Jimmy Banks changed the narrative of U.S. soccer, rising from Milwaukee public housing to the international stage.
The former University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Milwaukee Wave soccer standout made history as the first Wisconsinite and one of the first two African American players to represent the U.S. Men’s National Team in a World Cup in 1990.
The Friends of Jimmy Banks hopes to honor him with a mural fitting of his historic soccer career and dedication to community.
“Dude went from Westlawn projects to the World Cup and then brought it back home when he could’ve lived anywhere and taught kids how to do this thing that wasn’t in vogue,” said Christopher Perceptions, Banks’ nephew.
Perceptions sits on the board of Jimmy Banks Academy, a nonprofit run by Banks’ sons.
About the Friends of Jimmy Banks
After Banks’ death in 2019 due to cancer, a group of friends, family and fans formed the Friends of Jimmy Banks to work on ways to remember his impact on Milwaukee and the world stage.
The group successfully campaigned for the Milwaukee Public Schools Board of Directors in 2022 to rename Custer Stadium at the Barack Obama School of Career and Technical Education, 5075 N. Sherman Blvd., to Jimmy Banks Memorial Stadium.
The Friends of Jimmy Banks has been working to raise $40,000 to fund a 6-by-12 foot mural on an outside wall of the renamed stadium by community artist Tia Richardson.
“I’ve been to eight million stadiums with names where I don’t know who the people are. So, to me, just having her work there to give an example, a picture of who that person is and was, feels like it should be done more often,” said Rob Harrington, head men’s soccer coach at Milwaukee School of Engineering and Banks’ friend and former assistant coach.
Having received a $25,500 grant from Bader Philanthropies, a $20,000 grant from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and approximately $7,600 in individual donations, the project now is ready to get rolling.
Banks’ legacy
Banks inspired kids across the U.S., but he also had a direct impact on kids in Milwaukee throughout his life as he ran soccer camps, worked with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee and became the head soccer coach at Milwaukee School of Engineering.
Wendell Willis, who grew up playing soccer on the Northwest Side in Wahl Park, remembers getting a copy of Soccer Digest in 1989, featuring Banks and Desmond Armstrong, the Black players on the U.S. National Team.
“I’m like, finally, somebody who looks like me,” said Willis, now a member of the Friends of Jimmy Banks.
When Banks founded the Milwaukee Simbas Soccer Club for central city kids, Willis worked with the club and got to know Banks.
“Whoever he was in front of, he coached,” Willis said. “He didn’t care if they were good, bad or different.”
Growing up, Perceptions remembers seeing his uncle regularly haul soccer gear in his Lexus, which was beat up from grass stains and cleats.
“He was just happy to do the work,” he said.
Mural in development
To prepare for the mural, Richardson interviewed people connected to Banks and used some of the themes, messages and stories mentioned to create an initial design that reflects the arc of Banks’ career.
Stories about Banks’ belief that soccer is a sport for anybody, his team player approach and his lack of ego about his accomplishments inspired her.
“He never told you anything about it,” Harrington said of Banks’ World Cup fame. “So I’d have to pry it out of him all the time, which was actually kind of fun.”
Because Banks focused attention on others, Richardson said it is important that the mural depicts multiple images of community instead of just him.
“If we can shine a light on all of it and really include that community part of it, he’d be looking at it and go, you know, I see more of the community than myself,” she said.
What’s next?
Now that funding for the stadium mural is secured, the group is moving forward with plans this fall and will find ways to engage the local soccer community, the neighborhood and the Obama school community, according to Chris Knowlton, one of the Friends of Jimmy Banks board members.
Richardson and the group plan to hold community input sessions, as well as invite community members to participate in the painting process.
“I think I’ve seen it happen before where people can be touched by art, and it carries these stories and continuously changes the space and the environment,” Richardson said.
For more information
The Friends of Jimmy Banks is accepting donations at jimmybanksstadium.org to fund the installation’s long-term maintenance and to pursue other community initiatives in the future, like student scholarships.
Meredith Melland is the neighborhoods reporter for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and a corps member of Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. Report for America plays no role in editorial decisions in the NNS newsroom.
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