St. Louis American Sports Editor Earl Austin Jr. has written a book on the history of basketball in the Public High League. The book is entitled, “The PHL in the STL,” The Public High League: A St. Louis Sports Legacy. The 188-page book chronicles the PHL with stories of its great players, teams, coaches, memorable moments and girls’ standouts.
In the month of December, the American is running a weekly excerpt from Earl’s book. This week’s excerpt is from the section on Memorable Moments in PHL History featuring the last game in the prep career of the great Stanley Woods, a PHL legend.
The PHL in the STL can be purchased at the St. Louis American (4242 Lindell Blvd.), beginning on Friday for $20. It can also be purchased on-line at www.earlaustinjr.com.
The PHL showdown between Sumner and O’Fallon Tech on Jan. 29, 1966 will go down as one of the league’s greatest days of the 1960’s.
Both teams were undefeated and playing for first place in the league standings, but that paled in comparison to what the jam-packed crowd was really there to see. It was the final high school game for O’Fallon Tech superstar Stanley Woods. The super-athletic Woods was graduating at mid-year and headed to Lawrence, Kan. to begin his career at the University of Kansas to join former Public High League star Jo Jo White.
It was one last opportunity to see the freakishly athletic Woods in action as a high school player, and everyone wanted to see it up close and personal. It was as if James Brown was coming to town for one show only. Fire codes were definitely broken on this night as fans shoehorned their way into O’Fallon Tech’s gym for one last look at this PHL cult hero. Not only did fans want to see Woods, but rival players wanted one last look.
“I wanted to see Stanley Woods’ last game so bad that I skipped practice to go to the game,” said Beaumont standout Jimmy Irving. “I was put off the team for that, but I really wanted to see Stanley Woods.”
Even O’Fallon Tech coach Jodie Bailey was in awe of the environment that was created by his star player.
“When Stanley Woods played his last game, people were hanging from the rafters,” Bailey said. “It was something to see.”
Woods was the center of attention even during the pre-game warm-ups when he inexplicably took off his tennis shoes.
“Stanley just took off his shoes and put them to the side and starting shooting free throws in his socks,” said Vashon player John “Rock” Simmons. “None of us had any idea why he did it, but we all knew Stanley was a different kind of cat.”
Woods did not disappoint the fans as he put on a spectacular show in his finale to lead the Hornets to a 92-73 victory. Woods scored a game-high 36 points as he delighted the crowd with his feats of athleticism and acrobatic forays to the hoop. Playing to the crowd, Woods brought a little extra to the party as he slammed home dunks, blocked shots and hit hanging jumpers against the outmatched Bulldogs’ defense.
When the game ended, Woods was mobbed by the fans after his virtuoso performance. He received the glad-hand from not only his O’Fallon Tech teammates, but from the Sumner players that he had just finished dismantling. Woods literally had to battle his way out of the locker room and the gymnasium because he had to catch an evening flight to Lawrence to begin school at Kansas.
The great Stanley Woods had just left the building.
The PHL in the STL is now available. You can purchase your copy for $20 at the St. Louis American (4242 Lindell Blvd.), beginning on Friday. You can also order your copy on-line at earlaustinjr.com or email Earl at eaustin@stlamerican.com). The American is open on Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The book will also be on sale at Johnny Mac’s Sporting Goods (Florissant and Sunset Hills locations).
