In The Beginning.....There Were Hoops

The start of November means the start of my favorite time of year----basketball season.

Hoops have been a central part of my life since I can remember. Really.

I was named after an Alton (Il.) high school basketball star of the late 1950s, a fella by the name of Mike Hunter. I never got the opportunity to meet him.

My first basketball memory was sitting with my father in the old Civic Memorial gym watching a Bob Jones coached team that included kids with the very Bethalto-like names of Nave, Bristow, Blasingim and Drake….. There were so many early memories from that gym.  I would watch everything, walk the block back to our home and replay the game in the basement. I was a purple-and-gold robot. I remember reading every word published by Alton Telegraph sports columnist Jim Bell and learning to dislike rival teams from Cahokia, Madison, Highland and Jerseyville.

I dreamed of the day I would get to play in that gym

Ultimately I got my chance and enjoyed every moment. I remember my dad once saying----“Enjoy it son….Someday you will look back and remember it as the best time of your life.” Now, in the idle moments, my mind sometimes takes me back to make the lay-up I blew as a senior. I would have to say that he was right in that those were very special times.

My basketball journey concluded long before I was blessed with three sons. I spent many hours with them sharing my love for the sport.  They all repaid me by providing me countless proud moments as they enjoyed their own high school hoops experience.

I grew to love sitting in the cheap seats in the new CM gym. And some of my most cherished memories were of watching games at the fabled “Mule Barn” in Fairfield.

My sons and I share a love for the Kansas Jayhawks basketball program. It started with the college career of CM’s all-time leading cage scorer, Dave Taynor, and endures even to this day.

In February, as my belated Christmas gift to my sons, I will pay the freight for a Jayhawk weekend in Lawrence to watch the Jayhawks in the mecca of college basketball, Allen Fieldhouse.

And starting this week, I will be at the Coliseum here in Snyder to watch the Western Texas College Westerners and Lady Westerners compete. I can’t imagine being a college president and not having a basketball team to root for. I revel in each game….win or lose. But honestly…..I love winning.

Basketball is a truly American sport that tests us. If you want to be a basketball player, you have to commit hours of your time. It demands your dedication.

So, tomorrow night when the ball goes in the air for the start of our basketball season, I will be in heaven.

And you must realize the first gift my grandson will get when he appears in December….

A hoop for the cradle.