Subjects discussed include becoming involved at Oxford with her friend and classmate at J.J. Hill; the many opportunities for girls to engage in competitive sports at Oxford, including in flag football, basketball, track and field and softball; other recreational programs (e.g. art) at Oxford; being coached by young African American women at Oxford; African American role models at J.J. Hill; attending junior high school at Ramsey, which provided fewer African American mentors and role models but introduced her to new sports (e.g. volleyball and broomball); peer and adult athletic role models at Oxford, including Weller Johnson, Debbie Stampley, Stacy Robinson, John Withers, (cousin) Linda Roberts, Bill Peterson, Frank White, Steve and Dave Winfield and Debbie Montgomery; fifth grade teacher Rhoda Stroud who taught students about Black history and African American athletes such as Wilma Rudolph and Althea Gibson; growing up with the ethic of giving back to the community; competitors from other schools becoming teammates during the summer and later in college; family roots in Georgia; growing up in a tight-knit family in the Rondo neighborhood; being oldest of three girls raised by mother and, later, step-father; step-father’s deep support of girls’ sports; her mother acquiring an interest in Lisa’s sports a bit later; rivalry between Central and Highland Park high schools; boys’ and men’s respect for female athletes at Oxford; deep community support for female athletes when they played at Oxford, Central, and University of Minnesota; Oxford as a place that built community, not just a recreation center; Oxford as a place for teens to socialize and to work; feeling proud and comfortable as an African American woman, even in a racist world, due to mentorship, education, and wisdom provided by community elders; giving back to community by co-founding Shooting Stars Basketball Clinic for inner city girls in both St. Paul and Minneapolis; lifelong relationships that began at Oxford; drawing on community and connections fostered at Oxford during her time at the MSHSL; passing along values and community established in Rondo and at Oxford to her son, who grew up in Woodbury, MN and still feeling a deep connection to Oxford and Rondo community.

Interviewed by Kim Heikkila at the Minnesota History Center, Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Subjects discussed include being born and raised in the Rondo area of St. Paul; family’s deep roots in St. Paul, Minnesota, and civic and political activism; significance of Oxford, Ober Boys Club, and Hallie Q. Brown to young people in Rondo neighborhood; early memories of Oxford getting a small mobile warming house after Quonset huts had been removed from the site in the mid-1950s; Bill Peterson providing direction, guidance, coaching, mentoring, and high expectations for young people at Oxford; attending St. Peter Claver Catholic School, just across what would become I-94 from Oxford playground; racial and religious diversity at St. Peter Claver and in Rondo; the impact of segregation on Rondo, its residents, and on development of and need for a place like Oxford; the tight-knit, resilient African American community that arose as a result of segregation; the need to set high expectations for young people so that they will rise to and exceed them; Oxford playground and recreation center as an athletic and social space that welcomed him and his friends, in contrast to the racial hostility experienced in locations outside Rondo; swimming at Wilder Pool, a public bathhouse; being thwarted in playing baseball at Oxford; missing out on other sports at Oxford due to an ankle injury; unwillingness of teams from outside of Rondo to come to play at Oxford; adults who had a positive influence on him, including his mother, the nuns at St. Peter Claver (of the Oblate Sisters of Providence Order), Bill Peterson, Cyrus Ettinger at John Marshall Junior High; getting a high school education in elementary school at St. Peter Claver; participating in activities, sports, and summer camps through Ober Boys, Oxford, and Hallie Q. Brown; changes in neighborhood as Black professionals moved to suburbs starting in late 1960s, as a result of displacement from I-94; spending five years going between St. Paul and southern California during the last couple years of high school; graduating from Central High School 1966; Oxford’s space changing as neighborhood evolves; importance of Black pastors in neighborhood and social and civic engagement and protest and why Oxford was important to the community.

Interviewed by Kim Heikkila in Saint Paul, MN.

