Former Howard gym in March 2024
photo by John Shearer
Former Howard gym in March 2024
photo by John Shearer
Former Howard gym in March 2024
photo by John Shearer
Former Howard gym in March 2024
photo by John Shearer
Former Howard gym in March 2024
photo by John Shearer
Former Howard gym in March 2024
photo by John Shearer
Former Riverside (and current CSAS) gym in March 2024
photo by John Shearer
Former Riverside (and current CSAS) gym in March 2024
photo by John Shearer
Former Riverside (and current CSAS) gym in March 2024
photo by John Shearer
Former Riverside (and current CSAS) gym in March 2024
photo by John Shearer
Former Riverside (and current CSAS) gym in March 2024
photo by John Shearer
Former Riverside (and current CSAS) gym in March 2024
photo by John Shearer
The attention given singing sensation Usher and his early years in Chattanooga after he performed at the Super Bowl last month started me thinking about his family.
While his mother, Jonnetta Patton, was highlighted in the local media in connection with his halftime performance, I also knew that his late father, Usher Raymond III, had once played for Howard High’s basketball team.
He was the captain of the 1973 Hustlin’ Tiger team that appeared headed to success and a possible state championship until a somewhat unexpected defeat in the state quarterfinals.
I had hoped to interview some people connected to that 1973 team but was unsuccessful after a minimal check, even though I have interviewed in the last couple of years Leroy Alexander, the then-coach of rival Riverside, several times.
But since the 2024 Division I state boys’ basketball tournament is winding down this weekend, I thought it might be fun to at least look at how that season for Howard and Mr.
Raymond was covered in the media. And maybe I can eventually get in touch with some players from that era and do a follow-up story down the road.
That time of 50-plus years ago was kind of a golden era locally for Howard and Riverside in basketball. Riverside had won two state championships in 1968 and 1969 under coach Dorsey Sims, while Howard had been able to break through during the 1970-71 year and beat their historic black school rival.
I remember interviewing longtime Howard coach Henry Bowles in his retirement, and he said that after Riverside had enjoyed its dominant run, he and some Howard supporters had driven around Chattanooga and looked at the outdoor basketball playgrounds and other goals around town. They noticed more were up in the Riverside school zone, so they worked to rectify that beginning after he was named as head basketball coach of his alma mater in 1969.
As a result, as segregation had broken down and black schools were playing more and more white schools, Riverside and Howard were the two dominant local teams by the early 1970s.
And this was obviously evident in the 1972-73 season, when each school was trying to reassess its dominance over the other after Riverside had won all encounters the previous season on its way to a state championship under coach Alexander. Howard, by the way, finished second in the state tournament.
So, one can easily understand more than 50 years later the excitement when the two teams gathered on Jan. 5, 1973, at Memorial Auditorium for their first matchup. As Gary Davenport of the Chattanooga News-Free Press wrote in the preview article for the 8:30 p.m. Friday matchup, “Everyone across the state will be looking for the final score.”
The two teams had both lost in games at then-powerhouse Kingsport Dobyns Bennett earlier that season, so neither one was coming into the game feeling invincible, although confidence was likely still there.
Riverside featured such players as future NBA standout and No. 1 statewide prospect Anthony Roberts, guard Anthony McAfee and big man Steve Powell. Howard, meanwhile, had standout 6-foot-5 big man Gerald Cunningham, standout guard Wendell Poole, and additional inside players William Watts and Dewayne Bennings. They also had another solid player who was not mentioned in the pregame article – Usher Raymond III.
Some 6,000 people – that’s right, 6,000 – jammed the auditorium, which had a flat floor and not its permanently sloping lower level at that time, and the fans saw Howard win 77-63 following a fourth quarter surge. Wendell Poole scored 29 points, including 19 in the second half, and was carried off the court by his excited teammates. A good defense by coach Bowles’ squad was also considered a key, as they came back from a two-point deficit at the end of three quarters.
Among other scoring, Mr. Cunningham had 18 and, yes, Usher Raymond chipped in 10. Riverside had been led by Mr. Roberts’ 24 points and 15 by Anthony McAfee.
Howard would go on to defeat Riverside again in the regular season, and they would meet again in the finals of the district tournament, this time at UTC’s Maclellan Gymnasium in front of 4,000 after they had easily defeated Baylor and McCallie in the semifinals. Baylor and McCallie both had good athletes, too, including McCallie junior and boarding student Greg Keith.
