Ran into/saw Gene “Tinkerbell” Banks today at the downtown Post Office and ALL is Good

Was mailing a bill out today, at the Murrow Blvd. post office in downtown Greensboro today, and I ran into and spoke with Gene “Tinkerbell” Banks, the former Duke Blue Devils basketball star, and he is also a former NBA player, as well…(NBA with the Bulls and Spurs.)

Gene said all is good, and when I called him “Tinkerbell” he responded with a, “Ding, Ding”…

Banks was with the Duke Blue Devils back when they played the Kentucky Wildcats for the NCAA Basketball Championship there in 1978…Gene Banks, Mike Gminski, Kenny Dennard, Jim Spanarkel, Bob Bender, Jim Suddath, along with Coach Bill Foster and MORE…Duke lost to Kentucky, and the Wildcats star, Jack “Goose” Givens in that final game…

Gene Banks picked up the name Tinkerbell while growing up and playing basketball back in Philadelphia…He went to West Philadelphia High School…

Recently Gene Banks had been the head basketball coach and Athletic Director at Gaston Community College down in Gaston County of North Carolina…He left there two years ago and came back to Greensboro, N.C where his mother died…He lost his wife to cancer several years ago…Gene said his daughter India, is now the general manager of a new restaurant in downtown Greensboro, call George’s Garage…India played high school basketball here in Greensboro, for the Western Guilford HS Hornets…George’s Garage, right near the Greensboro Grasshoppers baseball stadium, and close to the Deep Roots Market…

He/Gene worked with former Greensboro Bats President John Horshok, while the two were together in the sports department down at Gaston Community College…Gene said John Horshok is back in Greensboro now, writing a book on Greensboro Special Olympian, Marty Sheets…

Always good to run into an old sports friend like Gene “Tinkerbell” Banks…He had the feet like a “Tinkerbell”, very smooth and very quick….He is one of the all-time greats…Eugene Lavon Banks/”Tinkerbell”…

I see the sports folks out and about every day on my sports stops and shops…Post Office, Convenience Stores, HS Gyms, Middle School Gyms, the streets and MORE…..

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.