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Erwin Porter lives out a dream with his new book, "Bootheel Basketball: A Half Century of Supremacy"
SIKESTON — Life after retirement can be relaxing for some people.
For Erwin Porter, though, life after retirement became busier when he decided to fulfill a dream of publishing a book on Bootheel Basketball — one of his biggest passions.
On Saturday night at the Sikeston Field House, Porter, his son Chris, and niece Sydney Seabaugh were in attendance to watch the unveiling of Erwin Porter’s book, “Bootheel Basketball: A Half Century of Supremacy.”
“I’ve kept up with basketball here in the Bootheel from my teenage years up to my adulthood,” said Erwin on his vision for the book. “I get the newspapers, read boxscores, and keep up with players, teams, and state rankings. When I retired in 2016, I knew I had a lot of time on my hands, and I wanted to write a book on Bootheel basketball. We don’t have around here, and it would be something nice to have.
“So, I started jotting down ideas that I would want to see as a fan, and once I got all of those jotted down, I researched a little bit to see if that stuff was out there. I knew it would be hard to get. So, I took my idea to the publisher.”
He was not the only one in on the collaboration, though.
Chris Porter provided a lot of information and collected photographs, while Seabaugh was responsible for typing everything word-for-word.
It was a collective effort, and once Chris found out about his father's next endeavor, he knew one thing.
“The honeymoon phase of retirement was over," Chris laughed. "I went along with it, and I wasn’t concerned with his knowledge level, but I knew right then that I’d better get ready to write a book. I knew I was going to have to help eventually.”
Chris is a teacher in the Charleston school district and is also the public address announcer for football, boys and girls basketball, and baseball for the Bluejays, and, like his father, is an avid Bootheel basketball fan all-around.
One of the main things he was in charge of was using his connections to his advantage, as he reached out to a former region great, who didn't take long to convince.
Former Poplar Bluff and University of North Carolina standout Tyler Hansbrough provided the foreword for the book.
“We have a lot of great players around here who have gone on to collegiate and professional success, but arguably him, his brother Ben, and Otto Porter Jr. are the biggest names to ever come out of here," Chris said. "So, I sent him a text message and said, ‘Hey, my dad and I are working on a project, and I was wondering if you’d be interested in helping us out,’ and 10-20 minutes later, I had a phone call and it was from him. We had a conversation with the publishers, and they gave us an outline, and he said that this was perfect.”
Another source that provided Erwin with information was the SEMO Sports One website, highlighting historical records for each Southeast Missouri School and past winners from numerous Southeast Missouri tournaments collected from the late Al Jackson.
Jackson passed away in 2018, right when Erwin was ready to reach out to him about the book.
“He was one of the guys I was going to get with, and then when I contacted someone who said that he passed away, I contacted Jaime Hall of the SEMO Sports One website, and a lot of that historical information is on that website," Erwin said. "I was allowed to use that to refer to, and I knew that it came from Al Jackson. In the book, it talks about how a lot of that stuff came from him. I never met him, but he compiled tons of information.”
With all of the information collected, typed, and ready to go, all Erwin needed was a sponsor.
The decision was easy after that.
Chris and Erwin contacted lifelong Bulldog fan and First State Community Bank president Matt Tanner about the project, which ultimately ended up being a great decision for both parties in the end.
“Erwin and Chris came to me at the end of [2020] and asked if I wanted to be a part of this," Tanner said. "They explained it all to me, and there was no hesitation. High school basketball, more specifically Bulldog basketball, is my passion, but I love local high school basketball as well. First State Community Bank, we’re in about eight locations in Southeast Missouri and 50 across the state. It was a perfect fit.”
With everything set and ready to go, what happened next proved to be the worst possible time for a setback.
Initially scheduled for February, snow scattered throughout Southeast Missouri pushed the event back almost two months, leaving everyone with another challenge in making sure that all the guests were still on board to attend.
“That was tough because we had a lot of momentum," Chris said. "Even then, I knew they made the right call. It was cold, it was icy, we had negative wind chills, and I was surprised they didn’t call it sooner. When I reached out to everyone, my initial focus was, ‘Stay safe and stay warm.’ We can have an event another time. We lost some momentum, but I still knew that we had a job to do to get people out here.
“I knew that we could take a little time off and rest a little before we picked it back up again.”
After it was all said and done, the night to honor Erwin's book and the numerous coaches and players in attendance still happened, leaving everyone smiling, knowing that everything went smoothly.
Books are available to purchase either by contacting Chris Porter on Facebook or at acclaimpress.com.