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Thursday, February 21, 2008
My Picture Collection of Tennessee Fans
19 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I remember when then MSU lost two super-primo HS basketball players to the SEC, 1969 recruiting season. Johhny Neumann Overton and Walter Rucker CBHS. Neumann went on to lead the SEC in scoring in his frosh year, Rucker the better percentage shooter and ball handler, state leader in free throw percentages, took off for Tennessee. Two local homer traitors. The Larry Finch led #2 in the nation in '72 would have evenly competed with Bill Walton's UCLA. Instead we ended up with Bill Laurie and no bench:(
I played with Walter Rucker and against Johnny Neumann (and Finch and the Robinson brothers). We had a football OL line coach running the BBall program in 67-69 and he had no idea how to use Rucker's skills. Except when he needed to shut down Neumann who was averaging 30+ppg before the 3point line was invented.
Then enter the clown Will Carruthers of the Press Scimitar local news who reported that both were going to accept scholarships to Memphis State. A lie which was born from the fact that Carruthers' best friend was Rucker's high school sweetheart father (later married) who claimed inside info.
That was the end of that for both of them. Neumann went to Ole Miss where they free tuitioned his HS sweetie and Rucker to UT, with his HS sweetheart, to never play again.
Walter Rucker, Mike Vosburgh and Johnny Neumann were TRAITORS who would have made the 1972-3 Tigers NATIONAL CHAMPIONS if they had stayed where they belonged. So what that the drunk newspaperman Carruthers hyped them up, that's was his job.
They left because they didn't give a damn about us.
This post http://www.volnation.com/forum/showpost.php?p=15327435&postcount=139 and a Google search led me here. I am Johnny Neumann. https://goo.gl/9h963m and I am here to set the record straight. I worked as an usher at Memphis State games in the Mid-South Coliseum. I was underage, paid in cash, even when I did not show up for -work-. This is when I began to distrust Memphis State.
The stories above are true. Walter Rucker invited me to a meeting with Larry Finch and other players where Larry Mansfield who played at Tennessee did recruit us. Tennessee did not offer to pay any expenses, or any perks, or free tuition for my GF so they were out. I accepted a scholarship to Ole Miss which included free tuition for my then GF...and other perks.
I would have really enjoyed playing with Larry Finch and we would have without any doubt won a Natty there.
Regarding my lost friend Walter Rucker. I was playing baseball to showcase my athletic abilities. Throw R, Hit L. Rucker is this elite super SS and I'm no real baseball player so I slap the ball at him because he's playing on the edge of the grass in the outfield. First time, I almost was safe. He plays deeper. 2nd time, almost safe. Last time, I get thrown out by 5 feet. He says "Johnny, you may make a fortune at basketball but you need to give this game up."
Just to verify who I am. I bought the first Pantera from Lincoln-Mercury Memphis dealership...and Rucker bought the 2nd one.
I am offended by the idea that I am the reason we lost in '73 for the national Championship.By any objective standard, my 1972-73 Memphis State Tigers were the finest team in school history. We went farther in championship play than any team before or since. We earned the enduring notice of a nation and the respect of my city. Most importantly, the success of my 1972-73 squad transcended basketball, providing a savior for my city Memphis that was near its historic low point.
Maybe Walter Rucker or Johnny Neumann or any other Mr. Memphis Superstar would have scored more points. So what. Without me, we never get to the Championship Game...ever.
I was the manager of the Christian Brothers High School basketball team in 1967 to 1969. I knew Walter Rucker well. My best thoughts about him were not how really great a basketball player but how he treated all of us. The Nerds. He treated us like we were OK and that was the memory I have of him. I am sorry to hear he has passed.
Excuse me but what has Johnny Nuemann, Walter Rucker or any other All Star Memphis HS player done for my University of Memphis except leave and play elsewhere? Larry Finch was a bust and I and the Executive Committee which includes former partner of Rucker's R. Brad Martin, we got the Penny Hardaway deal done for HC.
Not to mention https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojaBhv08BIs - money. mouth, or stfu.
I plyed with Walter Rucker who was not only the nicest guy I ever met...off court...but a neighborhood friend too. We would bring 3 players to his house basketball court and he would play us 3 on 1. We won about 50% of the time.
This was not a guy you wanted to cross. He used to meet the opponents best players when they were coming to the game and get into their heads hyooge. Right there in their locker room. Nobody f@@@@d with this dude.
I look at the picture in my URL link and wonder wth happened to Larry Finch, The Robinson Brothers, Mike Vosburgh and my good friend at the time, Walter. He would hold my uniform pants when I would begin to jump :). Not a good look.
Gary Stookesberry, Glynn Frix, Neumann, and I played more pickup games with Rucker at the new White Station gym than I can remember but I do remember that one day he showed up with a car full of black players.
Larry Finch, Larry and Neal Robinson, and two others and that was the start of us playing interracial ball before the TSSAA or any other organization ever thought about it.
