Dear Reader,
Leading off with a note in response to last week’s newsletter, “Of Fools & Follies”:
“I don’t always have (or take the) time to read your Friday edition word for word, but I want to say a hearty thank you for the good content and good word this week. It’s been sad for me to watch the slippery slope these past number of years...especially as I sing the timeline song with my little women: ‘This empire falls to that empire, and that empire falls to another empire’ and on it goes. I wonder what fall we will all witness next—perhaps another global superpower that grew too big for her (or his?) britches. (Maybe that’s changed to they/them too. I can’t keep up nor do I intend to, but I digress). For many reasons, I hope not, but we know who is in charge of the hearts of kings.
Jane Jacob’s writings were a favorite of mine in my urban planning days back in architecture school. In all the moves over the past 20 some years, The Death and Life of Great American Cities has remained a fixture on the shelf and has made the cut when culling books to cut weight. She had many things right, as do you. All this to say, keep up the good work and keep fighting the good fight! Thanks for casting light on the shadows.”
Thanks for the email and the kind words. Pray I don’t fumble the flashlight.
Now that all the Madness of March has come and gone, I have a special feature today especially for the Pike Countians in my audience. For those who are neither from, nor possess any knowledge of my hometown of Griggsville, IL (population 1,200), you’re free to skim this week; however, if you’re a sports fan of any stripe, I think you’ll appreciate the story, motive, and effort in telling it (and if not, it’s baseball season, so move along).
Put on your Hoosiers soundtrack and enjoy. And thanks for reading this week’s Second Drafts.
Craig
P.S.: You’re encouraged to email me directly with feedback, ideas, links, etc. Just know that, unless you specifically tell me not to, I may quote you (though it will always be anonymously).
Hot Takes
“U.S. Senate Confirmed the First Black Woman to the Supreme Court” - Since not enough Senators care about logic or reality, we will now have a Supreme Court Justice who can’t define what a woman is. Historic, indeed.
Glory Days
“I think I’m going down to the well tonight
I'm gonna drink till I get my fill
And I hope when I get old I don’t sit around thinking about it
But I probably will
Yeah, just sitting back, trying to recapture
A little of the glory, yeah
Well time slips away and leaves you with nothing, mister
But boring stories of glory days”from “Glory Days” by Bruce Springsteen
My wife will be the first to tell you that nostalgia (particularly mine) sometimes drives her up a wall. Of the two of us (and with regard to most things but Christmas), I am the more nostalgic, and none quite so much than when re-living self-proclaimed “glory days” that, while not intentional (we hadn’t met yet), do not involve her.
Yes, I’m talking about high school. [insert giant eye roll]
Imagine my joy and justification, then, when I came across this article a week or so ago citing some newly-discovered benefits of nostalgia:
“Nostalgia—that sentimental feeling of longing for the past—can reduce pain perception, according to new research published in the journal JNeurosci…
‘…By managing their discomfort, rather than eliminating or reducing the (unpleasant) stimuli, people can use nostalgia to reframe their painful experiences,’ Joe Yazhuo Kong, one of the study authors, said in an email.”
This resonated with me, as did the rest of the piece:
“The new study showed that the thalamus integrates that ‘nostalgia information’ and triggers a pain response that is more controlled. Viewing nostalgic photos also decreased activity in two pain-related areas of the brain.
And it's not just old photos that can lead to positive responses due to nostalgia—music, movies or certain stories can also trigger these. So can odors, such as perfume, or the taste of certain foods, such as candy from childhood or cookies that remind someone of home.
All these nostalgia triggers could prove to be useful in the future for providing cheap, easily accessible pain management tools to people.”
I confess that, with all that’s been going on in the world—both in the U.S. and abroad—I may or may not have periodically indulged in recent months in some good ol’ high school nostalgia for the sake of dwelling on something other than current events. Yes, it can be dangerous if one never returns to current reality (like going below the third level of memory to limbo in the movie, Inception), but I live on the edge (though you should read the full article for other nostalgia caveats).
So, with that as an introduction (or, as Megan would say, a “warning”), join me and my inner-Uncle Rico on a journey back to Griggsville High School senior year, 1989.
