The First Steps in '77

There was some shuffling of players following the above mentioned tournament in Huntington, which was played on nine-foot rims. I remember that because Ron Cobb offered a small prize to anybody who dunked in a game. I didn't get one down, but it wasn't for lack of trying. I had an opportunity on a fast break and some poor little kid stepped in front of me at the foul line. After the contact, he didn't stop until he crumpled into the wall behind the basket.

The shuffling of players was due to age if I remember correctly, presenting the need for the tryouts. Mike Reed, then of Dunbar but who would eventually move to St. Albans to become a Red Dragon, had already joined the team and would be a big part of both title teams. The tryouts, which brought many talented players out, yielded two more players significant to both national titles: Alex Nagy of Logan, and Bruz Hicks of Nitro. Both guards, but different players. Alex would be the starting point guard on both teams and would later go on to have a great career as Cal Bailey's catcher at West Virginia State College, now University. I covered a game of his once where he hit a grand slam in the final inning to overtake the lead and win the game over The University of Charleston.

Bruz Hicks went on to a solid career at UC, playing in 128 games in four years, which has him in the top 10 all-time in games played. He was a part of the 85-86 team that went undefeated in the WVIAC, thumped Marshall at the Civic Center, and advanced to the NAIA semis finals. We were roommates as freshmen at UC, but we were always great friends through high school and had numerous mutual friends. After we'd won the title in Cincy, I spent the night with him at his home in Nitro. A few days later his father, Buck, passed away suddenly. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason for it. At the funeral home, he said as much to me. But he put his faith in God. Bruz was always there for me through my injuries as well. We were to face each other as sophomores at St. Albans and Nitro, in December of '79, but I instead was in St. Francis Hospital following surgery for a severed ACL in my right knee. Bruz and his sweet mother, Greta, came to see me the night before the game. He was also there with me when I dislocated my knee cap playing in a flag football championship, following our first official practice at UC in 1982. In the spring I tore my right ACL again, another eight weeks in a hip-to-toe cast. I came back the next fall after losing 30 pounds during the summer at Myrtle Beach, but I didn't have it strong enough to compete. Frustrated at feeling two steps slow and like a lesser athlete, I gave up the game. It was the worst mistake I ever made.