I was at White Station at the same time as Alex. We should have crushed Christian Brothers and spent every last ounce in doing so. Walter Rucker was the only reason we could not. He shutdowm Alex Thompson - who was 8" taller - and that killed any chance of a blow-out.
I heard Walter died. Found my way here and this is a graveside testimony. We played against a no nothing team from CBHS, at home and we were ranked #1 in state. I averged 35 points per game. We won by 6 and he made my night miserable up in my face and then scored 20 or soemthing like that.
God bless him. We ended up being friends after ball and my police work.
Walter Rucker, I found this looking for him to find he is dead. When he visited Kentucky, we shot around, we played together with all the Rupp Runts https://www.wildcatworld.com/kentucky-basketball-history/the-teams-of-tradition/rupps-runts/
Coach Rupp happened to see him playing against Larry Finch and Johnny Neumann or he would have never been noticed. He ended up at Memphis State. Rupp offered and Rucker refused. I asked him why he went to memphis State and he told me he turned down scholarship offers and went to Tennessee because he followed his heart. Fucking good for him. Got married to a Tennesse student.
Christ, he was goooood. We played together in baseball, basketball, golf and track. Never played football but made the summer Varsity team as a QB the summer of his freshman year. I think he was 14. Smart enough to figure out that the end result of playing thousands of hours in contact and collision sport was DUMB. I was the first to agree with him to let football go and Walter paid the price in Coaches Revenge.
I was one of a few African-American students at Christian Brothers High School. We were not socially accepted in the mainstream of high school life dominated by white privileged. Walter Rucker was one who did give respect. I had my wallet stolen. He found the perpetrator. I got my wallet and money back, nothing missing.
He pushed for my father, Jesse, Sr. to speak to the CBHS campus and he did. He pushed for white and black togetherness when the football city championship between black and white schools.
If anyone knows how to directly contact him, say so here.
Jesse, email me at msmetric1@yahoo.com. I have an archive of Walter Rucker's videos taken on an 8mm camera by his now wife Chris. Including superstars he played against. Magic age of super-talents, Walter was the best of them. Buy far.
19 comments:
I remember when then MSU lost two super-primo HS basketball players to the SEC, 1969 recruiting season. Johhny Neumann Overton and Walter Rucker CBHS. Neumann went on to lead the SEC in scoring in his frosh year, Rucker the better percentage shooter and ball handler, state leader in free throw percentages, took off for Tennessee. Two local homer traitors. The Larry Finch led #2 in the nation in '72 would have evenly competed with Bill Walton's UCLA. Instead we ended up with Bill Laurie and no bench:(
GO TIGERS! REVENGE IS OURS!
I played with Walter Rucker and against Johnny Neumann (and Finch and the Robinson brothers). We had a football OL line coach running the BBall program in 67-69 and he had no idea how to use Rucker's skills. Except when he needed to shut down Neumann who was averaging 30+ppg before the 3point line was invented.
Then enter the clown Will Carruthers of the Press Scimitar local news who reported that both were going to accept scholarships to Memphis State. A lie which was born from the fact that Carruthers' best friend was Rucker's high school sweetheart father (later married) who claimed inside info.
That was the end of that for both of them. Neumann went to Ole Miss where they free tuitioned his HS sweetie and Rucker to UT, with his HS sweetheart, to never play again.
Jack Kelly
Center CBHS '68
Walter Rucker, Mike Vosburgh and Johnny Neumann were TRAITORS who would have made the 1972-3 Tigers NATIONAL CHAMPIONS if they had stayed where they belonged. So what that the drunk newspaperman Carruthers hyped them up, that's was his job.
They left because they didn't give a damn about us.
This post http://www.volnation.com/forum/showpost.php?p=15327435&postcount=139 and a Google search led me here. I am Johnny Neumann. https://goo.gl/9h963m and I am here to set the record straight. I worked as an usher at Memphis State games in the Mid-South Coliseum. I was underage, paid in cash, even when I did not show up for -work-. This is when I began to distrust Memphis State.
The stories above are true. Walter Rucker invited me to a meeting with Larry Finch and other players where Larry Mansfield who played at Tennessee did recruit us. Tennessee did not offer to pay any expenses, or any perks, or free tuition for my GF so they were out. I accepted a scholarship to Ole Miss which included free tuition for my then GF...and other perks.
I would have really enjoyed playing with Larry Finch and we would have without any doubt won a Natty there.
Regarding my lost friend Walter Rucker. I was playing baseball to showcase my athletic abilities. Throw R, Hit L. Rucker is this elite super SS and I'm no real baseball player so I slap the ball at him because he's playing on the edge of the grass in the outfield. First time, I almost was safe. He plays deeper. 2nd time, almost safe. Last time, I get thrown out by 5 feet. He says "Johnny, you may make a fortune at basketball but you need to give this game up."
