Forgotten hero’s winding tale ends with overdue accolade

Published 12:01 pm Monday, September 22, 2014

Had he been born a decade later, Johnny Comeaux’s exploits on a basketball court might have made him a household name.

But like anyone else, his destiny was shaped by the time he lived in.

He was born with the world at war, raised in a state of segregation and became a man while his country was again embroiled in conflict. He died before reaching old age and “living legend” status.

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Along that trying path, Comeaux still may have become the finest basketball player ever raised in Calcasieu Parish. You’d just never know it unless you ask the right people — for the same era that produced Johnny Comeaux is the one that left him shrouded in history.

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John Roosevelt Comeaux was a product of his times from the moment he was born, his middle name a tribute to the president idolized by many as he led the United States through the middle of World War II.

Those times further dictated Comeaux would be educated at all-black schools, starting at Sacred Heart Elementary in Lake Charles before attending high school closer to family’s home in Westlake.

That was Mossville High, a long-gone institution that saw its students dispersed to Westlake, Sulphur and Vinton when integration become reality at the end of the ‘60s.

But in the early ‘60s the Pirates were a high school power, and Comeaux was a big reason why.

Though he typically had the height advantage over Mossville’s foes in the paint, Comeaux — who grew to 6-5 by his senior year — was used all over the floor by coach LaSalle Williams. And for good reason.

“Back in the day most teams looked for one big man,” said the now 83-year-old Williams. “But not only could he be a center, he was better outside. That was one of the great attributes. He wasn’t clumsy. He played tennis. He won the tennis championship for our division in singles.

“He wanted to play quarterback in football, but I said ‘I can’t take this chance on you.’”

Comeaux had 3-point range well before there was such thing as a 3-point line, and as a junior still averaged 41 points a game as Mossville won what was known as the Class A Negro championship in 1961.

“He would have been No. 1 on any team, because he could do so many things with the ball,” said Frank Shepherd, a Mossville teammate. “We had a guy about 5-9 who could jump over the backboard like Dennis Rodman, and give it to Johnny to take a shot. Johnny could hit all over the court.”

Comeaux’s work ethic and attention to the craft of basketball set him apart.

“When he didn’t score 40, he would make me leave the light on in the gym,” Williams said. “He would stay all night and eat breakfast at the school. And I knew he was there because my house was right across the street back then.”

The gym wasn’t the only place Comeaux honed his game.

“A white man once told me he saw Johnny walking down the railroad tracks,” said Comeaux’s sister, Mary. “And Johnny was bouncing that ball off the rail without missing a beat.”

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Comeaux’s junior season dictated that his senior year would draw plenty of interest from college coaches. But once again because of his era, that attention was far more limited than it might have been just a few years later.

Only two Louisiana colleges, Grambling and Southern, could even accept him.

If he wanted to play for a major college program, Comeaux would have to go north. And the opportunity was there — Mary Comeaux and Williams recall Bradley University paying Johnny a home visit.

At the time, the Braves were a national power, winning NIT titles in 1960 and ‘64 when the tournament was comparable to the NCAA in prominence. But Peoria, Ill., was a long way from Westlake and Comeaux decided to go to Grambling.

There were more exploits before he reached campus. Williams recalls a 100-point game at Audrey High School in Cameron, though the American Press has no box score from that Jan. 19, 1962, game. Then as now, home teams were responsible for calling in games that aren’t staffed by the paper, so it isn’t difficult to figure out why such a box score might not have been reported.

“It was a crazy night that night,” Williams said. “We played everybody, we weren’t trying to kill anybody. I don’t remember the score, but it was way up there.”

A second state title eluded the Pirates in ‘62. Mossville was upset 80-78 by Wisner-Gilbert after playing the final three minutes without Comeaux, who fouled out after scoring 45 points.

“Everyone was crying. I was crying too,” Williams said. “Because had we won (state) that would have qualified us to play in the national high school tournament.”

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Despite Comeaux’s considerable talents, Williams said the start of his career at Grambling was far from smooth sailing.

Basketball was not the only part of Comeaux’s identity. Even as the Big Man on Campus at Mossville, the caption in the school yearbook identifies him as “John Comeaux, Artist.”

Drawing was his passion.

And like any artist, Comeaux was a free spirit. That sometimes created issues in an era where every coach was old-school.

Luckily, his high school coach interceded when Grambling coach Fred Hobdy called him perplexed about how to handle a personality he’d never quite dealt with.

“Coach Hobdy would call and say ‘Coach, how do you handle this guy?’ Me and him had a long conversation, and I think he found out,” Williams said. “Johnny was headstrong. It was either Johnny’s way or no way. That’s what you had to convince him.”

Hobdy was surely pleased he figured out how to connect with Comeaux.

As a senior, Comeaux was leading the nation in scoring with 36.5 points per game before the team bus got into an accident returning from a game in Texas. He missed three games with what was revealed to be a broken tibia after the season, but still managed to average 31 points a game to finish 12th nationally in the NAIA.

One of Comeaux’s Grambling teammates thinks that he would have been an even more prolific scorer if the Tigers didn’t run an offense that made sure everyone was involved.

“If Johnny Comeaux had gone to another school, he’d been a much more highly acclaimed player,” said Jimmy Jones, who was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame last year. “He wouldn’t have had to fit into the coach’s system. He was just a great scorer.”

Nevertheless, Comeaux still drew acclaim. He was one of five players named first team Little All-American his senior year. Joining him on the list was a 6-8 junior forward from North Dakota named Phil Jackson.

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Comeaux was picked by the expansion Chicago Bulls in the seventh round of the 11-round 1966 NBA Draft.

Roster spots were not easy to come by in those days — there were only 10 teams in a league that has grown to 30 in the modern era. Comeaux was cut.

But he got another chance at pro ball the next year when a rival league started up — the American Basketball Association.

Comeaux landed close to home, earning a spot with the New Orleans Buccaneers. His old Grambling teammate, Jones, was among those on the roster, as were future NBA head coaches Doug Moe and Larry Brown.

The Bucs made the inagural ABA Finals, but by that time Comeaux was gone from the team. Midseason, he was drafted again — this time by Uncle Sam.

Though the anti-war movement was starting to heat up in early 1968, Comeaux did as he was told and joined the Army.

“That was Johnny,” said Williams, a veteran of Korea. “He accepted it.”

Comeaux’s sister didn’t mince words when talking about it.

“He didn’t dodge the draft like Muhammad Ali,” she said bluntly.

Mary Comeaux said her brother spent his two-year stint stationed at Okinawa and wasn’t involved in direct combat.

When he got back, he was certainly young enough to give basketball one more shot. Instead, he poured himself into his art.

“One year I ran into him in the French Quarter after an NAACP convention,” Williams said. “I was trying to get him sold on doing some other things, but he was all about that art. I couldn’t comprehend being on the streets doing artwork with his (athletic) ability. But in reality, art has a lot of value.”

Comeaux did get back into the game as a elementary school teacher and coach in the final decade before he passed away in 1993.

This summer, 21 years after his death, Grambling inducted Comeaux into its athletic Hall of Fame. Finally, there was recognition for a career that had fallen into the shadows of history.

Those who saw him have never forgotten. He remains one of just five players who played high school basketball in Calcasieu Parish to reach the sport’s highest level.

“That’s a great basketball player,” said Jones, who was a six-time ABA All-Star. “A great scorer.”

Said Williams, “He was most definitely the best athlete I coached in basketball.”

A player whose local legend should stand the test of time, no matter how hard you have to look.

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Alex Hickey covers McNeese sports. Email him at ahickey@americanpress.com(MGNonline)