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What is a scout and what makes them so
special? Back in the day Major League Teams had what they
called bird dogs, today they call them Associate Scout's. What makes a
great scout or a coach? Is it just evaluating talent and being able to
project, knowing the heart of the player, or mentoring that player? Is it
getting to know the family, understanding who those kids are? It is all
of the above, but how many coaches or scouts have had the success
with athletes in multiple sports and helped change their lives for
ever?
Well I know one person for sure,
George
Powles,
he took it to different levels and arguabily,
might be one of the greatest coaches, scouts, and mentor for kids
ever.
George
Powles
was born in 1910 in Oakland California and at the age
of 20 he played with the San Francisco Seals in the old Pacific
Coast League. While George's baseball career didn't last long, his
impact in Sports in Oakland and the bay area is undisputeable!
George also joined the Army on April,1 1944 and is a World War II
veteran.
George
Powles coached
baseball and basketball at McClymonds High School in Oakland, Calif.,
from 1947 to 1975. Back then it wasn't about specialization for High
School Athletes in sports, it was about the athletes! He coached and
mentored so many athletes. I doubt any one scout coached/mentored
the likes of
Curt Roberts,
Willie Tasby,
Charlie Beamon,
Frank Robinson,
Jesse Gonder,
Curt Flood,
Vada Pinson ,
Aaron Pointer, Lee Lacy, or even
Bill Russell in Basketball, just to
name a few.
Could you ever imagine a high school outfield that included
Frank Robinson,
Curt Flood, and
Vada Pinson? Seventeen of Powles protégés made the
major leagues. Powles once had two of his players from McClymonds
High School playing for the Cincinnati Reds outfield in
Frank Robinson and
Vada Pinson who combined hit 842 homeruns during their careers.
Frank Robinson hit 586 Homeruns while
Vada Pinson hit 256. There was obviously a pipeline from
McClymonds High School, as the
Cincinnati Reds also signed
Bill Russell and he went on to be a lifetime .293 hitter with
most of his time being spent with the St Louis Cardinals. They were all signed
by Bobby Mattick who was a scout of the Cincinnati Reds at that time.
So who was
George
Powles;
lets see what some of the most prolific athletes of our life time tell us
who George was and what they learned from
George:
Frank
Robinson
"I
learned more about baseball from George than I did from anybody in the big
leagues".
Bill Russell
"As a varsity coach at McClymonds High School, Powles encouraged Russell to
persevere after Russell was cut from the junior varsity -- a hard-to-believe
occurrence all these years later.
Russell stuck with it and blossomed as
a senior, learning under Powles the art of defense and shot-blocking, the
famous forces of his game that he utilized while leading USF to two NCAA
championships, the U.S. to an Olympic gold medal and the Boston Celtics
to 11 NBA titles in 13 years".
"George took $2 out of his pocket and bought me a year's membership to the
Boys' Club and then told the other boys, 'This kid's going to be good'. George
was the only guy on the planet who thought that. I couldn't even make the
homeroom team. "He gave us a sense of self worth that it was OK to be
ambitious, OK not to be afraid and really OK to find out how good you could
be."
"We listened to Powles and behaved as he suggested," Russell recalls. "We
didn't get into trouble. We just won championships."
Joe Morgan, another Oakland Native who
was inducted into the Baseball Hall of
Fame was quoted as saying "I learned more in one week working with
George than at any other time in my entire career," said Morgan, who went to
Castlemont High. "He taught us what it takes to win. He taught us
fundamentals. He brought it all into focus, and it carried with me
throughout my career".
So how many of us even knew who
George
Powles is?
I can tell you I didn't until I did my research.
George
Powles was
not only a teacher, coach, and a confident, he was a visionary, someone who
believed in more than just coaching. In my opinion, his contributions to the
City of Oakland and the Bay Area are amazing! His students and athletes changed
the boundries of sports and life forever and it wasn't by
accident.
Bill Russell who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, also became the first African
American Head Coach in the NBA.
Frank Robinson, who
was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame was the first
African American that was hired as a Manger. I would also be remiss in not
mentioning
Curt Flood's legendary contributions too.
Curt Flood challenged the
Reserve Clause that changed baseball
forever. He helped pave the way for free agency for future players.
Curt Flood is surely another one of the most influential
figures in American Sports History. He was also an acomplish artist. They are
all from McClymonds
High School in Oakland and played for
George
Powles.
There
are so many lives
George
Powles
touched. Whether it was
enouraging a young
Bill Russell not to give up on his dream, or all the
players he coached. All George did was give back to McClymonds
High School, the City of Oakland and the Bay area.
I encourage you to read and view all the articles I have attached for this
article as the recognition needs to go to them for keeping George's
accomplishments for all of us to see.
written
by:
Robbie Henderson
Thank you for reading this article
on George Powles
"Remember it is always the story behind the
story"
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