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| Jim Hough & Jeff (2015) |
Deep inside the heart of every guy, no matter his age or worldly experience, resides the soul of a 12-year-old kid who longs for the moment when it is his time to shine.
For me, I will forever remember the 1972-73 school year, when I was a wide-eyed seventh grade player who had only one basketball dream, to someday be a starting guard for the Springboro varsity.
When the Panthers played, I was in the front row. When they were featured in the paper, I studied their statistics. Whether I was shooting around at the park or taking the floor for a game against Kings or Mason, my one and only vision was to get to the big show one day.
I remember that dream like it was yesterday. Vividly.
I have remembered it for so long that, eight years ago, I wrote a book that re-lived all of my experiences during that era.
Though “The Heart of the Panthers” is primarily a story about redemption of the human spirit, it plays out amid the real-live events from a time way back when.
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SO IMAGINE MY enthusiasm when the current Springboro varsity paid homage to that 72-73 team tonight during its 83-33 blowout against West Carrollton. The dream team was at midcourt once again, with guys like Gary Patton, Jeff Howard, Gordie Gregg and Chuck Mockabee, with head coach Harry Hall.
The last time they were together on a basketball court, Springboro had only two traffic lights and all of 2,000 people. When I stopped in Bennett Drug Store on my paper route every afternoon back in those days, there was always a conversation going about the basketball team.
It was the greatest place ever to be a kid.
They had one player I wanted to emulate most of all, Jim Hough. He was a three-year-starter, the son of a former coach, the team’s leading scorer and a guy who was like a coach on the floor.
He wore No. 24 during home games and 25 when they were on the road, something I never forgot. After my family moved to Franklin, making me a Wildcat and ending my dream of being a varsity Panther, I would wear 24 and 25, in honor of Jim.
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I RARELY ASK anyone to take my photograph, but tonight I asked a friend, the legendary Scott Reed (a Panther at heart, who now shoots for Michigan State football, among other things) to take this photo of Jim and me.
Though I see Jim frequently, and he never pretends to be anything but a regular guy, this photo means a lot to me because of what it represents.
It’s of the player who, more than 40 years after he played, still is among the leaders in every offensive category in Panther history.
And it’s of the guy who, despite spending 30 years in the courtroom and paying a mortgage and doing all those things husbands and fathers do, still holds hope of one day having his moment to shine on the basketball court.
Put me in, Coach. I’m ready.
