"February Made Me Shiver." Remembering sophomore basketball at Borah.
Sophomore football season turned into basketball season sometime in November. Our coach was Raymond "Corky" Hill, who had also been our football coach. He carried 20 players on the sophomore team. Only 15 players suited up for games, so the 'bottom ten' traded off wearing the Lion green and gold on game day. I was part of that group. For anyone who wants to know, I only remember getting into one game, and that was in the last minute of a game in which we had already put the hay in the barn. It was late in the season and we were playing in Mountain Home against the Tiger sophomores. I was sitting near the end of the bench when I heard, "Barbour, come here." I was surprised, to say the least. Danny Wilson, a fellow member of the 'bottom ten', gave me a hard time for days afterwards because, he alleged, (and I'm sure he was correct) that I answered "Who, me?" when Coach Hill called my name. I hadn't been in a game all year and I didn't expect to be in that one. It was only a minute or so of playing time and I probably didn't even touch the ball. Other than that memory and the three games we played against the Capital Eagles, I don't remember a whole lot about the roundball season.
The first game against Capital was played in their gym in December. The sophomore schedule was such that we would play whatever valley team the varsity was playing, sometimes in the preliminary to the varsity game and sometimes not. This time it was at their gym with no other game scheduled. Capital was in its third year as Boise's third public high school. My friends may remember the lighting in that gym, at least for the first few years. It was a very yellowish lighting to the extent that I 'felt' yellow in there, if that makes any sense. The lighting always hurt my eyes. The game itself was a fiasco for us. The Eagles' sophomore team scored the first 25 points of the game. Midway through the second quarter we still had not scored; so, 12 minutes without scoring a point! We finally scored and we trailed 31-6 at the half. I'm sure I have never seen a coach as angry as Coach Hill was at halftime of that game. On the bright side, we matched them point for point in the second half and we lost by the same margin of 25 points.
We played them again in January after the New Year's break, this time as the preliminary to the varsity game, once again at Capital. We played our 'home' games in their gym to accommodate large crowds, since our gym was small. In this game our best player, Bob Griffin, did not play, did not even suit up. Jeff Phillips took his place and did an admirable job, and team-wise we played so much better than the early season debacle. I kept thinking we were going to pull off the upset, but we came up three points short. I didn't suit up for that game, but I remember going down to the locker room to see my teammates after the game. I know it's just a game, but we were devastated. We had played so well against a more talented team and we were without our star player. It was silent in that locker room and I was so proud of my teammates for their effort. Truthfully, I was ready to cry.
Remember McDonalds, the Golden Arches, back in the mid-sixties? I looked in the archives of my school newspaper, The Senator, for February of 1967. Here is a sample from the menu from an advertisement in the school newspaper: Hamburger, 18 cents; Fries, 15 cents; and Shake, 25 cents. What does that have to do with sophomore basketball? Read on.
I remember being superstitious in sports. Lots of players and coaches were. In my senior year of football, my teammate Craig Estell and I would wear Levis, ugly sneakers without socks, and a tomato-red pocket t-shirt to the locker on game days when we played at home. Some of the football coaches would get their haircut Friday afternoon before every home game, just for good luck. My friend BJ Johnson and I established a short-lived routine in February during the post-season sophomore basketball tournament at the end of the season.
The tournament was held at Nampa High School, which was a short drive from Borah High. We had a decent but not spectacular regular season, winning more games then we lost. In order to play Capital for the third time we would need to win our first round game against Emmett. Capital received a bye in the first round since they had the top season record. I think they only lost a a couple of games all year. With Bob Griffin leading the way with double figures in both scoring and rebounding, we prevailed in the Monday afternoon game in the first round. The Emmett Huskies had an outstanding player named Glenn Clark, and we bottled him up enough to win by a few points. The following year, Glenn transferred to Borah and played on our varsity for the next two years. After we got back to the Home of the Lions, BJ and I decided to go to McDonalds to get something to eat. I think I order a couple of burgers, fries, and shake, all for less than a buck.
I didn't suit up for the semi-final game against Capital, but I was a rabid fan from start to finish. Capital loved to fast break. Many times the player who rebounded the ball would throw the ball the length of the court and the result was often an easy lay up. This game went back and forth and it was close to the end. We were not a particularly high scoring team, but we poured it on that day. As I recall, BJ had his best game of the year. I think he scored 8 or 10 points in the crucial fourth quarter.
The game was tied at the end of regulation, and, if I'm not mistaken, we played two overtime periods. It was an exciting game to the end. They would score and their crowd would go crazy, then we would answer back and start jumping up and down. I don't remember the final score, but we got the job done. Griffin had another double-double and it was our team's best performance of the year. After we got back to Borah, BJ and I decided we had to go to McDonalds and order the same food we had the night before, and that's exactly what we did. Having defeated the mighty Capital Eagles, we had Mountain Home to play for the championship, a team that we had already beaten twice during the regular year.
I was kind of in awe of Bob Griffin. He was an extremely talented athlete. He was fast, strong, and man could he jump. Bob had another big game against the Tigers, but our team seemed a bit sluggish. Maybe the emotion of upsetting Capital the day before had taken its toll. This time we came up short, and it was disappointing. Bob had another double-double. For the tournament he averaged 17 points and 18 rebounds per game. He just needed a bit more help in the final game.
McDonalds didn't get any money from BJ and me that night. But the memory of the win over Capital was sweet for a long time. Actually, it still is. Beating Capital in any sport was always satisfying. "Never let our spirit die-fight; for Borah High!"
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