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Basketball
may be a game for the big guys but John
"Mouse" Garrett did his best to
prove them wrong. Standing
just 5 ft 9, Garrett - who spent much of his
formative years in Centralia - went on to
have an outstanding prep and later
collegiate career at Southern Illinois
University. "I
have a lot of great memories of
Centralia," said Garrett who is the
Centralia Sports Hall of Fame's Veterans
inductee in the Class of 2017.
"One I'll never forget would be
watching the 1961 [Orphans basketball]
team. I always felt it was one of the
best teams I've ever seen play." John
Garrett's brother Chuck was captain on the
'61 squad which was the only team all season
to challenge the unbeaten and nationally
ranked state champion Collinsville Kahoks in
a legendary super-sectional match up at
Salem. John
Garrett went on to play for the Centralia
Tigers and was a starter on the 1964
basketball team that finished second to
undefeated Herrin in the Southern Illinois
Junior High School Athletic Association
tournament. The Tigers were 19-3 that
year with all the losses to Herrin. "We
were a good team, but so was Herrin,"
said Garrett who scored in double figures in
three straight postseason games to help
Centralia reach the finals. "We
just couldn't beat them." Garrett
was a state champion in eighth grade,
winning the pole vault at the SIJHSA meet. He
attended Centralia Township High School his
freshman and sophomore years, playing
basketball and also won the pole vault at
the South 7 Conference freshman-sophomore
meet and finished third at the district. "It
was really special to play for [coaches] Bob
Schmidt, Jerry Wilson and Jimmie
Evers," said Garrett. "They
were very influential in my life." For
his junior and senior years he played at
Patoka where Chuck Garrett had been named
head coach. in his two seasons there
he averged 30.8 points a game as a junior
and 30.7 as a senior with a single-high of
53. He scored 799 points as a junior
and 769 as a senior for a two-year total of
1,568. He
decided to continue his career at SIU.
"It was a chance to stay close to home
and for my family to be able to watch me
play," said John Garrett. "Those
were the deciding factors and I got to play
for Chuck [who was a graduate assistant with
the freshman team]. That was a great
experience and it was something to play for
coach [Jack] Hartman." Freshmen
were not eligible for the varsity at that
time but John Garrett made an immediate
impact his sophomore season. Teaming
with former Marion High standout Greg
Starrick in the backcourt, Garrett was the
third-leading scorer at 11.3 points a game
for the Salukis who finished 13-10.. He
scored 24 points in his collegiate debut
versus Texas-Arlington and had an individual
high of 26 against San Diego State as the
Salukis, in the span of one week, knocked
off both Wisconsin and Big Ten conference
champion Iowa. As
a junior Garrett averaged 12.7 points a game
as Southern won the Conference of Midwestern
University with a 7-1 mark in 1970-71. In
his senior year Garrett connected on 130 of
146 attempts from the free throw line to
rank third nationally with a .890
percentage. His 16.9 points per game
were second highest on the club and helped
earn him All-CMU first team honors. After
college Garrett made it to the last cut of
the training camp with the Chicago
Bulls. "They
had [future NBA All-Star] Norman Van Lier
and didn't need another guard," he
said. He
also played for the Puebla Angels of the
Mexican Professional League before returning
to Southern Illinois where he worked for
Donnewald Distributing and became associated
with the Budweisers baseball team which
played in the Mon-Clair and Clinton County
Leagues. "That
was fun and we had a lot of really good
years with some outstanding players,"
said Garrett. "I was the
treasurer for the team." And
sometimes more, such as when the Buds were
short-handed. Garrett
is now retired and lives in Patoka. "I'm
honored and feel very fortunate," he
said of his selection to the Hall of Fame,
to which Chuck Garrett was inducted in
1987. "I've been able to meet a
lot of great people, and make many good
friends.' list@morningsentinel.com
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