Golden Anniversary: 50 years ago Ringgold ruled the WPIAL in hoops
Photos courtesy of Mid Mon Valley 缅北禁地 Hall of Fame
Photo courtesy of Mid Mon Valley 缅北禁地 Hall of Fame
Ringgold鈥檚 Melvin Boyd puts up a shot as teammates Ulice Payne (44) and Mike Brantley (34) look on in a game during the Rams鈥� 1972-73 WPIAL championship season.
Photo courtesy of Mid Mon Valley 缅北禁地 Hall of Fame
Ringgold鈥檚 Joe Montana (12) hits a driving layup with teammate Ulice Payne (44) following the play during a game in the Rams鈥� 1972-73 WPIAL championship season.
Photo courtesy of Mid Mon Valley 缅北禁地 Hall of Fame
Ringgold鈥檚 Scott Nedrow prepares to attempt a free throw while playing for the Rams鈥� 1972-73 WPIAL championship team.
It was 50 years ago come March 9 that the Ringgold Rams captured the WPIAL Class A basketball title with a 54-47 win over General Braddock at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
The year before in 1971-72 Ringgold lost to tough ballgame to Keystone Oaks, 54-53, in the WPIAL playoffs and coming into the 1972-73 campaign the Rams had to replace two starters in Art Coleman and Tim Stokes. Mike Brantley and Joe Montana would move up from the JV squad and join seniors Ulice Payne and Scott Nedrow and junior Melvin Boyd in the starting lineup. Ringgold was regarded as an unknown commodity coming into the season. The Rams鈥� two seniors had different expectations.
鈥淔rom my perspective looking back I was fortunate that I started every year in high school,鈥� Payne explained. 鈥淢y sophomore year I started varsity and my junior and senior year. By the time I was a senior I was the old guy and I had played with a lot of good players before me and I expected us to be pretty good because I knew I was the leader and I was recruited heavily and I played in the Five Star Camp and I had a chance to see just how good I thought I was.
鈥淚 knew we had good athletes on the team. For me I kind of expected us to be good. Mainly because the two years before us the teams were pretty good. For me this is what we do and that was my perspective. I felt I was going to lead this group.鈥�
鈥淲e lost Coleman and Stokes to graduation and I started that previous season mid-year and Boyd and I were the guards and it was a disappointing end to a really successful year the year before to Keystone Oaks at the Civic Arena which was a major disappointment,鈥� Nedrow recalled. 鈥淧ayne and I were the seniors and this was our show. Payne was the early recruited guy and started three years, but we were seniors and with the caliber of the people on that team in hindsight it is no surprise that we were as successful as we were. We played with and against each other growing up so we knew each other.
鈥淏ut as the season progressed we had a very good summer and we won the YMCA Tournament when we beat Belle Vernon and we had good guys coming up and as the season started we started gelling and we had good chemistry. We were all winners and we didn鈥檛 like to lose. It was a very unique team in that we could run anybody off the court. The confidence grew and we felt we could beat anybody.鈥�
The Rams were a very talented bunch.
鈥淧robably all of us could have got scholarships for basketball,鈥� Montana opined. 鈥淚 had a dream to go to Notre Dame and that came up for me and while basketball was my love and obviously Boyd he was a track star as well as a basketball player. We should have won the state championship.鈥�
The groundwork for the season was laid during the summer.
鈥淚t was fun,鈥� Montana said, 鈥淲e had so much fun playing basketball with those teams and the guys that were on the team and the things that we did were a little bit different than most. We used to take the five or six guys and go down to Bethel Park where all the local college guys would go and play with their teams during the summer. We would go down there and try to get in some of the runs and get our butts kicked, but we learned a lot trying to get tougher.
鈥淲e had so much fun and eventually my dad and some of his friends took some of the guys off some of the other teams and we had a little team that traveled around and played in tournaments. It was a lot of fun.鈥�
The WPIAL was served notice that Ringgold was a power to be reckoned with when the Rams beat General Braddock in December, 59-52.
鈥淭hat senior year we beat General Braddock at Ringgold right before Christmas,鈥� Payne recalled. 鈥淒ean Smith from North Carolina came up to recruit and watch the game. After the game Coach Smith was at my house and he told me you guys are one of the best teams in the state of Pennsylvania. It was like December and he鈥檚 recruiting me so I figure he鈥檚 stroking me, but he was at that game and he thought we were that good, that鈥檚 why I had expectations and he gave me real confidence.鈥�
Ringgold was unbeaten in non-section play, but had to battle Belle Vernon to win the Section 4-A title. The two teams split during the regular season. Ringgold beat the Leopards 58-53 and Belle Vernon won the second meeting 54-50, setting up a playoff for the section championship at California State College鈥檚 Hamer Hall.
The Rams prevailed in the playoff, downing the Leopards 66-51. Nedrow pumped in 25 points in the win as the Rams jumped out to an 18-5 first quarter lead and never looked back.
