Six-on-Six Memories

Memories of my unillustrious basketball career in high school jostled to the surface this weekend, due to many reminders.........last week's annual Iowa girls' basketball tournament.......Russell's post on his blog "Iowa Grasslands".......
this article in Sunday's Des Moines Register.........and the new 6-on-6 basketball documentary shown on Iowa Public Television last evening.



The photo below shows the junior varsity team I was part of in 1974. You can see those satiny skirts.......they were standard fashion of the day for high school girls basketball teams. Our coach had been a stand-out player at her high school and had played at the state tournament in Des Moines. She was also our English teacher. I played in the forward court, and she used to yell at me, "Get your head out of the dirt!" Obviously, my thinking and instincts were just not fast enough for the game of basketball, so I bowed out of my cager career after this sophomore season.

It will sound silly, but that decision to quit basketball was a very difficult one for me to make, mainly because it really pleased my dad to have his daughters out for sports. Thus, me choosing to walk away from basketball was like going against his wishes, which was a very hard thing for me to do back in those days. The decision required alot of struggling, and I can still recall the relief I felt when my mind was finally made up not go out for basketball again! Vocal music and band were more to my liking, and I have wonderful memories of those activities in high school.

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After our freshman basketball season, I went along on a school bus with the team to watch a day's worth of games at the state tournament at Vets Auditorium in Des Moines. What a thrill to be there for the first time! The tradition was for each of us girls to wear a guy's letter jacket on this tournament trip. As a dorky freshman, I wasn't acquainted enough with any guys who owned letter jackets. Fortunately, one of my friends had an older brother who had graduated the year before, and he allowed me to wear his jacket which had his name "Eugene" embroidered on the front. I doubt that I ever had the chance to thank him in person, and its totally doubtful that he reads this blog.....but, here goes......"THANK YOU, EUGENE A.!!", wherever you are.

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On the IPTV documentary last evening, some famous Iowa girls' basketball players were mentioned, and three of them were interviewed live in the studio after the show......Jeannette Olson of Everly, Sandy Van Cleve of Montezuma, and Lisa Brinkmeyer of Hubbard-Radcliffe. Wow......how well I remember watching those famous games back in the late 60's when Olson and Van Cleve, and Denise Long of Union-Whitten played. The night of the televised final was always a huge deal around our house.....we would invite another family over to watch with us, or we would go watch it at a neighbor's house. That night in 1968 when Union-Whitten battled Everly, I was sitting on our neighbor's living room floor, eyes glued to the exciting game on the black and white TV screen. Oh, my! The game went into overtime......final score 113-107!! Can you imagine such a score in today's 5-on-5 girls' basketball?!

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Those really good players from way back then occupy a special place in my mind for some reason. We young girls watching them wished and dreamed of playing that well. Sandy Van Cleve was a stand-out player for Montezuma High School......when my daughter went to college in Pella, Iowa, our route to visit her would take us through Montezuma, and each time we drove through that town, the place seemed almost hallowed to me, because of those basketball memories. Isn't that goofy!?

Mediapolis was another famous girls basketball town.......I remember Barb Wischmeyer being their great player for a few years. (I probably mispelled her last name.) And yes, Denise Long, who was very long, as in TALL, shot her way into Iowans' memories with her ability to make baskets. Her cousin, also named Long, I believe, played in the guard court for their team from Union-Whitten.

The Six-on-Six game was great fun to watch. It was very fast-paced, with constant back and forth scoring. Players were allowed only two dribbles with each ball possession. We did drills in practice to learn to get as far as possible on those two dribbles. Dribble, dribble....jump stop.....pivot.....pass!! I would get bruised heels from the jump-stopping.......and jammed, swollen finger joints from catching a fast, hard pass wrong. My right ring finger was jammed so many times, it's joint became permanently enlarged.......not a problem, except when I try to push a ring over it...... I use soap suds to get a ring on and off.

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Another thing I remember is that up until the early 70's, the big city high schools in Iowa did not have girls' basketball teams. That sounds really strange, but that's the way it was, for some reason. The small schools had girls' basketball decades before the large schools did. Weird.

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By the way, my daughter who attended college in Pella is a high school teacher and a girls' basketball coach. She has experienced only the 5-on-5 game, however. She enjoys the game very much, and played all four years in high school. I was almost blown away by the emotions I felt in the final moments of her final high school game!!

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My high school alma mater made it to the state tournament THIS YEAR for the very first time ever!!!! Many congratulations to them!! They lost in the quarterfinals, but just getting to Des Moines is a great accomplishment! Way to go, girls!!!