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Boy, what a weekend. All the boys basketball state tournament teams were to be honored Friday night between the junior varsity and varsity games. Then came the ice!âIt was a good thing everything got postponed as the icy conditions were NOTâGOOD. It was the 50th anniversary of the 1964 state champions, the only time in Dodgeville school history that has happened, so there was a good bunch of cheerleaders and players from that team already here. The 1963 state runner-up team, that was a forerunner to the champs, with a lot of the same players on both teams, had a great group of people in attendance too. We all met at Dodger Bowl (see above) for some "great "story sharing, food and beverages." At 5:30 p.m. the group ventured to the high school to take part in a SKYPE presentation with questions and answers from "Dodgeville - Capturing Hearts" book author Rick Birk from Arizona. To show just how bad the icy conditions were, some of the people couldn't make it from the Dodger Bowl to the high school as some of the streets were too steep and icy for them to make it. The presentation came off well received with some of the people hearing about the book for the first time. People came from Georgia, Florida and Texas for the event. Saturday morning the "63 and "64 teams went to the downtown Cobblestone Coffee Shop to meet with area people and to reunite once again and with others who came in for Saturday's events. The cancellations of Friday night's games pushed the games and ceremonies honoring the teams to between games Saturday afternoon. The girls' teams were already scheduled to play Mount Horeb at 1:00 and 2:30, so the boys' JVâgame was to begin about 4:00 with introductions at approximately 5:00. The game didn't conclude until nearly 5:30, so the hour introductions didn't conclude until around 6:30. Oh, the other three DHSâstate tournament teams and coaches - "93, "95 and 2004 - were also recognized at that time. A great addition to those who came for the "63 and "64 teams was Julie Seidel (with husband Ron), one of the daughters of Joe Whitford, the "B" team coach during those years. Joe passed away quite some time ago, but I served as his manager during some of his years here and had a great fondness for him and his family. We used to shoot for "Cokes" (coca-cola) after practice from half court. I told Julie they were a nickel or dime cokes from Corner Drug and that her dad still owed me some! I had been to his house on several occasions back then and remember the girls and their mothers. She said they were 6 and 5 when they left here and had a brother who was 3. They had three more siblings born in Waterford, where they moved to. Joe became head girls coach at Waterford and won a state title in 1985, when one of his "Waterford family" daughters played. It was a great day with a lot of people being recognized. There was a lot going on Saturday that took a lot of students and parents who were at other events away from Dodgeville, but the crowd was pretty decent, considering the weather! Brother Pat received a healthy applause when he was introduced, but "Coach" (Bob Buck) got the biggest ovation, with everyone standing when he walked out!
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After the holidays (Christmas and New Year) falling in the middle of the week, it's great to be finally back on schedule. Last week however I had people telling me they thought Friday was Monday and that Monday was Sunday and stuff like that!
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The only drawback with the weekend's festivities is that we had to have some cake from my late buddy's placeâ(Quality Bakery) at the Dodger Bowl on Friday night. But then his sister - Kathy (Crubaugh) Honerbaum - was a cheerleader, so I guess it was OK. Gee, there were some pieces of cake left over. What does that tell you?