The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, Februar y 20, 2019 B-1 SPORTS Submit sports items: Call: 812-354-8500 Email: sports@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg See 1969 on page 5 See CHARGERS on page 2 Charger swimmers reduce season times at sectional By Kenzie Rudolph Pike Central boys' swimming had everyone competing in the sectional reduce their times for the season. "Everyone cut time in every event on Satur- day," said coach Beth Bohnert. In the 200 -yard freestyle, Pike Central's Samuel Theising, a ju- nior, placed 14th with a time of 6:00.79 in the finals. "Sam had huge cuts. He cut 4.9 seconds off his previous best," said Bohnert. In the 500 -yard freestyle race, Theising rep- resented the Chargers again with a 6:00.79 fin- ish to take 12th place, which was 12.94 seconds faster than his previous best. Charger junior Brayden Cooper placed ninth in the 50 -yard freestyle with a time of 24.92. It was an improvement of 0.02 second off his previous best. Cooper also placed seventh in the 100 -yard backstroke with a time of 1:06.10, which is a 0.41 improvement. In the relays, sophomore Garrett Boyd, sophomore Noah Russell, and juniors Theising and Cooper came together to place 10th in the 200 -yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:53.46. The Chargers placed sixth in the 400 -yard freestyle relay with a four-man team comprised of Boyd, junior Andrew Hill, Theising and Coo- per as the anchor. Their time was 4:17.45. Boyd also competed as a diver in the sec- tional finals. He finished sixth with a 216.60. Bohnert said Boyd is only in his second year of diving and improved 27 points from his to- tal last year. "We have a young team this year. Cooper is in his third year swimming for the high school team, but everyone else is either in their sec- ond or first year on the team. It was great to end the season with some strong swims and best times," said Bohnert. Otwell High School's basketball sectional win still fresh in fans' minds 50 years later By Kim Anderson Elliott The year 1969 is remembered for sev- eral historical events. Neil Armstrong took his historic footsteps on the moon. Elvis Presley recorded what has become known as the "comeback sessions" at American Studio in Memphis. The Brady Bunch was broadcast for the first time on ABC. Richard Nixon was sworn in as the 37th President of the United States. The Vietnam War continued to take the lives of many young Americans. Sesame Street aired its first episode. These are just a few of many events that occurred in our country. But to this for- ever young girl at heart, the most signif- icant event of 1969 occurred on March 1 in the Hatchet House in Washington, Ind. For on this night, the Otwell Millers won their one and only boys' high school basketball sectional. This was the time of "true Hoosier Hysteria." While there have been a few other small high schools in Indiana that have only won one sectional, Otwell's cham- pionship victory will never be forgotten to many folks in this area. In 1969, class sports were not thought about. The single class system prevailed in Indiana. This was an era when high school gyms were packed on Friday and Sat- urday nights by fans to cheer on their teams. Sectionals also brought much ex- citement and packed houses, unlike the class system sectionals of today. What do I remember about sectional time? Well, sometimes you could count on having a little snow or slick roadways. Most of the ladies in town not only visit- ed the beauty shop once that week, but twice. People dressed up to go to the sec- tional. Students wore school colors and even corsages. Gyms were sold out and tickets diffi- cult to find. Fan buses took students to the games. Gyms were packed all four nights of the sectional, as there were sev- en teams playing for the title. Even when a school lost their first game and was out, their fans still came to all sessions of the sectional. What an exciting time this was. Every year at the end of the basketball season, OHS had its All Sports Banquet in the high school gym. This was a com- munity event. Tarps were placed on the gym floor. Rows of tables and chairs cov- ered the gym floor. Ladies in the com- munity carried in side dishes, while the high school cafeteria gals prepared the meat. Millie Padgett baked and decorat- ed a cake for the team. As youngsters, we could not wait to see what Millie had cre- ated for this occasion. We were lucky to hear national speak- ers like Lee Corso and Joe Dean. For me, being the daughter of the coach, from the end of March until October, when the new season began, was a long time. The 1968 -69 Otwell Millers were and still are a special team. This group of play- ers started in elementary school prepar- ing for their championship. They became a team at a very young age with the sec- tional crown as their goal. I recall Dad telling me that if he wasn't over at the gym to let them in, then they would crawl through the windows. They played together year round. Each and ev- ery player contributed to the success of this team. The players ahead of this team also made contributions. This team grew up playing and practicing with the old- er players. While there are only five players on the floor during the game, each and ev- ery player had to be prepared to go into the game at any time. This required hard work and dedication by all. One never knew when his name would be called. In the final game of the 1969 sectional, Rick Weisman, one of our starting forwards and leading scorers, fouled out with sig- nificant time remaining on the clock in the fourth quarter. Off of the bench came Jim DeMotte. When interviewed after the game, he was asked about going in the game. I re- call he responded that he wasn't nervous in this situation. He stated he had gone up against one of the best, Rick, every day in practice. The players knew the game and were prepared. The Millers were a strong team all season. They were 17-3 heading into the sectional. First up were the Washington Hatchets. The victory over the Hatch- ets advanced the Millers to the Saturday semi-final game against Barr-Reeve. A f- ter winning this game, they were in the championship game that night against North Daviess. Dad's first priority was to get the boys off those feet and legs to rest for the big showdown. He got them rooms at a lo- cal hotel in Washington between games. We trailed most of the final game, despite having a high shooting average through- out the game. At the end of the third quar- ter, we were down by nine. One sports writer wrote at the time that everyone but the coach and the players had given up. He continued by writing "but here is where the true mark of cham- pions began to show." I don't think that writer knew the true spirit of this team, the student body and the community. The Millers continued to fight back to take a one-point lead with 1:39 mark in the game. With more than six minutes left in the game, Rick Weisman had fouled 1969 – A YEAR ALWAYS REMEMBERED By Andy Heuring Pike Central made a couple of runs and got within two possessions a couple of times, but Forest Park's Curt Hopf was just too much for the Chargers to handle in the paint. Hopf, who was eight inches taller than anyone the Char- gers had on the floor, scored two field goals in all four quarters for a game-high 19 points that lead Forest Park to a 47-30 win over the Char- gers on Saturday. Pike Central fell behind 7-0 as Hopf got his second basket at the 4:21 mark. Charger Austin Holder finally got the Char- gers on the scoreboard with 2:27 left when he hit a free throw. Simon Jacob drilled a three 20 seconds later to stretch the Rangers' lead to nine points. Rick Weisman cut down the net at the Hatchet House after Otwell High School's 1969 sectional victory. Charger Ethan Scott drives to the basket for two of his team-high 11 points against Forest Park. Pike Central tries to hold off Ranger's Hopf in 47-30 loss The 1969 Otwell High School Boys' Basketball team included (l to r): Ellis Gray, Erwin Traylor, Bob Whaley, Tim Garland, David Elkins, Mike Vaughn, Rick Weisman, Jim Demotte, Steve Meadors, Neal Pauw, Steve Bar- rett, Tim Teague and Coach Andy Anderson.