Duckwater Shoshone Tribal School: Basketball Coach

My first year in Duckwater I helped out by coaching the basketball team for the K-8 schoold.  This was a joint team with kids from both the Duckwater County School and the Duckwater Tribal School.  We practiced in the Tribal gym.  We played Lund twice, Ely Junior High  School once, and a parochial school in Ely.  We played close in a couple games, but Ely Junior High really skunked us.  We improved through  the year however.  Some of the he kids on the  team were Chris and Stephen Powers, Willie Blackeye, Willie Morago Amy Halstead and Kathy Hanks.
We did have some problems with playing in a disciplined style and getting into s set pattern, but as we set more realistic goals during the year we felt OK about the way things turned out.  We especially had problems with pressure and controlling the ball.  We lacked a good guard or a way to break a press.  The second year I was in Duckwater their were less kids of playing age and less interest so we didn't field a team.

LTM (MTC) Teacher/Basketball Coach Ken Wagner

http://byuhawaiisports.com/sports/mbkb/coaches/ken_wagner
I have crossed paths with Ken Wagner a couple times in my life.  The firstwat at the Language Training Mission in Provo.  He was one of my two Spanish instructors.  He was born in Chihuahua Mexico and served a mission in Monterrey Mexico.  While I was in the LTM Spanish instruction included grammar, but also a memorize the discussions part.  One day I vomited the food they were serving, and didn't make it to class as a result.  He came to check on me.  I was studying as hard as I could without being in class.  I think he was worried I was just being a slacker.  I only missed half a day.  I wasn't really sick, just sick of thick pancakes.  He was my instructor the entire two months.
The second time he crossed my path was when he was coaching at Lehi High School.  Weldon's team form Tintic High School had a game scheduled with them.  This was the case of the 1A school (Weldon's) taking on the larger 2A school.  Not only that, but Lehi at the time was a very good team.   They played in a couple state championships.  I don't remember the score, but Lehi won the game. From Lehi High School he went south to Dixie College.  He has been at Hawaii BYU for 25 years.

University of Utah Graduate School of Social Work Basketball Team

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I am lower left.  Some of those old guys could really play.  Dean Schatz in in the center, back row next to Bill Farley.  The trophy I am sure has gone the way of the D.I.

Bill Sharman Passes Away

Bill Sharman passed away this week.  Most people are remembering Bill Sharman as the championship coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, or executive with the Boston Celtics.  However I remember him from before the Lakers, with the Utah Stars, 1971 championship teach.  He was the coach of the team which featured Zelmo Beaty as the center who could always get a basket when needed, Willie Wise, as the small forward who provided the moves, Wayne Hightower as the defender and rebounder, Glen Combs as the three point specialist, Ron Boone as the sixth man and energy off the bench, Red Robbins as scoring off the bench and Mervin Jackson at the point. 
Weldon and I would follow the games on the radio, on TV when they were shown, and a few games at the Salt Palace.  I remember one game Weldon and I got their early for the game, and went to the Jazz office in the Salt Palace.  They gave us the media guide pamphlets from the year before.  It was a good experience.

Hyrum Pick-up Basketball

I just returned from the church after having played basketball with my son for a couple hours.  This brought back memories of younger times.  Our favorite activity during Christmas break was to head to the church (Hyrum Second Ward) to play basketball.  There were a couple of drawbacks.  We needed someone with a key, and we needed an adult to supervise.  That was the rule, there had to be an adult present.

We could usually find someone.  Sometimes my brother-in-law who liked to play, or sometimes just someone who was willing to sit while we played.

We could play for hours.  The age of those playing would vary  Sometimes the group was mostly adults, and other times it was all kids.  Over the years I took several roles, from the kid who just wanted to make a name for himself by making a couple plays, to the one of the older kids who dominated the game, and finally the adult who wanted to give the younger kids a chance.

When we got a basketball under the Christmas tree, we couldn't wait to try it out.  We would be to the church right after dinner.  One year we got an ABA style  ball.  Man did it look cool when you got a good spin on it with a shot.  Clyde had a leather ball.  In those days a good leather ball was a luxury.

The church gym was not a full length court.  It lent itself to good fast breaks, with drives to the hoop and fancy lay-ups.  Many of those fancy drives ended with spins and crazy shots.  They would even go in much of the time.

One thing that church had that most don't these days was a shower.  It felt great to shower after a long day of basketball.  I would let the water run, and put it on colder and colder until I could hardly stand it any more.  I then would make a cup with my hands and take in a long drink.  Sometimes that would be the end of our day on the court, but other days we would be reinvigorated and go for another round.

Carbondale: Unity Point K-8

Unity Point

I attended Unity Point school for the sixth grade.  Unity Point was a K-8 school.  This was the second year of our two-year stay in Carbondale as I was growing up.  By dad worked for Southern Illinois University in the library, and this year we had moved into university housing so our check would stretch a little farther.  We had eight of us living in a three-bedroom apartment. 

