The 2019-20 high school hoop season marks the 50th anniversary of North Union’s boys district basketball championship. The Wildcats won a Class A district title by beating East Knox, 76-64, in the district finals. It remains the only district championship in NU boys’ basketball history. Members of the 1969-70 team will be honored on Tuesday when the current Wildcats host Ridgemont. Members of the 1969-70 team are from left, front row, Dwaine Curtis, Larry Temple, Dan McElroy, Tracy Drake and Mike Morgan; second row, Bill Baker, Jeff Farrell, Tim Hamilton, Joe Wiley, manager Dave Littell, Stan Griffith, head coach Dick Hampsher (deceased) and assistant coach Bob Tuttle (deceased); top row, Neil Van Winkle and Lee Manville (deceased). (Photo submitted)
The North Union High School boys basketball program is celebrating a golden anniversary during the current campaign.
It was 50 years ago in which the Wildcats won their only district boys hoop championship.
I can remember that season as a sixth-grader in the district.
There were a number of players on that team whom a little kid who was trying to learn how to shoot a jump shot followed very seriously.
I never learned how to shoot a really good jumper, but the 1969-70 Wildcats were the real deal.
NU didn’t have a tremendous regular season.
The Wildcats finished with a .500 (9-9) record during that slate.
Along the way, they played the four other teams in the Journal-Tribune’s coverage area.
North Union defeated Triad, 67-56, fell to Marysville by a 54-44 count, beat Jonathan Alder 71-63 and downed Fairbanks 73-65.
The Wildcats caught fire once the Class A tournament began.
Some younger people might be thinking, what was Class A?
A half century ago, the Ohio High School Athletic Association did not have four basketball divisions as in present times.
Schools throughout the state were divided by size, like they are today.
However, they were classified from Class AAA (the largest), down to AA and A.
The tournament began with an 86-66 victory over Olentangy.
North Union followed that triumph with wins over Northmor, West Jefferson and East Knox.
The victory over West Jefferson was the most exciting of the tournament.
The game was played at the Marion County Fairgrounds Coliseum, which used to be the location for high school hoop tourney games for many, many years.
NU’s Tracy Drake tossed in a half-court shot at the buzzer (there was no three-point shot back then) to beat the Rough Riders, 58-57.
North Union clinched the district championship with a 76-64 victory over East Knox.
The season, however, came to an end with a 72-65 setback against Skyview during the regional semifinals.
The Wildcats (who finished with a 13-10 record) had three players average in double figures that season.
Mike Morgan, NU’s 6-6 center, averaged 24.8 per game and had a high-game mark of 43 during a 95-93 triumph over Cardington.
Dan McElroy averaged 15.6 per game and Larry Temple scored at a per-game clip of 10.3.
Temple’s best scoring output came when he tossed in 25 points during the district championship contest against East Knox.
Drake and Dwaine Curtis helped balance the attack by averaging in the seven-point-per-game range.
Members of the 1969-70 squad will be honored Tuesday evening when the present-day Wildcats host Ridgemont.
The current team will take a 16-0 record into the contest.
This year’s Wildcat squad resembles its predecessor in that it has balanced scoring with the likes of Preston Crabtree (15.1), Harley Day (10.6) and Connor Terrill (10.1)
Zack Vernon (8.6) and Trevyn Feasel (5.7) are also scoring threats.
It would be a neat achievement if this year’s Wildcats could follow in the 1969-70 team’s footsteps by winning a Division III district championship.
Will that happen?
Who knows?
However, if it does, I imagine NU fans in the year 2069-70 season will probably want to remember this year’s squad as well.