鈥淚 think in the first quarter Belle Vernon couldn鈥檛 score I think it was like 18-5,鈥� Boyd recalled. 鈥淲e jumped on them and coasted after that.鈥�
Veteran Ringgold coach Fran LaMendola pulled the strings for the Rams that season like a master puppeteer.
鈥淭he difference maker for us was Coach LaMendola and he doesn鈥檛 get enough credit,鈥� Payne stated. 鈥淎t Donora we always had great athletes, but Coach LaMendola, he didn鈥檛 over coach and as a result people didn鈥檛 give enough respect to him in my view. Oh yeah, he鈥檚 got the athletes, well, you can have athletes, but if you don鈥檛 know how to coach them it doesn鈥檛 work.
鈥淗e let you run, but you had to play defense. You had to get the ball, but he鈥檇 let you go. Every fast break was a structured fast break. It wasn鈥檛 like run down and do what you want to. Again, I just think Coach LaMendola, still living with his daughter over in Belle Vernon, if he reads this I鈥檇 want to say first, the biggest thank you to him. That鈥檚 one thing I regret that I didn鈥檛 say thank you enough to him.鈥�
鈥淚 was at Mon Valley Catholic and Coach LaMendola had a sit down with my father and I said I鈥檓 going to transfer,鈥� Nedrow explained. 鈥淚 had to sit out my first year as a sophomore and, skipping to the punchline about Coach LaMendola, I tell people all the time that he was probably one of the best coaches that I ever played for. Other people may disagree, but there was never a situation that we played or a team that we played against that we weren鈥檛 prepared for. Was he an X-and-O guy that would teach you to improve your jumper or show you moves? He wasn鈥檛 that kind of coach, he was the kind of coach that had a system, he taught you the system. You understood what he was trying to accomplish within his offenses and defenses and I鈥檝e never been more prepared in games than I was when I was at Ringgold.
鈥淲e had smart guys and if you look at that team they were all good at other sports and they were all high IQ guys in the sports that they played. When you have a coach that鈥檚 good and coaches a system well and smart players 鈥� athletic and talented with good attitudes that鈥檚 kind of the recipe.鈥�
鈥淐oach LaMendola was perfect for that team,鈥� Montana offered. 鈥淗e was one of those guys that understood the makeup of the team and he understood the division of the schools and what basketball really did to bring the two schools together more than anything. He just let you play. I mean he had great offensive stuff and we loved to run and his design was great. He also had a great sense of humor and some of the things he said I can鈥檛 remember off the top of my head, but there were so many times coming over and laughing on the sideline and he鈥檇 say something to you if you did something stupid.鈥�
Ringgold cruised into the WPIAL Class A championship game beating Valley, 66-39, and Aliquippa, 67-53. The championship was a second meeting with General Braddock and the Rams won again, 54-47.
In the PIAA playoffs the Rams dispatched South Hills. 62-58, Altoona. 59-47 and Aliquippa. 80-50. This set the stage for a third meeting with General Braddock in the PIAA Western Finals. This time around General Braddock came out on top 56-49 in overtime.
鈥淲e had beaten General Braddock twice,鈥� Montana remembered. 鈥淚 always tell people even all the way into the NFL, you watch teams play. it is so hard to beat a team three times.鈥�
鈥淭he odds got to us with General Braddock, you just can鈥檛 beat a team like that three times in one season,鈥� Payne said.
鈥淲e had the best team in the state,鈥� Boyd stated. 鈥淲e had already beat General Braddock in the WPIAL finals, and in PIAA semifinals we just had a cold second half shooting that caused us to lose the game. If we didn鈥檛 have that we probably would have won the state championship.鈥�
鈥淚t was heartbreaking to lose to General Braddock, a team that we had beaten twice,鈥� Brantley explained. 鈥淲e took it out on Chester in the consolation game.鈥�
Indeed the Rams did respond in the PIAA consolation game, downing a very good Chester team, 74-65.
Ringgold finished the season with the best record in the state at 29-2.
Montana feels there was a big key to Ringgold鈥檚 championship run.
鈥淚t鈥檚 simple, it was unselfishness,鈥� Montana stated. 鈥淚 mean here you got guys like Payne that was highly recruited and nobody cares who scored or how many rebounds somebody got, how many assists somebody got. Of course somebody is keeping track of it, but when you are playing nobody cared. They would give up the ball in a heartbeat to someone. It鈥檚 always about the win, whatever it takes to win and all of those guys were a part of that and there was no monster egos on the team. It was about fun and winning.
Fifty years later the memories are still fresh for the Rams.
鈥淵ou wake up one day, life is kind of strange,鈥� Boyd said. 鈥淵ou still remember it, but 50 years goes by pretty quick.鈥�
鈥淭hat season was a dream come true,鈥� Brantley said. 鈥淲e almost finished it. I still remember that season to this day plain as day and that was 50 years ago.鈥�
鈥淔ifty years, that鈥檚 hard to believe,鈥� Payne marveled. 鈥淚t is hard to imagine, but that was a special time.鈥�
George Von Benko鈥檚 鈥淢emory Lane鈥� column appears in the Sunday editions of the 缅北禁地. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.