Harry Covert - The Covert Letter

FROM PILLAR TO POST

The Remarkable Skeeter Swift,
Alexandria’s Basketball Legend

By HARRY COVERT

They call him the "Sultan of Swish" in Tennessee.

Growing up they called him "Skeeter."

Today, he’s the "Legend" of Alexandria.

He’s earned the titles.

Actually, Harley "Skeeter" Swift grew up on the streets of Alexandria. At about 10, before he had a two-wheel bicycle, he pulled a little red wagon up and down Washington, King and especially Lee Streets, a little tyke going from "pillar to post." He always had a basketball.

Skeeter Swift’s remarkable career is being recalled in a biography I’m writing. It’s called, "Skeeter: The Legend of Alexandria." I’ve researched his life extensively, interviewed many of his high school friends and companions, who today are leaders of the community. We’ve prepared a 15-chapter book.

I’ve known Skeeter for many years. He is a living legend of his hometown, in Tennessee, his adopted state, and throughout high school, collegiate and professional sports circles. His story is a remarkable one.

Swift fell in love with basketball as a mere boy. He literally dribbled the ball everywhere he walked in Old Town. The remarkable thing is his basketball prowess began on a cobblestone alley. Every day for three and four hours "I’d dribble, dribble and dribble on cobblestone."

The alley still stands today next to the Burke and Herbert Bank building on Fairfax Street. It’s called Swift Alley.

It’s not named for Skeeter, even though it should be. In fact it’s named after his parents, who at the time operated a popular bar, which Skeeter describes as a saloon.

Today, at 62, Skeeter Swift has had a stellar athletic career as a player and as an outstanding high school and collegiate coach. He lives in Kingsport, Tenn. He still has family residing in Alexandria.

"Rain or shine, I’d just practice and practice," Swift recalls. "I learned what to expect from the ball when I tried to dribble on a cobblestone. Then I’d dribble as I pulled my wagon. I loved basketball."

A few years later, Skeeter received a bicycle as a Christmas present. He was a familiar sight around Old Town, this growing hulking boy with the ball in the basket. He wiled away his days, all year around and in all kinds of weather, at the Lee Street playground, shooting and dribbling.

"I developed a dead-eye, jump-shooting all over the court. Nobody could beat me. I could shoot the ball." He honed his skills so well he turned it to an advantage by "earning extra money" from young basketball players from all over northern Virginia, Greater Washington and in Prince George’s County. "They all wanted to test me. I always won." As someone said, "it ain’t braggin’ if you can do it."

As a teenager he grew to 6-feet-3. He could play basketball better than most. He was not the big center on the team but a guard – a 200-plus pound guard and he could shoot.

Without question, Skeeter put George Washington High School, now a Middle School, on the sports map of Virginia and Greater Washington. He was highly recruited by Virginia colleges. He chose East Tennessee State University because of a full scholarship. "I wasn’t a very good student then, but I learned," he says.

And learn he did. Skeeter could dribble and shoot and "showoff. I had to be a showman." He was not only a great player but an outstanding entertainer. "I had to be at East Tennessee. For the first time in the school’s history, we filled the gym with fans."

Skeeter didn’t let the fans down. He became a three-time All-Ohio Valley Conference player at East Tennessee State and the Player of the Year in 1968. He was elected to the ETSU Hall of Fame in 1982. When he was first recruited by ETSU, the coach thought he was a football player because of his size.

He’s in many Halls of Fame and has been honored by numerous groups in Virginia, including the Alexandria Sports Club.

Many old-time Alexandrians still remember the 1965 high school football game when he drop kicked a field goal and George Washington High School defeated Annandale. Few people had ever seen a "drop kicked" field goal, which is still legal today. Most recall his legendary performances on the basketball court at Tulloch Memorial Gym of George Washington High School in the early 1960s.

Skeeter Swift put East Tennessee State University on the national map with his basketball playing days. He went on to become a star in professional basketball where he scored over 3,000 points in his career and today ranks as one of the top 10 free-throw shooters in the American Basketball Association, now the National Basketball Association.

He has been an outstanding coach, teacher and speaker. As a coach at Oak Hill Academy, he won a national championship. © Copyright 2008 Harry Covert.

