Slippery Slope

It is interesting when something that happens now can trigger a memory from days gone by.

I’m sure many of you heard about the Gonzaga-Pittsburgh game played last Friday. If not then here is a synopsis.

This is year four for the Armed Forces Classic game. Two NCAA basketball teams play in a venue at a US Armed Forces base around the world. This year’s game was at a Marine base in Okinawa, Japan.

This is quite an honor to be selected for this game as it gives the players an opportunity to meet servicemen and see some of the things they do as well as sit in some of the neat equipment that is used to keep our country safe.

This year’s game wasn’t played in an arena or even a gym but more of a field house or upgraded Quonset building. The floor was brought in and set up with about enough room for 3,000 Marines and a few other fans from the two schools.

Unfortunately, it had rained the night before the game and it was about 77 degrees with about 100% humidity inside the building. Large fans were brought in to keep the air moving but the humidity made the playing surface slick and unsafe.

Both teams played a bit gingerly as players slipped and fell going after a loose ball or just backing up.

One of the Pitt Panther players took a nasty spill falling on his face and opening up quite a gash. As hard as he fell it was scary to see and made one wonder if he received a concussion.

When halftime came around the maintenance crew tried to get the moisture taken care of but to no avail.

There was no end in sight for the court to be rendered safe and the officials called the game as both teams returned from halftime.

I’m sure the players wanted to finish the game but careers and team success is on the line and no one wanted to see anyone tear up a knee, ankle, wrist or back. There are future professional athletes whose careers could come to a screeching halt. So the game was cancelled and no stats will be recorded. It was a shame that something like that happened but the players and coaching staff still came away with some great memories of their time at a Marine base in Japan.

Now the triggered memory. I saw Gayle Gering Saturday night and we talked about the GU game.

He said, “You would have been too young to remember but we had a game like that my senior year. We had a playoff game against Reardan and the game was played in Harrington.”

I told Gayle that I was about eight months old at the time but my brother Ray, who was a classmate of Gayle’s told me about that strange night in Harrington.

Gayle said, “The janitor had waxed the floor for a dance at the high school gym but the wax wasn’t removed before the game and the floor was slick. We had trouble keeping our feet and Sandy Grams got hurt practically doing the splits. Reardan was ahead at halftime and the officials called the game because the floor was unsafe.”

I remember my brother and my dad telling me about this particular Bronco basketball team. They told me they had a tendency to start slow but by the second half they would get on a roll and they were almost unbeatable. The Broncos had only lost to Mead an A school back then by 10 or 11 points.

Ritzville High School petitioned the WIAA to start the game from the beginning. The WIAA said that they would if 100% of the Bi-County teams agreed. Every school agreed except for Reardan and since it wasn’t 100 percent they played the final two quarters with Reardan coming out on top.

So the 1953 RHS Bronco team finished with just two losses but their great season came to a difficult ending.

It is a sad reminder of how things were played out 63 years ago. Today it seems like nearly every team makes it to district no matter how bad their season was.

I can just about guarantee that if a basketball court wasn’t safe to play on the game would be called immediately and the game would be started from the opening tip not the second half one.

Gayle did tell me about two Bronco fathers that got on each side of one of the officials and grabbed him by the ears and marched out of the gym to try to get some answers as to why the game wasn’t called earlier. I guess you could say the striped shirt got two ears full.

Playing sports can be a slippery slope at times. Players should never be placed in difficult and dangerous situations. We’ve learned many lessons over the years as to how to have good sportsmanship.

Gayle laughed when he said, “I think that is why I hated Reardan for so many years. We should have played the entire game over.”

My brother and my dad thought so, too!