Flashback Friday #229

A Real "Shock"-er Of A Season



Welcome back. I've got a treat for  you if you've ever been a fan of High School sports. I never played any sports (Mom was afraid that I'd get hurt), but I sure liked to root for those that played. Like the principal in "Grease" says "If you can't be athletic, be an athletic supporter".

My school always had a good basketball team. They had won several Mid-Ohio Conference titles. This year, the team was a lot better than normal. They finished the year with a 23-3 record. It was the best record ever. Coach Shock was voted as MOC coach of the year. Two of our players were voted to the MOC 1st team. Two others were named Honorable Mention MOC. One of them was named MOC player of the year.

With a record like that, of course they made the tournament. The first win was against the Utica Redskins. The next was a sectional win over The Big Walnut Eagles. The third tournament win was against the St. Charles Cardinals. Our team had never been this deep in tournament play before.

We played in the district finals against the Hebron-Lakewood   Lancers. The lancers were ahead by two. One of our guys lobbed a 15 foot jumper with one second left. Swish, nothing but net and the game was tied at the end of regulation. We won in overtime by 1 point.

This lead to a trip to Dayton to play the Dayton-Dunbar Wolverines. The wolverines were highly favored to win because they were an AA school that should have been AAA. Near the end of the game we were up by four points when a shower of cups. papers & other trash began to rain down from the stands. The referees called the game with two seconds left.

The regional finals were next. A victory here would send us to the Championship game. The opponent this time was the Hamilton-Ross Rams. Once again, at the end of regulation, the score was tied. In overtime the Rams won 59-57. They also went on to win the state championship.

Since I couldn't afford to travel all over the state to attend the games, I had to listen to them on the radio. Since we lived out in the country, the only station that we could tune into that carried the games was WMVO in nearby Mt. Vernon. However, the only radio that would pick up the station was a transistor radio that I had. To make it more difficult to listen to, the only place that the radio would pick up the game was in my parents bedroom. I had to sit on their bed to hear the games. I remember vividly listening to each & every game of the tournament and the feeling of disappointment over the two point loss.