According to his own words (taken
from an interview with Nancy Kemp), Ethridge McKeel started to school in
rector at age nine and soon got his first glimpse of the game which was
to shape the course of his life, and I might add, no doubt the lives of
many others.
He said that “Rudy Pruett lived
near us and one afternoon came over with his new basketball to ask if
I’d like to play. I remember looking at the basketball and responding,
‘what in the world is that?’ “.
When Mr. McKeel was in the eighth
grade, Rector built its first gymnasium. He said: “it was a crackerbox
gym, about two-thirds as large as the ones today.” He said: “there
weren’t many gyms at all then and the ones there were small. Piggott
didn’t have one and corning had a little one. Only Jonesboro and
Trumann had regulation-size gyms. [Things have really changed.]
Quite obviously, Mr. McKeel soon
figured out what a basketball was. Over the next several years he had a
major impact upon basketball in this community and in the south.
While no scorebooks are available
from the early 1930’s, newspaper articles contained some of the
following:
February 1930 McKeel was again
the high point man for rector with ten points.
1930 against Hoxie, the goal
shooting of McKeel was good. Against Bernie, MO., McKeel was high point
man.
1930 against Monett McKeel, who
made only one point in the first half, found the range in the last half
and ran his total to 13; being high point.
1930 “Checks” Ahlf and “Bokum”
McKeel easily the outstanding stars…McKeel was favorably mentioned.
1930 McKeel starred for
Rector…McKeel was high point man of the game.
1932 McKeel made all-county and
was the outstanding player of the tournament.
1932 McKeel was high point man
with 19 points…
1932 The goal shooting of …McKeel
featured the playing of the Rector team. (12 points)
In addition to starring in
basketball at Rector, McKeel also played football and baseball. In 1933
he played first base on the Rector Independent Baseball Team that
claimed the Arkansas Championship. A picture of the winning team was in
the Press-Scimitar, Memphis, TN.
After his high school career,
McKeel was offered a full scholarship to Murray State College.
The following was taken from news
reports:
Murray State 1936 “Bokum” McKeel,
center for the Murray Teachers, was high scorer with eight, this is
McKeel’s second year at Murray. Last year he played on the freshman
team.
1937 Ethridge McKeel, varsity
center from rector, Arkansas, is one of the chief reasons why the
Thoroughbreds of Murray State College are out in front in the SIAA
(Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association) race. This Elongated
Razorback has scored 176 points in 18 games this season, as he was
playing what will probably turn out to be his best year at Murray
State. McKeel was captain of the freshman team in ’35, and as a
sophomore aided Murray in capturing their first SIAA Basketball
Championship by scoring the two points that beat Western 28-26 in the
finals. He was named on the All-SIAA second team. Last season, he
played heads-up ball in both the KIAC (Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic
Conference) and SIAA Tournaments and was placed at center on both honor
quintets. During the season, he was considered tops by other teams, as
he backed up the board, and tipped in shots to take his place for the
second straight year as second high scorer on the Murray team. He never
lost on Murray’s floor.
The team picture of the 1938 team,
includes Dr. James Naismith, the founder of basketball.
As a result of his outstanding play
at Murray State, McKeel was named to All-American honors.
After college, he played two years
with the Athletic Amateur Union (AAU) against such greats as Ray Meyer
(who later became the legendary coach of DePaul University) and led a
Ford Motor Company team to the Mid-South Championship.
McKeel then embarked on a 15-year
high school coaching career which resulted in seven state tournament
visits.
In 1972, McKeel was one of two
people inducted into the Murray State University hall of fame. He was
named as center on the first team of a Murray State ‘all time’
basketball team.
Coaching data:
1944-1945 Rector, Arkansas
1947-1952 Leachville,
Arkansas
1952-1955 Green County Tech
1955-1957 Bragg City,
Missouri
1957-1959 Perryville,
Missouri
1959-1960 Hoxie, Arkansas
1960-1962 Bragg City,
Missouri
1962-1963 Caldwell, Missouri
Won 309 lost
106 75%
Outstanding coaching data
Leachville 3 or the last 4 years he took the team to the state
tournament.
One of those years to the state
finals.
At that time, Leachville was in the
highest classification in Arkansas.
Bragg City; took the team to the
state tournament two times. They had never gone before.
Cardwell in the three years prior
to his going there, they won a total of eight games. They finished the
season at 29-2. Can you imagine the significance of that?? In the
regular season they lost to Paragould who went on to win the state
championship in Arkansas. The other loss was to Deering in the
regional.
This was his final season to
coach—and he won 94% of the games that year.
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