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ENLARGE
It's time for me to reflect back on some favorite moments, memories and athletes from a life in sports. May 2010 be the start of many more unforgettable times.
• I haven't listed the forthcoming highlights in any particular order, but meeting basketball icons David Thompson and Larry Brown at the 1975 Denver Nuggets basketball camp would have to rank near the top.
Thompson was the Michael Jordan of that era who could leap tall buildings in a single bound. Thompson and Coach Brown made themselves readily available throughout the week at camp, dispensing basketball technique and advice to us young hopefuls.
Thompson went on to a stellar NBA career and Brown is still working his magic as coach of the Charlotte Bobcats.
• The vision of Chris Massaro standing in the south end zone of Glenwood's Stubler Memorial Field is still clear to this day. Massaro had both arms upraised, clutching a football in one hand after blocking a punt and tumbling onto the loose ball for a touchdown in the 1978 state championship football game against the Valley Vikings.
When Massaro looked my way, I understood where he was — in a state of total euphoria, getting to live out every lineman's dream of scoring a touchdown. Massaro continues to live out a dream as the athletics director at Middle Tennessee State University.
• Watching Scott Bolitho play quarterback for Glenwood and Paul Cain play basketball at Basalt was like listening to a favorite song over and over again. I rarely missed a chance to see “Boomie” Bolitho throw those 30-yard ropes downfield for the Demons, and watching Cain consistently carve up opposing defenses while wearing the Longhorn purple never grew old. Both were special athletes and special people.
• Barb Riley falls into the special category also. The Lady Demon basketball player, who graduated in 1994, was the only girl I've ever been around who could come to open gym to play some hoops and not only get picked to play on the boys team, but hold her own nicely. Riley ended her basketball career as an all-conference selection at Brigham Young University.
• The setting is Sayre Park (then more popularly known as Strawberry Park), it's the summer of 1982 and Bobby “Speed” Barrows is on a breakaway, heading for the west basket and a sure score. As fellow Glenwood High player Tyler McClain closes in from the side to defend, Barrows goes airborne, showcasing his uncanny vertical leap. He lifts the ball high in his left hand and then brings it down through his scissored legs and back up on the right side, softly laying the ball off the banking board and through the hoop.
Those watching — and there were many — sat in stunned silence. We all knew Barrows could jump, but as Dick Enberg would say, “Oh my!” Barrows went on to have a solid career as a point guard at Mesa State College.
• Spending most of my youth on the basketball court at Sayre Park provided many treasured memories, other than when I think back on the unenviable task of trying to guard Kevin Flohr every night.
Flohr was tall, quick, could dunk any way and on anyone he wanted. Throw in the fact that he rarely missed a shot and you've got a defender's recipe for disaster.
Over time, I came to relish the challenge of facing him each evening, but I was always relieved when basketball season started and I got to play with, rather than against, him. Flohr moved on to Grand Junction, wore out more than a few nets at Mesa State, and become the school's all-time leading scorer.
• As I trotted off the court and headed for the bench at McNichol's Sports Arena in the final minutes of the 1979 state basketball championship game, the three greatest men in Glenwood High School sports history were waiting to greet me.
Coach Bob Chavez was there with his usual bear hug, one that he still gives me today after a round of golf. Then came a handshake from football coach and bus driver extraordinaire, Don Miller, and from the end of the bench, a proud nod and smile from Nick Stubler.
I had to do a double-take when I saw the usually stoic and unemotional Stubler with a tear running down one cheek. Stubler was a man who molded many young athletes in his time at Glenwood, and seeing him looking so happy was a better sight than the gold ball we carried into the locker room later that night.
• That glittering gold basketball proved elusive and managed to slip through the fingers of the Glenwood thinclads in the 1974 state tournament final against the Brush Beetdiggers.
With Glenwood trailing and very little time left on the clock at Denver's old, downtown Auditorium-Arena, Demon sophomore guard Rob Chavez picked the pocket of Brush all-stater Randy Needens and was two dribbles toward a score when the shrill sound of a referee's whistle cut through the heavy air and broke the hearts of everyone wearing red and white.
