In the days leading up to Thanksgiving, annually for more than two decades, I always gave thanks for – and to – Jim Cowan for always helping get my Holiday Sports Ball Drive off to a fast-break start.
Always, Jim donated ten basketballs because the sport was especially dear to him. He had played on an undefeated CIF championship team at Ventura High under legendary coach Bob Tuttle in 1949; on two state championship teams at Ventura College; at Whittier College; and, while serving in the military, on the Far East Army All-Star Team.
Always also, Cowan, a longtime former Ventura County Superintendent of Schools, dedicated his gift basketballs, often posthumously, in honor of coaches and teachers and other individuals who had played important roles in his life.
Jim passed away four years ago at age 87, but his spirit remains an indelible part of the ball drive thanks to his widow, Ann, who has continued to donate 10 basketballs each year in his honor.
“I remember my dad telling me a story about playing basketball and a young boy came up and wanted to play,” Janice Heverling, Jim’s daughter, shared with me. “Dad said, ‘Sure,’ and when they were done playing, he asked the boy if he had a basketball. The boy said, ‘No,’ and my dad gave him the ball they were playing with and said, ‘Well, now you do!’ And that’s why he loved your ball drive so dearly.”
This lovely remembrance perfectly echoes my own encounter, more than 25 years ago, that was the inspiration for starting my ball drive. At a youth clinic former Ventura College and NBA star Cedric Ceballos awarded autographed basketballs to a handful of lucky attendees. Leaving the gym belatedly afterward I happened upon a 10-year-old boy who had won one of the prized keepsakes…
…which he was now dribbling dribbling dribbling on a blacktop outdoor court, and shooting baskets with, all while perhaps imagining he was Ceballos with the game clock ticking down to the final buzzer.
Meanwhile, the real Ceballos’ Sharpie signature was quickly wearing off.
Curious why the boy had not carefully and protectively carried the trophy basketball home to put safely on a bookshelf, I interrupted his playing to ask.
“I’ve never had my own basketball,” he answered nonchalantly between game-winning shots.
That Christmastime, thinking of that boy – and other boys and girls who do not have their own basketballs to shoot, soccer balls to kick, footballs to throw – Woody’s Holiday Ball Drive was born. Then, and each year since, you dear readers have responded like MVPs – Most Valuable Philanthropists – by donating avalanches of balls for local kids in need of an assist.
Are you up to the challenge once more, perhaps even topping last year’s total of 1,038 young smiles? If so, drop off new balls (no batteries required!) at a Boys & Girls Club, YMCA, Toys For Tots, or similar program. The organizations will pass them into deserving hands.
You can also drop off new balls (weekdays, except Thanksgiving and Black Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Dec. 11) at Jensen Design & Survey at 1672 Donlon St. near Target on Telephone Road in Ventura; or have online orders shipped to this same address; and I will take it from there.
Please email me about your gifts at woodywriter@gmail.com so I can add your generosity to this year’s ball tally as well as acknowledge you, with a dedication to a loved one if desired, in a future column.
As Jim Cowan once told me, “It feels golden to help others.”
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Essay copyrights Woody Woodburn
Woody writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn. His SIGNED books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.
