.”

 

Golden and McCray were part of UTC’s “Louisville Connection” from 1974-77 as basketball interest was at an all-time high in the Scenic City along with the great Riverside-Howard prep hoops rivalry as the later won state titles in 1968-69-72 (Howard was state runner-up in 1972).

 

The Original Fab Five: Prior to the 1973-74 season, no UTC team had ever won 20 games in a season (1974 squad won 21) and the Louisville Connection went 90-28 for four years with three trips to March Madness and two title game appearances (1976-77) and five freshmen – Golden, McCray, Gary Stitch, William “Too Quick” Gordon, and Cornell Starks - along with upper classmen including Kevin Gray (also a Shawnee HS alum) and Walter "Moose" McGary made a seat in Big Mac on Saturday night’s as difficult ticket at the D-II level as entrance to UCLA's Pauley Pavilion or Memorial Gym at the U. of Kentucky when both schools were winning national titles.

 

Sellout crowds and epic battles with Tennessee State and others are legendary in the annals of Mocs basketball directly leading to the building of the Round House, now known as McKenzie Arena.

 

“We were a close knit team and, of course, winning helped a lot,” said Golden who was in the U.S. Armed Forces from 1981-89, parlayed his talents into a productive pro career in South America, the Netherlands and Mexico going out on top averaging 23 points a game in his final season at the age of 36.

 

And the guys from Kentucky already understood winning before wearing the blue and gold.

 

The aforementioned state championship for Golden and McCray at Shawnee followed state championships for William Gordon at Male HS in 1970 and 1971, while Stitch went to Trinity and Starks played at Flaget where future Heisman Trophy winner and pro football hall of famer Paul Hornung ran for touchdowns in the early 1950s.

 

“Once we started winning our freshman year (under coach Ron Shumate and assistant coach Ralph Underhill) and drew the large crowds we realized our four years together could be pretty special,” Golden stated.

 

“We had reached the mountain top (D-II finals) as juniors in 1976, but came up dry as we lost (83-74 to Puget Sound (Wash.),” said McCray who holds undergrad and graduate degrees in the education field and is a former classroom teacher, assistant principal and principal in the Hamilton County School system.

 

“Right after the loss we all set our sights on winning it in 1977 and we did. We were on a mission and reached our goal as seniors (beating Randolph Macon, 71-62, in Springfield, Mass., the home of basketball.)”

 

Mentoring Boys To Men: McCray’s goals today extend well beyond the basketball court as for the past 22 years he and his staff have led a male mentoring/basketball program for elementary and middle school age boys.

 

“I and many others have found that boys learn differently than girls and do best in a single sex classroom setting, and knowing how to read is so critical to education,” he said.

 

McCray’s organization uses the lexia reading program which is a literacy initiative model used city-wide.

 

He and his staff lead an after-school program where they go to the schools and have a balance of basketball practice and games and school work.

 

“We know that if we don’t offer the kids some fun time playing and learning the game of basketball they won’t stay in the program. The kids (115 involved across the city) also know that we require they are on board with our entire curriculum of hoops and classroom work. No classroom work means no basketball.”

 

McCray stated, “I preach to our kids all the time. Twenty, thirty years after their playing days are over, no one is going to care how many points they scored in high school and how many games their team won.

 

“We want them to have earned an education and be productive citizens.”

 

Nearly 40 years after hanging a national championship banner in the rafters, members of the UTC Fab Five are still working to help others become winners in life.

 

 

contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net