Chavez was called for a foul and Brush went on to win by a whisker, 71-70. It's a funny thing how, to this day, I still think I had a better angle on that play from my balcony seat than that official did.
• The state basketball tournament was always an all-day affair for my brother Tom and I. We would head to the Denver Coliseum on first-day-of-the-tourney Thursday morning and watch all four of the Class A games, then head downtown to get a bite to eat at the White Spot, and then it was on to the Arena for the four evening games in the AA classification.
The small schools were the most fun to watch. I remember an undersized, scrappy group of kids called the Branson Bearcats, who ran and pressed the entire game and had about as many players on the team as were in the entire school.
Custer County had a left-handed sharpshooter named Scott Wilson who could score with the best of them. Wilson was good for around 40 points each time he stepped on the court and still holds many state tournament scoring records.
• The biggest game in Colorado schoolboy basketball history (in my opinion) took place in 1972 at the Coliseum. The place was packed with fans anticipating a David vs. Goliath matchup in the big school, AAA bracket championship game between the Wheat Ridge Farmers and the Denver Manual Thunderbolts.
The makeup of the crowd that night was as divided as the players who took the court for each team. Half of the Coliseum's seats were filled with white people (Wheat Ridge) and the other half with black people (Manual).
Racial tension was everywhere as the Thunderbolts managed to drop heavily favored Wheat Ridge and their trio of college-bound stars — Dave Logan (CU), Steve Cribari (DU) and Jeff Fosnes (Vanderbilt). That game was broadcast around the state on KWGN channel 2 for all to see and was talked about for years to come.
With only three classifications back then, and the entire state tournament taking place at two historic sites in Denver, it always made for a frenzied, fun and memory-filled weekend.
• Twenty-seven points, 19 rebounds and seven blocked shots. That was the stat line belonging to the person who gets my vote for best individual performance in a state tournament game.
And it's a girl!
Glenwood's Alison Gordon seemed to be from Krypton that early March evening in 1998 as she sent Durango packing and the Demons on to Denver.
Oh my!
Mike Vidakovich is a freelance sports writer for the Post Independent
• I haven't listed the forthcoming highlights in any particular order, but meeting basketball icons David Thompson and Larry Brown at the 1975 Denver Nuggets basketball camp would have to rank near the top.
Thompson was the Michael Jordan of that era who could leap tall buildings in a single bound. Thompson and Coach Brown made themselves readily available throughout the week at camp, dispensing basketball technique and advice to us young hopefuls.
Thompson went on to a stellar NBA career and Brown is still working his magic as coach of the Charlotte Bobcats.
• The vision of Chris Massaro standing in the south end zone of Glenwood's Stubler Memorial Field is still clear to this day. Massaro had both arms upraised, clutching a football in one hand after blocking a punt and tumbling onto the loose ball for a touchdown in the 1978 state championship football game against the Valley Vikings.
When Massaro looked my way, I understood where he was — in a state of total euphoria, getting to live out every lineman's dream of scoring a touchdown. Massaro continues to live out a dream as the athletics director at Middle Tennessee State University.
• Watching Scott Bolitho play quarterback for Glenwood and Paul Cain play basketball at Basalt was like listening to a favorite song over and over again. I rarely missed a chance to see “Boomie” Bolitho throw those 30-yard ropes downfield for the Demons, and watching Cain consistently carve up opposing defenses while wearing the Longhorn purple never grew old. Both were special athletes and special people.
• Barb Riley falls into the special category also. The Lady Demon basketball player, who graduated in 1994, was the only girl I've ever been around who could come to open gym to play some hoops and not only get picked to play on the boys team, but hold her own nicely. Riley ended her basketball career as an all-conference selection at Brigham Young University.
• The setting is Sayre Park (then more popularly known as Strawberry Park), it's the summer of 1982 and Bobby “Speed” Barrows is on a breakaway, heading for the west basket and a sure score. As fellow Glenwood High player Tyler McClain closes in from the side to defend, Barrows goes airborne, showcasing his uncanny vertical leap. He lifts the ball high in his left hand and then brings it down through his scissored legs and back up on the right side, softly laying the ball off the banking board and through the hoop.
