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AL PORTER
Al Porter moved to Painesville in September of 1950 to a brand new Riverside High School which had been partially operational for the 1949-1950 school year as a junior high school. Al had taught for 3 years in Ohio prior to serving 5 years in the Army during World War II. He was drafted as a private; he completed his service as an Infantry Captain. After the war he taught 5 years in Washington, DC and Virginia prior to returning to his native Ohio.
In his first year at Riverside, Mr. Porter taught math in a classroom adjacent to the ongoing construction of the new Riverside gym -- with all of the accompanying construction noises and disruption! Al started that first season as senior high basketball coach. It was hoped that the new gym would be ready for use that first season, but it was not to be! All of the practices that first season were held at the Hale Road Elementary gym, and all of the season's games had to be played "away" on opponent's courts.
The first basketball season for the new school there was no senior class in attendance. Since there were no senior players, it was suggested by many that this first season Riverside compete only with a junior varsity schedule, but Mr. Porter decided to jump into varsity competition the first season, and Riverside had both varsity and junior varsity teams on the courts that season with Mr. Porter coaching both of them!
For that first season, 1950-51, the varsity starting lineup included 2 freshmen and 2 sophomore players! It was not the best season, with only 2 games won by the team, but the team did remarkably well playing competitively and learned how to play with the "big boys" !
Later (1952), as Mr. Porter continued as head basketball coach, the Riverside Varsity had advanced in ability and skill and ended the season in a tie with Geneva for the North East Ohio league championship!
Porter's later career at Painesville also included coaching the boys basketball team at the new J. R. Williams Junior High School, and he served as Athletic Director for both Riverside and Williams Schools for several years. He also started a league for 7th graders from all Painesville Township Schools, Which he ran for two years.
In 1974 Al Porter retired at age 60, and the following year he and his wife Sara, who was from Mississippi, retired to Biloxi, Mississippi. After hurricane Katrina in August 2005 and a 6 week evacuation to Atlanta where his younger son lives, Al moved to Duluth, GA where he lives in a senior retirement complex. Porter who is now just shy of 93, walks, swims and plays bridge several days a week and lives independently. Al has two sons Jeff and Richard, several grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.
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