Story Submittal - Smoked

SEC Media Days from Hoover , AL concluded this past week and I thought I'd surf the internet to catch up on the status of Tennessee football or at least get a different perspective from the ones posed by the local Alabama press. To my surprise and dismay, the name of a past nemesis of Midway H.S. Football was listed. The article stated that: "Two former Tennessee football players died this week. Ray Dalton, a fullback for UT from 1960-63 and Gary Moore, a running back from (1977-79).” The article went on to say that Gary Moore, originally from Decatur, TN had died July 9 in Tampa, Fla.

I remember Gary Moore from my senior football season which ended the 1st week of November 1971. That season was one of surprising early success which found us 4 -1 half way through the year and hoping to finish with a winning 6-4 record if we could close out the season with a win over Meigs County. In those days, Midway often found a win or two when playing the boys from Decatur. This game would be different. Not only was Meigs County loaded with seniors (some BIG farm kids, best I recall), but they also had this freshman "speed merchant". Doug Hixson, next of kin to the SOR's Hixson clan, was on that Meigs County team. Doug often came to the former Gage's IGA at the intersection of Hwy 58 and Hwy 72 to engage in football conversation with the store's working staff. The working staff was of course mainly my brothers and I. If memory serves me correctly, Doug and other Meigs County fans used the nickname "Smoke" when speaking of Gary Moore.

Well on that cold November night in 1971, the Green Wave could not douse the heat generated by the Smoke that was Gary Moore. Though just a freshman, his speed and talent were note worthy. One play in particular, was a sweep to the left side from somewhere around the Meigs 35 yard line. Our defensive end and tackle had done their jobs and senior linebackers Tim Easter and I were closing in for a certain tackle for loss. This freshman stopped, turned, gave 10 to 15 yards of ground, then ran to the opposite sideline and streaked to the end zone. The 65 yard scoring play as recorded in the newspaper did little justice to the actual 100+ yard run. Needless to say, that night was all Meigs County. They scored early and often (40+ points) and we couldn't score at all. That was long ago, but I do remember Gary Moore as an extra ordinary football player.

The article which noted Gary's passing also stated that he was the state’s leading high school scorer in 1975. I remember watching his 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Auburn in 1979 and thinking I no longer needed to feel inadequate as having been a senior and being bested by a freshman. I just proudly told everyone that I was once on the same playing field with Gary Moore and understood what those Auburn players were thinking as they were "Smoked". After all, I had witnessed it first hand, on a football field south of the river at Midway H.S. in November 1971.

Here is a YouTube video of a touchdown run by Gary Moore and one of John Ward's classic calls - Gary Moore kickoff return vs Auburn

In Memory of Mr. Tony Keko

Yesterday I learned that Mr. Anthony Keko died this week. For someone who’s never heard the name, it is easy to wonder why this has deeply affected me. A death always makes us stop and ponder our own mortality. It also makes us think about the trajectory of that person’s life in our own.

Mr. Keko was one of those teachers who, even when you are very young, makes you realize there is a bigger world out there. I remember slide shows of his trip to Greece and other tales from his life. He was similar to my father in that way, as they were both consummate storytellers. I always felt lucky that I was in his class and my ongoing love of geography and travel stems largely from that year. I wanted to go to all those places on those maps.

I have had the great luck of having many good teachers. Whatever anyone may say about the public schools in this country, and some of those things are true, they do offer hope in ways that few other public institutions do. I was not abjectly poor. I did not live in the inner city. But, I did live in a rural part of this country where a great number of people still are born, live and die in the same county. I knew pretty early that there was more I wanted to see and with the help of teachers like Mr. Keko, Mrs. Eldridge, Mrs. Helton, Mr. Hayes and Mr. King I came to realize that I could go places and push myself to do important things and maybe even make a change in the world.

I did go to college (public) and grad school (public again) and then to technical school for a culinary degree (public one more time) to give me a vocation to support my avocation or vice versa -- the jury is still out on which is which. I am a modern creature in that I have changed not only jobs, but careers about every five years. I have worried that all those teachers and mentors who invested in me along the way might have been disappointed that I did not turn out to be a rocket scientist, a brain surgeon, or President (as Mr. Keko believed). I thought maybe I had failed them in my non-earth shattering life of teaching at a community college and trying to write. I love my job. I enjoy interacting with my students and getting to know who they are and where they want to go. So, I am not interested in rocket surgery or being President but I hope that what I have become is in the end a better tribute to Mr. Keko and those others who made such a difference in my life. Because of him, because of them, I am a teacher.

Coach Hayes - Creating a Winning Mindset

In 1990, Duke played UNLV in the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament, and got beat by 30 points. When the Duke team met for breakfast the next morning, an assistant coach declared out loud that he “couldn’t wait to forget about that one!”

Coach Mike Kryzewski had been subdued until then, but upon hearing his assistant coach’s wish to forget about the 30 points loss, he went into what has been described as a “tirade.” In calmer moments, he went to each member of his staff and team to make his point to their face. He told them to never forget about the terrible defeat; to never forget how bad it feels, and to use the sting of the defeat as motivation to improve.

Duke met UNLV in the Final Four the very next year, and beat them.

Coach Mike Hayes shares more with Kryzewski than a name. Winning coaches like Hayes and Kryzewski also share some common traits. They all teach defense. They believe in conditioning. And, they become obsessed with defeats. Particularly defeats that smack them in the face of their philosophy. Back when I was playing for Coach Hayes in the 7th grade, we played a Meigs County team that had a player, Clarence Moore, that nailed us for 36 points, and they beat us.

