Professional Documents
Culture Documents
By Dan W. Durning
Among Fayetteville High School’s many memorable sports teams, the 1961-62
basketball team must be rated as one of the best for both its talent and accomplishments.
The team had a 27–2 record and did not lose a regularly scheduled game to a team in
Arkansas. It was ranked first in the state during most of the basketball season. One of its
players scored more points during the year than any other Bulldog basketball player had ever
scored in a season. Another set a record for most points scored during his years playing for the
FHS team.
The 1961-62 basketball season belonged to Justin Daniel, who set the single season
scoring record, and J.D. McConnell, who set the record for most career points by a Bulldog.
These two tall, talented basketball players led a dominant team, backed by a good supporting
cast of players, to the best season an FHS basketball team had ever had.
Both Justin and J.D. were extraordinary athletics, but in different ways. Though both
were tall, J.D. was a finesse player with a smooth game built on deceptive, deadly passing
skills, a classic jump shot, and elusive drives to the basket. J.D. glided up and down the court
exerting little apparent effort. With his head turned to the right, he would spot a teammate open
on the left and hit him in stride for an easy layup or short jump shot. His was a thinking man’s
game, more the nuance of small moves than the bombast of slam dunks. For him, the action
was not only in front of him but also on the periphery of his vision, where a teammate might
break free or an opponent become inattentive. Then came a quick pass, a solid screen, or a
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Besides his fluidity and uncanny passing, J.D. had one other huge advantage playing
guard and, sometimes, forward. He was usually much taller than the player guarding him, while
just as quick. He was 6 feet 4½ inches in a league where guards rarely reached six feet and
forwards were only a little taller. When J.D. was at the guard position, it often seemed an adult
Justin was not a finesse player. If J.D. was silk, Justin was scratchy wool. At 6 feet 4
inches, a little shorter than J.D., his job was in the middle with his back to the basket, getting
rebounds and taking the ball to the basket. Yet, he also had, when needed, a delicate touch
Justin typically was guarded by the opponent’s tallest player, so he rarely dominated his
match ups with superior height -- many teams had centers as tall as him or taller. Justin did his
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damage with a hard charging game of getting the basketball, whatever it required, and putting it
cousin, who lived just a few blocks away, both of us within a half-block lock of Jefferson
Elementary School. Although he was four years older, I saw him often in my grade school years
because I sometimes hung out with his brother Morris, who was only a year older than me. I
think I was in the third or fourth grade when Justin -- who was already tall -- had such a fast
growing spurt that, for a while, he found it difficult to do such basic tasks as bend over and tie
his shoes.
During my first year in Little League (I was 9 and Justin was 12), he was a terrifying
baseball player. He was by far the best player in the league and famous for how hard he pitched
and for hitting eye-popping home runs at the Fayetteville City Park that not only left the field, but
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went over the street and hit a big apartment building a few hundred feet away. If you were a
batter facing his fast ball, you went to the plate regretting that your mother had let play baseball
so young. If you were a pitcher standing barely 40 feet away from this guy, you had to fear for
your life.
I learned much about how to play baseball from Justin, Morris, my cousin Jerry Durning
(aka Monk, who was a very good catcher), and others who lived in the south part of town. On
Sundays during the school year, and almost any time during the summer, pickup games were
formed on the lower field of Jefferson. Justin lived just a few steps from this field and usually
In those games, which were great fun, we were scared about one thing in particular:
We feared that Justin would hit a ball about 350 feet over the trees in left field and break the
picture window of the car repair shop across the street. If that happened, we would all be in big
trouble.
Later, for a couple of summers, Justin, Morris, Jerry and I (and others) played “sock ball”
using the Jefferson building as a backstop. I think Justin started game; I continued playing it
years after he quit. The first step in the game was to make the sock ball. To do that, we cut
open an old golf ball and extracted the little rubber ball in the middle. Then we took old socks
with holes in them and started wrapping them around the little ball. With two or three socks
properly wrapped around the little rubber ball, then sewn together, you had a baseball size
“sock ball” with some heft, but also one that would not travel too far when hit or hurt too much if
it hit you.
A strike zone was drawn in chalk on the side of the building and a batter’s box outlined
on the asphalt. Some rocks were set down around an imaginary infield to delineate where a
ball, if passing there on the ground, would be a hit. Otherwise, grounders were outs as was
anything caught in the air. A fence beckoned for home runs. Other trajectories of hit balls were
subject to prolonged, sometimes bitter, debate as to whether they were hits or outs.
