One for The Ages - speaktherights.com

One for the ages. That is a phrase that is thrown around like a corn hole bag during the 4th of July. “That is one for the ages” is an overused saying. I would venture that the last time you said that phrase you don’t remember what you were talking about when you said it. I intend to buck that trend here today and encourage you to join me in remembering something special for a very long time…for the ages.

A week and a day ago I witnessed something I am so glad I was able to attend and enjoy. The North Harrison Lady Cats high school basketball team played in the Class 3A championship against a loaded private school team in a game that reminded me why the state of Mississippi has private school champions and public school champions. That is all of that kind of commentary I will deliver here. You feel free to fill in whatever gaps you feel need to be filled in.

What a wonderful night that was in Indianapolis’ Bankers Life Fieldhouse, the former Conseco Fieldhouse, and the basketball mecca of all of the thousands of kids playing on high school teams from Evansville to Ft. Wayne. Our team from Ramsey, you have to look close on a map, made it.

I grew up the son of a football coach. I played the game every chance I had to do so. Baseball was something I enjoyed playing also. The 1979 Little League Trophy is my most prized possession of an athletic persuasion. I like basketball. I really do. I love the smell of popcorn in the gym and the hardwood floors. The band playing the school song is great. The band playing Chicago’s “25 or 6 to 4”, a song that my old school’s band played when I was in grade school, is a thing of auditory bliss. I like basketball. I really do. But, I don’t love it. When the season is over, I am usually glad that it is over. After all, they play over twenty games!

When the 2015-2016 basketball season began, no one told me our girls would be playing for a state championship. There is a team to our west, Princeton, that was the odds on favorite to run through all their opponents in the sectional, regional, and semi-state en route to the big dance at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. A funny thing happened on the way to the regional. Princeton got beat in the sectional. Suddenly, with one lonely defeat of Goliath, there was a hopeful spark in the hearts of teams all over the state that would rival that of a Chicago Cubs fan. Is it possible? Could it be? Do you think? Why, yes…it could happen. And it did for one team…The North Harrison Lady Cats.

Why did it happen? Well, it didn’t just happen. It worked out. The emphasis on the word “work” in its most literal sense. This team worked hard and it worked smart. The team is filled with a bunch of coachable, unselfish, hardworking, don’t care who gets the credit as long as we win, hot dogs need not apply mustard, that rivals any other great team that I have ever seen. That was the beauty of it all for me. Sure it was great the Lady Cats made it to the state tournament. They did it because we had a great team to root for. No offense to any one player, but there was no one on our side that scared the other team. Worried about them doing well? Yes. Of course. Scared to face? No. Little did they know. This team would be respected in a hurry by its opponents. All of them.

There was a story I read and alluded to one Sunday as I did the preaching during Youth Sunday when I was in high school. The story was called “The Ship that Found Herself” by Rudyard Kipling. It was about an embattled and faltering old ship that was falling apart and ready to give up. The parts of the ship found it within themselves to “get it together” as it were. They collectively grew stronger. They found a way to finish what they started. So did this high school basketball team.

Know that these young ladies are some of the most fortunate basketball players to have ever lived, given what they have been bestowed upon with the coaching staff on their bench. Head Coach Missy Voyles is as solid as a rock. She did an outstanding job of pushing buttons and pulling levers that needed to be pulled and had the wisdom to recognize times when she needed to keep her finger off the button and not grip any levers and let the players play out what they needed to in order to maintain that “found” attitude they discovered early in the team’s chemistry. Missy would probably look at me and ask “What do you know?” I would tell her I do know people. I know teams. I know a good one when I see one and I know ones that don’t have any business trying to play together. Both scenarios are possible with any group. This team had the “it” factor. Not scared of it. Not phased by it. They had “it”. The girls on the team moving forward hope to keep “it”. They will have to work hard to do so.

Assistant Coach Angie Hinton is an asset not many head coaches would have at hand. Angie is a great math teacher and a great person. I have known her for a very long time. She is also a fantastic basketball coach. She was the head coach at New Albany High School when that team won a state championship in 1999. The last high school championship played at Market Square Arena (a round venue).

Assistant Coach Joe Hinton is in the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame. His name is on the court at Floyd Central High School. He won nearly 600 games as a boys high school basketball coach. To say that his input is worthy would be like saying gold might be valuable.

Assistant Coach Alisha Briner is the newby. I have enjoyed getting to know her this school year. I have no doubt she provides an insight to players that can only come from the persona of a younger coach. While I won’t pretend to know, I would venture to say that she played the role of “good cop” now and again when she wasn’t playing the other role.

You won’t find a greater coaching staff on a high school bench in America.

And the team. Well, I will just refer to them as “The Team”. I have not seen a more impressive group make such an improbable run than the 1980 USA Olympic Hockey Team. That is what I think of “The Team”. I won’t single out anyone left behind. Carlie Burson and Jourdan McAfee are the only two seniors. I gave them a ceremonial “good luck” before every step of the tourney. I hope to acquire their autographs when the time is right.

This “Team” won 28 games and lost three. One of those losses was at Seymour in early January on a Saturday afternoon. They lost by one point. One of the field goal attempts that did not go in got stuck on the orange rectangle that is between the rim and the board. It just sat there…and did not come down. I remember looking at that shot and thinking it was a sign that was meant to be. I had never seen a ball sit back there like that before. I have seen over a thousand basketball games. I have never seen that before. Perhaps that was a good loss. Those do exist when you play twenty games in a season and you are not playing a conference foe or a great rival.

IMAGES

I leave you with some images and thoughts about the tourney run this team made. The pictures are from my Canon Powershot Elph. Don’t expect too much.

The Sectional was won on the NHHS home court.

Cutting down the net must be a fantastic feeling.

The regional was won at Charlestown. What a nice facility they have there.

The crowd of BLUE was great at the Jeffersonville Semi-State game.

Lebanon was a formidable opponent. They were, however, a one dimensional team that proves it helps to have five working together instead of four working to get the ball to one.

Cutting down a net at the semi-state. Just look at the blue!

Last Saturday morning I found this on my television screen. It was worth a photo. Carrie, my dear wife, and I went over to my Mom and Dad’s house soon after I took this shot. We met up with my sister and my niece and my brother and his wife. We all headed to Indy.

I met up with my dear friend and former radio partner, Gus Stephenson. Two old codgers holding their glasses while the picture is being taken. Gus was in his customary short pants. I would not have recognized him without them. At least not until he would yell out my name like only he can.

And so it began. The quest for a 3A title.

Not a bad shot and a nice score in the early going.

For the second half I needed to move to a vantage point, although on a larger scale, that was much more familiar and comfortable. I don’t sit very well. Not that I can’t. I don’t want to.