It was not Coach Hayes’ philosophy to allow an opposing player to score 36 points.

What ensued for us in the coming weeks should be taught in coaching clinics, and for that matter, business schools because it defined the essence of the word “preparation” as it was total in the sense that it involved the mind, body, and spirit. And the act of preparing to meet this team later in the season was immediate: when I walked into school the next morning, Coach Hayes met me and immediately asked, “how many points to you think Clarence Moore got last night?”

I knew he scored a lot, but didn’t know how many he had ended up with…

Coach Hayes filled me in.

A person can verbalize the number “36,” and it sounds just like any number. It’s “36” … no more, and no less, but when Coach Hayes said “36” it was pure venom … ugly and shameful! Before the day was out, I felt that “36” had been branded on my forehead for the world to see. I was ashamed of what had happened, and I hoped no one else knew.

However, everyone else did know because Coach Hayes was telling them, and if they didn’t understand the significance of “36,” then he explained it to them just as he did in our History class that met that day during 4th period. And further, he had already let Coach Galyon know of our monumental failure because I had heard about it in our 1st period math class. Coach Galyon asked in a question directed at me, “how did YOU allow a player to score that many points?”

I could have responded that the guy I was guarding didn’t score any points, but the mentality that Coach Hayes was creating was already taking shape - it was a blow to our team, and it didn’t matter who was guarding Clarence Moore. The team concept that had infiltrated our young minds was simply this: after being in school that day for less than 1 hour, it might as well have been me because the responsibility was as much mine as my teammates. Couldn’t I have slid across the lane to stop a drive? Couldn’t I have stepped out to get a hand in his face? The Coach had me doing some much needed soul-searching. I soon found out that the rest of team was also searching for answers.

As a team, we knew this guy, Clarence Moore, had stolen our lollipops. He had insulted our manhoods (yes, as 7th and 8th graders, we thought we were very mature just as they do now … just ask them), and he stood in the way of dignity and self-respect for the rest of our lives…

So, the Coach Hayes propaganda machine had created a strong sense of determination in not only me, but in the rest of our team. In only a day, he had broken us down to such a state that we were ready to be built back up into a lean and mean, Coach Hayes built, fighting machine!

Unified for a common cause, we were put through conditioning drills while being reminded that Clarence Moore had scored 36 points on us. Defensive drills? Oh yes, … that’s basically all we worked on, and while we worked we were reminded, seemingly with each breath that some player, Clarence Moore, had scored 36 points on each individual one of us … if you never played a second in that game, Clarence Moore had stuck 36 points in your face and embarrassed you in front of your mommas and sweethearts. If Coach Hayes would have thought of it, he would have had “36” flashing on our scoreboard during practice, and he would probably have recorded and played “36” in the background as the numbers flashed. Could you imagine that? I think Coach Hayes could.

Our mindset at this point had turned from fear to desire: we actually wanted to face this Meigs Country team, and their star player, Clarence Moore, as soon as possible. The movie Star Wars had been out about a year at that time: in the movie, Luke goes off to the jungle planet of Dagobah where Yoda declares that “to become a Jedi, face Vader must he.” In other words, you had to face your toughest opponent to be proclaimed a Jedi.

Well, Coach Mike Hayes had us believing that to become a Midway Basketball player, and to earn the right to wear the green uniforms, we had to face and defeat Clarence Moore … as far we were concerned, he was Darth Vader, and for the good of the big green universe, he must be destroyed.

It was Eddie Lands that was given the assignment of dealing with the Clarence Moore situation - Eddie was a tough and hard-nosed athlete that later became a star defensive lineman for Coach Branson’s football teams. Coach Hayes announced that Eddie would be “the man” much the same way as Mr. Hayes now does when he revealing the Homecoming Queen winner ... he had that “pause” that you have before making an important and significant announcement. He gathered the team and said, “I have decided the man that I’m going to put on Clarence Moore is ... Eddie Lands.”

I’m sure that all eyes shot to Eddie to gauge his reaction. I know mine did, and what I saw was a look of fierce determination on Eddie’s face, as he accepted the challenge without verbalizing it - you could see that he understood the monumental task that lay in front of him, and he wanted it. It is important to note that Eddie’s reaction was a complete reflection of the attitude that Coach Hayes had instilled since the loss. It was clearly no nonsense and tough with a “get the job done” mentality. More importantly, it was “all of us” against them. And then what I saw was a team start to develop - Coach Hayes didn’t say a word as players started to gather around Eddie to offer encouragement.

Our mindset at this point? We were going to war, and Eddie Lands was the key part of the mission. As a team, our role was to support Eddie, and I think we all bought into the concept.

So time flew by, and we practiced our defense and went through endless conditioning drills. Minimal time was spent on offense because Coach Hayes knew we weren’t very good anyway (remember, he was a coach and not a miracle worker). An interesting personal take that I recall from this particular period is that I have very few individual memories of the preparations, or of the game when it occurred. Upon reflecting on this apparent “memory loss,” I’ve discounted the fact that it happened 30 years ago (as I can give a lot of detail about the first meeting between our teams), or that I might have played so bad that it was all blocked from my memory ... I believe that it was the total submersion into the team concept. A concept, in this case, created by Coach Hayes.

