Gus Johnson (basketball) - "The Nail"

"The Nail"

While Johnson was at Idaho in 1962-63, he earned a reputation as a leaper of the highest order. On one evening at the "Corner Club", a tavern on north Main Street in Moscow, Johnson was challenged by its owner, Herm Goetz (1925–93), to demonstrate his outstanding jumping ability to the assembled patrons. The "Corner Club" was a modest establishment with minimal furnishings, converted to a bar in 1948 from a small white stucco chapel with hardwood floors and substantial beams on its ceiling. From a standing start near the front bar, Johnson leapt to touch a spot on a beam 11 ft 6 in (3.51 m) above the floor level. The spot on the beam was marked with a ceremonial nail by Goetz, who next proclaimed that anyone who could duplicate that leap could drink for free, something that he knew was highly improbable. A 40-inch (1 m) diameter circle was painted on the floor below that beam, and any potential duplicator of the leap had to have both feet on the floor, within this circle, to ensure a standing start. Twenty-three years elapsed, with a considerable number attempts to touch Gus Johnson's Nail, including some by the 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) UCLA All-American Bill Walton during the summer of 1984. But not even Walton, then a pro at age 31, could touch that high up ("...too much pizza and beer tonight..").

That was until late January 1986, when the team bus of College of Southern Idaho, a junior college in Twin Falls, stopped in Moscow, en route to a game against North Idaho College in Coeur d'Alene. Joey Johnson, the younger brother of the NBA star Dennis Johnson, was brought into the closed bar by his coaches for a try, before opening time. The 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) guard had already recorded a remarkable 48-inch (1.22 m) vertical leap during basketball practice.

Joey Johnson laced up his game shoes and touched "The Nail" on his first try, but this attempt was disqualified because he did not start with both feet inside the given circle. His next attempt came from a legal static start, but was slightly short. On his third try, Johnson leaped, grabbed, and bent the legendary nail, a landmark event in local sports history. Mr. Goetz next pulled "The Nail" out of its beam, and he pounded it back in, a half inch (1 cm) higher.

A 1985 graduate of Banning High School in Los Angeles, Joey Johnson led CSI to the national junior college title in 1987 and also won the national JC title in the high jump twice. He transferred to Arizona State, where his vertical leap grew to 52 inches (1.32 m) and he was known as "Jumpin' Joey." He played for the Sun Devils during the 1987-88 season, and won an elevated slam dunk contest at 11 ft 7 in (3.53 m) in 1990, earning $50,000. His son Nick currently plays for the University of Arizona.

Following Gus Johnson's death in 1987, flowers were found hanging from The Nail.

Due to road reconstruction on north Main Street (the widening and straightening of the couplet for US-95 north), the entire original (west) portion of the Corner Club was demolished in January 1991. Unfortunately, the condemned portion of the establishment included the original location of "The Nail." The back (east) addition, built in 1981 of cinder blocks, was left standing. The Corner Club, at the northeast corner of "A" and Main Streets, opened for business in July 1948 and had staved off its demolition for over a decade; it was targeted for removal for the traffic revision since the late 1970s.

In 2005, the Corner Club was listed by Sports Illustrated as one of the best sports bars in the nation.