If you’re looking for a reason to drive to Graford, Texas, the scenery is certainly worth the trip. It’s a town with a population of 578, and one flashing light. But if you’re a basketball fan, there is another reason to drive there, because its the home town of Texas A&M basketball coach Billy Gillispie.
“He used to work up here,” says Judy Morrow working behind the counter at the local grocery store. Morrow's Grocery Store is where Gillispie worked as a youngster. It’s a town that taught him more than just basketball.
“They get up at daylight, and they work until dark, and that's the reason that I'm so proud to be from there,” says Gillispie. “It helps you develop a very good work ethic. If you’re not a worker in that town, they don't have much patience with you.”
Judy Morrow watched Gillispie grow up on her street, and isn't surprised by his success at Texas A&M and how he is able to motivate his players. In this town, he's known as Billy Clyde.
Is he a nice guy? “He really is,’ says Judy Morrow. “I know that sounds really corny, but he's just a super person, and basketball is nearly his whole life, I mean up there with his family and everything.”
Dan Morrow owns the grocery store where Gillispie used to work. “I think he's doing a great job, I'm an Aggie Graduate, Class of 61, so I'm glad he's here, and hope he stays. The whole town is proud. Anyone who knows bill is proud that he's such a good kid and has had so much success. He put Graford on the map again. We've had other graduates who have done well.”
Folks used to sit on the old benches to watch Gillispie and his teammates play basketball. He played a lot of different sports before he graduated in 1978, but this is the town where he learned the game. And the court is not a basketball court any more, it’s a food court, the cafeteria.
In the school library, it’s easy to find old high school pictures of Gillispie. And the librarian is more than just a good source, she's his aunt.
“I think its fantastic,” says Mary Ann Gillispie. “I'm proud of him, he's worked hard, has earned everything he's getting.”
And she's not surprised that his players can win their share of games. “He is so good, he has such a way of working with the kids and getting them ready, and getting them all geared up to go, no I'm really not.”
Robert Ray still teaches at Graford, and taught Gillispie in both shop and agriculture classes.
“He was a student that probably had the strongest work ethic of any student that I've had,” says Ray. “I remember him mowing lawns, not with the riding mowers, the old push mowers, working at the store, and he always had two three guys going continuously, he was a go getter, and apparently still is.”
At "The Cafe," you can usually find Dirk Leach, who was on the same high school team with Gillispie. He says it was obvious, that his old teammate would eventually become a coach, because he understood the game at age 12.
“Oh yeah, he watched it all the time, he was a sports fanatic, read the paper, watched sports on TV all the time, but like I say, during junior high and high school, he was definitely the coach on the floor, but ah, he was the coach then,” says Leach.
“I think he's doing a great job,” says Bill Johnson, a resident of Graford. “He's done a great job, I think he's a really good coach, dedicated, he's made Aggies out of almost everyone around here.”
And Leach is an aggie as well? “Oh yeah, I am now,” he says laughing. “He's on the right track? Give him a year or two to recruit, he's going to be a deadly, deadly team.”
Gillispies’ friends say his dream job may be in the pros someday, so don't be surprised if he moves on someday.
“I knew the sky is limits for him, and his goal is to be the Lakers coach, you know, so watch out, that's all I can say,” says Leach. “I think his goal to be in the pros, I really do.”
In the meantime, folks in Graford will always keep an eye on their native son.
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