In this one, Howard won over its rivals for the third straight time, but by a close 76-72 score, to avenge the five losses to Riverside the previous year, including in the state finals. Riverside actually led for a good part of the game, but Howard was able to shut star Roberts down somewhat through its tough defense and by working the ball to standout Cunningham, who had 23 points. Mr. Raymond was one of three other players to finish in double figures and was said to have gotten hot early in the second half to give the Hustlin’ Tigers a spark.
Mr. Roberts still had 24 points, while George Ashley had 14 and Anthony McAfee had 13 for the Trojans.
Both teams advanced to the region tournament at Motlow State Community College’s gym in Tullahoma and then on to the state tournament after the substate. In the region finals, Howard beat Riverside for a fourth time, 82-74, after Gerald Cunningham had 28 points for the Hustlin’ Tigers and teammate William Watts had 20. Riverside’s Anthony Roberts had an impressive 39 points. At the time of the region tournament, Howard with only one loss was ranked No. 1 in the state in the UPI rankings, while Kingsport D-B was No. 2, Johnson City Science Hill was No. 3, and undefeated Gallatin was No. 4.
Unfortunately, a dream season for Howard or Riverside was not to be. At the state Class Large tournament on March 15, 1973, at the now-razed Stokely Athletic Center at UT-Knoxville, Howard lost a 57-56 heartbreaker to Science Hill in the first-round quarterfinal game. Mr. Cunningham and Mr. Poole had their usual good games of 18 and 17 points each, respectively, while Mr. Raymond added 2.
Riverside did win its quarterfinal game over Columbia but lost two days later in the semifinals by 15 to Dobyns Bennett. Gallatin would end up winning the state over Dobyns Bennett.
Mr. Roberts from Riverside would go on to play for Oral Roberts University and the Denver Nuggets, but would unfortunately die at age 41 in 1997 following an argument in an apartment parking lot in Tulsa. He had earlier struggled with some drug abuse issues, according to some stories found online, but had turned his life around through treatment and later spoke out about the dangers of drugs.
Singer Usher’s father unfortunately died on Jan. 18, 2008, at an Atlanta hospital at the age of only 52. His obituary said he went on to become a minister and was an instructor with the Overcomers Organization. Nicknamed “Urkie,” he had also gone to Motlow State, although it is not known if he played basketball there or if he had been noticed during the region tournament there.
He was buried in Highland Memorial Gardens off Shepherd Road in Chattanooga.
His obituary also said he was the team captain, so he must have had some natural leadership skills despite not being the star player.
Among those also listed as being survivors at the time of his death besides the famous singer were daughters Tomika Johnson, Ursula Parson, Ushyra Raymond, and Shelley Lusk; mother Ernestine Carter, grandmother Etta Berry; brothers Duane and Dorian Raymond, Eric Perkins, and Fred Roddy; and sisters Wava Brooks, Linda Raymond, Raynor Davis, Rena Oden, Blondell Roddy, and Alice Conerly. His father, Usher Raymond Jr., preceded him in death.
An online biography of singer Usher’s mother, Ms. Patton, said she raised her two sons, Usher and James “JLack” Lackey, as a single mother.
Among the other Howard players from that time, I found one obituary item of another person from recent years that listed Wendell Poole as a surviving sibling living in Texas.
Regarding Mr. Cunningham, longtime UTC fans likely remember that he went on to enjoy a good career at Kentucky State and returned to play at Maclellan Gymnasium against one of coach Ron Shumate’s good Moc teams.
He evidently went on to play some professional ball in Europe and South America after being drafted by the New York Nets and became director of the Washington Hills recreation center here.
Unfortunately for him, a 2009
chattanoogan.com story found online said he had been involved in a drug-related arrest in 2008 and had received probation.
He must have gone on to find a better place, though, as another online story said just this January a resolution was introduced by the Kentucky general assembly on the occasion of his induction into the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2023.
The text found online said he scored 2,635 career points with the Kentucky State Thorobreds.
Efforts to reach him through Kentucky State’s sports information office proved unsuccessful.
More than 50 years ago, he and the others were like local prep celebrities who drew eyes with their wizardry on the basketball court when the game was starting to grow greatly in fan appeal, in part due to improving athleticism and ball-handling skills on a collective basis.
And of these, a middle-of-the-road player – Usher Raymond III – would go on to later enjoy the star experience as much as the others simply as the father of a famous singer.
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