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Porter Memories The Stuff Of Legend

Published: Jun 16, 2007

Henry "Shake" Washington, educator, coach, basketball lover, can still see him. It has been 40 years.

"Porter, he used to come out for warm-ups palming two basketballs. He was always the last guy to come out. He'd palm those two balls, run down the court, all arms and legs, and dunk both the balls at once. He had the world in his hands."

Howard Porter, legend, lives on. Howard Porter, the man, died late last month, a week after being found beaten in a Minneapolis alley. He was 58.

In the Twin Cities, Porter was remembered as a caring man. In Philadelphia, he was the basketball star who led Villanova to the 1971 NCAA championship game, never mind what happened after that. In Sarasota, where he dominated for Booker High School, there is mourning.

In Tampa, there are stories. Howard Porter stories.

The Tornado

"I've seen all the great ones around here," said Randolph Kinsey, 68, a Tampa civic leader who coached at Blake High School. "… But if I was starting a team with one guy, it'd be Porter. Forty years and nothing has changed my mind. It'd be Porter."

"I don't know anyone more dominant in high school," Shake Washington said.

Shake got his nickname for his stop-and-go move. He played guard for Middleton High School, graduating in 1968. In his junior season, he played against Porter twice. Porter was a senior at Booker.

"Howard was mesmerizing," Shake said.

Porter, 6 feet, 8 inches tall, was one of the greatest players the state has ever known. He could run, jump and shoot. In his senior season, Porter and his teammates lived up to their nickname: Tornadoes. They were 32-0 and state champions. They averaged 102 points. Porter averaged 35.

Then there was the night when Porter shattered a fiberglass backboard with a dunk. Booker had no spares, so it was declared the winner at halftime. They heard that story in Tampa before the night was out. Porter stories traveled fast.

Jimmy Smith, 62, a longtime high school coach who played for Middleton and the University of Tampa, used to drive to Sarasota to play pickup against Porter.

"When the rec center closed, we'd go outside, line car headlights up on the court and keep going," Smith said. "One night, I had on a blue shirt. I walked in the house and my wife said, 'Why are all those footprints on your shirt?' It was from Howard. When he jumped, he'd step on you on the way up or down."

Randolph Kinsey's Blake teams played Porter four times. They lost all four games. He'll never forget the first trip to Booker:

"Place is filled. People everywhere, making noise. I'm standing on the court and we're warming up, and Booker starts coming out, everybody except Porter. No one else is coming out the door. I'm saying to myself, 'Where is he?' Maybe he was sick.

"After warm-ups, Booker goes to the bench, all except Arthur Johnson, one of their guards. All of a sudden, Porter comes running out the door, Johnson hits him with a pass and Porter dunks it with two hands behind his head. The crowd went mad."

Oh, the game. Porter scored 59.

Shake and Middleton couldn't beat Porter, but "they never put no hundred on us," Shake said with pride. Shake thought of teammate Chester "Pretty Slim" Harrison.

"Pretty Slim was almost 6-7 himself, so he dunks on Porter. After that, I'm not lying, Porter dunked seven times in a row. Pretty Slim had this hook shot. Nobody blocked Pretty Slim's hook shot. I knew we were in trouble when Pretty Slim threw that first hook shot. Porter caught it in the air."

When Porter was in town, Blake games were moved to the University of Tampa. "We couldn't fit the crowds in our gym," Kinsey said. One night, Villanova coach Jack Kraft came to Tampa to watch Porter play Blake.

"They wouldn't let him in," Kinsey said. "Told him at the door that there ain't no more room. The coach asks if he can sit on my bench, so I let him.

"The game starts. Porter starts. I look down and this Villanova guy is cheering on my bench, cheering for Porter while he's killing us. I tell him, 'Ain't going to be no cheering.' I guess if I hadn't been coaching, I'd have cheered. Porter was like that."

Why Howard?

In 1971, Jimmy Smith attended the Final Four, where Howard Porter dominated again. But it was later learned that he signed with an agent in his senior season. Villanova was stripped of second place at the Final Four. Porter was relieved of his MVP trophy.

Anyone who knew him forgave him. "Howard was a warm fellow," Shake Washington said. Shake and Jimmy Smith had Howard at their basketball camps. But Howard sightings became rarer. His NBA career ended. He drifted into drugs.

The last time Randolph Kinsey saw Howard Porter was 20 years ago. Porter was fighting outside a Tampa bar. Jimmy Smith remembers Howard using drugs in front of him. Jimmy told him, "You don't need that. You've been so blessed." Shake last saw Porter more than 15 years ago at a Tampa club.

"We stood outside, laughing and clowning about the old days."

Not long after that, Howard turned it around in Minnesota. He got clean. He remarried. He became a probation officer. He found peace.

He went missing May 18 after leaving his St. Paul home. He was found covered in his dried blood the next day. Multiple blunt-force injuries, the medical examiner reported. No one has been charged. Porter was buried near his mother and brother last Saturday in Orlando, where he once lived.

Shake Washington, 58, has spent his life in schools and gyms. He has been Middleton principal. He is now an area supervisor in the school system. His grandson, Tarence Kinsey, is in the NBA. Shake believes in kids. He believes in lots of things.

"I just believe there's somewhere that good people go."

He thinks Howard is there.

"He's palming two basketballs and dunking."

Shake laughed at the memory.

"Man, I feel like I'm 18 again."