I was asked to give my thoughts on class basketball, by one of my readers who played a few years back, and who has a son and daughter who soon will be playing the sport. So as usual, this old man will give his opinion only on this subject. Whether you agree with me is up to you.
I used to be a great basketball fan. I wanted at one time in my life to be a star on a team, and get raves from the sports writers. I guess that is in a lot of young peoples' minds, as they grow up in a sort of a fairy-tale , live while you are young, take all the thrills of life attitude, while watching those stars you want to be like. But as you grow older, you are content with following a favorite team, and you are content with savoring the accolades that that team is recieving from the press and the coaches. You are content with being a part of that team's cheering block and you can sit there and be an armchair member of that team. You want them to go as far as they can, and you hurt a lot when they lose. Such is the way that a loyal backer of any sport should be. That is you out there on the floor in your mind, and you sort of dream up plays that you thought would of worked. Well, that is until sports started changing to benefit a few and not the whole lot.
We, in Indiana, had a system that was a one of a kind, because the other states had adopted a new system called class basketball. You would devide the teams up into was thought to be equal for all. In other words, you told those kids that they were not good enough to compete with the big schools. You told them that to try to compete with the larger schools, would be to end up losers. You told them that they were inferior to the larger schools because they had more to choose from. Yes , I am telling those who voted for class sports , that you put your kids on a lower platform in sports. What does that end up telling those kids? It tells them that you don't think that they can excell in sports with the big schools, and so that tells them also that to compete with them in life later on would only end in defeat. Stay in your class so that you can compete at a lower level later on. Oh yes, as you read this, and you are the ones who voted this way, you say to yourself, did we do wrong. Yes you did, because you took what was a great system , and you turned it into class sports.
Have you ever looked back and see the kids who came from little schools, who went on to college to play basketball, and excelled in thier sport? There were many, because they believed they could compete with anyone. Many of the schools were noticed because they played in the greatest tournament in the world ,called the Indiana State Finals. It is no more, because a group of five men who were not Hoosiers all thier lives, decided to do things thier way. No more is the single state champion, who went into the memory banks of all the youngsters growing up. No more is the stigma of being a giant killer. The bragging rights of those who played in the finals are limited ,because not too many remember who won last year except the top class. Will it ever go back to the way it was. As a graduate of a small school, who thought they could beat anyone on a certain day, I hope so. But as one, who as a follower of our beloved Kats, I don't think it is possible. If you watched the games in the gym, you noticed that the crowds keep getting smaller. The gusto has gone by the wayside, and even the parents of the players seem to lose interest. Oh, by the way, it seems like only yesterday that the kids out there on the floor were wearing basketball shorts instead of the "bloomers" that they are wearing now.
As time goes by, how will the schools be able to continue to pay the expense of going many more miles to play? If the fans don't come, the money will not be there. There are only a few of the loyal fans coming to the games and many of them are the ones, that like myself have been following the teams for thirty or more years. The only thing available is what either is donated to the schools, what they can make off concessions, and the fans who walk through those doors to watch the cheapest intertainment around.
We owe those kids out there on the floor who are representing thier schools a loyal backing. It doesn't matter who the school is, but it does matter how you back them. Let those boys and girls out there on the floor know that you believe in them and you know they can win, regardless who they are playing. We here in Kokomo, were blessed with watching what I thought was the best girls' team in the state, and next year , The Good Lord willing, I will be watching them from my same seat as I have had these many years. The boys' team with our new coach will be exciting to watch and look for them to have a great season too.
As for all the teams in our area, I look for excellence on the playing floor by all of them, because they all are in one class of Indiana basketball. We might of been taken by five men and split up to suit thier tastes but they didn't take away the desire of any one player who thinks and knows that on any given night, he can be the best. So when it comes time to watch your son and daughter, nephew or neice, or any other member of your family as well as the neighbors' child in sports, go watch them and cheer them on. Give them that spark that tells them that they can compete. Sports, if it is done right ,can elevate a youngster's desire to reach for the top in anything he or she does.
When I was a little boy, it was a dream to be like a great sports star, and there were role models out there that you wanted to be like. As I grew older, the role models started to go down in numbers, and my thoughts were at a standstill as I wanted to do it all and I didn't know which sport to concentrate on. I met a man at Carver Center right after it started by the name of Mr. Bowman, and later a player by the name of "Jumping " Johnny Wilson, who both told me that to be able to do it , you had to try to do it. Nothing is too hard to do if you only try. You are only as good as you try to be. Those two men were very smart men and thier message was inspiring. So what I am trying to get across to all of those youngsters out there is this. Don't let someone else put you in a class. You put yourself in a class that you know you can compete in. As far as I am concerned, all you have to do is to try. Take care out there and thanks for allowing me to visit with you this week. And oh by the way, I want to address this to those five non-Hoosiers, who changed our sport for the worst; "shame on you".
Ray "Uncle Ray" Day