- Part 1: Growing up in Detroit-

Police attempt to break up an incident as race rioting flared in the downtown area of Detroit on June 21, 1943. Troops were called in at the request of Michigan Governor Harry F. Kelly when police were nable to stop the fighting. Credit: rarehistoricalphotos.com

Chicken Only on Sunday

A few times a preacher would visit our house during the week and my mother would cook chicken for him.   We weren’t allowed to be in the room where the preacher and my mom were eating.  Naturally we would be peaking into the room to see if any of the chicken would be left over.  Some times there were a few pieces of chicken left over.  That was great for the brothers or sisters who were home at that time.  We would hassle over the chicken left over chicken.  Much of the time there was no chicken left after the meal.  I can remember eating only a chicken wing and a piece of bread for lunch after church.  I don’t remember ever having anything but water to drink for lunch after church.  A few times at home we had Cool Aid with lunch and sometimes we had milk with lunch.  We had chicken only on Sundays!  The chicken parts that I remember eating usually consisted of the neck, the wing, the back and the legs.  Every one knows that there is no meat on a chicken’s leg.  Most of the time my mother made chicken soup out of the chicken legs.  My mother used to purchase live chickens from the open market.  She would kill the chickens in our basement. My mother would grab the chicken around the neck and twist him in a circle until his neck was broken.  She would then throw the chicken on the floor of the basement. The chicken would then flop around on the floor until he was dead.  

Once when I was very young my mother asked me to kill a chicken.  I was taught to grab the chicken by the neck and twist him in a circle many times attempting to break his neck.  I would then throw the chicken to the ground.  I was never very good at killing chickens that way.  I can remember attempting to kill a chicken only once.  I wasn’t very successful at it.  After my mother killed the chicken, she would dip the chicken into hot or warm water.  My mother, some of my siblings, and I would then attempt to pluck all of the feathers off of the chicken.  After all of the feathers were plucked off of the chicken, my mother would cut the chicken into separate parts.  She would them wash the chicken and cooked it.  I think that we ate all of the parts of the chicken.  Again we only ate chicken on Sundays.  There never seemed to be enough to eat.  My brothers and sisters disagreed with me.  There very seldom were any seconds on food that I can remember.  I remember when I was old enough to serve my self; I would serve myself more food than I could eat some times because there very seldom were any seconds on food.  My father wouldn’t allow us to waste food.  My dad would see to it that we ate all of the food that we put on our plate.  

When I entered high school I had a girl friend whose father was a doctor.  I would sometimes eat at their house during the week.  They could afford to and did have chicken any day of the week.

Eating Food From The Garbage Can

When I was a very young kid my father was a junk man and sometimes would go with him looking for junk that we could sell.  I imagine that this was sometimes during or after the Great Depression.  I am not sure if he had a job.  Even if he did, I am sure that he barely earned enough money to take care of his family.  I think that my older brother worked at Kroger’s Super Market.  He made seven dollars a week for forty hours of work, may be more or less.  

At a very young age, I remember that my father had a pushcart with large wheels on it.  My dad would go into the white neighborhoods (alleys) looking for junk that he could find and could sell.  Some times I would go with him.  I learned from my father at a very young age to get food from large garbage cans at the back of most large super markets.    Some times I was so deep in the garbage can I couldn’t’ see out.  Of course I was very young at that time.  I guess I was to young to be concerned about any one seeing me when I came out of the garbage can.  I guess that I was more concerned about getting food from the garage can.  I never thought about the rats that would many times be in the garbage can with me.  I used to get spoiled fruit from the garbage can and cut the rotten part off and eat the rest.  I am not sure if I washed the food before I ate it.  Sometimes I would get the ends of a roll of lunch meet and take it home, cut off the spoiled part, wash it off and eat it.  God protected me from getting sick from eating some of the food that came from the garbage cans especially the lunch meat that one could see that part of the meet was (green) spoiled.

In those days, the milk - man used to deliver milk to boxes attached to the side of houses of his customers.  I learned from one of my older brothers (Cozy) to take (steal) milk from some of those boxes.  Some bread companies (Wonder Bread) used to package a small amount of cookies in a small box.  