‘50 After 50’
This past January, the central Illinois sports website, Muddy River Sports, began a weekly series they called “50 After 50,” in which they listed and published write-ups for what they claimed to be the 50 best west central Illinois Class A basketball teams of the past 50 years in their four-county coverage area. Here’s the idea:
“The Illinois High School Association created a second class for boys basketball for the 1971-72 school year. The 2020-21 season would have been the 50th year of the boys basketball small-school tournament. Muddy River Sports is celebrating 50 years of small-school boys basketball by ranking the 50 best teams in Adams, Brown, Pike and Hancock counties since 1972.”
After reading the entries from the first few weeks (they published three a week), I wrote an email thanking the writers for their efforts:
“Just a note from out here under the Big Sky of Montana that I've been enjoying your ‘50 After 50’ feature at Muddy River Sports. It's been fun reading about the different schools and teams throughout the years, and I confess (without trying to sway things one way or another), that I keep holding my breath in hopes of seeing my beloved 1989 Griggsville Tornadoes make it to the top ten!”
Weeks passed, each featuring teams from towns and times I knew by heart and legend. I read each article to try to discern the criteria for why each team had been included: some had made appearances, placed, or won in the state tournament, while others only made it one or two games out of their respective regional; some had only lost one or two games across the entire season, yet others had as many as nine losses.
During this time, I pulled up an old Facebook Messenger thread started a few years ago for all the guys I played with as a senior on the 1989 Tornadoes team. I asked if anyone had been following the columns and what they thought our chances were of making the top ten (making the top 50 seemed a given considering some teams who had already made it). I said that I thought we’d land in the middle-to-low teens; a couple guys were saying top ten; one guy was talking top five.
In late-February, the countdown made it to the twenties and still no mention of Griggsville. Another week or two, I thought, and we would probably show up on the list. Any number would have been fine; I just didn’t want to be number eleven.
Eleven came and went, and still no Griggsville; the guys and I were pretty excited. I asked my former teammates (several of whom lived closer to home and had better working knowledge of the area teams that came after ours) who else they thought might make the top ten with us? We came up with nine other teams, and after various discussions, I suggested that we would probably land around eight or nine on the list.
Number ten was published; no Griggsville. We compared notes again; none of us had been contacted by anyone from the website for an interview or quote. One of the guys emailed the sportswriter I had corresponded with earlier and asked for the criteria used to determine the list, as well as if they were planning to include Griggsville. The writer responded that the list had been put together with the input of a few area coaches, along with the three writers involved. And Griggsville didn’t make the cut.
We were shocked. I couldn’t believe it; neither could the guys. I emailed the writer:
“We exchanged emails a few months ago toward the beginning of the ‘50 after 50’ project, and I believe you exchanged emails with a former teammate of mine in response to his inquiry as to the criteria for the ‘50 after 50’ list earlier today. In that email, you communicated that the 1989 Griggsville team did not make the cut of the top ten, which (of course) means we didn't make the cut of the top 50.
I confess that the rest of my teammates and I are a little surprised by the news. We meet the criteria you communicated (i.e. basically, being a class A school), but we're not sure how else you and the rest of your group evaluated your picks. Again, because of our team’s finish (losing in the sectional championship), we don't believe we're number one, nor even in the top seven, but we do think we belong in the top ten because of our accomplishments.”
Within 10 minutes, the writer responded to my email:
“After receiving suggestions from several coaches (and doing a little research ourselves), a group of several people met at the Tangerine Bowl [a bowling alley and restaurant in Quincy, IL] in November to pick the top 50. It’s too late to make any changes as we get to the top 10. I appreciate your enthusiasm for your team, and I’m sure others like you are out there thinking, ‘Hey, how did we not make the list?’
My suggestion: A letter to the editor that we print. Tell us why your Griggsville team should have been included on the list. Provide facts and details as to why. Send us a team picture. I admit it’s possible that Muddy River Sports might have overlooked someone. (We wouldn’t use it until the entire ‘50 after 50’ series is complete.)”
Now that the ‘50 After 50’ is completed (as of today), I’m taking him up on his invitation (when else does one get invited to write a letter to the editor?). I wrote an article (below) in the same general style and format as those in the series and then condensed it down to a brief, bulleted letter to the editor I’ll send in this weekend. I’m sure they’ll print it, but I’m also sure it won’t make any difference…and that’s okay.
