Spencer hoops legend passes away

Published 12:00 am Sunday, April 10, 2011

By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
Times have changed.
When Ruth McCoy was notified that her son Dan, a senior at Spencer High, had been chosen to participate in the City vs. County all-star basketball series that would cap Rowanís 1953 high school season, she didnít demand that he start every game and didnít call the coach to discuss playing time.
What Mrs. McCoy did instead was write a long letter to the Salisbury Postís Horace Billings.
The Post was a sponsor of the big event, and she thanked Billings for giving Dan the opportunity to participate and expressed hope that her son would prove worthy of such a wonderful honor.
Obviously, Richard Daniel McCoy was raised well, and in that 1953 season he would raise Spencerís Railroaders to unexpected roundball heights.
A Belmont resident, McCoy passed away recently at 76, but the old-timers remember Spencerís bearded giant, who was listed at 6-foot-6, and towered over most opponents.
Railroader basketball fortunes jumped when young Marvin Miles became head coach. Miles graduated from Catawba in 1949 and quickly was hired to lead Spencerís basketball and baseball teams and to serve as assistant AD and assistant football coach.
McCoy made an impact for Miles in the 1952 season. There were great players in Rowan that year ó Boydenís Frank McRae, J.C. Priceís Warren Lyerly and Hulon Butler, Mt. Ullaís Alex Morrow, Rockwellís Mike Conry, Landisí Bill Barnes, Clevelandís Bill Sommers and Woodleafís Fred Foster. McCoy settled quietly for being the No. 10 scorer in the county at 15.3 points a game, but he would build on that production as a senior.
Spencer competed in the South Piedmont Conference in 1953, one of the strangest, strongest leagues ever assembled. There were 14 member schools spread from Monroe to Wilkes Central. Two member schools were orphanages, a reminder of the impact of World War II.
Everyone in the SPC didnít play everyone else. Schools also didnít play the same amount of league contests, a scheduling quirk that would damage Spencerís chances for a really magical season.
It also should be noted that 1953 was the ěYear of the Beard.î Rowan was reveling in a bicentennial bashó the county had been carved out of Anson County in 1753 ó and a celebration committee encouraged all able-bodied males to become ěBrothers of the Brush.î Many leading coaches sprouted serious facial hair, as did the athletes who were able. The dark-haired McCoy had little trouble cultivating an impressive beard in no time at all.
The season began glumly for Spencer with a loss to Hickory, but by the time all the ěpracticeî games were over, the Railroaders were back on track. They avenged the loss to Hickory by 20 points and shocked everyone by clobbering Concord 86-52.
McCoy scored 21 against the Spiders, and 6-2 forward Bobby Miller, who had averaged 10 points as a junior, had blossomed. He scored 30, and fans noticed Spencer suddenly had won five straight.
Guard Ralph Adams directed an attack averaging a stunning 75 points a game.
McCoy poured in 32 as Spencer walloped Mooresville 89-44. He followed with 28 in a rough win against the Winston-Salem Childrenís Home.
The next game was the oddest of the season. Miller didnít play against Monroe, as heíd been invited by Clemson to attend a banquet. Maybe that gave Monroe hope. At any rate, Monroe froze the ball, held it and held it, making 79 passes on one amazing possession and going eight minutes without attempting a shot. McCoy still scored 19, and Spencer escaped 43-24.
McCoy kept connecting with his patented hook shots, and the Railroaders kept rolling. Even with three players suspended for breaking training, they beat Wilkes Central for their 10th straight win. That set up a showdown with A.L. Brown.
When the Railroaders and Wonders met in a packed Spencer gym on Jan. 30, both were 10-1 overall and perfect in the SPC. Miller scored 26, but the Wonders limited McCoy to 10 and rode the hot hands of Carl Morton and Frank Black to a 68-58 win.
The Wonders were scheduled to play one more league game than the Railroaders. That meant that even if Spencer won the rematch in Kannapolis for a split, it would still need help from someone else to win the conference.
That had to be deflating, but McCoy rebounded from his off night by scoring 31, 26, 28, 29 and 25 in Spencerís next five outings ó all wins. On Feb. 13 against Mooresville, he shot 14-for-16 from the floor.
Spencer peaked at 17-2, and with McCoy averaging nearly 23 points per game. But a second loss to A.L. Brown ó this time the Wonders held on 52-48ó ended the Railroadersí hopes for the SPC crown.
Spencer wound up 12-3 in league play, the same winning percentage as Statesville, which had an SPC mark of 8-2. Spencer lost the coin flip, and was handed the SPCís No. 3 seed for the South Piedmont-Western Conference Tournament in Hickory.
The top four from each league qualified. Western teams joining SPC representatives Brown, Statesville, Spencer and Thomasville were Shelby, Rutherfordton-Spindale, Hickory and Lincolnton.
Spencer opened against Rutherfordton-Spindale, a No. 2 seed, and lost 69-51. McCoy scored 17 and was named to the all-tournament team.
McCoy still had one last high school event in front of himó the City vs. County Classic, a three-game series pitting an all-star team of ěcityî players from Boyden, Spencer and East Spencer against an all-star team from the county schools.
Spencerís Miles coached the city guys, with Landisí Dan Hamrick directing a county squad featuring Landisí Barnes, China Groveís Dean Sheetz and Clevelandís Sommers.
The city team had the size, but the county team had the speed. It was an intriguing matchup, and 650 fans turned out to see the series opener at Catawba. McCoy led the city team to victory with 23 points.
In Game 2 in the China Grove gym, however, Barnes fired in 37, Sheetz had 25, and the county boys ran rings around their opponents to even the series with a 90-75 victory.
A night later, in the rubber game in the Spencer gym, with every seat occupied, the city crew romped 104-78. Miller scored 32. McCoy had 16.
Ruth McCoyís boy left no doubt that he was a deserving all-star.
The gentle giant went on to N.C. State, served in the U.S. Army and worked 34 years for Duke Power. He married Spencer High grad Carolyn Jean Long in July of 1956, and they were together for 55 years.