Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 30, 1995 TAG: 9511300025
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: E-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Maybe Lisa Childress said it best when asked about the legacy of James ``Hoolie'' Childress:
``It's in the blood, as you can see,'' said the former high-scoring William Byrd and Ferrum College basketball player.
The Childress basketball legacy at William Byrd began with the 1966-67 season,
when Hoolie Childress set records in the Roanoke Valley that are not likely to be broken.
Hoolie played one year at Byrd after George Washington Carver was closed. As a senior, the 6-foot-4 youngster averaged 30.9 points and 16 rebounds a game. He finished his career with 1,741 points and went on to play at Bluefield (W.Va.) State College.
The tradition continued when Lisa, Hoolie's cousin, led William Byrd to a Group AA runner-up spot in 1985 by averaging 25 points a game. She went on to become the second-leading scorer in NCAA Division III as a sophomore at Ferrum.
Brothers Donald and Chris Childress continue to play basketball, though they don't have the dominating scoring ability of their two cousins. Donald is a sophomore at Emory & Henry after leading Byrd in scoring two years ago. Chris Childress was the Blue Ridge District's player of the year as a junior and is one of Timesland's top returning players this winter.
When Chris and Donald hang up their basketball uniforms, it might be another eight or nine years before another Childress follows. Waiting his turn is 8-year-old James Childress III, who already is a follower of the boys' and girls' teams at Byrd and is something of a gym rat.
It all started with Hoolie, who knows almost everybody in Vinton and still follows the Byrd teams as if it was yesterday, when he played for Jim Daughtry and Roland Malone.
Childress, thanks to a neighbor who started calling him Hoolie, has had his nickname since he was 6 years old. People in Vinton probably wouldn't know the name James Childress II, but their eyes light up when someone talks about Hoolie. The night he scored 59 points at Covington immediately comes to mind.
``I remember it like it was yesterday,'' said Hoolie, who works at General Electric after four years at Bluefield State, where he averaged more than 19 points and 12 rebounds a game. ``Everything I threw up went in. I thought I had 30 or 40 points. When they told me I had 59, it startled me.''
Chris and Donald just shake their heads at that number and at his average of more than 30 points per game as a senior. So does current Byrd coach Paul Barnard.
``I never saw Hoolie play,'' said Chris, who averaged 19.8 points a game to lead the Blue Ridge District last winter. ``My dad [Donald Sr.] told me a lot about him. I remember reading about Lisa and playing with her in the parks.
``Today, it's harder for one person to dominate a game like Hoolie did. You have to have two or three people scoring. I can't imagine anyone averaging 30 points a game.''
``I saw [Laurel Park's] Odell Hodge [the state's all-time scoring leader] play, and I played against [Salem's] Mark Byington,'' Donald Childress said. (Hodge is the starting center for Old Dominion, and Byington starts in the backcourt for North Carolina-Wilmington.) ``They didn't average 30 points. They were scoring machines and I know with our style [at Byrd] no one can score 30 a game.''
Barnard says the times have changed.
``It's harder today,'' said the Terriers' coach. ``I don't think Chris and some of the other leading scorers would take that many shots. More teams run a motion offense that gives more people an opportunity to shoot.''
Only Hoolie disagrees.
``I don't think it would be hard to average 30 points,'' he said, ``but what if people think you didn't play defense - that you only played a run-and-gun offense?
``What if I had the 3-point shot at the time? I took a lot of shots behind the 3-point line.''
What if he had played his entire career at Byrd, instead of coming over when Carver was closed and Roanoke County schools were fully integrated?
``The game was more open at Carver,'' he said. ``There was a lot more fast breaking. It didn't matter what style we played; I adjusted. When they told me they were going to close Carver, it upset me for a while. Then it turned out to be just beautiful at Byrd.''
For the Childress family, it has been ever since.
by CNB