One day I stole a package from a grocery store.  One of my neighbors saw me and told my father what I had done.   My father whipped me with some of my clothes off, for stealing.   I don’t remember having stolen anything since.  I stated before that I don’t remember eating breakfast very often before leaving for school or church.  I remember being hungry as a kid.  My sibling disagrees with me.  They seem to think that we always had enough to eat.  I think that they feel this way because they think that I blame our parents for not properly taking care of us.  Of course I could be wrong.  However, I don’t think that any one would ever forget it if he or she were hungry as a kid.  As I stated earlier I don’t remember eating breakfast very often before attending school.  

Once while attending Elementary School, my classmates and I were given a couple of Gram Crackers and a pint of milk at a time referred to as nutrition.  I did a bad thing.  I stole and hid a pint of milk.  That was bad because some body didn’t get any milk for nutrition that day.   A hungry student doesn’t care much about who signed the Declaration of Independence when he or she is hungry.

In Elementary -School, my siblings and I went home for lunch.  I can remember having only a cup of milk and a couple slices of white bread for lunch. Some times some of us didn’t get a full cup of milk for lunch because the older siblings got their milk first.  Some youngsters don’t like peanut and jelly sandwiches.  It would have been haven to have some peanut butter or jelly with the white bread.  It is amazing that some youngsters don’t like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches today.  I assume that they have enough of other things to eat.  

I went to Hutchins Junior High School after Elementary School.  Hutchins was about four long blocks from my house.  A very good friend of my William Bill Mobley used to work at a drug store that served food.  I used to meet Mobley at the drug store many mornings before going to school.  Mobley saw to it that I had a doughnut and some milk before I went to school.  Some times he would give me six cents so that I could ride the streetcar to school when it was raining or snowing.
Once when I was very young my mother asked me to kill a chicken.  I was taught to grab the chicken by the neck and twist him in a circle many times attempting to break his neck.  I would then throw the chicken to the ground.  I was never very good at killing chickens that way.  I can remember attempting to kill a chicken only once.  I wasn’t very successful at it.  After my mother killed the chicken, she would dip the chicken into hot or warm water.  My mother, some of my siblings, and I would then attempt to pluck all of the feathers off of the chicken.  After all of the feathers were plucked off of the chicken, my mother would cut the chicken into separate parts.  She would them wash the chicken and cooked it.  I think that we ate all of the parts of the chicken.  Again we only ate chicken on Sundays.  There never seemed to be enough to eat.  My brothers and sisters disagreed with me.  There very seldom were any seconds on food that I can remember.  I remember when I was old enough to serve my self; I would serve myself more food than I could eat some times because there very seldom were any seconds on food.  My father wouldn’t allow us to waste food.  My dad would see to it that we ate all of the food that we put on our plate.  

When I entered high school I had a girl friend whose father was a doctor.  I would sometimes eat at their house during the week.  They could afford to and did have chicken any day of the week.

Pre High School & High School Sports

One afternoon when I was quite young, some of my friends and I were looking in to an open door of the gym of Detroit’s Northern High School.  A basketball game was in progress.  Northern High School’s Basketball Coach, Eddie Powers observed us and invited us in to sit on the floor and watch the game.  He could have run us away.   I don’t remember if there were any seats available or not.  There probably wasn’t because the coach sat us on the floor behind the basket.  There wasn’t a lot of room behind the basket.  I am surprised that the referees let us sit there.  The coach could have run us away from the door, but he invited us in.  I sometimes wonder if Coach Powers invited us in because he knew that we were Northern High School’s basketball players of the future.

I was Crenshaw High School’s first football and track coach. Crenshaw was my school!   Crenshaw has a large fence completely around its football field.  We had policeman guarding the entrance to the football field on the day of football games. on the days that Crenshaw had a football game, the kids in the neighbor hood would wait for me and my football team at the entrance to the football field.  I would tell the policemen who were on duty at the entrance to the football stadium to let all of the kids in to the football stadium.  I did this because I remember my high school basketball coach letting some of my friends and me in to see a basketball game when we were kids.  I also knew that if I had not let the kids in to see the game they would have entered in to the stadium any way by climbing the fence.   Before I became a teenager, there were not a lot of wholesome activities for youngsters in my age group to participate in.  

