Sports Heroes

TREETOP STANDS TALL IN THE FAMILY BUSINESS

By Frederick A. Hurst

Jeffrey Brace is long-limbed, lean and looks as tall as a pine tree.  He’s only six feet four but his height, combined with his sharply chiseled good looks, makes him appear closer to seven feet, which is probably why he was always called “Treetop.”   You can find him most days on the sales floor in Men’s Furnishings at Yale Genton on Riverdale Road in West Springfield.  If you look him up, ask Jeffrey about his relationships to Pittsfield and the punch bowl and, if he feels like talking, you’ll hear some unique storybook tales of youthful fun and folly.

Jeffrey was a well-liked, fun-loving popular Trade High School basketball player, who was as at ease on the court as he was with the young ladies.  He played ball with many of Springfield’s greats—George Blake, Leo Best, Bobby Knight—and partied with the first string personalities of the time—Van Jackson, George and Brian (Kamal Ali) Marshall, Jimmy Hurst, Earl Caulton and so many others.  Among them all, Treetop always stood out, distinct, not only in height but, also, in personality.

His personality was reflected in his basketball game.  He was a steady, reliable center with a ten point career high school average, and as you could guess, many rebounds and many blocks.   He was the consummate team player who preferred to make a good pass to an open man rather than go for the basket.  Years after his high school play ended you would find him regularly participating in pick-up basketball at the Dunbar, Girls Club Family Center, DeBerry, and playing in the Industrial League with Bobby Knight.

Even more, although, he would push back when pushed, he never looked for trouble on or off the basketball court.  He was born and raised on Quincy Street.  Among his legendary neighbors were the Griffins, Wrays, Seabrooks and Pezzinettis, John Cannon, Archie and Leo Best, Donna (Harris) Jordan and the irrepressible Skip Williams.  George and Brian Marshall were living with the Harris’s while waiting for their father to complete construction of their new Jamaica Street home in sixteen acres, that famous “suburban” hangout run so well by Stella Marshall.  Quincy Street was considered the toughest street in the toughest neighborhood with the toughest kids.  Yet, like so many who were raised there, Treetop was and remains a congenial gentleman who eventually parlayed his congeniality into a career making others look good (literally).

The tough Quincy Street neighborhood was easy compared to the job market.  Treetop graduated from Trade High with a B+ average in his high school Sheet Metal major, which paid $4.95 entry-level wage for an apprentice position.  He’ll never forget how Moose McCarthy, who was white and had only a “C” average, was placed in an apprentice position and Billy Griffin and Treetop’s brother, Ronnie, who were the inspirations behind his choosing Trade and sheet metal (Classical was his original first choice), were given “trash” jobs.  B+ average and all, Treetop was never offered a position.

Not to be discouraged, after turning down scholarships to Syracuse, Lincoln and Kent State, Treetop went to work in the stock room of Lou Dramin’s clothing store.  After two weeks, the owner laid off two part-time employees and trained Treetop in sales.  Black folks called him “Mr. Lou Dramin” in recognition of his employment as the first Black salesman in an upscale, Main street men’s clothing store, where he worked from 1959 to 1972.

In a historical context, his was no small accomplishment.  At a time when Black people in the South were waiting tables, picking up garbage, selling, teaching school, practicing law and other professions and, in many instances, owning their own businesses, Black people in the North were not welcomed in such roles.  Many may not have been able to afford the clothes Treetop sold, but Black people shared in the pride of knowing that the rich and powerful were among those who relied on his counsel for their appearances.  Jeffrey went on to sell at Richard Stevens from 1972 to 1984 then to Yale Genton where he did something that too many forget to do.  He trained his son in the business.

It has been said that the only lasting bequest we can leave to our kids is “roots” and “wings.”  Jeffrey has four kids, eight grandkids, three great grandkids and one grandkid on the way.  In fact, as this story was being written, his oldest son’s wife was in the delivery room.  Two of his kids, his oldest son, Jeffrey III, and his daughter, Shawna, are in the clothing business.  Jeffrey III worked under the guidance of Treetop at Yale Genton for 5 years in the tuxedo department before moving on to Filenes.  He was soon recruited by the Men’s Warehouse, where has worked for the last even years as store manager.  In 2001 he won the company’s Aloha award, the highest company honor given for distinguished performance.  Shawna, who graduated from STCC in marketing, went on to work in the same business of clothing sales.  She became a clothing store manager in her own right before deciding in 1999 to go to work at the Men’s Warehouse as her brother’s assistant manager.  Although Treetop’s daughter Stacy is not in the business, her son, Rick Johnson is interning under Jeffrey III and Shawna as a salesman at the Men’s Warehouse.

Treetop has good reason to stand tall and proud.  He doesn’t play much basketball anymore, but he often goes fishing with his buddies and, as a Yale Genton salesman, he continues to make others look good while basking in the knowledge that he made the best of his own life while providing his kids with the roots needed for stability and the wings that allowed them to fly.