North Carolina Central University - Eagle Yearbook (Durham, NC)

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' Little Coach ' ' The Editors and Sponsors of the MAROON AND GRAY Dedicate this Rook to Coach McLendon A Man Who Has Endeared Hiinselt to All North Carolina College Students, Graduates, Alumni and Friends Coach John Blanche McLenixjn Head, Department of Physical Education The so-called multi-faceted personality in many indi iduals achieves a unique ancl almost mystical unity in the persons of |ohn Blanche McLendon, the man and John Blanche McLendon, the teacher of physical education. Director of physical education and head hasket- ball coach at North Carolina College for the past four years, McLendon has the kind of personality that fuses the qualities of the artist, the gentleman and the scholar. A native of the American West, McLendon still recalls the desolate loneliness of the regions beyond the Rockies where he spent several of his early, impressionable years. Near the borders of Mexico, on the deserts and wastelands of Color.ido and Arizona, he early developed a contemplative nature. His later years in Kansas gave him the strength and sturdiness of the plains. Kansas and the West have left their influences on him in his love for simplicity and his aversion to ostentation. Like the westerners of old, McLendon is a man of action. Anyone who has ever tried to keep up with him in any of the half dozen sports in which he excels can assure you of his love for action and of his ability to demonstrate it. Like the western- ers of old, too, he is a fighter. The Mcxicanos ol his vouthful days refer to him now as mnv bon hombre, but they mean he is cool in the sense of a[i untried, sharp blade. McLendon is Little Coach to the hundreds of State students who have journeyed to and from the gymnasium where he holds forth in what often appears to be a 24-hour vigil. To the sportswriters and rival coaches, he is Kansas or Sorrowful John. One wag labeled him this season The Crrim Weeper from Kansas. The artistry of McLendon is the unglamorous kind ot hard and persistent work that denotes a kind ot artistry that is not often associated with the more formalized conceptions of the aesthetic sense. His is the artistry of skill in .accomplish- ment and harmony in execution. It is the artistry, ottcn, ol victory and, always, of sincere efTort. His teams are individuals who absorb his teach- ings so thoroughly that they convey the impres- sion of a single, unified McLendon functioning as one man. Their adaptation to his emphasis on their individual skills indicates their confidence in him as well as their confidence in themselves. Cer- tainly one of the reasons for the success of his teams is his almost uncanny ability to discern the potentialities of a player and to work on these potentialities until the player becomes a smooth- (4)

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Dr. James E. Shepard, President NORTH CAROLINA COLLEGE EOR NEGROES From the desk of our President The graduating class of 1944 is to be con- gratulated upon its efforts in assisting the News Letter staff in the publication of the Senior News Letter Review. As a class, a great responsibility is yours in going out into a world torn asunder by war. It is my sincere hope that through your training dur- ing the past four years you will go out de- termined to make this a better world for all mankind, practicing loyalty, depend- ability, honesty, cooperation, and service to all. North Carolina College has tried to develop within you those fundamental qual- ities which will contribute materially to- wards making you a good citizen and a worthy representative of this Institution. (3) To our former students, graduates and friends, serving in the armed forces of this country, we wish for you a hasty return. You are fighting a good fight; the hope of those of us who remain at home is that when peace on earth is restored to the world, we may all join in a great celebra- tion here on the campus. North Carolina College for Negroes is proud of you and the job which you are doing — may the Al- mighty Father, in whose hands rests the destiny of all mankind, hasten the day when all people, regardless of race, color or creed shall return to their normal pursuits of life and happiness. Sincerely yours, James E. Shepard, President

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C. I. A. A. CHAMPIONS, 1944 fitting cog in the machinery of his ideal unit. Such is the personality of McLendon that it seeks the best in the individual and trains him to contribute that to the group. Such is the artistry of McLen- don that it lends itself to the development of a complete, unified group. McLendon ' s gentlemanly qualities are less those of a chivalric hero than of a clean-cut, common sense amateur-athlete. He himself lives by the Christian code of ethics and he insists that those in his charge follow his example. A product of the two-fisted he-man ' s West, he has been too long in intimate contact with nature and men of simple tastes to feel other than humble in the knowledge of man ' s unbounded potentialities. Gentleman John B. tells his students that no victory is ever justified by a single dishonest act or unsportsmanlike deed. He believes that games are played to win, but he teaches that the physical opponent is less important than the unseen oppo- nent who would tempt the athlete to prostitute his principle of fair play. He insists on sticking to the rules, for living by the code of Christian ethics, he plays the rules of the game and he feels that victory won without compliance to these rules is empty and meaningless. The enthusiasm of his followers is a healthy sign that more men of Mc- Lendon ' s type will raise the physical and moral health of our nation. McLendon is in the vanguard of a new tradi- tion of American athletes who believe in scientific preparation and who utilize scholarly techniques to develop athletes and character. A teacher of physical education and an active coach in several (5) sports, McLendon is as familiar with the literature in fields related to physical education as he is with the latest plays in basketball and football. He be- lieves that no separation is .possible between the body and the mind. His teaching and coaching aim to coordinate the two in a perfectly function- ing unity. A pupil in the last class in basketball conducted at the University of Kansas by James Naismith, the Canadian-American founder of the game, Mc- Lendon is currently engaged in preparing a special basketball text that will explain some of his the- ories and plays. Noted already as an outstanding improviser in this sport, McLendon ' s book will detail procedures of adapting standard plays to various kinds of material. Evidence of McLendon ' s practical scholarship is abundantly available in his voluminous records and in his bulky scrap-books. Statistics for every sec- ond ' s play for four years are available in Mc- Lendon ' s office. Few coaches in colleges of North Carolina ' s size boast such adequate records as exist here. McLendon, the artist, scholar and gentleman, could have selected no finer and no more promis- ing place to practice his arts than here in North Carolina. For North Carolina, land of promise and destiny, is on its way to keep its tryst with a new destiny that will usher in a new day of equal- ity of opportunity for all men. John Blanche McLendon will not have spent his time here in vain, for his teachings and his life are on that in- destructible plain where mortals all too seldom fear to tread.