Unity Point was a different experience than a regular elementary school.  For one thing there was basketball.  We had an eighth-grade team, and Weldon played for them.  In fact he was the starting point guard.  Sports trickled down to the other grades, and I played on the sixth-grade team.  We didn't have as many games, and I didn't play a lot, but still had fun.

We had regular school cheer leaders for the eighth grade team, and cheer leaders for our team.  I remember one cheer, "U.P. up and away."  That cheer was to much for a sixth grader.  I guess you had to be a guy to understand the humor.

Unity Point was a different experience, being popular had finally begun to sink in, and this was a big goal of many classmates.   We also had older kids in our class, who had been held back a coupe of times.  Other kids smoked and were pretty rough.

There were separate ares for different age kids.  We sixth graders were with the older kids and stayed on the North end of the building for recess.  This is where the basketball hoops were as well as a place for running or playing games. 

Basketball consumed my life that year.  We lived in Evergreen Terrace, and they had an outdoor basketball court with a rec room.  You could check out basketball if you didn't have your own.  The apartments were brand new, and the grass wasn't in.  Some days, when it rained there was a mud field surrounding the basketball court and you couldn't get to it. 

Bob and Dan McKess lived in Evergreen Terrace as well.  They were big into basketball.  We would play for hours.  Bob was in fifth grade and Dan in fourth.  Even though they were younger, they were each an even match for me.  Dan was taller.  He use to hand from the monkey bars, in the hopes it would stretch out his body, making him taller and more likely to make the team.  Bob played on the sixth grade team with me, and actually played more than I did.

Because we were a branch in our church, I was able to play on the young men's team, even though I was younger.   It was fun, even though I wasn't expected to shoot. 

I also started my Scout career in Illinois.  I did both Blazer Scouts and regular Scouts.  I went to scout camp and earned four Merit badges.  My dad was the scout master.  I worked on basic requirements in Blazer Scouts, and our leader was actually the scout master of troop 66, sponsored by a different church.

After my sixth grade year I played minor league baseball with Bob and Dan's dad coaching.  We won every game that year.  A couple of our players moved on to the majors, so by the end of the year it was a bit harder to win.  We had a big squad, and we would all play half a game.  I caught.  I played only half a game until the last game of the year, the championship game.  I came back in and played first base for the second half of the game.

Basketball Wars

Weldon and I played so much basketball growing up you wouldn't believe it.  He use to win most often; he is three years older than me.  But in my mind it was because he cheated, and consequently we would often have fights after a few games.  We wouldn't always fight, but we would fight enough to keep it interesting.

After one such fight, I grabbed a rock, threatening my brother.  I was a pretty good aim with a rock.  He took off running, and actually was quite a ways away, running through a field across the street.  I decided to give the rock a throw anyway, not really thinking it would ever hit him, but at least it would give him a good scare.  So I threw that rock with everything  I had, well over his head.

But Weldon was running.  When the rock came down, Weldon had caught up with it.  It caught him right on the ear, and he dropped like a deer that had been shot.  I ventured towards him wearily to see if he was OK.  I knew if he wasn't dead, he was going to kill me.

As I crept closer, asking if he was OK, he jumped up and ran towards me.  But instead of pounding me, we just had a good laugh.  I survived that bullet.

Snow was our biggest enemy in those days, or at least would keep us from playing all the basketball we wanted.  The hoop was on the front of our house, and we had to fight the snow to play.  Some years the snow would win, and we were dependent on someone to let us into the church to play (a block away.)  However we would fight the snow and ice with our snow shovels, and would be out playing in the snow storms, as long as it wasn't sticking the the drive way, in the coldest of weather.  The cold would be invigorating.

I had brothers to play with, but I would also shoot by myself.  In my head I would be my favorite team, which was usually the Jazz.  Those were the Adrian Dantley days.  And they started to eventually win a few games.  Of course before the Jazz it was the Stars.  We loved them as well--Zelmo Beaty "Big Z" and Willie Wise, Jimmy Jones and Ron Boone.  They actually won the championship one year.  By the time they got Moses Malone strait out of high school the Stars were just about through.  They were not a team selected to move to the NBA from the ABA.

Me, Weldon, Clyde and cousin Reed Olsen, and Buffy running around

 As we got older, and Charlie joined the wars, we would play a lot of two-on-two.  We added Charlie's friend, Martin Smith to our fray.  Weldon and I would still be on opposite teams, but we would have a partner from the younger two.  Our favorite game was 22.  You had to win by four so a game could last a long time if it was close.

Our hoop was a bit shorter than ten feet, but still close to regular height.  Between our house and Marty Smith's house were a couple duplexes where they had a basket just over eight feet.  This made for fun pay as well as we could stuff on this basket.