We won the game against Clarence Moore’s team. I recall a specific point in the 2nd half at which Moore turned the ball over. Eddie had been in his face for the duration of the game, and it had gotten to him. Moore rolled his eyes, turned, and walked down the court staring up at the ceiling with his hands on his hips. His energy was spent while Eddie was hopping up and down clapping his hands, and encouraging the rest of us to pick up the tempo. It was then that I knew we would win the game.

Clarence Moore finished with 12 points - 8 of which came from the foul line. Eddie finished with 14.

Immediately after the game Coach Hayes entered the locker room, and immediately sought Eddie from the crowd. He extended his hand, and Eddie shook it with enthusiasm - it was the most professional thing I had ever seen.

The mindset that Coach Hayes created was special. If you follow sports, you have undoubtedly heard of “the zone” or that special place that your mind goes when everything works relative to your shots or your passes. As an individual, the game slows down, and you start to anticipate plays. The zone is almost always attributed to individuals, but Coach Hayes created “the zone” in a team. Did he plan it that way? If so then it was ingenious. Could it have been a circumstance driven by the pride that Coach Hayes carried as a basketball coach? If so, then that was also, in my opinion, ingenious ... and there are several books that I could recommend that could attest to that idea.

In my opinion, Mike Hayes was good enough to win championships at any level. That means if he had been given a talented team in the SEC, he would have competed and his teams would have performed as well as any SEC coach (including Summit, Landers, etc). So if you’re wondering, “why didn’t he?” Well, you’ll have to ask him ... but I think he simply made the choice to come to Midway High School and become a part of a community, thus foregoing the pursuit of success on larger stages. If so, then that is an incredibly unselfish choice to make, and the principal reason he deserves a GREEN WAVE of gratitude in his journey into retirement!

Crack Attack

Keith Adcox many stories, great player, pound for pound the hardest hitter I coached. During one practice he cracked so hard on one of his team-mates that his headgear was knocked sideways, he was looking out of the ear hole. Coach Wheaton and I made him go stand 30 yards down field on the side line to keep him out of the action; by the way we were running no contact plays. Keith had only one gear - full speed.

During another game I called a play and sent it into the game by Keith, who proceeded to go into the game, after what seemed to me like thirty seconds the quarterback and the entire huddle looked to the sideline and then called time out. The quarterback came to the sideline to which I ask why did you call a time out and not just run the play to which he replied “Coach, all Keith said was ‘pro-right I'm going to CRACK.’”

Road Trip with Coach Branson

A young man asked me to take him home after practice one day. We wound the roads down and around Salem Valley over to Paint Rock back down to McMinn County finally reaching our destination. Having grown up in the Midway community I knew the roads pretty well and knew there was a much shorter route that we could have taken to reach our destination. I asked the young man, who had only lived in the area for a short time, if he realized that we could have cut about 15 miles from our trip by going another way to which he promptly replied, “But Coach, that's the way the bus goes.”

Knox County – Beware of Gators

Before a game at Harrison Chillhowe (Kings Academy) the National Anthem was being played, our bench was in front of a drain pond that was quite full from heavy rain. A member of our team standing beside me nudged me in the side and said “Coach, do you think there are any
Alligator's in that pond?” (Completely serious)

No One Will Notice

During one game versus Watertown it was raining so hard that a young man, who would get so excited before each game he would have to use the restroom right before kickoff, come over to me and said “Coach, I don't need to go back to the dressing room tonight, I just went and no-one will even notice.”

1976 MHS Mens Basketball Season

Recap of the Midway Men’s
1976-77 Basketball Season- “State Bound”

A lot of stories can be told and said about the Men’s Basketball program which made it to the TSSAA State Tournament in the winter of 1977 and 1978. A couple of stories have already been added to Midway history as recorded here in SORSN.com. You can take a look at the following stories in the archive section of “My SOR” under the Memories section: “Blame It on the Ducks”, “Keevin Woody and his Bag of Tricks”, and “Gage Gets an Escort”. This is a summary of a few stories, headlines, articles extracts, and statistics of the 1976-77 Season. In this outline you will see stories such as; A Proud Galyon; A Boycott; A Bunch of Mules; A Corn Crib; How the SOR can Spell; A Civil War Bullet; It’s all about Math; and With Three Woody’s and Two Humphrey’s how could they not make it?

Proud Coach Stanley Galyon and the Tournament Draws.
In Mid-February, the District 5-A coaches would meet at Hiawassee College to review the season’s standings, determine what seed their team would receive, who had the byes, and who had to start playing the first games. It seems like the district was made up of about 10 or so teams; the likes of Greenback, Tellico, Rockwood, Madisonville, Sweetwater, Polk County, Calhoun, Charleston, Meigs County, Vonore, Copper Basin, and TMI. Coach Galyon was always pleased to report to the team the following Monday and his conversation would go something like “boys, they were all upset at the coaches meeting Sunday and could not understand how the team with one of the worst records could be seeded number one.” Galyon was proud of the fact that with a record of 13-10, the Midway Green Waves were ranked high enough to get a bye in the first round. Double A teams Kingston (2), Loudon (2), and Harriman (2) accounted for some of the season losses for the Green, with other district losses to Rockwood (2) and Madisonville (2). These were all tough teams and Coach Galyon never got too excited about early season losses, his coaching philosophy was to work hard during the regular season and be ready for tournament time. Who would believe that this bunch of boys from SOR were about to begin a tournament run that would cap off one of the most special seasons in the history of Midway?

