This article was written by the late Andy Easton featured in Gillespie Area News in 2002, contributed to TheBenGilPost.com by Steve Joyce at the Gillespie Public Library
Robert “Fuzz” Linton was one of the best play-making guards to ever handle a basketball for Gillespie High School. He was a skinny 6’1″ player who was far ahead of his time. He could see the court and you would swear that he had eyes in the back of his head.
He could dribble the ball like one of the Harlem Globetrotters. He had no competition when it came to passing the ball and he could take the ball to the basket. His Miner teammates learned very early that when “Fuzz” had the ball you had better be alert for his behind-the-back passes or his no-look pass that he threw with the speed of a bullet. If you weren’t paying attention, you might end up catching the ball with your face.
I doubt that there was any Gillespie boy who played more basketball than Linton. He played on the grade school’s seventh-grade team when he was in the fourth and fifth grade. He then played three years on the eighth-grade team. Do you know of any more players who played five years for Gillespie grade school?
In his sophomore year of 1959-60, Linton cracked the starting line up and the Miners won the Macoupin County Tournament as they beat Mt. Olive 73-61. In his senior year of 1961-62 they lost to Carlinville 54-59 in the County Title game but tied with the Cavies for the SCC Championship. The team of 61-62 played some very exciting games as they won nine games and lost two, both by two points or less.
During the 1960-61 season, the great Collinsville Kahoks came to play at Gillespie. This was the Kahok team of Bogie Redmond, Fred Riddle, Bobby Meadows, etc that went on to win the State. They outclassed the Miners 78-39 but when they were up 16-2 Gillespie’s Coach George Williams had “Fuzz” go into a one-man dribbling stall. The legendary Coach Virgil Fletcher watched with amusement as three of his players couldn’t get the ball or tie up Linton who ended up scoring 20 of Gillespie’s 39 points.
In another game his senior season, the Miners defeated Staunton 102-76. Gillespie was red hot and scored 40 points in the fourth quarter. This must be a Gillespie record, “Fuzz” threw in 27 points in this game. In his last game for GHS, the Miners lost to Litchfield in the Regional tournament 72-86. Linton put on a show and ended his career with another 27-point scoring performance.
During his junior and senior years of basketball, “Fuzz” Linton averaged 19 points and 15 assists a game.
After graduation, “Fuzz” attended and played ball at Western Illinois University for two years and then transferred to McKendree College where he was a two-year starter. His firth coaching job was at Bethalto where he stayed as an assistant coach in football, basketball, and track. For 10 years, he then went to Southwestern in 1980 and became head football coach and athletic director in 1984 and held that position until his retirement.