Just to verify who I am. I bought the first Pantera from Lincoln-Mercury Memphis dealership...and Rucker bought the 2nd one.
I am offended by the idea that I am the reason we lost in '73 for the national Championship.By any objective standard, my 1972-73 Memphis State Tigers were the finest team in school history. We went farther in championship play than any team before or since. We earned the enduring notice of a nation and the respect of my city. Most importantly, the success of my 1972-73 squad transcended basketball, providing a savior for my city Memphis that was near its historic low point.
Maybe Walter Rucker or Johnny Neumann or any other Mr. Memphis Superstar would have scored more points. So what. Without me, we never get to the Championship Game...ever.
I was the manager of the Christian Brothers High School basketball team in 1967 to 1969. I knew Walter Rucker well. My best thoughts about him were not how really great a basketball player but how he treated all of us. The Nerds. He treated us like we were OK and that was the memory I have of him. I am sorry to hear he has passed.
Excuse me but what has Johnny Nuemann, Walter Rucker or any other All Star Memphis HS player done for my University of Memphis except leave and play elsewhere? Larry Finch was a bust and I and the Executive Committee which includes former partner of Rucker's R. Brad Martin, we got the Penny Hardaway deal done for HC.
Not to mention https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojaBhv08BIs - money. mouth, or stfu.
https://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/news/2013/12/02/former-tiger-donates-10-million-to.html
FAKE NEWS!!
I plyed with Walter Rucker who was not only the nicest guy I ever met...off court...but a neighborhood friend too. We would bring 3 players to his house basketball court and he would play us 3 on 1. We won about 50% of the time.
This was not a guy you wanted to cross. He used to meet the opponents best players when they were coming to the game and get into their heads hyooge. Right there in their locker room. Nobody f@@@@d with this dude.
I look at the picture in my URL link and wonder wth happened to Larry Finch, The Robinson Brothers, Mike Vosburgh and my good friend at the time, Walter. He would hold my uniform pants when I would begin to jump :). Not a good look.
Gary Stookesberry, Glynn Frix, Neumann, and I played more pickup games with Rucker at the new White Station gym than I can remember but I do remember that one day he showed up with a car full of black players.
Larry Finch, Larry and Neal Robinson, and two others and that was the start of us playing interracial ball before the TSSAA or any other organization ever thought about it.
I was at White Station at the same time as Alex. We should have crushed Christian Brothers and spent every last ounce in doing so. Walter Rucker was the only reason we could not. He shutdowm Alex Thompson - who was 8" taller - and that killed any chance of a blow-out.
I heard Walter died. Found my way here and this is a graveside testimony. We played against a no nothing team from CBHS, at home and we were ranked #1 in state. I averged 35 points per game. We won by 6 and he made my night miserable up in my face and then scored 20 or soemthing like that.
God bless him. We ended up being friends after ball and my police work.
Walter Rucker, I found this looking for him to find he is dead. When he visited Kentucky, we shot around, we played together with all the Rupp Runts https://www.wildcatworld.com/kentucky-basketball-history/the-teams-of-tradition/rupps-runts/
Coach Rupp happened to see him playing against Larry Finch and Johnny Neumann or he would have never been noticed. He ended up at Memphis State. Rupp offered and Rucker refused. I asked him why he went to memphis State and he told me he turned down scholarship offers and went to Tennessee because he followed his heart. Fucking good for him. Got married to a Tennesse student.
Coach Rupp was pissed to the heavens. :)
https://uofmtigers.blogspot.com/2008/02/my-picture-collection-of-tennessee-fans.html
https://www.volnation.com/forum/threads/walter-rucker-johnny-neumann-larry-finch-and-many-others.335182/
I played against him in the early 70s. Not fun.
I am looking for him, if one of you could send me an email at msmetric1@yahoo.com, thank you. I lost two Junior Memphis Championships to him.
Christ, he was goooood. We played together in baseball, basketball, golf and track. Never played football but made the summer Varsity team as a QB the summer of his freshman year. I think he was 14. Smart enough to figure out that the end result of playing thousands of hours in contact and collision sport was DUMB. I was the first to agree with him to let football go and Walter paid the price in Coaches Revenge.
I was one of a few African-American students at Christian Brothers High School. We were not socially accepted in the mainstream of high school life dominated by white privileged. Walter Rucker was one who did give respect. I had my wallet stolen. He found the perpetrator. I got my wallet and money back, nothing missing.
He pushed for my father, Jesse, Sr. to speak to the CBHS campus and he did. He pushed for white and black togetherness when the football city championship between black and white schools.
If anyone knows how to directly contact him, say so here.
Jesse, email me at msmetric1@yahoo.com. I have an archive of Walter Rucker's videos taken on an 8mm camera by his now wife Chris. Including superstars he played against. Magic age of super-talents, Walter was the best of them. Buy far.
Walter Rucker is Agency. Head's up
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