"Wonderful Our Town Hoops Memory" - Time Out #182

I have always thought sports provide an excellent example for life.

You win some, you lose some, and depending on the particular athletic event, it may end in a tie. However, time moves onward, long after the game is over, no matter the outcome.

Whether you are a player or a fan, your emotions have to adjust to reality after the contest is history.

I have certainly seen my fair share of sporting events during my colorful life. Several hold special places in my mind's eye. I will share with the readers of Our

Town and far beyond, the absolute greatest high school basketball game I ever witnessed in person, even though it has been almost 60 years ago. To me, it is like it was played yesterday, and I think about it almost every time I drive by Stillwater's Old Armory on East 9th Avenue, just west of the railroad tracks, on the south side of the old "cobblestone" street.

The time was the winter of 1960, and the weather conditions that particular evening were bitter cold as I, then 12, made my way to the old gym. Stillwater High School played their games in that facility during that era, because the "new" C.E. Donart (i.e., Stillwater) High School structure and gym, had not been constructed yet on North Boomer Road. I remember hearing the local high school pep band playing loud inside as I walked up outside; the band positioned inside the armory on the east stage, I could hear the familiar musical beat for our famous school fight song drifting through the cold, outside night air.

Fans in attendance parked their autos and pickup trucks EVERYWHERE around the old venue, and I enjoyed seeing some of the late model cars with their 1950's high rear fins projecting into the frigid evening air.

Once inside the armory, I could see more people standing than seated on the old wooden bleachers, placed on both sides of the playing floor. What an unusual floor it is, too, the fitted wooden blocks perfectly spaced together! Our local Pioneers' opponent that special evening were the highly-respected and talented, Enid Plainsmen. The Plainsmen had one of our state's all-time great basketball players, 6'1" guard Larry Hawk. Larry went on to start 3 years for Coach Henry P. Iba,, and our Oklahoma State Cowboys. He was a senior for OSU on the legendary 1964-65 team that won our conference championship, and he averaged double digits in scoring that year. Larry was as quick a basketball player I had ever seen, then or since, possessed great court awareness, and could easily dribble/penetrate thru a defense, only to stop on a dime, and loft a soft, floating shot successfully into the basket. He was truly a great athlete!

Our Town countered with Velvet Jim "Bad News" Barnes, a 6'8", 210-pound center, that Pioneer head coach Martin "Red" Loper had "convinced" to move to Stillwater from rural Arkansas. Bad News (given the famous nickname later in his basketball career because he definitely was bad news to any other team he played, due to his incredible athletic skills) was truly a man among boys in the high school hoops arena. He totally dominated a game at both ends of the court.

Well, that evening long, long ago, I witnessed a "dual of 2 titans", and the best high school game I had ever seen or have seen since. It truly was back and forth from end-to-end with the crowds going crazy with sheer excitement. Larry/Enid would make an unbelievable play at one end of the court, only to have Bad News/Stillwater make an outstanding play on the other end.

The numerous lead changes and fast-paced action made the inside temperature seem like the air was on fire, especially when contrasted with the freezing cold outside.

In the end, our Bad News-led team prevailed in victory over the Plainsmen.. In fact, the Pioneers won the state championship that year, and Bad News was named the first black basketball player to ever win the Oklahoma Player of the Year Award. He later went on to play for Cameron (then a 2-year junior college) in Lawton for 2 seasons, and his last 2 college years at Texas Western in El Paso. Following college, he was the #1 overall pick in the 1964 NBA draft, and played for 5 different pro teams in 7 seasons, retiring due to injury in 1971.

Yes, even now, every time I drive by the old facility on East 9th Avenue, I listen very, very carefully. I REALLY do think I can still hear the fans roaring inside from that incredible game long, long ago?