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The main thing to avoid in the game was hitting a hard line drive to the left of third base,
which could bust one of the windows in a door. Mr. Tincher, the Jefferson custodian, was a
really nice guy, but he had to charge you 50 cents for a window replacement, and that was
And so we played a schedule of round robin games, kept standings, and had fun for a
summer or two, until Justin and Jerry outgrew sock ball and went on to organized sports. I still
traded baseball cards with Justin every once in a while, but once you get into high school you
The year that Justin was terrorizing the Little Leagues, I was on the McIlroy Bank team
with J.D. I have a picture somewhere that proves it, but without that I would not remember it for
sure. The picture shows that J.D. was plenty tall when he was 12 years old. With the age
In addition to Justin and J.D., the 1961-62 FHS team had several very good athletics.
One of them was George Coppage, who excelled in football and was not afraid of contact on
the basketball court. You could usually count on him to give you four good fouls a game. He
was listed in the program as 6’ 2’’. I doubt he was quite that tall. (Coach Smith listed me as 6
feet 1½ inches three years later, which would have been true only if I had been measured
standing on a thick book on my tiptoes.) After he graduated, Coppage was signed by Frank
The team also had Freddie Rice, a junior who was listed at 6’ 7’’, taller than either Justin
or J.D. Freddie played forward because the center position was already occupied, and he had
several high scoring games. Though Freddie lacked some of the athletic ability of Justin and
J.D., he was good enough to get a University of Arkansas basketball scholarship after he
graduated in 1963. He averaged over 14 points a game for freshman Razorback team and had
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a memorable game in which he broke the record for most points scored in a game by a UA
freshman. He played a few games his sophomore year at UA, but did not return after that.
The picture of the team shows one African-American player, Thomas Lackey. I do not
know if he played in any games during the season. Likely, FHS’s Arkansas opponents had no
black basketball players and, at this time, would not have taken too kindly to integrated teams.
(That was still true in 1964-65 when we played against teams from segregated high schools in
Hot Springs, El Dorado, Texarkana and other cities.) Also, FHS likely would not have been able
to play a black player in the Arkansas state tournament. (In 1964, Robert Wilks and Louis
Bryant were the first African-Americans to play in the Arkansas state basketball tournament.)
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The schools in Missouri probably had African-American players during the 1961-62 school year,
The season was one of streaks. Fayetteville won its first fifteen games, lost its 16th in
Missouri, then won twelve straight. Early in the season it was ranked first in the state by the two
major polls that did such rankings. It stayed at number one through the end of the regular
season.
I attended a few of the games and listened to Wally Ingles broadcast many others. When
FHS played at home, the gym was packed. The action was inspiring for a fledgling basketball
player like me. Justin always looked confident, though often scowling; apparently he was
frequently irritated at something or someone. J.D. was always relaxed, moving around like he
was taking a stroll between classes. (One thing that struck me about J.D.: big feet. His shoes
seemed twice as long as mine.) Both Justin and J.S. had plenty of swagger on and off the
court.
One other FHS player that I particularly liked to watch was Troy Steele, a 5’ 10” (or
smaller) guard who was quick and a hustler. At least early in the season, he played quite a bit
and seemed to energize the team. For some reason, he was not on the team at the end of the
As I watched the two dominant players on the court, and thinking about it later, I often
wondered how Justin and J.D. got along. They had such different personalities (cool vs.
intense) and backgrounds (north Fayetteville white collar vs. south Fayetteville blue collar), I
doubted that they were inclined to be close friends. I never found out if there were any conflicts
between the two. I hope that they saw each other as good teammates and had healthy doses of
mutual respect.
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After winning the Ozark Conference and going undefeated in Arkansas, FHS traveled to
Little Rock in early March to play in the state tournament. I am sure that the team members and
FHS easily won its first two games. The second game was against the Green County
Tech Eagles, whom they beat 66 -59, though they did not shoot very well. Their scoring for that
game was:
The stats show that Freddie Rice had big game with 17 rebounds and 12 points. Justin
and J.D. had so-so nights for them, but Coppage, Faucette and Backus had joined with Freddie
The next game was the tournament semi-final game against North Little Rock Wildcats,
which had a 21–6 record. Over 7,000 people showed up at Barton Coliseum to watch it. The
night was frustrating for the FHS Bulldogs. Though NLR was smaller, it out rebounded the
Bulldogs and, according to the Northwest Arkansas Times account, intercepted “seven key
passes.”
