Just like many classic games, the final score was close
By DARREL RADFORD
It may be summer, but high school basketball is always in season wherever there’s a good cup of coffee or soda and time for conversation.
Such was the case during the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame’s recent Henry County trivia contest. The questions stirred many memories, conjuring up visions of Spaniards, Leopardcats, Cossacks and Bobcats, among others.
“We had a lot of fun with this,” Chris May, the hall’s executive director, said of the contest. “It generated a lot of memories, a lot of conversations – and a few debates – which is exactly what we wanted it to do.”
May credited Ray Pavy for helping make the contest happen. “This was really Ray’s brainchild,” May said. “He was very involved in this.”
Interesting facts emerged during the collection of questions. May said he had several “assists” on assembling the list. Some of them asked for not only small school nicknames and mascots, but the all-time leading scorers of those schools as well.
Here’s a list of local small towns, their school nicknames and all-time scoring leaders:
n Cadiz Spaniards: Keith Riggs
n Kennard Leopardcats: Donald Wallace
n Middletown Cossacks: Richard Reedy
n New Lisbon Tigers: Garris Stearns
n Straughn Indians: Gary Craig
n Sulphur Springs Bluebirds: Larry Carmichael
n Mooreland Bobcats: David Newman
The contest revealed what may be little-known facts about Mt. Summit High School. This school has had three different nicknames: the Highlanders, the Red Devils and, the most recent, the Eagles. Its all-time leading scorer is Ed Vaughn.
Also of interest in the contest was a question about former Butler Bulldogs. Every local basketball fan knows about Darnell Archey, Zach Hahn and Chase Stigall. But did you realize that Shenandoah graduate Sparky Harris, Lewisville graduate Larry Johnson and New Castle grads Claude Davis and Doug Ferguson also played for Butler?
Every true basketball fan knows about New Castle’s Ray Pavy and his 51-point game at Church Street Gym on Feb. 20, 1959, topping Kokomo’s Jimmy Rayl and his 49-point total. But did you realize on the same night, Keith Youngs scored 37 in a game for Sulphur Springs and Marion Pierce had 36 in a game for Lewisville?
The trivia contest also shed light on class basketball. One of the questions asked which Henry County high school has won the most sectional championships since class basketball’s implementation. The answer? Blue River Valley.
New Castle resident Greg Guffey, author of such books as “More Than A Game” as well as two editions on the Milan Miracle team, won the contest with 123 points out of 135. Legendary Tri High School basketball coach Don Schwarzkopf was second with 120 points. So, just like many Henry County basketball games over the years, it’s no surprise that a Henry County basketball trivia contest was also what Hoosier Hysteria fans would call “a barn-burner.”