Gary Roosevelt
1928-1931

Opal "Shagg" Courtney was a most talented athlete at Gary Roosevelt, starring in track and field, football, basketball and baseball. Many say that he was the greatest athlete to have played in Gary, ignored by the Indiana High School Athletic Association and state sport groups because he attended an all-black school during a time when black schools could not participate in the IHSAA state championships. Therefore, Gary Froebel High School, a non-segregated school, tried to persuade him to attend but he was very true to his high school and remained there.

Courtney and Roosevelt High School made the most of those years just after the great depression, traveling any where they could find competition. He nearly alone won the United States All Negro Championships in track in 1931 at Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia, and runners-up in 1932. In 1930 they were Midwestern Track Champions at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, and runner-up in 1931.

The basketball team also did quite well, winning the Indiana state all black championships in 1930 and 1931. The football team won the 1932 championships at Lincoln High School in Evansville.

Courtney held many records at various institutions: Lincoln University, Hampton Institute and Tuskegee Institute. In fact, he also won the high school high jump and broad jump at the Penn Relays.

He captained Roosevelt’s track, football and basketball teams. Coach Tindolph Cooke stated, ""that at no Negro institution does anyone think of the name 'Roosevelt' without associating it with Shagg and vice versa.""

After attending Kansas State Teachers’ College and Virginia State (where he excelled as a collegiate 15-second high hurdler, six-feet plus high jumper and 24-foot broad jumper) he got his chance as a Harlem Globetrotter. Although he only had a brief career with the team, he is famously credited with creating the move of spinning the basketball on his index finger, then rolling the ball across the shoulders and into his arms behind his back.

After three years, he left the Globetrotters making only $55.00 dollars a week and became a crane operator for U.S. Steel in Gary because he needed to earn money to support his growing family.

Courtney and his wife Shellie of 69 years eventually had six boys and a daughter, all of which graduated from college.