This week I will be attending the state boys’ basketball tournament in Columbus and plan to watch all 12 games for the 26th straight year. It is always a blast.
This year, I have a rooting interest, which isn’t always the case, as the Norwalk Truckers, who shared the Northern Ohio League (NOL) title this year with Ontario, play in the division II state semi-finals on Thursday morning against Dayton Thurgood Marshall.
Norwalk has been the best boys’ team in North Central Ohio over the last four years and I believe it is a fitting reward for them to get a chance to play at Value City Arena on the campus of The Ohio State University. If not for the fact that their enrollment put them in division one the last two years by just a few boys in grades 10-12, this likely would not be the first time they would have advanced to this level.
Steve Gray is the coach of the Truckers. For Mansfield area fans, yes, this is very same Steve Gray that was once coach at Lexington.
Or, if you have an even better memory, the same Steve Gray who was a point guard at Buckeye Central back in the 1970s when players wore real shorts as compared to whatever that is that they wear now.
Gray told me when he took the Norwalk job that he wanted to build a program. All his coaching stops leading to his current gig – Ridgedale, Lexington and Colonel Crawford – already had traditions of success when he got there.
I’d say he has done a pretty good job of doing just that in taking the Truckers, often the doormat of the NOL, to the top. Of course, using his words, talent always helps.
Even without a team to root for, my three days with Mansfield St. Peter’s coach, Pat Durham, are always fun and often educational.
Being who we are, the coach and I are creatures of habit. I am sure we will spend at least some time walking the parking lot between games to see if their is anyone that will give us free food. Over of the years I have enjoyed burgers and brats and other delicacies from fans of Clear Fork, Buckeye Central, South Central, Lexington, New London, Ashland, Shelby, Crestview and on and on. Most times I am just the guy with Durham, but sometimes they know me too.
There is always the trip or two or three or four to the 7-11 across the street from the former home of the tournament St. John Arena. I don’t know what I will buy there this year due to the fact that the diet I am won’t allow me a “Big Gulp,” (Do they still call it that?) or a candy bar or one of those drumstick ice cream things. Oh well, I’m sure there will be something healthy to eat.
Most of the time there is talk with other coaches, fans, guys that used to play for Durham, coach under Durham, or against Durham, where you trade stories that have become legendary in their magnitude.
Remember former Ohio State, and NFL, running back Keith Byars? Well, one of my favorite stories is to hear when Byars hit the basketball standard at the University of Dayton Arena full speed, the standard swayed back and fourth from the blow. Byars? Not phased.
Of course, there is the guy in the Minnesota Vikings ski hat that is always trying to scalp tickets shouting, “Who needs tickets?” or “Who’s got tickets?”
There was one time that Durham sold our tickets to somebody for an upcoming game and we had to buy others. Or the time that a Clear Fork kid bought a ticket for a game that just ended.
Once, I watched a couple of guys driving golf balls out of the parking lot at St. John, across the Olentangy River, into the lot where they used to park buses and RV’s. Nobody was killed.
Regarding the fashion that you often see at the games? A trait I picked up from Durham allows me to say whatever comes to mind.
So, if you don’t see this column next week…
After years of toil and sweat behind radio station microphones, longtime broadcaster, Jeff Swank joined the new generation of sports followers on the web.
Swank launched his internet radio station with nothing more than some wire, a box with some knobs and switches, and an itch to do much more than just scratch the surface of everything sports.
Richland Source is proud to introduce Jeff as a writer focused on high school sports. He will contribute a weekly column and analysis of a featured game of the week from one of our area high schools.
In addition to his work at Richland Source, Jeff provides complete high school sports coverage for over 70 Ohio schools at his web site, http://www.swankonsports.net76.net/.