Basketball!
The Uniontown Red Raiders of my youth never lost a game.
That无毛视频檚 an exaggeration.
They may have lost, but not nearly as much as they won.
The Red Raider basketball teams of the mid-1950s until the mid-1960s functioned as precision-made machines 无毛视频� calibrated to destroy enemy high school basketball pretenders, the moment they set foot into that hallowed gym down on Wilson Avenue.
To use the parlance of those days, 无毛视频淭hose cats were bad!无毛视频� (NOTE: To update that phrase, the word 无毛视频渃ats,无毛视频� would become 无毛视频渄awgs无毛视频� today. And the word 无毛视频渂ad,无毛视频� would be replaced by the word 无毛视频渄ope.无毛视频� I have no idea why. I just report the slang. I had no role in making the changes.)
I felt fortunate to have witnessed all of the high-flying basketball on Tuesday and Friday nights.
My uncle, Charles 无毛视频淏oche无毛视频� Ford, took me to my first Uniontown High School basketball game when I was in fifth grade.
From that time, until I graduated in 1966, I believe I only missed one home game.
I think I had the flu.
When I listened on the radio, I would get out my Clearfield tablet, and follow along as that local radio legend, Amy Canton, gave life to the basketball bludgeonings our Red Raiders administered.
无毛视频淩aiders Top Century Mark, Pound Trojans by 106-54,无毛视频� was the headline atop the Morning 无毛视频无毛视频檚 sports page on Feb. 23, 1963.
Uniontown无毛视频檚 head coach A.J. 无毛视频淎be无毛视频� Everhart, Jr. had once again sent his charges into battle with his famous swarming defense.
Don无毛视频檛 believe me?
Here无毛视频檚 what the article said: 无毛视频淏efuddling California (high school) with its celebrated full-court pass (I think they meant press) they ripped in 23 points before the Trojans could even break into the scoring column.无毛视频�
That 1963 team combined with the 1962 Pennsylvania state championship team to amass 36 wins in a row.
Unfortunately, the fun ended dramatically for the 1963 Red Raiders, when they ran into that human wrecking ball named John Naponick.
无毛视频淏ig John无毛视频� Naponick stood 6-foot-9, and he weighed 280 pounds of immovable girth.
I无毛视频檝e seen Mt. Rainier up close when I lived in the Great Northwest. Naponick appeared to be bigger than that.
His Norwin High School team beat our Red Raiders 61-50 at the Pitt Field House.
I wasn无毛视频檛 finished with Naponick. He didn无毛视频檛 know who he was messing with.
I tracked him down a few years ago and personally challenged him to a rematch.
He demurred.
I think because he无毛视频檚 moved on since March 4, 1963.
Well, I haven无毛视频檛.
There was always something special about the anticipation I felt for those home basketball games.
Perhaps, it was because the Red Raider Dozen (Uniontown无毛视频檚 high-spirited pep band) would proudly play 无毛视频淪weet Georgia Brown,无毛视频� as the team burst onto the floor.
I just loved watching the blood drain from the panic-filled faces of that night无毛视频檚 victims, er, opponents.
While the 1963 team wasn无毛视频檛 quite as successful as I无毛视频檇 hoped, the 1962 team won Uniontown无毛视频檚 first state basketball championship since 1925.
无毛视频�50,000 GREET OUR STATE CHAMPS,无毛视频� was the headline on the front page of the Morning 无毛视频 on March 26, 1962.
It had been a triumph.
There would be marching bands, and fans lined along Uniontown无毛视频檚 streets. And even though I lived a short walking distance from several of the players on that team 无毛视频� I still tried to get their autographs.
These were, by the way, true student-athletes.
The starting five, and the sixth man on that team all went to college: Tom Fee, the University of Kentucky for football; Pete Smith, University of Pittsburgh; Don Yates, University of Minnesota; Ron Sepic, Ohio State University; Allyn Curry, the Franciscan College of Steubenville; and Bennett Gregory, Nebraska University for football, would each benefit from their high school athletic careers.
I would benefit, too.
The 1964 team went undefeated 无毛视频� and won the school无毛视频檚 second Pennsylvania state basketball championship when I was a sophomore.
They were the team that initiated a consecutive winning streak that lasted for a record 52 games.
A record just broken last year, 47 years later.
Those cats were bad!
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight, and 50-year TV news and newspaper veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.