Making a difference wasn’t why I wrote the article or the letter; I wrote them for the guys on the team and for our little town of Griggsville. I wrote them because I can say objectively—even after 33 years—that we deserved to be somewhere on that list, and I wanted the guys to remember why we did. I wrote them because we were good, won a lot of games, and represented our school and town well (or tried to).
The Case for the 1988-89 Tornadoes
GRIGGSVILLE, IL—The 1988-89 Griggsville Tornadoes first became a team and experienced plenty of success long before their senior season of high school basketball; most grew up playing together as Eagles in their elementary and junior high years under the tutelage of legendary Griggsville coach Ken Stauffer.
Those seventh grade Eagles of 1984 went 19-1 and made it to the sectional championship before losing to Rushville. In 1985, those eighth grade Eagles went 20-1, making it to the Elite Eight before losing by three points to the eventual state champion, Chandlerville, who won each of their final two tournament games by 20 or more points. A lack of hardware notwithstanding, for those keeping track, over two years, that’s a combined record of 39-2.
Before making it to state, however, those same eighth grade Eagles won an upset victory over Pittsfield’s Higbee Braves at the end of the regular season, holding the ball and playing four corners for most of the contest because of Pittsfield’s superior height and inside scoring capabilities.
“‘We had practiced all week for what we were going to do,’ recalled Griggsville guard Craig Dunham, ‘but with Coach Stauffer, winning was always about learning the fundamentals. That week’s lesson was about handling the ball.’
‘After the game—which we won something like 19-18—a Pittsfield fan came up and complained to Coach Stauffer that she had paid to watch a basketball game,’ Dunham said. ‘Without missing a beat, Coach responded, ‘Ma’am, I get paid to win basketball games.’ And he won a lot of them.’”
The Starters
Fast-forward to the 1988-1989 high school season: the Tornadoes boasted the area’s leading scorer in Scott (Nate) Bradshaw, averaging 27.8 points per game and twice scoring a season-high of 45 points. They also had one of the best all-around play makers in Jeff Wilson, who averaged 19 points and 9.7 assists per game and was as lethal a three-point shooter as anyone in the IHSA.
“Not to overstate it, but when it came to shooting, Jeff was Steph Curry before Steph Curry was Steph Curry,” said Dunham. “He and Nate were pure shooters, and when either one got what we called ‘The Feel,’ it was a no-brainer where the ball needed to go. It was poetry, and it was beautiful.”
With no starter over 6’0” tall, the Tornadoes did not have a traditional inside game; the joke was they ran “a donut offense” without a middle, relying instead on the mobility of their two “big men” to get up and down the court as part of their signature fast break offense. Scott Woodward averaged 6.9 points and both he and junior Steve Shaw averaged 5.3 rebounds per game while having to get physical with bigger opposing players inside.
“He’s a real strong kid,” Coach Jack Roemer said about Shaw, “which was a big factor in our success because we were a small team.”
Both Woodward and Shaw got up and down the floor well enough—sometimes even handling the ball in the open court—in Roemer’s 1980’s UNLV-inspired offense, much to the chagrin of their competition.
“I remember playing in the Pike County Tournament at Payson and just putting on a clinic of a first half with our transition game,” recalled Dunham. “As the teams headed for the locker room at halftime, one of Payson’s big men stopped right in the middle of the court, bent over, and threw up because he had been running so much. We were in the best shape of our lives because we were running all the time.”
Beware The Killer B’s
Key to “running all the time” was the Tornadoes’ strong second-string players, who would substitute individually or en masse when the starting five needed a break or “a talking to,” said Dunham. Nicknamed “The Killer B’s,” senior Jon Freeman, juniors Lance Zumwalt, Jason Brown, and Devin Workman, and sophomores Darin Workman, Corey Hobson, Jason Wilson, and Ryan Stauffer—who were undefeated 8th grade state champions two years earlier—were more than capable in practice and games.
“These guys were given their name because of their hustle, scrambling around for loose balls, diving, and never giving up,” said Roemer. “They just never quit coming at you.”
