’53-54 Irish dared to break barriers
“In honor of Black History Month, we remember Monsignor Philip Thoni, a priest, teacher and coach at Knoxville Catholic High School in the early 50s,” a KCHS press release stated. “It was as his role as boys’ basketball coach that Father Thoni initiated a little-known ground-breaking sporting event.
“To prepare his 1953-54 Catholic team for the coming season, Father Thoni thought it would be beneficial to scrimmage the best talent around,” the release further stated. “So, he called coach G.H. ‘Dusty’ Lennon at Austin High School.
“We were on Magnolia (Avenue) at that time, so it was the closest school to us,” Father Thoni said years later, according to the release. “But all-white Catholic High and all-black Austin High might as well have been on different planets in the climate of the early 1950s.”
“You were not allowed to play a black school,” Father Thoni said. “But as Catholics, it didn’t make any difference to us. We’re all God’s children. That’s what we believe and what we teach.”
“The scrimmage held at Austin was cordial, but was played behind closed doors,” the release stated. “Austin defeated Catholic, 68-32, but it helped prepare the Shamrocks (the KCHS nickname then) for the post-season, as the team went on to win the 1954 Sixth District championship.”
The team’s backup center, John Luttrell, now 88, recalled how his team enjoyed playing against the young athletes at Austin High. “We got along fine and would even hang out after the game.” he said, remembering this was not the only game they played against Austin. “We played them many times; we didn’t think anything of” playing a Black school.
“A few years after that, Father Thoni went on to coach at Catholic High in Memphis,” the release stated. “He made his way back to East Tennessee as pastor of St. Mary’s Oak Ridge in the 2000s. He died March 19, 2015, at age 91.
“The Knoxville Catholic gymnasium was renovated by the McCabe family in 2013 and the basketball court was named, ‘Monsignor Philip Thoni Court,’” the release further stated.
Other members of the 1953-54 team, in which Father Thoni was assisted in coaching by Red Kidd, were Bob Gentry, James Larison, Charles Susano, Dan Rankin, Frank Dowling, Bob Puckett, Joe Waters, Jim Shea and Bob Willard.
