97 candles just the latest feat for North High grad on lifetime basketball odyssey

Whenever John Collver can grab a basketball during his workouts at the Riverfront YMCA in Cuyahoga Falls, he doesn't hesitate.

Not even at 97 years old.

“I bounce it off the walls every time I go,” Collver said recently. “I can't shoot anymore because the coordination is gone, and my shoulders, they just don't work the way they used to. I still enjoy the gym. I just can't make a shot.”

In the late 1940s and early '50s, Collver shot the ball so well he earned the nickname “Iceman,” set a single-season record for free-throw percentage at Kent State University and became a fixture in Beacon Journal sports stories. He played basketball for three seasons at KSU before joining the Goodyear Wingfoots for the 1950-51 season.

An unusual twist to Collver's hoops journey is he did not play for his alma mater, North High School.

“I went out for the team,” he said, “but I never made it.”

Collver never gave up, either. It took him two attempts to secure a spot on Kent State's roster. A growth spurt and tireless practice at the Central YMCA in downtown Akron aided his mission. He loved basketball too much to quit.

Collver's perseverance as an athlete gave him a blueprint for life. He supported Black KSU teammates amid segregation and established a reputation as a devoted husband and father of four who worked as salesman for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and later General Electric.

Collver's eldest son, Jim, wanted to honor his dad for his 97th birthday Tuesday, so he reached out to the staff at North with an idea. Interim principal Frank Kalain jumped at the opportunity to celebrate Collver, whose family believes he's the oldest-living former Kent State student-athlete.

Collver and all of his children gathered Friday along with well-wishers from North and the Akron community to pose for photographs in front of the high school's marquee on the corner of Gorge Boulevard and East Tallmadge Avenue.

The sign read:

Happy 97th

Birthday

John Collver

Class of 1944

Akron City Councilman Phil Lombardo pulled on a North hoodie for the occasion, matching the school spirit Collver demonstrated by donning a Vikings sweatshirt of his own.

University of Akron director of development Nate Newhouse, North athletic director Carrie Stewart and North teachers and alumni association representatives Jaimee Merrell and Georgia Flores joined the party with Kalain.

Two North student-athletes clad in their football jerseys — senior Elijah Gervins and junior T.Y. Jones — welcomed Collver.

“It's kind of come full circle. (North Akron is) where both sides of the family were from,” Jim Collver said.

John Collver was born Feb. 27, 1927, in New York City, and lived in Connecticut until his family moved to Akron when he was 10. His father had landed a job in business research with Goodyear.

Collver and his wife, Dora, grew up in Akron's North Hill neighborhood. They had Jim, 71, and then triplets Charlotte Barton, Cynthia Martinez and Ed, who are 69. The couple raised their family in Cuyahoga Falls and Hudson. They were married for 57 years when Dora died in 2008 after battling multiple sclerosis for decades. Collver was not only her husband, but also her caregiver.

Jim Collver said he's motivated to show reverence for his dad partly because he's humble and wouldn't seek any recognition on his own.

“I just can't believe (Jim) did this for me,” John Collver said with a smile after gazing at the birthday message displayed by North.

Collver lives in West Akron and frequents the Riverfront YMCA, where his routine includes walking on a treadmill. He knows exercise is a key to his longevity, though it's only part of the equation.

“I've got great genes,” Collver said. “My mother lived to be 101, and was sharp as a tack.”

Collver's parents were in the military, and he enlisted in the Navy at age 17 after graduating from North. He spent the final months of World War II on an aircraft carrier in the South Pacific Ocean. The ship had a hanger deck with a basketball floor, so Collver could satisfy his appetite for hoops.

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Collver's Kent State basketball career spanned 1947-50. Two of the first Black players at KSU, Leroy Peoples and Bill Cox, were his teammates. He witnessed the racism they endured.

Collver remembers Kent State being denied entry to a restaurant during a trip for an away game. The entire team left.

“It made you angry,” Collver said. “And together we said, 'We don't split up. We are a team. We go together.'

“Dale Haverstock, he was from Canton McKinley, and he was our best player. If I had to pick a leader, it would be Dale, and he wouldn't tolerate (discrimination) for a minute.”

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Collver considered Cox, who died in 2019, a lifelong friend. Collver said Cox was “a hell of an athlete … but a better man.”

Collver earned respect along those lines, too. He was listed as a 6-foot-2 forward, but said he could play any position. One winter, he slipped on snow and jammed his right shoulder during the fall. He could hardly move his dominant arm for a couple of months, so he bolstered his versatility by learning to shoot left-handed.

As for the opponents Collver faced, one particular rival can still spark a competitive fire.

“When we were juniors, we played for the Ohio Conference championship against Akron, and Akron beat us down at Wittenberg,” Collver said. “We played them seven times when I was playing, and we beat them four.”

Not bad, but 97 is an even more impressive number.

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Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: North High honors former Kent State basketball player John Collver, 97