Throwback Thursday: Tom Bean’s greatest athlete died 25 years ago today

Very rarely do kids from small schools have a chance to be highly recruited from all over the country, but Tom Bean’s Joe Davis was in that minute percentage.  He was the Tomcats 6′ 9″ center on their basketball team and was a four-year starter, All-Region and All-State.  With the skills that most youngters only dream of, Davis was the complete package and recruiters knew it.  Davis could have committed any college in America, but chose Baylor because of his excellence in the classroom and his goal of becoming an engineer.

His head coach, Brent Hollensed, sat down with Howe Enterprise owner Monte Walker, who guarded DavisIMG_4267 in his last game, to talk about Davis as a person and as a supreme athlete.  Hollensed shared how Davis showed his level of talent at a camp where he out-performed future NBA player Greg Ostertag.  Hollensed remembered that one coach preferred to recruit Davis over Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway.

However, during Davis’ senior year basketball season, he was involved in an accident on Monday, January 22, 1990 that took his life.  The accident happened on Highway 11 as Davis was traveling with teammate Brent McLain to Sherman to visit McLain’s mother, who was at Wilson N. Jones Hospital.  Davis and McLain made it to the hospital that night, but between Tom Bean and Sherman, a fork in history forever altered the Davis family, Tom Bean, the Texoma region, college basketball, and even the NBA.

The full interview with Hollensed and story of Joe Davis will be in Monday’s edition of The Howe Enterprise.

VIDEO:  Joe Davis’ final game on Jan. 19, 1990 at Howe’s Charles R. Thompson Gymnasium.

Baker

 

 

Meth, Crack, Marijuana, and loaded pistol lead to arrest in Howe

According to a Howe Police Department press release,  Officer Robert Todd stopped 26-year-old Jermell T. Askin of Atoka for a defective license plate light as he was driving northbound on US Highway 75 near Haning Street around 11:00 pm on Sunday, January 18. Officer Todd reported that when he met with Askin, he smelled the odor of fresh burnt marijuana coming from inside Askin’s car.   Askin reportedly told the officer he and some friends had smoked marijuana in the car earlier.  Officer Todd searched Askin’s car and found  a pound of marijuana, an ounce of methamphetamine, an ounce of crack cocaine, and a loaded Glock 9mm pistol in the dash compartment above the glove box.  Askin was arrested on two first degree felony charges of Possession of a Controlled Substance with Intent to Deliver, a State Jail Felony of Possession of Marijuana over four ounces, and a Class A Misdemeanor charge of Unlawful Carrying of a Weapon. Howe Police Chief Carl Hudman reported that the arrest led to the seizure of Askin’s 1978 Buick, the Glock pistol, and $194.00 in cash and that civil forfeiture will be sought on those items.

Officer Todd Drug Bust

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