There were very few programs and athletic facilities available in my neighborhood.  There were no organized activities for youngsters my age.   I pitched a lot of horse - shoes and played a lot of one wall handball at Alger, my former Elementary School Playground. I started to deliver news - papers when I was around 12 years old.  Blaine Denning a high school teammate of mine and I played a lot of one wall handball against the wall of the building where we received our news - papers to deliver to our customers.  

I also played a lot of unorganized softball on a very small athletic field, Alger School Playground.  Most of the playgrounds large enough to play baseball were in the white neighborhoods.   I don’t know how it happened, but I was a pretty good softball pitcher during my pre – teen years.  I lived two blocks West of Woodward Avenue on Detroit’s North End.  I also lived two blocks East of Oakland Avenue.  Very few Blacks lived (scattered) West of Woodward Avenue.  Some times if the police caught Blacks West of Woodward, they would harass them.  Sometimes they would call us the N word.  If you spoke up too much they would say things like “you are one of those smart Niggers” and “I’ll wrap this club around your neck like a bow tie”, and they might hit you with their clubs.  I also couldn’t go across the East side of Oakland Avenue because of a gang.  

My dad used to drink a quart of milk every day.  Unfortunately his kids didn’t. An older brother of mine stated that my father said to my mother once “ Hun, these kids don’t need any milk; I need the milk, I am the one that is working”.  Sometimes my mother would send me to purchase milk for my dad at night when most stores that sold milk close to our house were closed.  Unfortunately for me, the only store that was open was on the East Side of Oakland Avenue.  

During the warm months, gang members used to hang out in front of that particular store until the store would close.  I had to go to a store across Oakland Avenue into a neighborhood that was off limits for me.   I had a female friend (Sadie Robinson) who lived East of Oakland.  I would go to her house and ask her to go to the store and purchase a quart of milk for me.  

Up until around the age of 12, I played a lot of softball.  I don’t know how or why but I was a very good softball pitcher. When I became 12 years old I was too good of a softball player for the small playground in my neighborhood.  The larger play - ground was across Oakland.  I was allowed to go across Oakland Avenue to join one of the better softball teams because of my pitching ability.  There is a very large athlete field at Scharard Junior High School, which is across Oakland.  The bigger, older, and better softball players played softball on Scharard’s athletic field.  Scharard’s playground supported two softball teams. The younger team members were called the Wolverines.  The older team members were called the Royal Vikings.  I became a member of the Wolverines softball team.  I think that Blaine Denning, a high school friend was also on that team.

I Almost Snatch A Woman’s Purse

During the summer months in Detroit there wasn’t very much for youngsters to do in my neighbor hood.  Detroit Northern Playground was only a block from my house. I used to get up early and go to Northern Playground and practiced basketball all by my self for much of the mornings.  Later on during the day, I would go to Alger Playground and play one wall handball many times by myself.  There wasn’t any thing else to do.  In the afternoon and early evenings I would go to play softball at Scharard’s Playground. I would play softball in the evenings until dark.  My father wanted his siblings to work and earn some money to help support the family.  

One day I had been playing most of the day and I didn’t have any money to bring home to show that I had been working.  I felt that I would get a beating, yes beating, if I had been out playing all day and not bring home some money to show that I had been working.  I decided to snatch a woman’s purse to get some money.  I followed a lady intending to snatch her purse.  I think that the lady knew that I was following her, so she went into a store.  My father didn’t know this, but I almost committed a serious crime to keep from getting punished.  I had no close friends (athletically) in my neighbor hood that I associated with. I loved all sports and I had no interest in music.  I wasn’t allowed to go to the movie theater.  I couldn’t dance and I didn’t care about going to parties.  I think that I was fortunate that I had no friends that I associated with.

