ALWAYS THE "REAL DEAL"
I first met Doug Collins when he was just a boy growing up in our small southern Illinois
town. He is some years younger than me, not many, but a few. He is the oldest son of
Paul and Gerry Collins' and the brother of Linda and Jeff Collins. Doug and I spent time in
the Franklin County Jail on West Main Street, not as prisoners but as occupants. Paul
Collins was the Sheriff of Franklin County 1954-58 and the official home of the chief law
enforcement officer was the front apartment at the jail. My father was Sheriff 1958-62, and
our family moved into that same apartment four years later.
After his pre-teen years in Benton, the pride of Benton became a "Running Ranger." His
high school coach mostly relegated him to the bench for his first three years, but Collins
was not to be denied. An insatiable worker, Collins improved his body and skill and soon
"broke-out" and became a star athlete his senior year.
Collins was a nondescript athlete. He did not stand out in the crowd. He and I talked a lot, probably because of the sheriff-connection. I remember one night during his junior year in high school, he and I were in the Harrisburg gymnasium before a game. He asked me how he could win the WFRX Star of the Game certificate. I told him, "Score 20-points and give me twenty dollars." Coach Rich Herrin sent the young athlete into the game late in the fourth quarter, and Collins systematically poured in multiple long-range baskets. That was before the three-point shot rule had been adopted, but all of them would have qualified. The game's outcome had been determined long before Collins was sent into the fray, but his performance ignited the crowd and set the stage for an electrifying preview his senior year.
Collins' high school play earned him the attention of a talented coach at Illinois State University. Will Robinson, the first Afro-American coach in Division 1 College Basketball history, was a good coach on his way to greatness. He who knew what to do with a great player. He had faith in the young Benton lad, and Collins did not disappoint his coach. Collins averaged 29.1 points per game over his career at Illinois State. He was so good the National Basketball Association (NBA) picked him No. 1 in the 1973 draft.
I had the privilege of describing every high school game played by Collins. I followed him on a daily basis during his college career. His every accomplishment was reported on my WFRX Morning Sports Show. After a game, I would call Collins for a live interview. He was a gracious athlete.
I knew Collins when he met the love of his life and married Kathy Collins in her hometown in Geneseo, Ill. My daughter, Kimberly was asked to be Kathy's flower girl, and Steven Bradley was Collins' ring bearer. It was a beautiful wedding of two beautiful people. Chris and Kelly are the proud results of that union.
Early in 1972 and before they left for Germany, the U.S. Olympic team needed practice, so they played professional teams around the country. I was asked to accompany Collins and his Olympic teammates to Louisville, KY. During the trip, Collins asked me how he could become a play-by-play announcer. I was impressed by the question as I stood in front of a young, attractive, and articulate athlete. I told him to study the game and wait for his opportunity. "You will make far more money behind a microphone than you will ever receive from playing the game." The prediction is coming true. CBS, ESPN, and other sports outlets are clamoring to pay millions for him to join their broadcast team.
I consider it ironic that on the week of his big announcement, Collins had to listen to the details of yet another terrorist event. The media have described the carnage caused when scores of people were killed and injured in an attack in Brussels, Belgium. There seems to be no end to the stupidity and durability of extremist. While we cannot foresee an end to the attacks, we can identify a beginning. It was an event personally witnessed by Collins and proved to be the first terrorist attack ever perpetrated in modern history.
It was the fall of 1972. Collins was a member of the U. S. Olympic Basketball Team and was in Munich, Germany for the games. Palestinian terrorist broke into an Olympic barracks and took several Israeli athletes hostage. Live television broadcast the ill-fated negotiations and eventually announced that all 11 athletes were slaughtered along with a German police official. The events of the month were what Collins later called, "The first terrorist attack in modern history."
Through live television, we learned that Collins and his teammates were safely housed several miles from the hostage situation. The basketball division of the Olympics continued, and the U.S. team played on. They made it to the finals facing USSR. That was the year that the officials manipulated the win from the American team due to what has been called "The three-second game." With two seconds left on the playing clock, Collins walked to the free throw line and put the Americans up by one point. Unfavorable basketball referees kept giving Russia "three more seconds" until the Reds won the game. The U.S. team members objected to the final result and refused to accept the silver medals. They are stored away in some obscure locker.
I relish my memories of Doug Collins, and I have one incident that stands out. Collins was a successful basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers pro basketball team. At the invitation of Coach Herrin, Collins came back home to visit with a large gathering of the young athlete in a meeting room at the Benton gym. It was a Saturday morning when I stumbled into the room. What I experienced that day was impressive. His "fireside chat" with young men from his hometown did not centered on sports but encompassed the common sense meaning of life. He challenged his audience to stay off the "stuff" and get high on "effort and exercise." During his talk, he shared his faith and detailed how that faith kept him grounded. I remember him telling the young men sitting in rapt attention, "The way you practice in life will be the way you play in life." That had to be a reference to the way Collins approached the game of basketball.
That day, my admiration for Doug Collins elevated to a new high. I respected him as a young man, a struggling high school athlete, a college star and as a pro basketball hero. I love his personal life and how he managed it to perfection. But that day, I realized that it takes a real man to "stand-up" and profess his formula for a successful life. Collins covered it all, his family, his faith and his friends. He spoke of his faith with confidence, and that made it attractive. Almost everything about Collins is attractive. He is the real deal!
By the way, I did give Collins the Star of the Game certificate at Harrisburg. Benton had a twenty some points lead over Harrisburg before Collins was sent into the game and he had little to do with the outcome of the contest. But, what he did that night was much greater. He electrified the local crowd and then gave basketball aficionados throughout the state a sneak preview of a coming attraction.
Joe R. Browning was the Voice of the Benton Rangers during the Coach Rich Herrin era. He is a free-lance writer and regular contributor of YOURFRANKLINCOUNTY.COM, and lives with his wife in Mesa, Arizona.