One of the best sophomores and “sixth man” in the region, Stauffer averaged 9.8 points and 3.4 rebounds per game, and could be deadly from behind the three-point line as well. Having this depth off the bench often gave the Tornadoes the upper hand in most games, particularly in light of their relentless three-quarter court press and up-tempo offense.
The Season
The Tornadoes began the ’88-‘89 season with a Homecoming win against the Perry Pioneers, scoring 99 points and securing the first victory of a 10-game winning streak. But the high scoring offense was not limited to those first ten games; led by Bradshaw and Wilson, the Tornadoes averaged 80 points a game for the season. In a game against Brussels, they more than doubled the score, winning 117-49, having led 71-26 at the half and breaking the three-digit mark early in the fourth period. Eleven players appeared in the scoring column.
“People were sometimes critical of our rebounding and half-court defense, and that’s legitimate to a point; we were small on the boards and struggled at times, particularly off the offensive glass,” Dunham said. “But we were scoring so many points and our opponents were getting the ball back after so many made baskets that we ended up having to play more defense than some might remember. And we usually came up with quite a few steals each game because of the press.”
Not every of those early-season games was a cakewalk, however.
“Liberty played us tough both times that year,” said Dunham, “limiting us to 56 points at their place early and 67 at ours, both of which were low for us. They played a triangle-and-two defense on Jeff and Nate, which opened up the junctions at the free throw line. I scored 17 points in one of those games, which was rare for me, but that’s how we adjusted to win.”
Indeed, Dunham normally averaged 5 points and 4.5 rebounds a game while guarding the opposing team’s top scorer.
Four of Griggsville’s five regular season losses came against teams outside of Adams, Brown, Hancock, and Pike counties, with most of them significantly taller than the Tornadoes. Griggsville’s initial ten-game winning streak came to an end when they took third in the Havana Round-Robin Tournament, beating Buffalo Tri-City and Havana, but losing to Delavan and then getting a taste of their own high-scoring medicine, losing to Williamsville, 110-71.
“I don’t even remember that game,” Dunham laughed. “All I can recall is that it wasn’t good, but maybe it helped us with some perspective for the long run.”
The Tornadoes bounced back with a vengeance, picking up wins against Meredosia and Brown County, before defeating Industry, 103-68, with The Killer B’s playing as much as the starters. The team is still in the record books of the National Federation of State High School Associations for scoring 50 points in one quarter.
In Pike County Conference regular season play, the Tornadoes set two school records in one game as they blew past the West Pike Cardinals, 121-83. Bradshaw had a game-high 37 points, while Woodward and Stauffer each scored 20 for the Tornadoes, putting them at 6-0 in PCC play and 15-3 overall. Those 121 total points still stand as a school record for most scored in a single game, as does Jeff Wilson’s 20 assists (Wilson also contributed 16 points and 8 steals in the effort).
Having won the Pike County Conference tournament earlier in the season, the Tornadoes went undefeated in the Conference’s regular season, claiming the trophy on their home court against Payson, despite the game being called with 2:09 showing on the clock due to unsportsmanlike conduct by Payson fans and players. Shaw scored 16 points and grabbed 9 rebounds to complement Wilson’s 19 and Bradshaw’s 36. Woodward was credited with a couple key baskets, and Dunham had a big basket to start the 4th quarter on the way to the decisive 88-65 win.
The drama of the Payson game didn’t sidetrack the Tornadoes, though, as they continued on with victories over Winchester, Liberty, Triopia, and Calhoun, before losing at Southeastern, 78-65, their fifth loss of the season.
Beating Pittsfield
As regular season play came to an end, what would become the most memorable and meaningful game of the year was still to be played. The Tornadoes hosted the Class A Regional Tournament in Griggsville, ranked as a second seed behind the number one-rated Pittsfield Saukees.
In the first round of the tournament, and only leading 37-19 at the half against the Wildcats from Winchester, the Tornadoes eventually found their rhythm on offense in the second half, hitting 33 of 65 shots from the field for a 51% shooting percentage and cruising to a 78-50 win.
In the semi-final round two days later, the Tornadoes got ahead of themselves mentally before finally settling down to defeat Bluffs, 73-56, a game that was much closer than the final score indicated.
