Basketball stardom--not quite!

Day 164, "Every picture has a story"

A Sargent central High School related picture.  Don't know what group this is but all of the people were in class our class of 1965.  Terry is in the front row second from the right.  My story for today is related to high school but it is related to basketball:

And

It was a cold Friday, February 19 of 1965.  It had been a VERY cold month.  As we climbed into the bus the temperature was -6 and that was kind of a heat wave.  I had heard on my radio, as I was getting up in the morning, that we had not seen above zero temperatures yet in February.  I thought to myself that I may need to sit close to someone on the way back to keep warm!  We had 3 more basketball games left in the season before playoffs begin.  Tonight we were traveling to Britton SD.  As usual I had stayed after school and the lunch ladies had left some snacks left over from lunch for some of us who could not travel home and then back again for the game.  As Larry and I sat in the lunch room and ate we talked about the season.  It had been an up and down season with injuries to some of our key players but still we had high hopes that John and Dan would be healthy for the rest of the season.  Larry had come on strong as the season wore on and I had been my usual steady self.  At this point I had the highest average per game at 19 points per game.  One of the things I felt good about was I was on a streak at the free throw line.  I had made my last 14 free throws and had almost begun to believe I would not miss any for the remainder of the season. (I was later proven wrong!)  Larry and I finished our tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwich and kind of looked at our homework for the weekend as we waited for the clock to hit 5:30, which is when we were supposed to leave.  The "B" team was scheduled to play at 6:30 with our "A" game start time of 8:00.  Britton had a good record and it would be tough game for sure.  At 5:25 I gathered my overcoat and hat and headed towards the bus with my duffel bag in hand.  I had no worries as to a good seat on the bus as John and I were the captains and by this time in the season it was a given where we would sit.  My seat would be the third seat from the front on the right side BUT on the way back it would be a different story which I will not get into!!!  It was a fairly short bus ride of 30 minutes.  The route took us south of Forman on highway 32 to highway 27 which took us into Britton.  When we arrived we allowed the "B' team to exit first as they would play the first game.  We were behind 26-15 at half and as the tip off of the second half started most of the "A" team headed into the locker room.  As I opened my duffel bag I was shocked.  The "A" team wore high socks which came over the calf and mine were NOT in my bag.  I dumped my bag out but uniform socks were nowhere to be found.  As they were part of the uniform I HAD to have them.  I went to coach Wohler and told him of my dilemma.  He asked me WHY?  How was I supposed to know, it must have been Mom's fault.  I did not say that but "for sure" I thought it.   In a not so friendly voice he said I should borrow from one of the subs which I did.  When it came time to discuss the starting lineup my name was not mentioned!  What the heck I had started every game so far and not only was I the leading scorer but was second in rebounds as well.  Coach Wohler told me I would sit for some time because of the socks.  So I sat on the bench with a frown on as the game started.  At about the 3 minute mark of the first quarter we were behind 9-5 coach called a time out and sent me in.  I ended up having the best game statistics of my basketball career even though I sat on the bench for part of the game and wore borrowed socks during the game!  I continued my free throw streak while shooting 5 of 5 and then hit all 8 of my field goals (no 3 point baskets back then) for a grand total of 21 which only put us close for the game as we went down to defeat 51-50.  To this day I do not know if the defeat was due to Mom not putting my socks in, me not checking for my socks or coach Wohler not starting me.  As I recall now it may not even be important 54 years later, right?  My streak of 19 straight free throws came to an end the following Tuesday as I missed my first one against Kulm.  So perhaps the moral of the story is check your duffel bag for everything before you leave home and don't count on making 100% of your free throws!

No tennis today.  A day off is a good thing.

Terry and I have our last play this afternoon.  Then I am all cultured up for the season, I think!

It is kind of late in the morning so time to stop.  It is Sunday so I did enjoy a bit of Irish Cream in my FP AND I had a new kind of hash brown potato for breakfast.  The verdict is still out on them so I will have to try again tomorrow 😋.