Run Down of the District 5-A Tournament

First Round was a bye.

Second Round
Thrashing of Charleston with a 77-47 victory.

Semi-finals
A 56-51 win over a good Sweetwater team.

Finals
Headlines read: “Defensive Midway Wins District 5-1A Title, Rockwood Downs Sweetwater For Third”
LaRue (Boots) Cook writes: Midway, employing a hard nose defense and a scrappy attack Saturday night, captured the District 5 (A) basketball championship by dropping Madisonville 55-47 behind a balanced scoring attack. A capacity crowd, a number spilling over the boundaries, watched as Dale Presley hit his first three shots from the floor and sent his Wave team to the front to never trail.
The championship scoring was led by San Narramore 14, Wade Ray 13, Dale Presley 12, Bryan Humphreys 10, and Gary Humphreys with 6.
All-Tournament for the Waves was Wade Ray and San Narramore. Cindy Rose made the girls all tournament.
Names of interest in the District:
Midway- Dale Presley, San Narramore, Wade Ray, Gary Humphreys, Bryan Humphreys, Brice Woody, Randy Rose, Terry Nelson, Jack Francis, Keevin Woody, and Ron Woody. Rockwood- Mike “Brillo” Miller, Frank Carney, Mark Emory and Tony Chatman. Madisonville- Barry Butler, Perry Hull, Alan Lee and Maurice Moser.
Sweetwater- Greg Allen, Darrell Latham, Gerald Brown, Mike and Joe Cozart.


Run Down of the Region 3-A tournament

Once again the Waves were seeded number one.

First round.
Midway 78 – Sequatchie County 58

Second round
The Waves defeated Rockwood. March 7, 1977 headlines: “Rockwood Season Ends With Loss To The Wave.” This short article in the Roane County News was more about Rockwood than Midway. The first paragraph read: The basketball season ended Wednesday night for Rockwood High School when the Tigers came out on the short end of a 70-58 stick with intra-county rival Midway. The article did say that the Waves won all four stanzas on the way to victory.

Finals
Headlines read: “Midway Wins 3-A Region Title With Triumph Over Sale Creek.”
The Roane County News Read:
The Midway High School Green Wave claimed the Region 3-A championship for the first time ever Thursday night with a 59-52 comeback win over powerful state ranked Sale Creek. Once-beaten Sale Creek had been picked by many to be a state title contender. Sale Creek had been among the leaders all season in the boy’s team prep polls and owned a 30-1 record until the defeat at the hands of Midway. Midway was behind until the last 4:00 minutes when the Wave led by 1 and then controlled the game by effective free throw shooting. Narramore, Ray, Presley, and Gary Humphreys each hit two shots from the line to ice the Green Wave victory.
This was the first ever regional title for the Midway boys’ team. Midway had finished second once before and made it to the sub-state but never any further. This win put the Waves with a 20 win season.
Dale Presley, San Narramore, and Wade Ray gained All-Region Tournament honors.


Sub-state Game Headlines:

“Midway Comeback Gains 59-50 Thumping of Webb; Next Stop is State Tournament in Murfreesboro.”

The Green Wave of Midway rallied late in the final quarter Monday night in sub-state action to de-“feet” Webb of Bell Buckle 59-50 and roll the Waves into the state tournament in Murfreesboro.
Midway was behind until 6:05 in the fourth quarter when San Narramore connected for two to give Midway it first lead at 44-43. Center Wade Ray was sidelined early in the fourth with five fouls. Sophomore Ron Woody replaced Ray and was fouled often in the remaining minutes allowing Woody to hit 9 free throws. San Narramore led all scorers with 25, Dale Presley 8, Wade Ray 5, and Bryan Humphreys 4.

The win sends the Midway boys to the State Tournament for the first time in school history.

Boycott of the Roane County News
The folks from South of the River boycotts the Roane County News the following week with Midway boys in only their second sub-state ever and first time for winning a regional. The folks at the Roane County News did not even have a reporter at the Sub-State game. The article in the Roane County News was from a correspondent John (who knows where he’s from) Bilbrey. The local markets turned down the delivery of the paper and once again the folks from the south were short changed. It seemed we were the trash of Roane County.

Maybe part of the reason for lack of coverage was that one other men’s Roane County Team also made it to the State tournament, that being the Harriman Blue Devils with their first trip also.

Monday, March 14, 1977, the Roane County News tries to make amends with Headlines of:

“Two Roane County Boys’ Cage Teams Prepare For State Tournament At MTSU.”
An article followed outlining the seasons of Harriman and Midway. The article notes the following for Midway:
Midway 47 Charleston 34
Midway 60 Calhoun 46
Midway 61 Loudon 66
Midway 56 Madisonville 68
Midway 39 Loudon 44
Midway 53 Charleston 46
Midway 37 Kingston 61
Midway 46 Rockwood 45
Midway 52 TMI 36
Midway 51 Harriman 64
Midway 54 Oliver Springs 45
Midway 38 Rockwood 74
Midway 62 Rockwood 74
Midway 67 Tellico 47
Midway 62 Sweetwater 57
Midway 66 Meigs 55
Midway 54 Harriman 56 O.T.
Midway 61 Kingston 63
Midway 70 Tellico 68
Midway 45 TMI 41
Midway 63 Sweetwater 55
Midway 62 Meigs 41
Midway 52 Madisonville 47
District Tournament
Midway 77 Charleston 47
Midway 56 Sweetwater 51
Midway 55 Madisonville 47
Region Tournament
Midway 78 Sequatchie 58
Midway 70 Rockwood 58
Midway 59 Sale Creek 52

Other articles in the Monday paper
Green Wave Travel Party
Listed players-Gary Humphreys, Dale Presley, Wade Ray, Sanford Narramore, Bryan Humphreys, Jack Francis, Brice Woody, Kevin Woody, Randy Rose, Ronnie Woody, Greg Isbill, Terry Nelson, managers Nick Santaniello, and Guy Rucker: Coach Stanley Galyon and Assistant Coach Mike Hayes. Personal vehicles were driven by players and coaches.

