Wednesday, June 24, 2009

In The Beginning...


The West Virginia All-Stars included (click on all pictures to enlarge): Front row: Andy Hayes, Eddie Smith, Randy Risher, Gay Elmore, Ritchie Holstein, Gary Orr; Back row: Rodger Monk, Dean Winefordner, Steve Smith, Scott Bell, Craig Kay, Roger Littleberry, Andy Spradling, Jim Triplett, Ron Cobb.


In 1976, Rodger Monk, Ron Cobb, and Jim Triplett set out on a quest to put together a basketball team of West Virginia-based players which could conquer the United States, just as a 16-and-under West Virginia team led by Mount Hope’s Earl Jones and South Charleston’s Greg Young were about to do that very year. Over the next four years, the trio of coaches would take three teams to the AAU National Championship. Two teams, the 12-and-under group in 1977 in Cincinnati, and a 14-and-under group in 1979 in Charleston, would reach the pinnacle of their sport – AAU national champions. In 1978, the 14-and-under team -- which included Elmore, Reed, and myself but was led by John Mawyer, Jeff Eddy, Larry Bryson, DeHan Jefferson, Brian Eddy -- was defeated in the AAU National Championship game. No West Virginia team has repeated our feat since 1979 in Charleston.

The 1976 team was led by three seventh graders, Charlestonians Craig Kay and Roger Littleberry, and Barboursville’s Scott Bell and probably lacked a great deal of outside scoring presence.

Ron Cobb had approached me after an All-Star game in which he was the referee. I was playing for St. Albans Western. We’d had a little humorous banter in the game because I was tall and could palm a basketball – which I of course tried to do at every opportunity to show off – and because while I was not paying attention he nearly took my head off reporting a call to the scorer’s table. But that’s what he, Rodger, and Jim were doing, taking the best players they knew and picking the best All-Stars they could find.

Practices were rugged, something I’d never experienced. I’d get so nervous I’d hyperventilate. We had to keep brown paper bags at practice for me to breath into when I’d have an attack. Two things happened there for me. I’d already been working hard as an individual, but I learned the importance of hustle and how to practice in a team concept. Secondly, Ron, after practice one day, got me working on a one-handed jump shot. I’d always been a post player, but those days were coming to an end. In fact, I’d quit growing the following year, at about 6-1 ½ -- at 13. The jump shot seemed to come naturally to me, though it was something else to take home and practice hours a day.

The team learned some hard lessons in its first trip to a national tournament, in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. But despite a great deal of youth – mostly sixth graders that wouldn’t be able to return due to where their birthdays fell -- the team managed a seventh place finish. In the locker room after our final loss, Rodger asked the four players young enough to return, Gay Elmore, Joey Bowles, Randy Risher and myself, if we were willing to commit to giving what it took to come back and win it all. The answer was a resounding yes…

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Weaving past and present


This blog will act as both a journal for the present efforts to bring the members of these two teams together, catch up with some of the players and coaches, hopefully have some fun, while also looking back 32 and 30 years at what took place as these groups marched with unblemished records through AAU national tournaments.

Here's a photo of the 1979 team, prior to the tournament, which was held in Charleston, West Virginia. Front row: J.T. Morris, Mike Reed, David Bradley, Ronnie Dawson, Alex Nagy, Ricky Trammell, Bruz Hicks. Back row: Coach Rodger Monk, Britt Harrison, Buster Duiguid, Willie Jenkins, Andy Spradling, Mark Cline. Absent: Jeff Overstreet.

Why, You Gotta Believe?

In 1977 and 1979, two West Virginia basketball teams climbed to the top of the hoops world by winning AAU National Championships, the first in Cincinnati, the second right here in Charleston, W.Va. "You Gotta' Believe" was a common saying of the coaches -- a call to arms -- and it went a long way as players from different communities bonded through competition and blood, sweat, and tears to become teammates with a higher cause in mind. After pondering it for a number of years, a reunion of those two teams, coached by Rodger Monk, Ron Cobb, and Jim Triplett, is planned for Saturday, August 1, 2009, at Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Teays Valley. A pre-reunion event is also planned for 6 p.m. Friday, July 31, at the Power Alley Grill located in Appalachian Power Park, Charleston, for anybody who played AAU ball for the trio of coaches. That list is long and includes some of the greatest athletes in the state to ever lace'em up.What follows is a photo entitled "1977 AAU National Champions visit Secretary of State’s Office"and a cutline as it appeared in the Charleston Daily Mail recently.In 1977, a Charleston-based group of athletes climbed to the top of the basketball world by winning the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) 12-and-under National Championship, held in Cincinnati, Ohio, warranting a trip to visit Secretary of State A. James Manchin. Pictured are: front row (l-r), Randy Risher, Joey Bowles, Bruz Hicks, Alex Nagy, Boo Duiguid, J.T. Morris; second row, Doug Dent 14-and-under team member, Dan Gardner, Mike Reed, Andy Spradling, Michael Calhoun, Gay Elmore, 14-and-under team member Steve Vorholt; third row, 14-and-under team member Kevin Hudson, Greg Fields, A. James Manchin, Coach Jim Triplett, Coach Ron Cobb, and Coach Rodger Monk.In 1979, a nucleus of the team – Hicks, Nagy, Morris, Reed, and Spradling – joined by David Bradley, Mark Cline, Ron Dawson, Buster Duiguid, Brett Harrison, Willie Jenkins, Jeff Overstreet, and Ricky Trammell, again won the AAU National Championship, this time held in Charleston. A reunion of the two teams is planned for Saturday, Aug. 1, at Sleepy Hollow Country Club, but a few team members have not yet been located. Contact Andy Spradling at andyspradling@gmail.com or 304-437-1712 ASAP for more information.A gathering is also planned for 6 p.m. Friday, July 31, at Power Alley Grill at Appalachian Power Park, Charleston, for any former Monk, Cobb, and Triplett-coached AAU basketball player from 1976 to the mid-1980s.