Those watching — and there were many — sat in stunned silence. We all knew Barrows could jump, but as Dick Enberg would say, “Oh my!” Barrows went on to have a solid career as a point guard at Mesa State College.
• Spending most of my youth on the basketball court at Sayre Park provided many treasured memories, other than when I think back on the unenviable task of trying to guard Kevin Flohr every night.
Flohr was tall, quick, could dunk any way and on anyone he wanted. Throw in the fact that he rarely missed a shot and you've got a defender's recipe for disaster.
Over time, I came to relish the challenge of facing him each evening, but I was always relieved when basketball season started and I got to play with, rather than against, him. Flohr moved on to Grand Junction, wore out more than a few nets at Mesa State, and become the school's all-time leading scorer.
• As I trotted off the court and headed for the bench at McNichol's Sports Arena in the final minutes of the 1979 state basketball championship game, the three greatest men in Glenwood High School sports history were waiting to greet me.
Coach Bob Chavez was there with his usual bear hug, one that he still gives me today after a round of golf. Then came a handshake from football coach and bus driver extraordinaire, Don Miller, and from the end of the bench, a proud nod and smile from Nick Stubler.
I had to do a double-take when I saw the usually stoic and unemotional Stubler with a tear running down one cheek. Stubler was a man who molded many young athletes in his time at Glenwood, and seeing him looking so happy was a better sight than the gold ball we carried into the locker room later that night.
• That glittering gold basketball proved elusive and managed to slip through the fingers of the Glenwood thinclads in the 1974 state tournament final against the Brush Beetdiggers.
With Glenwood trailing and very little time left on the clock at Denver's old, downtown Auditorium-Arena, Demon sophomore guard Rob Chavez picked the pocket of Brush all-stater Randy Needens and was two dribbles toward a score when the shrill sound of a referee's whistle cut through the heavy air and broke the hearts of everyone wearing red and white.
Chavez was called for a foul and Brush went on to win by a whisker, 71-70. It's a funny thing how, to this day, I still think I had a better angle on that play from my balcony seat than that official did.
• The state basketball tournament was always an all-day affair for my brother Tom and I. We would head to the Denver Coliseum on first-day-of-the-tourney Thursday morning and watch all four of the Class A games, then head downtown to get a bite to eat at the White Spot, and then it was on to the Arena for the four evening games in the AA classification.
The small schools were the most fun to watch. I remember an undersized, scrappy group of kids called the Branson Bearcats, who ran and pressed the entire game and had about as many players on the team as were in the entire school.
Custer County had a left-handed sharpshooter named Scott Wilson who could score with the best of them. Wilson was good for around 40 points each time he stepped on the court and still holds many state tournament scoring records.
• The biggest game in Colorado schoolboy basketball history (in my opinion) took place in 1972 at the Coliseum. The place was packed with fans anticipating a David vs. Goliath matchup in the big school, AAA bracket championship game between the Wheat Ridge Farmers and the Denver Manual Thunderbolts.
The makeup of the crowd that night was as divided as the players who took the court for each team. Half of the Coliseum's seats were filled with white people (Wheat Ridge) and the other half with black people (Manual).
Racial tension was everywhere as the Thunderbolts managed to drop heavily favored Wheat Ridge and their trio of college-bound stars — Dave Logan (CU), Steve Cribari (DU) and Jeff Fosnes (Vanderbilt). That game was broadcast around the state on KWGN channel 2 for all to see and was talked about for years to come.
With only three classifications back then, and the entire state tournament taking place at two historic sites in Denver, it always made for a frenzied, fun and memory-filled weekend.
• Twenty-seven points, 19 rebounds and seven blocked shots. That was the stat line belonging to the person who gets my vote for best individual performance in a state tournament game.
And it's a girl!
Glenwood's Alison Gordon seemed to be from Krypton that early March evening in 1998 as she sent Durango packing and the Demons on to Denver.
Oh my!
Mike Vidakovich is a freelance sports writer for the Post Independent
