House Divided: Die-Hard Hillbilly Jerry Banning Found A Place In His Heart For The Panthers
by Janice Penix
In Ozark, “Hillbilly pride runs deep,” isn’t just a school motto, it’s a way of life.
For Jerry Banning, that way of life has defined him for eight decades. Banning, or “JB,” as he is most commonly known, is a self-proclaimed “die-hard Hillbilly,” who has dedicated years of work and free time to the community.
A 1964 OHS graduate, he is beginning his 56th year on the football chain crew for Ozark, having missed only a handful of games at Hillbilly Stadium since the 1970s.
But while his love for his alma matter runs deep, for the last 30 years he has shared an affection for the neighboring Clarksville Panthers, where his two sons have coached and his grandchildren attended school.
When the teams met for the 98th time last Friday, Banning was wearing Ozark purple with a red Panther hat.
“I’m still a Hillbilly fan, and it would bother me if they got beat,” Banning said. “But I’m bloodline minded, first, you know. I’ve got my blood, my two sons and grandkids, on that side.
“There’s a lot of the Hillbilly people saying, ‘How do you get along with Panthers? They’re our enemies.’ I said, ‘No, they ain’t. They’re just down right now, but they’re going to beat you someday, and you ain’t going to like it.’”
Starting Out
Banning was born just south of Ozark, where he also attended school and played sports.
“I’m a die-hard Hillbilly, like most people in Ozark,” he said. “I was involved in sports the whole time I was in school. Anything that could be played, I played. By the time I got to the ninth grade, if I hadn’t been playing sports, I’d have quit school.”
He played football and baseball, but said baseball was the one he enjoyed the most.
“Baseball was my favorite sport,” Banning said. “I should have gone on to college. I had a chance to go. The president of the school board when I graduated, he said, ‘I’ll get you a scholarship if you’ll go play.’ But I said, ‘No, I’m through studying.’ I didn’t want to see another book as long as I lived. And that was my first major mistake in life, I guess. Because I think I could have played college, maybe even Triple A baseball.”
Banning said his coaches at Ozark were some of the strongest positive influences in his life.
“In seventh grade, my coach was Bill Crowder. He left Ozark in ‘58 and went to Westark Junior College and became the baseball coach there. My football coaches were Joe Dorman and Louis Dewett, two great guys. Joe, he left Ozark and went to Pea Ridge and started football there, and Louis went to Springdale. He was a pastor of the Baptist church.
“And today, you know, if Louis came back and asked me to knock the brick out of the wall, I’d say, ‘Coach, it may take me two or three tries, but I’ll do it for you.’”
Banning also met his wife, the former Peggy Holt, in school at Ozark.
“I told her in seventh grade that I was going to marry her. And some of the girls around her that day when I told her, they laughed and said, ‘Crazy guy. You ain’t going to marry him.’ Well, about seven years later, I married her. And we’ve been married, this coming October, will be 60 years.
“She is the backbone of the family. I just made the kids mind growing up, and I didn’t have to do that very much at all. We’ve had, my immediate family, has been a tremendous family.”
Going To Work
Banning retired with 39 years of service to the Corps of Engineers and also was a 23-year veteran of the Air National Guard…The full story appears in the Sept. 3 edition of The Graphic, found online and in businesses throughout Johnson and Franklin counties.
I pitched against Jerry in 1956 or 57 in Etna by the old church building.Although he was to young to play they needed him to have enough players.Jerry McElroy pitched for Etna many years ago.
Love this article about my friend.