School Board Honors Midway
Midway High School’s basketball team goes to the State tournament at Murfreesboro this week with the official good wishes of the Roane County Board of Education. The Board adopted a resolution recognizing the accomplishments of the Green Wave team.

To Crossville
The team left Midway and was met with a police escort just before leaving SOR and crossing the bridge into Kingston. Blue lights flashed and sirens screamed as the team convoy was led thru Kingston to Interstate 40 west. Coach Galyon wanted to show off his team, so he had scheduled a stop to practice in Crossville on the way to Murfreesboro, which just so happened to be during girls’ gym class. The bunch of farm and lake boys from South of the River could not even show off. The team continued on to MTSU.


TSSAA State Tournament
Murphy Center, MTSU

First Round
Maryville’s Porter
Wednesday, March 16, 1977. Midway once again fought back from being down to win. Porter led 24-19 after the first quarter. Midway tied at 28-28 with 3:00 minutes till half and took the lead at 34-30 at halftime. The Waves lead extended by ten in the third and the third quarter ended at 48-41. The lead wilted to 1 at 48-47 but then the Waves started to roll once again and ended the game with a 67-58 victory. The article noted that the Waves hit 50% from the field and only 9 of 19 from the charity strip. The Waves had been noted for strong defense and hitting the free ones but came up a little short this game at the foul line. The Waves out-rebounded the Porter Panthers 44 to 34. Scoring for the Waves was: Narramore 20, Ray 18, Presley 14, Bryan Humphreys 9 and Gary Humphreys 6.

It was on to the next round of the State. Not only had the Boys from SOR made it to the State tournament, now they were one of the Final Four.

Headlines in the Knoxville News Sentinel:
“Midway ‘Mules’ Plow Through Another Foe”
“To tell you the truth, around Christmas time I didn’t think this team was worth a hoot,” that was Coach Galyon’s quote, but I bet they had to clean up the ex-sailor’s language a bit. The article continues with: Midway, a farm community near Kingston in Roane County, is making its first tourney appearance. “I’ve been calling this team a bunch of mules,” Coach Galyon said. “We’re not good enough to be race horses, but then mules are better over the long haul.”
Galyon continues in the article by saying, “We just played with all our hearts and guts, that’s really all we know how to do. I’ve had several teams with more talent. This team wins with good old hustle and desire.”

How about a Spelling Bee
The team decided to purchase shirts with our names, player’s number, and logo of the TSSAA tournament. We were proud to have made it that far and were appreciative of Coach Galyon. Coach Hayes was new at Midway and we always told him that we just brought him along for the ride. Being appreciative of Coach Galyon, we decided to pool our money and purchase him a shirt also. As I recall, it was Randy Rose, Greg Isbill and I with maybe some advice from Coach Hayes on the spelling. Anyway, we spelled “Galyon” as “Gaylon”, just a little difference, but Coach Galyon wore the shirt with pride years later. For him to call us a bunch of mules, it probably should have been donkeys or asses in this case.

A Civil War Bullet
To help make an educational trip out of the time missing school and provide some recreational adventure before the next game, Coach Galyon took us on a field trip to the Stones River Civil War battlefield. There just so happened to be a plowed field around the museum and some of the boys from the south starting walking thru the field looking for relics. A perfect civil war bullet was found and added to the Woody collection.

The Season End; down to Four teams
The Waves were set to play Bolton, a past state champion (1975) power-house team from the Memphis area, with the winner advancing to the state championship game. So the stage was set; Bolton, the far West-Tennessee team (race horses) against a bunch of boys from South of the River (the mules). We always said that the game did not last long enough or we would have worn them out. Then again, the game needed to last a lot longer as the final score was Bolton 73 and Midway 43.

Roane County News Headlines:
“Midway Falls In State Semi-Final Round”
The article adds, “Class A Midway had to be one of the surprise teams in the Eastern third of Tennessee when a late season rush propelled the Wave to the District and Region championships and the first trip to the state tourney. Power after power fell to the Wave until Bolton burst the bubble. Even with the loss, Midway finished as one of the top four teams in the state in their classification.” The game was 45-33 going into the fourth quarter and Coach Galyon said we could have pulled it off, but the race horses were still running. Bolton ran all the way to the championship game, but losing to another powerhouse team, Perry County.

A little more history; Perry County was led that year by Mike Rhodes, a scoring machine who went on to star at Vanderbilt. Bolton and Perry County dominated class A basketball in the 70’s and according to TSSAA.org, share the all time record for most basketball state championships in Tennessee in men’s basketball with 6 each.

Bolton 1975, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1985, 1989
Perry County 1955, 1956, 1957, 1976, 1977, 1997.

