BY KEN WALKER
POST-INTELLIGENCER

When George Bass was a young guy just out of high school and playing baseball with Paris’ traveling black team, the Paris Giants, he was full of self-confidence.

“Ozzie Smith never had anything on me,” Bass said recently, referring to his defensive skills as a shortshop for the Giants.

That confidence was a key component of the leadership qualities Bass exhibited even at that age.

A terrific all-around athlete, Bass had excelled at the former Central High School, starring in baseball and being good enough at basketball to make the team when he enrolled at Lane College in Jackson.

His sports mindset likely was a big factor in his stepping forward in the local black community, serving as a civic leader for decades as Paris and Henry County, like the rest of the United States, worked its way through the civil rights era.

Bass had graduated from Central in 1958, as part of the school’s smallest senior class, with only 14 graduates. He married Nellie Ewan, a teacher at the old Fairview School, in 1960.

After his stint at Lane, he entered the work force at the former Midland-Ross plant here.

FILLING LEADERSHIP ROLE

In the meantime, he was spending time with the late Clarence Clark, who he refers to as a mentor in terms of becoming a community activist.

One of the most prominent moves he made was becoming involved with the Paris-Henry County Civic League, a black organization that had been around for some 30 years already.

“The Civic League was started in 1932. At one time, we made sure that the black kids were given one orange and one apple for our Christmas tree program, just to make sure they knew someone cared and would make sure they got something for Christmas,” Bass said.

Bass eventually became program director, and it grew to the point where children also received entire bags of fruit as well as toys.

“We had great support from the white community, too,” he said.

Bass belonged to a lot of other civic organizations, too, serving on the City of Paris housing and parks boards and the Board of Housing Adjustments and Appeals.

He also fed his love of sports by continuing to follow the Central teams, especially the highly successful teams in 1963 (when the Tigers won the state championship for black high schools) and 1964.

It was then that Bass became the first black sportswriter for The Post-Intelligencer. 

He approached publisher Bryant Williams about putting coverage of Central into the local newspaper.

“They were a very successful team and I felt the community should know about them,” Bass said. “And seeing their names in the paper made them feel proud.”

After filing basic game reports at first, The P-I eventually started putting Bass’ name onto his stories.

SCHOOL INTEGRATION PEACEFUL

It wasn’t long after that when schools in Paris were being integrated. 

“One thing I was really proud of is that during the integration of schools, we never had the problems here that other communities had, and I credit Clarence Clark for that. He put great effort into making everything harmonious,” Bass said.

Bass, whose parents were George Bass Sr. and Odessa Bass, has two sisters, Marjorie Sims and Oma Bass.

He and his wife, who died in 2020, have one son, Jacque Bass, who is a captain with the police department in Brownsburg, Ind., a suburb of Indianapolis.

“One of the things I’m most proud of is that Jacque kind of followed me in trying to make a difference in his community,” he said. “He became the first black policeman in Brownsburg and now is the first black captain on their police force.

“He served in the National Guard, too. I am so proud of him.”

Bass, now 85, is also proud that he has remained friends with numerous people he has known since childhood.

“You should always value in life where you came from and who were your neighbors,” Bass said. “So many people, when they advance in life, they lose their identity.”

His identity stretching back to his days at Henry County Training School (the black elementary school at that time) and at Central is vivid in his memory.

He speaks of friends like gospel singer Bobby Jones, who grew up in Henry, graduated at age 15 from Central, and became one of the most notable singers in the country in his field.

“We are the best of friends,” Bass said of Jones.

He also remembers how Central always had a packed house for its home basketball games. He eventually gravitated toward becoming a basketball referee, serving seven years in that role.

“One of the people I ejected from a game one time was Wilma Rudolph (renowned Olympic gold medalist in track and field who was from Clarksville) when she was coaching in Clarksville,” Bass said.

But he laughed and remembered “I also threw my sister Marjorie out once. I put her right out of the game.”