Hoosier Hysteria

After daughter-in-law Angie made us a splendid chicken and ribs dinner, I went to see East Chicago Central play Lake Central in the opening Sectional game of the Indiana high school state tournament at the John A. Baratto Athletic Center, named for the coach whose E. C. Washington squad won the 1960 state championship. . Son Dave was the announcer. Falling behind by 15, the E.C. Cardinals rallied in the third quarter and won by four points despite a stellar performance by Indians sophomore Glenn Robinson III, the son of the former Gary Roosevelt, Purdue, and Milwaukee Bucks star whose nickname was “Big Dog.” I was surprised that four of Lake Central’s starters were African American. Now East Chicago has to beat West Side and then favored Munster. Across the court from me was 87 year-old Louis Vasquez, who never misses a game and whose remarkable autobiography “Weasal” I published as Steel Shavings volume 24. Sitting near me was veteran Times sports reporter Al Hamnik, a master at finding appropriate similes for his stories. I mentioned the impressive 56-page section his paper published called “Celebrating 100 Years of the Indiana State Basketball Tournament,” and he said he learned some things from it, too. At halftime a guy whose face was painted red on one side and white on the other (school colors) sat down next to Dave. After he left, I asked, “One of your favorite students?” “A fellow teacher,” he replied. Though the upper stands were empty, the lower seats were packed and the house was rockin’ as the game went down to the wire. East Chicago has a player, Henry Davis, who bears a striking resemblance to a young O.J. Simpson. After he made several hustle plays, the students started chanting, "Oh Jay, Oh Jay."

Some lament the demise of the single class playoff system 12 years ago, which, for instance, means that two of Gary’s best teams, Lew Wallace and Thea Bowman, won’t be playing any of the teams in East Chicago’s Sectional, but this gives small schools a realistic opportunity to win. The so-called “Milan miracle,” when in 1954 a school with a population of 161, upset mighty Muncie Central (dramatized in the movie “Hoosiers”), probably wasn’t ever going to happen again. Until 1954 the biggest long shot was 1940 champion Hammond Tech, which entered the tournament with a 12-6 record.

My History colleague Paul Kern got me going to games in the mid-70s, but during my first year living in the Region I was aware of the undefeated 1970-71 East Chicago Washington team containing three players, Pete Trgovich, Tim Stoddard, and Junior Bridgeman, who went on to play for Division I colleges. My favorite team, the Gary Emerson Golden Tornado, twice made it as far as the Semi-State during the Seventies, first led by Emmitt Lewis and then by “twin towers” Wallace Bryant and Frank Smith. Way back in 1917 Emerson lost in the Finals 34 to 26 to Lebanon. While researching Gary’s history, I interviewed Johnny Kyle, who played on that team and also starred in football (Kyle went on to coach many years at Froebel). When Emerson dropped its program and Coach Earl Smith went to Lew Wallace, my loyalties went there, too. Away games in outlying suburbs were often quite interesting. I recall with nostalgia a scene in Boone Grove where kids where shaking “Big Wally’s” hand and asking for autographs. In the Eighties after a monster dunk by Lew Wallace star Jerome Harmon, appreciative Chesterton fans held up signs reading 9.5, 9.5, and 10, as if he had executed a near perfect move.

Lew Wallace is now coached by Renaldo Thomas, the Gary Roosevelt star who in 1982 led “The ‘Velt” to the finals only to see his team lose in double overtime to Plymouth, whose leading scorer Scott Skiles hit a miracle shot to send the game into overtime. Roosevelt also was runner-up in 1955 when Oscar Robertson led Indianapolis Crispus Attucks to victory in a game that saw 171 points scored. Under Coach Ron Heflin Roosevelt finally won it all in 1991 when Glenn Robinson outplayed his Indianapolis Brebeuf counterpart Alan Henderson (who went on to IU).

President Obama is a basketball aficionado. He played at Punahou High School in Oahu (a stone’s throw from our apartment while I was getting a master’s degree at the U. of Hawaii) and still plays whenever he can. After his annual physical checkup, it was revealed that his cholesterol is up from too many desserts and that he is still smoking occasionally. Politically the health care debate drags on, to the republicans’ obvious glee. Let’s hope Obama doesn’t turn out to be as ineffective dealing with Congress as Jimmy Carter was. So far he hasn’t lost the good will of the majority of people, and the rightwing criticism is relentless.