Bolton has since grown a little larger, with about 1800 students currently and now competes in class 5A in football and 3A in basketball.

The Nashville Tennessean clip:
The paper commented on the Midway team having two brothers and a distance cousin (Woodys) on the team along with the Humphreys cousins. I suppose we had to make it to the state.

Galyon’s Math
Stanley Galyon taught math and the basketball floor was often a chalk board to teach extended geometry. It was all about the angles and as one moves, the angle would move. Thanks Stanley for your classroom and court teachings.

The Corn Crib
Looking back, one must ask “Where did these farm boys (or were they really farm boys) learn the game of basketball”? Well, Brad Gordon’s Corn Crib became the ball court when the weather was real bad, and Ronnie Leffew’s goal on Blue Spring Circle saw much action. How about the times they would gather after a day in the hay field or tobacco patch or a Sunday afternoon and slip into the old gym for a game or two?

Those were the days, a simpler time and simpler place.

A Colorful Bunch
The team was made up of a colorful bunch, or it could be called a mis-matched bunch of players. Outside of San (San the Man or Sam sometimes) Narramore, who was All State, you had Wade (Lamont, give me another glazed donut, this rebound is mine) Ray, Dale (give me the ball and I will shoot it from anywhere) Presley, Bryan (I will run over you or you can run over me, but you won’t steal the ball) Humphreys, Gary (I can jump high for a white boy) Humphreys, the rest of us were just helping out when we could like: Ron (put me in coach, I can help) Woody, Keevin (I can out-jump anybody) Woody, Randy (Zipper, watch out or I will bone you) Rose. Farm boys and Lake boys, the team of '77 with their fast cars (TransAms, Firebirds, Camaros, and Mustangs) and slow way of life.

What Makes a Winning Team?
Looking back, it is a wonder how this team with 10 losses going in the District Tournament ever even made it out of the District. I believe it was the scrappy play, the never give up attitude, a gutsy defense (they loved to take charges- probably the football still in them), and a good eye at the charity strip. Defense and Free Throws got us there. Also, Senior leadership kept the team on track and developing throughout the year.

It was a Football Team converted to the Hardwood.
Call it what you want. Iron man football is when you play both ways, but back in the seventies, we had to practice half line because there was not the number of players you needed for a full scrimmage. The 1976 Football team (6-4), which became the 1977 State bound Basketball team was made up of –

Seniors; Offensive Center and Defensive tackle and the Basketball Center Wade Ray. Tight end and Defensive end and Basketball point guard, Bryan Humphreys. Split end and cornerback and basketball wing, Gary Humphreys. Wide Receiver and cornerback, Jack Francis.

Juniors; Running back and free safety and basketball wing San Narramore. Offensive and Defensive Tackle, Brice Woody. Split end and corner back, Keevin Woody. Offensive and Defensive Tackle, Terry Nelson.

Sophomores; Quarterback and Safety, Ron Woody. Running back and cornerback Greg Isbill. Split end and Defensive End, Randy Rose.

Dale Presley (Junior) must have been trying to be the racehorse basketball player instead of one of the football mules.

Trainers for the Waves
The Waves were helped along the way with two of the most dedicated trainers in Midway history. Day after day, Guy Rucker and Nick (Petro) Santaniello taped many ankles, cracked a lot of jokes, kept the stats, consoled the team thru the losses and celebrated the wins throughout the year.

It was a season and time we shall never forget.

The Next Year
Who would have ever thought it could happen again?

Cont: Tales from the Pit - Knock Knock

One thing that I will never forget from the times I had in the "Pit" was those late nights coming in from a road game. I was not a player but I kept the books and helped out were I could for Coach Ruffner, and I was usually the first one in the Pit after getting off the bus. I would unlock the door that led into the tunnel. Then I would open the door to the locker room and finally Coaches Office. Well, as you had mentioned the school was warmed by an old coal boiler, and under the whole school ran steam pipes to every room, and anyone who is familiar with steam pipes knows that they tend to make noises... knocking noises. Does everyone remember the back door to the tunnel, there was a side door that opened under the school. Now I know that it was the pipes, I mean I KNOW it was the pipes but there was always that thought in the back of my mind. "Man I hope that is the steam pipes and not some serial killer that somehow got under the school and is playing mind games with me."

Enter an old Dark gym and hear the faint knocking on the walls……I will never forget those pipes.

Tales from the Pit

Those of us fortunate enough to play basketball for the Midway High School Greenwave prior to 1997 share in a distinct honor that a generation of current and future Greenwave will never enjoy. Though at the time we may have dreamt of a regulation size court, a floor that you could actually stop on rather than ski across, or a sideline that you could dive after a ball without fear of slamming into a wall or ceramic water fountain, in retrospect playing in a facility with the character of the old Midway High School gymnasium was one of the dearest memories of the high school years. This legendary arena, where young gladiators learned the mantras of “Ball, me, you” and “step, slide, step, slide” was known to several generations as “The Pit.”

To say the “Pit” was unique simply would be an injustice. The Pit was unlike any gym ever constructed. While retro stadiums seem to be the rage across the country, to reconstruct a replica of the “Pit” would be virtually impossible (and in some instances possibly illegal). With almost 50 years of modifications, renovations, squeaking sneakers, yelling coaches, irate fans and hard headed 16 year olds, the Pit saw its share of great games, memorable moments, forgettable plays and memories that will never be forgotten. While Boston had its Garden, the Midway community had a gym with just as much local flavor. What follows is a memoir of some of the aspects that are burned into our memories of the old gym………..the Pit.