None of my peers who lived in my neighborhood were interested in sports.  There was nothing for me to do when softball season was over.  I used to go to Northern High School’s playground all by my self and punt and throw a football around.  I have no idea how I was able to own a football.  Henry Adams was an older gentleman who could see Northern High School’s Playground from his house.  Sometimes Henry saw me on Northern Playground punting the football all by my self.  He would come to the playground and teach me to pass and punt the football.  Henry left Detroit and went to college in Ohio.  He never saw me participate in sports in high school.  I think that I would have been a much better athlete had Henry lived in Detroit during my high school years.
I was Crenshaw High School’s first football and track coach. Crenshaw was my school!   Crenshaw has a large fence completely around its football field.  We had policeman guarding the entrance to the football field on the day of football games. on the days that Crenshaw had a football game, the kids in the neighbor hood would wait for me and my football team at the entrance to the football field.  I would tell the policemen who were on duty at the entrance to the football stadium to let all of the kids in to the football stadium.  I did this because I remember my high school basketball coach letting some of my friends and me in to see a basketball game when we were kids.  I also knew that if I had not let the kids in to see the game they would have entered in to the stadium any way by climbing the fence.   Before I became a teenager, there were not a lot of wholesome activities for youngsters in my age group to participate in.  

There were very few programs and athletic facilities available in my neighborhood.  There were no organized activities for youngsters my age.   I pitched a lot of horse - shoes and played a lot of one wall handball at Alger, my former Elementary School Playground. I started to deliver news - papers when I was around 12 years old.  Blaine Denning a high school teammate of mine and I played a lot of one wall handball against the wall of the building where we received our news - papers to deliver to our customers.  

I also played a lot of unorganized softball on a very small athletic field, Alger School Playground.  Most of the playgrounds large enough to play baseball were in the white neighborhoods.   I don’t know how it happened, but I was a pretty good softball pitcher during my pre – teen years.  I lived two blocks West of Woodward Avenue on Detroit’s North End.  I also lived two blocks East of Oakland Avenue.  Very few Blacks lived (scattered) West of Woodward Avenue.  Some times if the police caught Blacks West of Woodward, they would harass them.  Sometimes they would call us the N word.  If you spoke up too much they would say things like “you are one of those smart Niggers” and “I’ll wrap this club around your neck like a bow tie”, and they might hit you with their clubs.  I also couldn’t go across the East side of Oakland Avenue because of a gang.  

My dad used to drink a quart of milk every day.  Unfortunately his kids didn’t. An older brother of mine stated that my father said to my mother once “ Hun, these kids don’t need any milk; I need the milk, I am the one that is working”.  Sometimes my mother would send me to purchase milk for my dad at night when most stores that sold milk close to our house were closed.  Unfortunately for me, the only store that was open was on the East Side of Oakland Avenue.  

During the warm months, gang members used to hang out in front of that particular store until the store would close.  I had to go to a store across Oakland Avenue into a neighborhood that was off limits for me.   I had a female friend (Sadie Robinson) who lived East of Oakland.  I would go to her house and ask her to go to the store and purchase a quart of milk for me.  

Up until around the age of 12, I played a lot of softball.  I don’t know how or why but I was a very good softball pitcher. When I became 12 years old I was too good of a softball player for the small playground in my neighborhood.  The larger play - ground was across Oakland.  I was allowed to go across Oakland Avenue to join one of the better softball teams because of my pitching ability.  There is a very large athlete field at Scharard Junior High School, which is across Oakland.  The bigger, older, and better softball players played softball on Scharard’s athletic field.  Scharard’s playground supported two softball teams. The younger team members were called the Wolverines.  The older team members were called the Royal Vikings.  I became a member of the Wolverines softball team.  I think that Blaine Denning, a high school friend was also on that team.

Detroit Northern High School

Much of the success that I had in life was because a friend (father figure) who most of his friends called Dad or Mobley.  I worked at a drug store on Leicester and John R. in Detroit, Michigan when I was around 12 years old or younger.  Mobley was in charge of running the store.  I use to meet Mobley at the store most morning when I was attending Hutchins Intermediate School.  Hutchins was about four seemingly long blocks from my house.  Most of the time I would walk to school in the snow or rain.  When I was able to meet Mobley in the morning, he would see to it that I had a doughnut and some milk for breakfast.  Sometimes he would give me six cent so that I was able to ride the streetcar to school.  

