Roots run deep on both ends of St. Joseph

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) -- Two sides of the same coin make up St. Joseph, Mo. Pride runs deep on the north side and the south side.

"You always want to be competitive and you always want to be better than what's going on in the North end," Ron Hook, life time south side resident said.

The rivalry between Benton high school and Lafayette clashes the colors green and red and showcases what pride means.

"Back when my dad went to Benton, back in the 50s, there was always an imaginary line between the mill, the Southside viaduct. You go past the viaduct you're kind of on your own," Hook said. "You felt a little better when you stayed on the south side."

Hook said he's unsure if the saying was a joke or a gimmick, but had heard there was not a lot of xo-mingling between the North enders and South enders during that time.

During Hook's high school tenure, a frequent meeting between both sides happened on the basketball court. A picture from the St. Joseph News-Press in a 1979 basketball game displays the competitiveness between the two schools.

Benton's number 50, Hook, standing tall can still remember what happened on the play.

"I blocked it and it hit a lady up in the stands, I blocked it so hard," Hook said. "He's got a different version of that picture."

The Lafayette player with the ball shared a different outcome.

"I went up and under, of course like Dr. J, I hung in the air for about six seconds and laid it on the back rim," Russell Book said.

Book was born a North-sider, played basketball at Lafayette and eventually coached at his alma mater. Now, he co-owns a Northside staple, the Brown Bear Tavern.

"This was kind of a spot you always wanted to be old enough to come," Book said. "You heard stories of the guys older than you, guys you would watch play that would be a huge part of Lafayette. You knew they were getting to go down here because they were old enough and you weren't."

A place few people outside of the northern part of town went early on, now it's enjoyed by the entire community.

When Benton played to secure it's MSHSAA state title game, Book said the game was showed on television in the Lafayette decorated bar.

"The rivalry is big probably when you are in school," Book said. "But as you go on as life goes... you become friends, you become actually good friends."

Despite the rivalry and living on opposite ends of the town, Book said it was easy to relate to the Southside kids, because they grew up the same.

"We've got Krug park, they got Hyde park," He said. "One of the things that makes it kind of easy, like, relate to people from those two sides of town is they are kind of the same."

The pride for the north or the south does not go away after graduation. The rivalry, which ignited the fire between the two schools, helped bring pride to the communities.

The same pride can be seen from Central High School graduate, Jeff Wallace.

"There is a huge, huge source of pride from people in this community from the North and South-ends," Wallace said. "And again, that didn't go away just cause you graduated."

He said it starts with the schools and it works its way into the community.

"It just comes to a point when you are not competing against each other anymore now it's go St. Joe," Wallace said.

Owen Zeit is a current sophomore at Lafayette, who still views the rivalry just as big today.

The varsity basketball player has played since he was five and spoke about watching Benton go to the state championship game.

"I was pretty happy for them because, ya they ended our season, but knowing that somebody from St. Joseph, but especially Benton they went far it was nice to see that because they haven't been that far in a long time" Zeit said.

The rivalry is still strong for the fourth generation Benton High School senior, Jaxson Rich. The dual sport athlete was preached of the importance of the game before arriving at Benton.

"It's something I've talked about and grown up with since I was a little kid," Rich said. "My dad's always told me 'you're playing North and you got to strap it on tighter' for football or for baseball 'you got to go three-for-three.'"

An intense rivalry with a deep history brings showcases the pride from current athletes, former athletes and locals on both ends of town.

"Our rivalry was big but it wasn't that deep," Book said. "After that's all over, these are really good dudes."