Johnny Mathis refused to be defined by the barbaric, segregation laws that ruled his hometown of Eastman, Ga., where he grew up in and around the 1950s.

 The lanky teenager with the kind, determined eyes knew he was spiritual, gregarious and a caregiver by nature.

He also sensed the seeds of a lifetime obsession with a sport he would play, study and ultimately, teach. 

So young Johnny drove a thick, wooden pole into the ground and spent much of his childhood learning at its base.

“It didn’t stop me that the whites could play basketball in a gym with proper lighting and temperature,” said  Mathis, who is marking his 25th season mentoring the Kennedy Knights varsity basketball team. “All I knew is that I had to play, with whatever we had to deal with.”

He hammered a piece of plywood onto the top of the pole to form a backboard, followed by a metal rim to gauge his shooting prowess. Most times, he couldn’t scare up a net.

He mastered his skills, early in the morning and well into the dusk. When he wasn’t in school or at the Mount Calvary Baptist Church on Sundays listening to Rev. Cullers alongside his mother Louise, he was honing his jump shot or defense at the foot of that pole.

He practiced in summer’s swelter, in chill and bluster. He played with his buddies Edward Wilcox, Artis Dupree and Bishop Coley, who would eventually become a writer.

“We used to stand on the corner and just talk and dream,” Mathis recalled. “How are we going to get out of Eastman so we could play ball?”

Taking a shot

He did make it out, to Savannah State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education.

The 6-foot-7 Mathis played virtually all positions and was twice chosen for his league’s all conference team. In 1967, he was picked to play for a team in the American Basketball Association. He also played for six years in the Eastern League and two years in Spain.