The Midway High School gym was originally constructed around 1947 along with the initial construction of Midway High School The gym underwent several major renovations along the way. One end of the gym originally contained a stage which was boarded over sometime in the early '80s. While the original person to call the gym “the pit” is debatable, the reason for the nickname was obvious. The entire first row of bleachers on either side of the facility was about was six feet above the floor. While playing you had no choice but to think that all eyes were on you. While on the bench one was likely to be subjected to falling popcorn, spilled Coca-Colas or lost childrens toys from the overhead railing. During timeouts, it was very easy for the patrons to lean over for a “look at the strategy” or to offer some friendly coaching advice.

The Bleachers: Bleachers may be a poor choice of words because when I think of “bleachers” I think aluminum….The seating arrangement for the Pit were best described as “custom” made wood benches, covered with years of dust, dirt, popcorn crumbs, spilt Coca-Colas, and lollipop sticks. No amount of mopping by “Granny” Grigsby could ever keep these bleachers clean. The home side featured stained wood with about 24 coats of Clear coat finish. The visitor’s side was painted yellow for a time and was a challenge to climb because of the height of the rows; they were higher than a typical single step and lower than a double step. This created many awkward climbs and descents and more than its share of ‘Chevy Chase on old Saturday Night Live” type falls. Many shins were bruised by these bleachers. The stair case from the gym floor to the bleachers was another challenge, especially if you were wider than about 10 inches because that was about the width of the stair case. Most everyone had to turn sideways and go up the steps. Pity to the “above average size” person to try to negotiate the stairs in front of the Midway student section.

The Floor: The floor was actually one of the slickest surfaces in the world. It was rumored that the 1982 US Hockey Team actually practiced there one summer and that the old floor was a testing ground for the no stick surface later known as Teflon. The floor was not your typical basketball hardwood floor. It was some sort of rubberized-coated/concrete combination type of flooring. The floor was a nasty (think the color of dried mustard) yellow color with a green baseline and dead spots galore. Not the most attractive or efficient floor but it was ours! The floor was actually not even regulation size. This became an issue in the mid 1980s when it is rumored that Coaches Mike Hayes and Darrel Ruffner actually “stretched” the court a bit to allow the Greenwave to host a sub-state playoff game. Regulation courts are 94 feet long, the Pit floor was rumored to be closer to 84 feet. Also the lack of size of the court became apparent in the late 1980’s with the advent of the 3 point line. The 19 feet 9 inch from the basket three point line at the head of the circle almost touched the outer edge of the jump circle at mid court. If you wore about a size 13 shoe or larger you could not shoot a 3-pointer from the corner, there simply wasn’t enough room to put your feet behind the line and stay in bounds. You either had to stand on your tip toes to shoot from long range corner or step inside the line for the 2. Also for many years there was potentially the greatest and most dangerous obstacle ever on a basketball court in the south-west corner…….a four spigot ceramic water fountain. Yes, a large water fountain was along the sidelines! It was great! At any time during the game you could just take a step over and get a drink and largely not miss a play. Of course the danger of going for a lose ball and catching the fountain waist high was always present and this corner was many times damp, due to one of the dispensers being improperly adjusted. The most interesting obstacle could have been the wall along the visitor’s side. About 10 inches away from the out-of-bounds line is where you would find the wall. This pinewood panel wall made it feel as if you were playing basketball in a hockey ring, a very small hockey ring. Great joy could come from “checking” a Webb player into the wall.

The Ceiling: The ceiling was pretty low for a basketball gym. The exact height is unknown, but if you sling one from the other end of the court as the final seconds roll off the clock before half time……..look out lights!!!! Unless you could throw one in without any arc on the ball, odds are you would nearly take out one of low hanging halogen lights. These lights endured years of punishment and though the crowd would gasp for air anticipating one to crash to the floor after being rocked by a basketball, the lights to our knowledge never fell. Also length of the floor, beat the press baseball passes ran this risk. A smart coach always took this into his game plan considerations. Anyone taller than 5’6” most likely could not stand straight up on the top row bleachers on either the home or visitors side. The ceiling was right overhead on the top row, allowing just enough room for one person to remain seated. If the game got really exciting and you jumped out of your seat, well watch your head. This was also a very popular spot to leave your signature on the ceiling or perhaps tell all who come after you your true love at the time.

The Windows: With a packed house there to watch a classic Coach Woody or Hayes led Lady Waves team in January, the temperature would rise greatly inside the Pit and the best way to expel some of the heat was to open (or attempt to open) the windows along the top row of bleachers as discussed above. If you could scrap off enough of the old paint, you could push open these approximately 4 foot wide large windows and help cool the gym off quickly. Of course those unfortunate enough to be setting right next to the window would nearly catch pneumonia. One of the most unique windows in the gym did not even lead to the outside, it was the window in the men’s bathroom that looked high over the gym. You could take care of business in the mens room and still know what was going on in the game.

The Boiler: Keep in mind the age of the school. The school used a coal boiler for many years to heat the school and gym and though it may take several hours to get started, it would eventually provide enough heat. That is until the boiler would become stopped up and the smoke from the boiler room would pour into the gym (the boiler was just next door to the gym). It would happen at least once a year during a game. The gym would become filled with black smoke and the smell of burning coal, leaving the fans and players with burning eyes, dark lungs, and poor visibility. You know the fans of Webb, CAK, and Knox Catholic just hated to come to visit the Pit in the heavy winter.

