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'Pointers' reminisce about time on the hardcourt
BAINBRIDGE -- For a few hours Saturday afternoon and evening, time turned back more than 40 years for the town of Bainbridge.
Members of the 1965 -- 1969 varsity basketball teams that current Cloverdale High School basketball coaches Pat Rady and Jim Sharp taught, coached and inspired, their student managers, and the cheerleaders for the those teams, and members of the Bainbridge community met as a group for the first time in more than 40 years ago for a reunion to reminisce about what those experiences meant to everyone, both then and now.
Rady, and two cheerleaders for those teams, sisters Bobbi O'Hair Canada, and Patty O'Hair Martin, developed the idea that a reunion of these teams, managers, cheerleaders, and the community, was something that needed to take place.
Bobbi and Patty, with the help of Alan Ader from the Bainbridge High School Alumni Association, stepped up to the task, organizing the reunion and contacting every member of those groups.
As a result of their hard work, 38 members of those teams, many spouses, and many members of the community, were present Saturday to reminisce about those special times more than 40 years ago.
An "open microphone" was provided for members of the group to make comments about their memories of those years.
Members of the teams, student managers, cheerleaders, coaches Rady and Sharp, and community member Patsy McCammack took turns telling stories of their memories and expressing how much those times meant to everyone, both then and now.
A common theme throughout the reunion was togetherness and effort, and the movie Hoosiers, and how much of the movie portrayed exactly what took place in Bainbridge during the runs to the Semi-States in 66 and 67.
McCammack told the group about how the town was empty during the Semi-States, and Roachdale and Greencastle's police and fire departments provided protection for Bainbridge, as everyone was in Lafayette during the tournaments.
Bill McCall's Barber Shop and Gordon Hanks' Grocery were also mentioned many times comparing the atmosphere in those 1960s era Bainbridge businesses with those in the movie, and how the Bainbridge Pointer plywood mascot from the gymnasium was transported to the Semi-State tournaments in the back of a pickup truck.
Members of the teams attending the reunion were;
From the class of 65, Joe Martin, Rick Parent, Gary Davis, and Marilyn O'Hair Winters.
From the class of 66, Joe Dozier, Dick Evens, Dick McFarland, Steve Sutherlin, Larry Canada, Darlene Buzzard Bee, and Bobbi O'Hair Canada.
From the class of 67, Earl Coffman, Gary Martin, Dean Rossok, Larry Steele, and Sally Scobee Coffman.
From the class of 68, David English, Jim Hanks, Norman Steele, Gary Judy, Roger Ader, Russ Evans, and Jerry Steele.
From the class of 69, Mike Elliott, Dale Steele, Larry Wilson, Denny O'Hair, Carol Evens McFarland, Patty O'Hair Martin, and Janet Lents Clampitt.
From the class of 70, which graduated in the first class from North Putnam, but participated at Bainbridge, Ed McBride, Gary Richard, Charlotte Gerald Tillett, Fred Cox, Steve Miller, and Vicki Wallace Brewer.
Besides coaches Rady and Sharp, Bill Henson, scorebook keeper at Bainbridge for those teams, and currently for the Cloverdale boys' varsity basketball team, was in attendance.