When I attended high school, Mobley would attend as many of my football games as he could.  One day we were playing Miller High School in football.  Miller had more Football Players and coaches than Northern and they were much bigger than Northern Football Players.   I think that Miller had three or four coaches.  Northern had only one coach.  As Northern quarterback I couldn’t complete a pass because of Miller’s large and fast offensive line rush.  Mobley told me to drop back to a short punt football formation.  I was very successful in that formation even though we lost the game 6 - 0.  

Northern Football Coach Ed Triziniski thought that I was extremely smart for changing Northern’s football formation to the short punt from the T formation on my own.  He didn’t know that Mobley had told me to drop back to the short punt formation.  
Mobley helped to make it possible for me to go to college in California.  He collected money from friends and gave it to me.  My family and I didn’t have any money for college.   Mobley came to see me (UCLA’s Football Team) play Michigan State in the 1956 Rose Bowl Game.  He also saw us play Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1956.  Mobley saw to it that I had a summer job in Detroit when I came back home to Detroit during the summer.  Mobley and I remained friends after I finished college.  I would visit him and his family every summer when I came to Detroit for the summer.  Mobley is now deceased.  I will never for get him and his family for the help that they provided for me.  I have tried to set the example for my son that Mobley set for me.   Mobley was an All American Football player at Tuskegee University.  He is also in Tuskegee’s Athletic Hall of Fame

William Bill (Dad) Mobley

I attended Detroit’s Northern High School.  Coach Eddie Powers were my basketball coach when I was in high school.  Coach Powers had a basketball rim and backboard put up on Northern High School’s playground behind the school.  That was one of the best things that ever happened to me and to others that lived in my neighborhood.  It probably kept me out of a lot of trouble.  Much of the time I played or practiced basketball from sun up until sun down.  Much of the early and late hours, I was on the basketball playground all by my self, especially on Friday evenings.  There was a street light by one of the two baskets that coach Powers had put up for the community.  

When it became too dark to shoot basket in the dark, I would go to the basket where the street - light were and continue to shot baskets there.  Because of my parent’s religious beliefs, I wasn’t allowed to and didn’t attend movie theaters.  Many cold and windy weekend (Friday) evenings I would see many of my high school classmates on their way to the theater while I was shooting baskets at the basket nearest the street light.  

I entered Detroit’s Northern High School in the fall of 1947.  I played football my first semester at Northern High School.  I was the first string quarterback for the football team my first year on the team.  We only had one football coach.  His name was Coach Ed Triziniski.  He was a former football player at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.  He was a very nice guy.   Northern Football Field wasn’t large enough for us to practice football and it didn’t have any grass.  Playing football for Northern High School wasn’t easy.  We had to walk about five or six blocks to Hutchins Junior High School’s athletic field to practice football.  Many days it was very cold and wet.  We didn’t have warm clothing that could protect us from the cold.   Hutchins Junior High School athletic field was large enough to practice football and it had grass on its athletic field.   Most of the time it was very cold and many times we practiced in the rain.  

Much of the football equipment issued to us didn’t fit us but we were glad to get it.  We didn’t wear facemasks in those days. The football helmets consisted of a very thin shell and they didn’t provide the players with very much protection.  My freshman year at Northern, the football players had to provide their own transportation to and from football games.  Can you believe that?  We didn’t have an on campus facility to practice or to play our home football games.  I remember riding to a football game with one of the senior football players (William Felga Bloodsoe) who later became a Judge in Highland Park, Michigan.  We called him Bill or Felga.  Bill owned a jeep.  We got little if any assistance from Northern’s administration in obtaining transportation to and from our football and basketball games.  I am quite sure that coach Triziniski was very inexperienced on how to run a football team.  Sometime later we rode buses to all of our high school activities.  