Subjects discussed include early life as family moved from one location to the next as his father was assigned for his job with the U.S. Census Bureau; moving to the East Side of St. Paul in 1950 and playing team sports, such as hockey, at Hazel Park Playground; finding success in team sports; moving to the Rondo neighborhood with his father in 1952; taking a streetcar from Rondo back to Hazel Park to play hockey; meeting best friend Wally “Pooky” Pettiford at Marshall Junior and Senior High School, beginning a long association with the Pettiford family; being a white kid growing up with African American neighbors, friends, and teammates in Rondo; playing football, hockey, and baseball at Central High School; graduating from Central in 1957 then joining Marine Corps when he turned 17; learning discipline and how to respect and command authority in Marines; returning to St. Paul from Marines in 1960, noting the changes in neighborhood as I-94 construction was underway; getting a call from John Pettiford, then president of the Oxford Boosters Club, asking Billy to coach hockey at Oxford; learning to coach through this experience; fielding the first all-Black youth (12U) hockey team in the city and state (and perhaps country) and winning citywide championship; characteristics that make a good coach; importance of teaching the fundamentals in any sport; playing baseball at University of Minnesota; applying for job at St. Paul Parks and Playgrounds (now Recreation) and being assigned to run program(s) at Oxford; arriving at Oxford when it was just a playground, with no structures; a boxcar that served as warming house for winter sports; later addition of a permanent building on Oxford site (1969) and subsequent addition (Jimmy Lee Recreation Center); having a considerable degree of autonomy at Oxford; learning the importance of offering athletic opportunities for girls after meeting Debbie Montgomery, who was a competitive speedskater; developing girls’ softball, flag football, and basketball teams; involved parents who supported Oxford; adding programs besides sports once a permanent building in place; becoming lifelong friends with Frank White, who played baseball for Billy, volunteer-coached at Oxford and Martin Luther King Recreation Center, and had a long career in parks and recreation and baseball; the importance and challenge of officiating; what makes a good official; Oxford’s role in training and developing a group of African American officials and the defining significance of Oxford in Billy’s life.

Interviewed by Kim Heikkila at the Oxford Community Center, Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Subjects discussed include his first experience at Oxford site through a relationship with teammate John Cotton, whose family lived in post-World War II era Quonset huts that were at that location; playing baseball at Ober Boys Club in the mid-late 1950s against teams from Oxford; being asked by Mr. Carter, coach of Oxford’s baseball team, to play for the Oxford Giants; desire to become a CPA and studying business and accounting at the University of Minnesota while playing basketball as a walk-on; stopping at Oxford with friend and teammate Steve Winfield, who worked there, to attend a meeting, after which Billy Peterson offered him a part-time job at Oxford; working at Oxford while still at the university; working full-time at Oxford, then at the Martin Luther King Recreation Center; coaching at Oxford and MLK even while working elsewhere; working as Community Education Coordinator for Summit-University; inability to pursue recreation degree at the university because it required full-time study; the small number of people of color in recreation field in 1970s (and now); coordinating the Pillsbury Holiday Basketball Tournament at Oxford and MLK for 20 years starting in mid-1970s; fighting against other teams’ unwillingness to come to the Rondo, Summit-University and Oxford neighborhood due to negative perceptions of neighborhood; becoming a de facto father, brother, uncle, elder, mentor to kids coming through Oxford and other recreation sites; passing on values of respect, timeliness, cleanliness, hard work to young people through work at Oxford and elsewhere; officiating and training other officials of color at Oxford; changing values among recreational users and staff; the need to appreciate the hard work that went into building a place like Oxford and the need for a comprehensive, system-wide training for staff in parks and recreation.

Interviewed by Kim Heikkila at the Oxford Community Center.

Subjects discussed include viewing the job at Oxford as just a job, then realizing it was also about teaching and modeling values and behavior; the importance of cleanliness in maintaining a good image of and atmosphere at Oxford; working with Bill Peterson and Steve Winfield at Oxford; learning importance of cleanliness and respect from family and from time in U.S. Air Force; coaching football and basketball at Oxford; learning importance of giving back and helping people from his parents; qualities that make a good coach, including good communication skills with kids and parents, having physical skills, having an understanding of who you’re coaching and coaching kids at and to the appropriate level; differences in coaching girls versus boys; his father and uncle being outstanding athletes; playing pee wee baseball at Ober Boys Club when family lived on Dale; growing to love basketball more than baseball while in high school, having played basketball at Ober Boys and Hallie Q. Brown; wanting to play basketball in college but not able to afford tuition; joining the U.S. Air Force in January 1965 and playing on the basketball team at several bases; returning to Minnesota and being a walk-on to the University of Minnesota freshman basketball team until he was cut for skipping class to attend practice; playing on intramural teams and on Pillsbury Kings amateur team, which won a national championship; playing fast-pitch softball, for which he was inducted into the Hall of Fame; officiating basketball at Oxford and the Martin Luther King Recreation Center, the Minnesota State High School League, and at college level; qualities that make a good official, including good communication skills, positive ethics, knowing and understanding rules, showing respect for coaches and players; changing demographics among coaches and officials over the years in MSHSL, to include more people of color and women; relationship and comparison of main recreation sites in Rondo, including Ober Boys Club, the Hollow, Hallie Q. Brown, Oxford, and MLK Center; networking with others in the recreation field to bring new ideas and develop new programs at the King Center; the factors that make Oxford unique, due to the impact of the construction of I-94; Oxford being known as the place to play, especially football; comparable recreation and community centers such as El Rio Vista and Neighborhood House on the West Side, Merriam Park, and Phyllis Wheatley Community Center in Minneapolis; the importance of training staff at recreation centers and the importance of capturing the history of Oxford.

Interviewed by Kim Heikkila at the Minnesota History Center, MN