James ‘Jimmie’ Gage dies at 85; came north in Great Migration, served in military and worked for CTA

In 1952 Jimmie Gage was the first in his family to leave Demopolis, Alabama, for life in the North.

He’d been a star with the Blue Devils, the football team at U.S. Jones High School, the “black school” in his hometown. His speed earned him the nickname “Rocket 88’’ for the V8-powered Oldsmobile 88, called the first muscle car.

“He was so good they gave him the name ‘Rocket 88.’ The reason they named him that, the car had just come out,” said his brother, Bertram. “If you know anybody in Demopolis, they would call Jim ‘the Rocket.’ ”

The car even inspired an early ’50s hit by Ike Turner and his band, “Rocket 88,” sometimes described as the first rock ‘n’ roll song, with the lyrics:

V-8 motor and this modern design

Black convertible top and the gals don’t mind

Sportin’ with me, ridin’ all around town for joy

The running back was offered a full scholarship to Alabama State University, a historically black college.

Instead, he decided to find work. He joined the Great Migration.

“Jimmie was turning 18,” his brother said. In those days, “The thing was, get outta Demopolis and go north and get yourself a good job that lasts for life — find a good company that has benefits, stay right there.”

He moved to Chicago, where he served in the National Guard and U.S. Army and worked 28 years for the CTA.

Mr. Gage, 85, who’d been in failing health, died Dec. 5 at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, according to his son, Bruce.

When he was growing up in Demopolis, his father Sam worked in the concrete plant, inhaling dusty air. “Being black in Demopolis in those days, you did the worst jobs, the dirtiest jobs,” his brother said. Their dad died of lung disease when he was 28.

Their mother, Drucilla, ran a busy restaurant, Cedar’s Cafe. “In those days it wasn’t called ‘soul food.’ It was good, Southern, fresh food — greens, peas, pork, ham,” his brother said. “I remember on a Friday night we’d barbecue a hog.”

When young Jimmie moved to Chicago in 1952, “There were no Gages in the phonebook,” according to his brother.

He landed a job at Keylite chemical company. Then Mr. Gage joined the National Guard, and later, the U.S. Army, where he served as a drill sergeant.

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In Chicago he met his future wife, Dorothy Funches, another arrival from the Great Migration. She was born in Chicago but grew up in Mississippi. They married in 1959.

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His sister, Adelaide, followed him to Chicago in 1956 and his brother, Bertram, arrived in 1962.

When he left the Army, Mr. Gage worked as a CTA bus driver and went on to join the CTA security force. After Mayor Jane M. Byrne disbanded the unit in 1981, he was assigned to a West Side CTA repair shop, where relatives said he was in charge of ordering supplies and equipment.

“If you wanted a tool, you had to come see Jim Gage,” his brother said.

For a year or two, Mr. Gage and his family lived in the CHA’s Rockwell Gardens public housing development, his son said. He was a scoutmaster, and kids looked up to him as a father figure, he said, “a no-nonsense guy with a thick mustache.”

One of his favorite memories was the day his father brought him his first Cub Scout uniform. “I remember him coming home with all of my Cub Scouts gear, pocket knives, flashlight, and the uniform, with the cap and bandanna,” his son said. “I was just excited. He always had a way of doing that — whatever you asked him for, he would definitely try to make sure he got it for you.”

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When he retired from the CTA in 1994, his son said, “He had two retirement parties; that’s how much they respected him.”

Mr. Gage enjoyed fishing and grilling on the stainless steel barbecue he built himself. “He could put a whole hog in there,” his brother said.

“He never saw a piece of meat he didn’t like,” according to his son.

“He and I used to compete with the yard — green grass was his thing,” his brother said. “He liked to cut his yard a certain way at a certain angle.”

He was a member of Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church, 2151 W. Washington.

In addition to his wife, Dorothy, son Bruce and brother Bertram, Mr. Gage is survived by his daughters, Debra Goodman and LaKesha Woodard, sister Marlene Rowser, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. His son, James Jr., and his siblings, Sammie and Adelaide Morgan, died before he did. Services have been held. He was buried at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery.