40th Artillery Group Basketball Team

1960 - 1961 Season

The Group's basketball team in action, inside the McCully Barracks gymasium, Wackernheim, Germany.

I recall this photo as being taken at a December 1960 Saturday afternoon home game.

2nd in from the right, in the darker uniform (No. 11), is PFC Herschel B. Worthy, Battery A Servicing Section.
No. 24, Jumping Center, is Carl Wright.

From November through February, playing basketball was a team member's full-time job.
The team competed against comparible-sized 8th Infantry Division Battalion teams and other 7th Army units (e.g., around 600-men units).
In a complete turnaround from the previous year, the 1960-1961 was quite good, winning 30 or 31 games and only losing 3 or 4.
That season they won the "Battalion League", but lost the championship game to 8th Infantry Div Arty.

We would drive up to Wackernheim from BK to see home games.
We would also occasionally accompany the team on road games by Army bus, especially during the play-offs.

Herschel Worthy was an outstanding basketball player. A Draftee from Arkansas, he was due to rotate home for discharge on 24 February 1961.
The Group tried to persuade him to extend his tour for the playoffs held the end of February and early March, which Worthy obviously declined to do.
So, he returned to Battery A for his final two weeks, where he helped coach our Battery team that played in the local Bad Kreuznach league.