(for my boys that want to relive the great moments here we are)

My two grandsons had been part of two champonships in role in beating Hancock Hawks. Both wins were by one point and were hard-fought games. My oldest grandson moved up; this left just my youngest grandson and a few players left over from the championship years; we were weak.

Opening game has us and Hancock Hawks meeting each other and they are looking for revenge losing two championship games by one point in two consecutive years. They come out and fire and beat us by I think 40 points are very close to that. My team was devastated the few losses in two years. The Hawks the new great team and they were ready to show the league they were the team to beat. We lost the next game but by just a point or two and in my talk to them I let them know it matters not who wins at this time, we need to learn how to play together and how to win.

We won every game from then on, not by big scores of prior years but just hard won games. The Hawks beat every team that year by 30 points or more, taking no prisoners. They were just that good. Many players played High school ball with Coach Jay Ladner, including my two grandsons.

Playoffs us the lakeshore Bulldogs were on one side of the bracket and the Hawks on the other. I told my boys the only way to revenge the loss of the game opener we had to meet them in the championship. I decided to watch them play each game and see if I could figure out a way to beat them. I noticed quickly they made most of their winning points by pressing and stealing the ball down at the opponents end of the court. I knew I didn’t have but one player that could dribble up the court but he would be trapped by at least two players and we would lose badly again.

My plan, I had my grandson throw the ball into play, have my best players on each side of the court, and have the rest of the players down the court by the basket, meaning they had trouble stopping the ball from being thrown in. I wouldn’t allow anyone to dribble. As soon as the ball was thrown in, my grandson would run full speed and catch a basketball pass and drive to the goal if he was open, or if not, he would flip it to the big man under the basket, and he would score.

By halftime, they hadn’t changed their way of play, and we had a 17-point lead. I can’t remember the timing; maybe right before halftime, the Hawks coach (Coach Jay Ladner’s, Assitant coach at Saint Stanislaus) was ejected from the building; not too long after that, his son, the best player on the Hawk team, was ejected, it was complete chaos. A friend approached me at this time, wanting to shake my hand for the future victory; I turned him down, telling him this game was far from over. This team is much better than my team, and if they get settled down, we can still lose by double digits.

A new coach, another Head coach, I think, of the Hancock High School girls and the wife of the coach, and the mother of the son that was ejected. This new coach of the team brought order and discipline from chaos. I could sense that the game would come down to the last shot, as did the other two championship games from the past.

The Hawks kept whittling the lead a little at a time. I had the temple of the game so high it was almost impossible to slow my team down, and we weren’t scoring. With just a few seconds left in the game, they achieve a three-pointer; we go down to the other end and score a two-pointer. We have a one-point lead as time runs out. But after some time, they put 3 seconds back on the clock and give them the ball at half-court. The gym was so loud I couldn’t think. The Hawks throw the ball in, and the boy shoots what looks like a perfect three-point shot; it rolls around the rim and falls harmlessly to the floor. The game won by one point again.

It is indeed the most excellent job of my coaching, but better than that, Mrs. Grieves coaching the Hawks took inevitable defeat and made a win at least possible. Victories in sports like in life the futher you have to come from defeat to victory the sweeter the memory. Remembering always these were all my friends except when we competed agianst each other. GOD BLESS

When great coaches and great boys get together, it matters, not the age. The games become more significant than life. My greatest coach of all time and forever was Coach Jay Ladner and Coach Larry Ladner, Larry when I was young at Picayune, and Jay for my grandsons. Two great men.