Virginia’s Third Senator

By HARRY COVERT

I'm sure sorry Senator Jesse Helms died. That was inevitable, but I'm glad it was on July 4. To me his Heavenly ascent elevates him to the near godly stature of the great Thomas Jefferson, who died on this date in 1826. I always called him Virginia's Third Senator. He lived in Arlington, Virginia, all of his political years.

Senator Helms was a gentleman, a man of his word. When he believed something, he never wavered, never was wishy-washy and everyone, including his colleagues knew he wouldn’t change. Some wags enjoyed naming him “Senator No.” He sort of liked that. He was 86.

He’s probably the last of the true blue conservatives, top to bottom. He started in his native North Carolina as a newspaperman, reporter and city editor in Raleigh and later as a TV commentator. That gave him a good start on the issues. He parlayed that journalism experience into a political career that made a difference in America and five-terms, 30 years, in the Senate.

After two terms, Helms called a meeting in a senate room on the pretext of asking advice of several of his longtime political operatives. He wanted advice on whether he ought to run again. He was a few minutes late but Tom Ellis and Carter Wrenn, his political allies, his Lynchburg friend Ron Godwin and me sat around gabbing. Ellis, Wrenn and Godwin agreed that Jesse’s “really trying."

Moments later in walked Jesse, smoking his favorite non-filter Lucky Strike cigarette (remember, North Carolina is a tobacco state). He “acted” as though he really wanted our opinions. He confided he had to ask his wife Dot because he wasn’t sure she had the stamina for another campaign. We all laughed at that. They knew she’d go for it. She did. And he won his third term.

Constituent work was one thing Senator Helms was best known. North Carolinians could always count on immediate assistance and prompt responses to letters and phone calls. I was a Virginian and received first-class treatment, too. Whenever I needed assistance for international relief projects* Helms and his office were always quick to help. I always carried a letter of introduction to U. S. Embassies.

Once as part of a 25-container project going to Croatia, there was some official assistance difficulty in Zagreb. A rather rude embassy official was making life a little unpleasant. At last resort I whipped out my Helms letter. Still, the red-tape was sticky. However, a phone call back to the Senate brought about a personal call from The Man himself. The project went smoothly after that, including an even better meeting, including dinner, with the then Vice President of Croatia. Helms did quit smoking. He never stopped wearing a dual lapel pin of Old Glory and the North Carolina state flag. He’s evidence that some newspapermen will make it to the celestial climes. #

*From 1988 to 1995, Covert coordinated and developed international humanitarian relief projects throughout African, Central American and emerging eastern European countries. He is currently chairman of World Emergency Relief-United Kingdom.

A Perfect Midsummer Evening

Went to see Lyle Lovett, the marvelous musician, July 2 at Wolf Trap Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Va.  My wife, Pat, and I had perfect seats, Section H, numbers 40 and 41, Orchestra Section. Had it been a football game, we would have been on the 50-yard line. Let me report, the show was exceptional. The uptown crowd – 8,000-plus -- packed the Filene Center. We didn't take a picnic like most of the crowd. We ate our tuna salad with tomatoes and lettuce on wheat rolls at home. We felt at home as we carried our bottled water. I thought it was fun people watching, seeing music lovers enjoying food from their coolers . . . some dainty little sandwiches, some sub sandwiches, some salads, some smoke salmon and one enjoying spaghetti sitting on blankets sipping wines, diet sodas and water.

The weather was perfect too. Mosquitoes, probably with a little help from the Park Service, weren’t anywhere to be found.

I must say, "Lyle Lovett and his Large Band" in concert were awesome -- absolutely great musicians. The 25-member ensemble included God’s Generation, a trained young black gospel group from Connecticut; three stylish black singers from LA; a classically-trained cellist from Wyoming, a bass player from the left coast; two percussionists – drummers; two guitarists, one doubling on mandolin; a violinist from Texas; a steel guitarist from Nashville; and a pianist (not a piano player) from Los Angeles. Joining the show toward the end of the concert was Mike Eldridge of Northern Virginia, a longtime member of the famed Seldom Scene blue grass band. They performed non-stop for 2 1/2 hours. Superb musicians all.

Lyle’s a Texas boy. I discovered he majored in journalism and earned a graduate degree at Texas A&M. He's a combination of alternative country, gospel and the blues. In college working on the school paper, Lovett began interviewing and hanging around with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and others in informal, front-porch jams where he hone his skills.

None of the audience left early and offered standing ovations and received two encores. Variety is the spice of life of course and Wolf Trap certainly has variety. #