Before I played varsity sports some of Northern students and I fought our opponent student body after some of our home basketball games.   That was stupid, but we didn’t have the leadership that cared enough about Northern students to emphasize to us how wrong that was.   The ethnicity of Northern student body was changing and Northern teachers didn’t know and possibly didn’t care about how to deal with blacks.  They seemed to have the attitude that most blacks would end up working in the automobile industry and not attend college.  Highland Park, Hamtramck, and some of the other all white high school got out of the Detroit Public School’s Athletic League probably because of some of the fighting after games.

I made Detroit’s All City Football Team two of the three years that I played football for Northern High School.  When football season was over, I played basketball.  Northern had good basketball teams and a very good basketball coach.   I was a guard on my freshman basketball team.   The freshman team always played their basketball game before the varsity basketball game.  Coach Powers moved me up to the varsity basketball team the last game of the season.  I sat on the bench for most of the game.  I was upset because I hadn’t been into the basketball game so I left the bench and went to the locker room to change clothes.  That wasn’t very smart! The coach sent some one to the locker room to get me.  They told me that the coach said that if I didn’t play in a game with the varsity I wouldn’t be eligible to play in the city basketball championship tournament.  That was the last game that I could play in before the city play offs started.  Naturally I shot up stairs and the coach put me into the game.  

Miller High School and Northern High School’s student body consisted of mostly black students.  The two schools had a great rivalry.   Northern and Miller High Schools played for the City of Detroit’s High School Basketball Championship two out of the three years that I was in high school.  We lost both years to Miller High School.  My junior year, the year that we didn’t make it to the city finals, our basketball team members had to provide our own transportation to the city playoff games.  I showed up late for the game with a date.  Naturally we used public transportation to the game.  Some students who were going to the game saw my date and me waiting for the bus.  They gave us a ride to the gym where the game was being played.  The star of our basketball team Blaine Denning showed up late for the game also.  We lost 36 – 39.   I now blame our Coach, Coach Eddie Powers for the lost!  The team that beat us was Cooley.  They ran a quick or fast break.  We were out coached!  

Coach Powers should have made sure that his players had a ride to the city play off basketball game.  He could have taken the first team to the game in his car.  He could also have arranged for players to ride with one or more of the player’s parents.  We should have won the city championship that year.  We had already beaten Miller High School in league play.  

I made Detroit’s All City Basketball Team two out of the three years that I played basketball for Detroit Northern High School.  I also made the Detroit Times Michigan’s All State Basketball Team my senior year at Northern High School.  Miller is now a junior high school.  Miller has a yearly picnic the second Sunday in August.   Former black students from all of Detroit’s high schools and their friends attend he picnic.  It is a very successful affair and there is no violence associated with the picnic.  After basketball season was over, I ran track on Northern High School’s track team.  I wanted to play baseball because the baseball uniforms looked like the baseball uniforms that the Major League Baseball Players wore.  Northern High School's track coach Mr. Silverberg got to me before the baseball coach did.  He convinced me to run track.  I made Detroit’s All City Track team my last year as a member of Northern High School’s track team.   Northern, Miller, and some of Detroit’s other Junior and Senior Schools have closed because of a lack of funds.

Blacks Couldn’t Use The Local (White) YWCA And YMCA In Highland Park, Michigan

Alex Omalev the basketball coach at Fullerton Junior College was raised in Detroit, Michigan.   Alex also attended Detroit Northern High School several years before I did.   He completed his high school education in Detroit and went on to graduate from the University of Southern California.  He later became the basketball coach at Fullerton Junior College.  Ventura College, San Bernardino College and several other community colleges in California recruited many out of state athletes to come to their institutions and play sports.  Alex visited Detroit (his home town) and recruited Pinky Thompson, (Detroit Central High School), Jerry Philip, and me (Detroit Northern) to come to Fullerton Junior College to play basketball.  

Coach Alex wanted to see us work out so we went to the Highland Park’s YMCA, in Highland Park, Michigan.   After waiting there for about an hour or longer some one came out and told Coach Omalev that we couldn’t use their YMCA because blacks weren’t allowed to use that particular YMCA.  So we went to a black YWCA in downtown Detroit to have our workout sessions.  It was years later before I realized why we didn’t work out at the Highland Park YMCA.   Coach Omalev decided to take all three of us back to Fullerton, California to play basketball for Fullerton Junior College.