Basketball!
The Uniontown Red Raiders of my youth never lost a game.
That鈥檚 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 鈥� 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, 鈥淭hose cats were bad!鈥� (NOTE: To update that phrase, the word 鈥渃ats,鈥� would become 鈥渄awgs鈥� today. And the word 鈥渂ad,鈥� would be replaced by the word 鈥渄ope.鈥� 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 鈥淏oche鈥� 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.
鈥淩aiders Top Century Mark, Pound Trojans by 106-54,鈥� was the headline atop the Morning Herald鈥檚 sports page on Feb. 23, 1963.
Uniontown鈥檚 head coach A.J. 鈥淎be鈥� Everhart, Jr. had once again sent his charges into battle with his famous swarming defense.
Don鈥檛 believe me?
Here鈥檚 what the article said: 鈥淏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.鈥�
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.
鈥淏ig John鈥� Naponick stood 6-foot-9, and he weighed 280 pounds of immovable girth.
I鈥檝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鈥檛 finished with Naponick. He didn鈥檛 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鈥檚 moved on since March 4, 1963.
Well, I haven鈥檛.
There was always something special about the anticipation I felt for those home basketball games.
Perhaps, it was because the Red Raider Dozen (Uniontown鈥檚 high-spirited pep band) would proudly play 鈥淪weet Georgia Brown,鈥� as the team burst onto the floor.
I just loved watching the blood drain from the panic-filled faces of that night鈥檚 victims, er, opponents.
While the 1963 team wasn鈥檛 quite as successful as I鈥檇 hoped, the 1962 team won Uniontown鈥檚 first state basketball championship since 1925.
鈥�50,000 GREET OUR STATE CHAMPS,鈥� was the headline on the front page of the Morning Herald on March 26, 1962.
It had been a triumph.
There would be marching bands, and fans lined along Uniontown鈥檚 streets. And even though I lived a short walking distance from several of the players on that team 鈥� 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 鈥� and won the school鈥檚 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.