If you were to have strolled on to the basketball court at the Clyde H. Pike Civic Center last Saturday around three in the afternoon, you could have seen a group of six boys, running down a ball in a heated pick-up game. Above them, a couple of people were busy walking the track.

Just about any morning during the week you can find Ray Glover, Larry Gowens and Gary Hincey at the civic center, coffees in hand, swapping stories and reminiscing. They all played basketball together back in the 1950’s, back when, as they say, the teams weren‘t so good.

“They don’t talk about the mediocre teams,” said Gary Hincey.

The three have been coming to the center since before they knew how to dribble a basketball. In fact, most of them learned there.

“The secret behind basketball in Piedmont is this YMCA,“ said Hincey. They worked on all their fundamentals – how to play and how to dribble and shoot right there at the YMCA. When time came, they would advance up to the school teams, leaving the Y for the next group of youngsters.

Back then people still set their clocks to the whistle of the cotton mill, and the mill village was packed with families that worked at the mill.

“All the children in the mill village, this is where they came,“ said Glover. “All the teams were developed right here.”

“That’s before I knew they had a basketball team up there at the school,” said Gowens. “Coach Waters met me here, and asked me would I come play basketball with him. I didn’t even know they had a team up there. We played down here all the time.

The old building is still pretty much as it was in those days. Folks still busy themselves keeping fit on the walking track with the constant thump, thump, thump of basketballs and the shrill squeak of sneakers going on down below.

The older crowd still meets for a game of cards, or to shoot the breeze with coffee and stories. And always, there have been the young ones, eager to learn the game. Many of those kids went on to really learn to play, and they are still talked about today.

Local sports fanatic Mike Naugher remembers them well.

“Ralph Hilburn was one of the best all-around athletes to ever come out of Piedmont,” said Naugher. Hilburn played football, baseball and basketball for Piedmont.

“Even played ping-pong and tennis,” said Naugher. Hilburn attended Snead State Junior College for a couple of years after high school and eventually started coaching. He retired from Harrelson, Ga., a few years ago.

“I really enjoyed playing,” said Hilburn. “I really did.”

Hilburn said he remembers the critical role the YMCA played in molding players out of kids.

“It was really important back then. Everybody played there. They learned there,” said Hilburn.

Danny Bryan was said to have the best shot in Piedmont.

“One of the best shooters I’ve ever seen,” said Naugher. “He shot most of his shots from the three point range, back when they didn’t count them as three points.” Bryan was voted MVP in 1964 and went on to play at Jax State.

And then there is the tall one – Ralph Daniels, who only played basketball for Piedmont in 1971, his senior year. He went on to play at Berry College, and then on to Israel to play in the European league.

Jim Simmons played basketball for Piedmont. His 1961 team made it into the state playoffs, but it was his talent on the football field that most people remember. He played football for the University of Alabama from 1962 through 1964. The Crimson Tide won the national championship in 1964.

Larry Moore played with Simmons on that 1961 team. Moore made all-district and all-state that year.

The Cotton Mill closed down in 1993. The houses were offered to the folks who lived in them. Many of them bought their homes and stayed. Some didn’t. But the memories of the mill and the all-day games at the Y are still fresh on their minds.

“They played all day, from morning until late in the afternoon,” said Naugher.