Celebrating Juneteenth with a New Mural and New Pavilion at Laura Leake Park
In the past few years, the City of Centralia and Centralia organizations have worked together to improve many amenities in Laura Leake Park, including new playground equipment, new benches, new sidewalks, and this week a new mural and pavilion!
The mural project was started by the Centralia Juneteenth Committee and Malaya Downey. It was discovered by the Centralia Area Historical Museum that there were five Centralia High School graduates that played professional basketball with the Harlem Globetrotters. Finding a way to recognize these athletes, Malaya Downey reached out the City of Centralia for permission to add a mural to the utility building located next to the basketball court in Laura Leake Park.
The players featured are Bobby Joe Mason, Ken “Preacher” McBride, Fred Pearson, John Scott, and Jackie Koogan White.
Bobby Joe Mason totaled 2,025 points during his basketball career at Centralia High School and was an All-State athlete. Mason was also named to every All-Tournament team in every tournament he played in his last three years in high school. Mason went on to play for the Bradley University Braves, which won NIT titles in both 1957 and 1960. The NBA never called; Mason did spend about the years 1962-76 with the Harlem Globetrotters. After retiring from the Globetrotters, he settled and lived in Springfield.
Ken “Preacher” McBride competed in football, track, and basketball at Centralia High School. In 1946 in which Centralia Orphans Basketball took second in state. In 1947, McBride was selected All-State as CHS. Soon to follow was a successful career at Maryland State. After college, he played one season with the NBA Milwaukee Hawks and later played from 1955 to 1957 with the Harlem Globetrotters.
Fred Pearson was a member of the Centralia basketball team, which won the IHSA State Tournament in 1942. After high school, he played for the Harlem Globetrotters and also spent some time playing professional baseball. For much of his adult life, Pearson worked at the Centralia Community Center, where he helped with the youth basketball and baseball programs.
Jackie Koogan White played basketball for Centralia High School and went on to attend historic Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he was a four sports star and won all-conference honors in football and basketball. After college, White played for the world-famous Harlem Globetrotters from 1949 to 1952. After settling in Los Angeles, California, White made history by becoming one of the first black officials in the NBA. Before that, he had been the first black official in the old American Basketball League as well as the first black to officiate in the Pac-8.
John Scott was inducted into the Illinois State Hall of Fame in 1977. It stated that it was his collegiate career that set him apart. At only 6’1”, he was the starting center for four consecutive Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship teams for Illinois State from 1939 to 1942. Also mentioned when ISU defeated UCLA 37-21 in 1940, John scored as many points as the entire UCLA team. He went on to play for the Harlem Globetrotters for two years 1947-1948 before entering the medical profession.
Studio Bee artist Jamie Allen was commissioned by the City of Centralia to complete the project with funding from Monken Automotive, Monken Family, Land of Lincoln Credit Union, Centralia Juneteenth Committee, Centralia Business and Professional Women, and the Centralia Chamber of Commerce Balloon Fest Image Fund.
“For me, I wanted this piece to be the entire building. I needed it to be colorful, community-centered, and representative of the five Globetrotters,” said Allen. “Memorial pieces are hard. Especially when many people will remember the faces of those on the wall.”
Other artists involved in completing this project were Alex Hyer, Emily Haake, and Brandon Smith.
“A memorial project like this is only a success if the community accepts it. With the outpouring of support I have received while being in the park for the last two weeks, I hope I’m correct when I say this mural is a success!” added Allen.
Earlier in the week, Mayor Bryan Kuder and the City of Centralia celebrated a new 30’x60’ pavilion, made possible by years of planning by the Laura Leake Park committee and City of Centralia, using funds from the OSLAD grant awarded in Dec. 2024.
The first official event using this pavilion was Centralia Juneteenth celebration.
