Fierce rivalries, small gyms, jeering crowds, offensive focus--the late 1960s provided them all in the basketball world. However, many like to think those were years of innocence, certainly causing me a chuckle. In truth, the orneriness of our valley's teenagers was off-the-charts; in fact, today's youth would probably be incarcerated if they tried doing so much of what passed as pranks during that time. Fast cars, drag races, and "harmless" vandalism ruled; of course, many today might deny their involvement in such activities, but it happened . . . trust me on that. In the Gnadenhutten community I was raised, I clearly remember so many of our "finest" athletes hanging out at Gibby's grocery store, one known for selling smokes to whoever walked through the door. I witnessed many drag races headed past our house that sat on a straight stretch headed out of town; additionally, I remember the numerous Halloween "tricks" that were pulled and the ever-present stories of the infamous "River Gang" that trolled the Tuscarawas River at the Gnadenhutten bridge. As for any drinking, certainly not those boys! I single out my home town, but it must be stressed that this happened throughout the valley; pick a town like Tuscarawas, Midvale, Port Washington, Strasburg. . . it was the sign of the times. Despite all that shenanigans, what each community possessed was one simple unifier: Basketball. Football was in the valley; however, not all schools could afford that sport, but all of them could afford a gym and uniforms, thus stirring intense competition between these small burgs where winning fostered the coveted bragging rights that created heroes.
Walls were tight against most courts, many even having stages as backdrops (Gnadenhutten, for example). To have an uncontested layup was rare because it certainly was a sign of manhood to blast someone into a wall, taking the foul and the resultant pushing that often followed. A few courts, of course, sat in a pit-like environment being so small that the 10-second over-and-back line was simply the foul line in the backcourt (Midvale and Tuscarawas, for example). Floor colors varied, but the constants were that the floor size was limited and the red 3-foot step back line ran along both the endlines and the sidelines--for recall, this line prevented the defender of an out-of-bounds passer to not get closer than 3 feet, allowing the inbounder to at least have a little room to throw in the ball because his feet were either right against a wall or against the bleachers. As one would guess, close proximity to other players and to fans led to exciting action and frequent tumbles into the stands. Through it all, however, shone community pride.
Each community had its stars, those that the townspeople would talk about religiously because those stars' success determined their success. Strasburg had so many but, in particular, the beloved John Studer; Garaway had its Danny Andreas; Tuscarawas had its Dave Paisley; Midvale had its Dean DeMattio; Newcomerstown had its John Hurst; Dennison St. Mary's had its Tom Crosswhite; and Gnadenhutten had its Dan Jinks. Scoring was the name of the game during that time with defense being a bit of an afterthought in contrast to changes that would later impact the scoring. It was not unusual for individuals to average in the mid-to-high-20s. In fact, during that time the two highest individual scoring games in our valley's history featured Hurst scoring 58 vs. Dover St. Joe's and Jinks topping it with 59, a record that still stands today. (Point of emphasis: Gnadenhutten defeated Tuscarawas 116-115 in that game!)
I remember with pride watching many of those games; as a kid, having sports heroes was standard, and when those basketball players were so visible and close on our gym floors, it became almost like a worship session: it was our town against yours . . . and none of us were good losers. In the fans' eyes, referees were the bad guys, challenged with keeping the gym's tensions under control. Rare was the time when fans and parents would agree with any call that went against their favorites. We must remember that these small burgs were comprised of tough people, most of whom performed hard, physical labor on a daily basis. Their entertainment was high school sports simply because the world of televised sports was quite foreign to us at that time. Our allegiance was to our schools' teams!
The picture is clear, isn't it? Community pride was at stake--it was time to win. Fights were not dominant, but they certainly happened. I clearly remember Strasburg's Bob Welling punching a Gnadenhutten player following a rough exchange for a loose ball. Surprisingly, it was an occasional part of the game. Play was physical, largely due to ten bodies competing on small floors. The game was about scoring, although the total points in a game really was not significantly different than what we see today (with a few notable exceptions as mentioned in a previous paragraph). But each team had a clear scoring leader, and that individual got most of the shots. Our hero, Jinks, had the green light to shoot whenever he could; I kid him today about being the only player in school history to never have an assist. Although that is not true, his job was to score--not to defend and not to pass . . . just put the ball through the hoop. That was the flavor of the game then; as indicated earlier, each team had a scorer and as that scorer went, so did the team.
In 1967, the valley was blessed with the state championship won by the Strasburg Tigers, a significant feat in the A/AA school classification that existed then. For one of the rare times, it allowed our valley's competitiveness to be shown on a statewide stage. Yes, other teams had previously excelled (Midvale, for example), but this championship was a turning point in our basketball history. Strasburg put us on the map! As a kid, I remember so clearly being able to watch their regional championship and then listening to their state tournament games . . . what a time it was and what a motivator it became.
The late '60s provided yet another spark in my love of the game, creating excitement, rivalries, and rich competition. Basketball and its importance in the valley have gone through numerous changes since then, many of which were caused by consolidations, but those consolidations led to a dominant era in our history: basketball in the '70s!
The foregoing is Part II of a few-part series chronicling basketball in our Tuscarawas valley. Part III's focus will be on the 1970s . . .here's hoping a few readers may be intrigued by this mini-series! (For those who may not have read Part I, that entry can be found at three locations: michaelagunther.blogspot.com OR The Times-Reporter web page under "Opinion" and then "Blogs." OR my Facebook page.)
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