McGill-Toolen Catholic High School
On April 29, 2019, Coach Pete Banks will celebrate his 90th birthday. Please join us in establishing an endowed scholarship at McGill-Toolen honoring our devoted friend and mentor.
A brief biography:
Coach Gerald Knox “Pete” Banks served McGill-Toolen Catholic High School for 37 years, beginning in 1957 when he was hired to teach three science classes, be head coach for both cross country and track, and assistant coach for football. 
The son of a Birmingham, Alabama railroad conductor, Pete played football and baseball at John Herbert Phillips High School before graduating in 1947. He then followed a brother to Jones County Junior College football in Ellisville, Mississippi to play football. After two years, he transferred to Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina where he ended his collegiate football career as a junior. He then transferred to Auburn University for his senior year where, upon graduation, he enlisted in the U. S. Army.
After two years’ service in the Korean War, Coach Banks taught at Mortimer Jordan High School in Morris, Alabama while pursuing a Masters Degree in Education at George Peabody College in Nashville. During this time, he also played minor league baseball in the Alabama-Florida League. In 26 games during the 1954 season, he hit .268 with 2 homeruns as a catcher for the Panama City Fliers, a Class D club, later affiliated with the Detroit Tigers.
Coach Banks in his early years at McGill-Toolen.
In 1957, Coach Banks graduated from Peabody College and was hired by McGill-Toolen. As a coach, he had few equals as a mentor to young athletes. Under his tutelage, many McGill trackmen advanced to and excelled in top college programs. One of the best was Angelo Harris who won the 1968 Southeastern Conference indoor two-mile (9:00.3) and 1968 outdoor mile (4:09.3) titles with performances that, up to that time, were among the finest in University of Alabama history.
Coach Banks’ discipline and dedication to high ideals made McGill teams among the best in the State of Alabama, as proven by a state championship in 1963.
Angelo Harris
A staunch believer in the value of athletics in the educational process, Coach Banks stated, “At McGill we have to educate the whole person-morally, mentally and physically –and without our athletic program we would be only educating two-thirds of the whole being.”
After Angelo Harris succeeded him as coach, Pete Banks served as Athletic Director at McGill-Toolen from 1976-1991 before retiring in 1994. Four years later, the Banks-Harris Track was dedicated, honoring two men who eventually gave a combined 77 years of service to the school.
Coach Banks and his wife Bobbie have three sons, six grandchildren, and thousands of friends and former student athletes. Please join us in honoring this truly great man. Below is a link to our GoFundMe account and Facebook page:
