Leap of fate: Forty years later, Kevin Washington recalled as a hero for his 'sense of duty'
PETERSBURG -- Frank Washington Jr. and his younger brother, Kevin, were taught to respect the Sangamon River.
They learned that from their grandparents, Bill and Bertha Craig, in whose Petersburg home they grew up in on the riverbanks.
The two brothers swam in the river, fished it and played on it when it froze over.
Frank Washington said his grandparents taught his brother and him another lesson.
"We were both raised if somebody needed help," Washington said, "to help them. It was a sense of duty."
That sense of duty came calling on a cold April 16, 1983, when Kevin Washington plunged into the Sangamon, trying to save six-year-old Jeramie Kelley, who had fallen in while playing nearby.
The river would claim both lives.
"There were a lot of people who were there (at my grandparents' home that day)," said Washington, 71, who now resides in Oakland, California, "but Kevin being Kevin, taking what he had known and learned all of his life, just ran and jumped in, not thinking about himself, but trying to help someone. Certain people do certain things based on the things they learned growing up and that's what we were taught.
"The flooding, the coldness, all of that played into his not being able to do what, under normal circumstances, he would have succeeded at."
Shortly after Kevin Washington’s death, a scholarship was established in his honor. Each year, the PORTA Foundation, the community-based, non-profit arm of the school district, awards $1,000 scholarships to a deserving male athlete and female athlete.
Now efforts are now underway to raise money to build a permanent endowment to fund the scholarship in perpetuity.
While the scholarships have proven popular, said committee member Al Grosboll, periodically the fund has run low, and supporters have had to replenish it. He said the committee is looking to raise $60,000 to fully endow the scholarship so the program is sustainable for the long term.
A golf outing and dinner at Shambolee Golf Course in Petersburg will be held on Aug. 5. Organizers are working with the Community Foundation for the Land of Lincoln, which will invest and pay out the funds for the scholarships.
This year also marks the 50th anniversary of PORTA's appearance in the Illinois High School Boys Class A State Basketball Tournament. In an 85-79 loss in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Ridgway, Washington again left an indelible impression, grabbing 27 rebounds. It still remains the single-game state tournament record, regardless of class.
Forty years later, Kevin Washington is never far from family members' minds, said his cousin, Kittie (Foster) West of Springfield. He had a bold personality, she said, and was funny, attractive and charismatic.
"You would notice Kevin," West said, "and he brought the light with him. To say his light went out quickly, yes, but while he was here, it shone very brightly."
'He did his thing'
Everyone around Petersburg, said teammate and friend, Bill Gum, has a Kevin Washington story.
For Gum, one of the most memorable was the day of the championship game of the Havana Holiday Tournament his senior season.
"Kevin's car," Gum began, "got hit by a train while he was taking his girlfriend to the doctor. We got ready to go to the game, and Kevin's not there. People said, 'Didn't you hear? Kevin's car got hit by a train.' He showed up later, a big smile on his face, walking in like nothing happened."
West recalled when Washington was in grade school, he decided to cut his own hair for school picture day.
"(In the picture), he's got a gash out of the front (of his hair)," West said with a laugh.
Grosboll, who was friends with Kevin's older brother, said Washington showed courage and a willingness to face up to difficult situations his entire life.
That included, Grosboll said, living in a community that was all white and playing against teams that were all white.
"Periodically, he had to put up with things he might hear in a crowd," Grosboll said.
West was one of five members of extended family that attended PORTA all at once. Because of her grandparents' stature in the community - Bill Craig had his own construction company - she said things were different.
"Kevin grew up his whole life in Petersburg. I don't think we ever felt a great difficulty with race because it was like we were part of the town," West said. "It might have felt differently for another family moving in, but my grandparents were part of the fabric of Petersburg.
"I never had any problems and I'm a very outspoken person. Kevin had that Black Pride thing going on. He did not bow down to anybody. He did his thing."
"To my knowledge, the majority of the people I knew (in Petersburg and around the area) were good people," Frank Washington added. "I can't say anything bad about anybody. The same with my brother. I think 99% of the people in Petersburg loved him. Some people are going to be jealous. Some people are haters, but you don't let them slow you down."
'Artistic athlete'
A state tournament run was the furthest thing from Gum's mind the first couple weeks of the 1972-73 season.
Gum was coming off shoulder surgery and the team lost their first five games. But the Bluejays started soaring, winning the Havana Tournament and the MSM Conference title in a run-up to the post-season.
Because of a ruling that dragged out in court, PORTA had to win games on back-to-back nights to get to the state tournament quarterfinals, Gum remembered. Washington scored 30 points in a 77-72 comeback win against Mendon Unity in the supersectional game.
"It was just a whirlwind," Gum said.
Sitting in the University of Illinois locker room, Gum recalled listening to a radio broadcast of the game preceding theirs at the state tournament. St. Anne's Jack Sikma, a future NBA Champion and Hall of Famer, grabbed a then-record 24 rebounds.
Mere hours later, Washington, who earned all-tournament honors, toppled that mark.
"Fifty years later and it still stands," Gum marveled.
IHSA associate executive director Kurt Gibson, who oversees the state’s basketball program and tournaments called it one of the most "enduring records (that) is a testament to a tenacious individual performance.”
Rooting him on that day in Champaign was Frank Washington.
"My brother was a great player," said Washington, whose father, "Big" Frank Washington Sr., played for the Harlem Globetrotters from 1946 to 1960. "When I watched him play, I was in awe."
Grosboll remembered hearing the state tournament game as a student-teacher in Tuscola.
Periodically, said Grosboll, who still lives in Petersburg, someone from another community will mention to him about seeing Kevin Washington play.
"He was a beautiful, artistic athlete," Grosboll said. "He had character."
'Kevin is a hero'
Jayson Washington was not quite four years old on that portentous day at the Sangamon River.
He admittedly has few memories of his father, but some distinct details about that day. Then living in Springfield, the two were visiting Petersburg for the day after having visited California weeks earlier.
Jayson said he was playing with Jeramie that day and that Jeramie's brother was fishing nearby. He was the one who ran to the Craigs' house to alert them about the accident.
Jayson saw his dad bolt out of the house and plunge into the river.
"One thing I do remember," he said, "is that his hat fell off his head."
Jayson Washington also was a budding basketball talent, described by one coach to The State Journal-Register as the best athlete on the 1996 Lanphier Lion squad that featured four Division I athletes. He suffered a spinal cord injury in a wreck on Interstate 72 in the summer of 1996.
As Jayson grew older, he said people would tell him stories about his father. Making that leap into the river was, he learned, was fundamentally who his father was.
"Everything pretty much goes together," said Jayson, who lives in Springfield with his family. "It sounds like his character. They said he cared about the people. A lot of people said that he and his family were always willing to help, so it goes along with what he did.
"I don't think he thought about it one way or the other. I think he just went to help."
That act, Grosboll added, speaks to the fact that "Kevin had a big heart. A kid was in danger, and he was going to do something about it.
"People might say it's impetuous. I would simply say Kevin thought he could do anything and if he could save that kid, he was going to do it.
"The sentiment is Kevin is a hero."
For West, that's good enough.
"All he thought about," West said of her cousin, "was that child. He was just that person. It was heartbreaking for all of us who loved him."
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Supporters are looking to endow scholarship for former basketball star