Fayetteville lost the game by 59-54, but had chances at the end to pull out a win.
Ultimately, the game was decided by free throws. FHS hit 10 of 15 free throws while NLR made
According to Jim Lynch, a friend who attending NLR High School at the time, the person
most responsible for the NLR win was Ronnie LeMay, a junior, who got most of the steals
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mentioned in the press account of the game, and turned them into layups. He was the high
scorer for NLR with 18 points. He hit eight of nine free throws.
Both J.D. and Justin had big games, scoring 42 of FHS’s 54 points. Unfortunately, the
other FHS players were mostly shut out, unlike the previous game. Only four players scored
Though the season ended sadly for the FHS team, it still was a fabulous year. This
team had the best winning percentage in the history of FHS basketball team. The next closest
During the season, Justin scored more points (504) than had ever been scored in a
season by an FHS player. Also, J.D. set the record for the most career points scored by an
FHS player (869). Both were showered with honors, including all-district and all-state. Both
were selected to play in the Arkansas High School All Star game in August 1962.
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Although Kentucky scouts had come to watch J.D. play, he (apparently, I don’t know for
sure) did not receive a basketball scholarship offer from them. According to the NWA Times,
both Justin and J.D. received basketball scholarship offers from the University of Arkansas and
some smaller schools. Some people expected Justin to sign to play professional baseball.
Both accepted the UA basketball scholarships. They were joined at UA by two Arkansas
players who also were in the 1962 Arkansas All-Star basketball game: Ricky Sugg of Berryville
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And After The Season
Justin and J.D. played on the Razorback freshmen basketball team (the Shoats) during
the 1962-3 season. At the time, freshmen were not eligible to play varsity sports. In a dozen
games, J.D. scored 156 points, 13.1 points per game. Justin scored 116 points, averaging less
than ten a game. He decided not to return for his sophomore year.
One day, I think it was in late summer 1963, I got a call from Bubba McCord who told me
that a baseball scout who was thinking about signing Justin to a pro contract wanted to see him
in a tryout. The guy asked if we would help him with it. I was needed to pitch to Justin and
When we showed up at the fairgrounds, it was clear that I was much more nervous
about Justin’s tryout than Justin, who seemed to be nonchalant about the whole affair. Bubba
and I did our best to impress the scout while Justin did his thing. I tried to throw strikes so
Justin could blast them, which he did. Justin was sufficiently impressive: he signed a
In 1964, at the age of 19, he played for Wytheville, VA in the Rookie League. His stats
are on-line: he hit .288 in 212 at bats with seven doubles, 3 triples, and 4 home runs. Not bad,
but before the season was over, he was sent home. The word was that he had an injury.
During the next ten years, Justin was a top player in the Northwest Arkansas Industrial
almost 30 points a game in basketball and in 1965 his baseball team, Ken’s Sporting Goods,
won the semi-pro title with the benefit of his pitching and hitting (including two home runs in the
final game). In 1971, Justin was the MVP in the Arkansas semi-pro baseball tournament and
his team, Farmers Insurance Group, won the state championship. And on it went, year after
At some point, I think it was in the early 1970s after I had left Fayetteville, Justin started
a business dealing in baseball cards. This grew into a retail business selling sports cards and
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memorabilia, with a store, Justin’s Clubhouse, just off of College Avenue. Justin ran the
J.D. had a good four seasons with the University of Arkansas basketball team. His stats
After graduating from UA, J.D. studied medicine and became an M.D. When I was living
in Little Rock in the 1970s, I would occasionally see him at the Y.M.C.A or at some city league
basketball game. I do not know where he is now or what he is doing. However, when I googled
“J.D. McConnell” and Little Rock recently, I got a picture showing a tall, gray-haired guy with big
feet hitting a drive at a Little Rock golf course. The picture’s caption was: “J.D. McConnell of
Little Rock watches his tee shot on the first hole while playing a round of golf with friends on a
spring-like day at War Memorial Park in midtown Little Rock, January 31, 2011.”
http://www.arkansasonline.com/galleries/492/album/25704/
I don’t know if the guy is the picture was J.D. of Justin and J.D. fame, but I hope it is. That guy
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