The Cameraman Perch:
Possibly the most dangerous part of the Pit was not the water fountain or even on the floor level at all, the most dangerous part of the Pit was the perch from which the school video cameraman would sit.

As we recall, the perch was actually a four by four sheet of plywood attached to the top of the side goals/backboard support in the old gym, which provided an excellent "eye in the sky" view for the video tape recorder (beta or VHS anyone?). If one figures the rim was 10 feet tall, the top of the backboard an extra 4 feet up and the chair that set on top of the plywood an additional 3 feet, then the cameraman’s head was a good 17-20 feet above the gym floor. A bit concerning when you think about it a moment. However, the height above the floor was not the only issue with the camera podium. A bigger challenge was obtaining access to the platform.

The cameraman would get to the perch by first climbing onto the sink just below the mens room window (see Tales from the Pit, window section), the second step was to scurry up into the open window itself (remember how large these windows were, they seemed about 3-4 feet wide) and third was to complete the most dangerous maneuver of all, which was to carefully crawl, crab walk or shuffle/stoop over to the platform. Once death was firmly defied and the cameraman in place, an assistant would then hand the tripod and camera out the window to the platform (no small feat itself, remember the size of cameras back then??).

Several questions come to mind when reviewing this situation and we are reaching out to the readers of SORSN.com for some feedback.

First, what was the purpose of the side goals anyway? As we recall, the only use they ever saw was for the occasional warm-up free throws for the third string.

Second, and most obvious, where in the world did the idea for the cameraman to sit on top of the backboard (and almost at the ceiling level of the gym) originate? While the obvious answer is it is a great vantage point for film and the old gym didn't have many "good viewing angles", honestly, folks lets think about it for a moment. The top of the goalpost for football games would also be a great camera angle, but we do not recall anyone scurrying up there on Friday nights.

Third, why in the world didn't we come up with a ladder or a more permanent platform for the cameraman? The image of the lonely cameraman hanging out the bathroom window to gain access to the top of the backboard to film a late January battle with Vonore or TMI is one that still causes us to shudder. Lastly, who were these cameramen (we assume all men, because you first had to go through the mens room)? If anyone actually filmed, have a story or recall who these brave souls were, please contact SORSN.com we would like to speak with them.

Christmas Break/Summer Practices: Those who played for the Greenwave will never forget those early morning practices during the Christmas break. The gym would be frigidly cold since school was out of session and the boiler was not burning. Setting fire in a barrel was generally not allowed, but always discussed. Typically for practice you would go to the locker room, change out of your clothes, put on your practice uniform and hit the floor. Not during Christmas break. You would enter “The Pit” in what you walked out of the house in….toboggan, gloves, scarf, sweat pants and hooded sweat shirt with possibly thermal underwear underneath. Many a Greenwave player asked for long johns or sweat pants for Christmas in anticipation of “after Christmas practices”. Your lungs would hurt so bad when you tried to breathe the cold gym air that you would swear the chest pains were a sign of an oncoming heart attack. Players watched each other closely for signs of hypothermia. Trying to catch, pass, or shoot the ball was dang near impossible with fingers so cold you could hardly bend.

Also the gyms air conditioning was provided by a couple of gigantic ceiling fans that never worked, the aforementioned windows and a set of double swinging doors just beyond the on floors water fountain. Let’s just say that airflow through the building was not great. Also there was a small area between the double doors and the outside of the building. This area was legendary for housing smokers during school hours and the nicotine (or worse) smell from this area was sometimes overwhelming.

The Pit was torn down following the 1996 season and it wasn’t until then when many of us realized how special of a place it was to play. What you have just read are some of our memories of playing in the Pit and now we ask that you share some of your memories as we compile Tales from the Pit.

Possible story ideas that we did not cover: The small hole at the bottom of the scorers table, the rebound machine, locker rooms.

For Sale, Like New

1983: The game was the first of the season and we had scrimmaged O.S. several times and they were making it hard on us. The score was tied 7-7 in the 4th. Randy Pack and I were the running backs and Coach Branson allowed us to choose who would be the tailback when we ran out of the "I" formation. This usually wasn’t a problem, when the huddle broke one of us would say "I got it" and the other would take fullback. Well on this occasion Coach had sent in an option play out of the "I" and as we broke the huddle both of us said "I got it". We proceed to stand and argue "I got it, No I got it" back and forth until QB Bryan Ogle turned around and said "let’s go" (of course Barry Narramore was also turned around looking but that was just to get the snap count which he forgot every play). I told Randy “Fine you take it.”

The play started and as we ran around the left end there was absolutely nobody for me to block. It was wide open all the way to the end zone some 70 yards away. Randy scored the go ahead and ultimately winning touchdown. Randy had come to SOR late in life and hadn’t played organized football so this was a big thrill for him and his family (rightly so). They were very excited to see the Monday edition of the Roane County News like most of us were when we thought we might get a mention but something went terribly wrong. The sportswriter (obviously not Brownie) made an error and gave me credit for the score. It was a full page with like 3 pictures. I thought it was funny, Randy didn’t see it that way, he called the paper and they promised to make a retraction which they did about 3 weeks later that was buried so deep in the classified section that I found a nice cheap, one owner, low mileage, coon hound while trying to find it.