“Bluffs played really well that night and almost got the best of us,” Dunham said. “We were totally looking through them to Pittsfield.”
In what Dunham called, “an ugly effort,” the Tornadoes eked out the win and the opportunity they had pointed to all season: to play the bigger and favored Pittsfield Saukees for the Class A Regional championship title on Griggsville’s home court.
“You have to understand that, four years earlier, we were eighth graders who watched with wide eyes the first real attempt in years by our little school to give Pittsfield a serious run for the regional championship,” said Dunham. “Darin Craven, Brian Bradshaw, Gary Freeman, and the rest of that crew came up short by three points, but what I recall most about that evening—and I don’t know who or how we figured it out at the time—was learning that Griggsville was scheduled to again host the regional in another four years. Several of us did the math and realized that our senior year would give us home court advantage to avenge our older brothers’ loss. Not only was it possible; we went into that season—and especially that game—as if it was our duty.”
The game was an instant “David versus Goliath” classic: two rival schools less than 10 miles apart; top two rated teams in the regional; fourth and fifth rated teams in the area; one team big and methodical, one team small and explosive; and a span of 13 years since the last Tornado victory over the Saukees. The stage doors at the end of Nichols Gymnasium were opened, extra risers and chairs were brought in and set up for additional seating, and radios all over the county were tuned to the see-saw battle for the first 14 minutes of the game before the Tornadoes eventually took command.
With a minute left in the first half, the Tornadoes got their famed running game in high gear and Wilson hit a three-pointer to give Griggsville a 30-26 lead. Seconds later, Dunham hit a pair of free throws and Wilson dropped another bomb from behind the arc.
“Our kids shoot the three-pointer,” Roemer said after the game. “We work on it. If you can’t shoot the three-pointer, it will hurt you.”
Wilson didn’t mind shooting the three-pointer five or even ten feet behind the line, as the Tornadoes went 27/53 from the field, including 10 from behind the arc, for a 51% shooting percentage.
“Jeff had ‘The Feel’ that whole night, and Nate caught it in the second half,” recalled Dunham. “We’d have a three-on-two or two-on-one fast break and you never thought twice about either one of them pulling up at the top of the key or even at the hash mark to shoot a three that night. It was unreal.”
When the buzzer sounded, the hometown crowd erupted as the Tornadoes defeated the Pittsfield Saukees, 75-57, and claimed the regional championship title.
Going Farther, But Not Far Enough
That win set up a contest with Girard in the opening round of the Petersburg Porta Sectional, in which the Tornadoes continued their run-and-gun style of play, easily clinching the victory, 79-59. Stauffer made a significant impact off the bench and, according to Roemer, “changed the momentum of the game…as we were scoring three points to their two.”
With an excited student body and community behind them, the Tornadoes advanced to the championship of the Porta Sectional the following Friday. However, after a hard-fought game, Griggsville went cold and struggled to come up with rebounds against the much taller North Greene team. The Spartans pulled out the victory, 78-74, went on to win the Macomb Super Sectional against Quincy Notre Dame, and advanced to the first round of the Sweet 16 in Champaign, before being defeated by that year’s eventual state champion, Carlyle.
Ending their season with a final record of 24 wins and 6 losses, the Tornadoes went farther than any other Tornado team since Griggsville’s 1927-28 team that went 22-8 and placed fourth in the state tournament 61 years prior. Members of the 1988-89 team were honored guests at Griggsville-Perry’s 2019 Homecoming game, and all but two made it back for the weekend. To this day, said Dunham, the team—in particular the seniors—are still close and keep up with each other.
“It’s funny,” mused Dunham, “how you can take the simplest pieces of equipment—a ball and a hoop—gather like-minded teammates loved by their families and friends, and turn it all into an opportunity for magic to happen on a Saturday night in the smallest of Illinois towns. I count it a privilege we had the opportunity we did. It was a wonderful team and a wonderful time.”
Why Subscribe?
Why not? Second Drafts is a once-a-week newsletter delivered to your inbox and it’s totally free. To receive additional monthly content (podcast, book review), subscribe for $5/month.
Keep Connected
You’re welcome to follow me on Twitter.