Chapter 41: Undefeated

(Author’s Note: This chapter is heavy-duty sports oriented. There are a few important ‘non-sports’ details but be warned, this contains much basketball, volleyball and a little gymnastics action. I hope it is realistic and an enjoyable read. As the book title suggests, this chapter is mostly about Championships.)

“Look in these eyes!

These eyes don’t lie.

And they say that if you don’t blink,

Then you don’t die.” (The opening lyrics to Def Leppard’s, Undefeated.)

Alumni Hall, Western University, London, Ontario

7:57am, Friday, December 28, 1979

After shaking hands with Windsor Assumption’s starting five, their point guard, number 3, Terry Haskins smiled at me and asked, “Are you the Mike whose band is going to play a concert for us, tonight, and then do that naked concert next Friday on Global?”

Windsor Assumption was a semi-finalist at last year’s Ontario’s AAA or large school basketball championship. They lost by five points to the Ontario champions, Toronto Eastern Commerce, who were playing in the next winner’s bracket semi-final game against London’s Beal Secondary School.

“Yeah, that would be me,” I replied with a smile at my five-foot-nine-inch opponent.

Assumption’s point guard then said, “My teammates and I are really looking forward to tonight’s concert. Thanks for doing that for all of us.”

“Trust me, rehearsing before a real audience is gonna help us a ton,” I replied just before the ref blew his whistle to signal play was about to start. I then added, “Good luck, bud.”

“Same, Mike.”

Andrew Werring won the opening jump-ball, tipping it to Matt Connell. We decided before the game that if we won this tip, we were going to run our half-court ‘back-screen’ play that we’ve successfully used several times this season. Jon Lunby set a screen on my defender just past the half-court line. I took one false step towards our basket and then ran my defender into Jon, and out raced the ‘sleeping’ Assumption team to their basket. Matt threw a long lead pass to me, which I caught, took my two steps before leaping to tomahawk home our first two points in this semi-final game.

Assumption’s point guard was a super ball-handler, so I didn’t really try to steal the ball from him as he dribbled against my man pressure. I made him turn a few times before he crossed half-court. Just past that dividing line, Big-Mike Horichek attacked the smaller point guard with our ‘jump-trap’ defense. Big-Mike’s six-two body, along with my six-three frame created a large wall, along with the half-court and sidelines, for Assumption’s shorter guard. When he jumped to pass to his teammate near the half-court line, I tipped his pass. Jon easily intercepted it and raced down court for an uncontested layup.

Twenty seconds into the game, our four point lead was the largest point gap either team had for the entire first half of this Purple & White semi-final contest. The lead changed hands seven times in the first half, with us holding a one point lead, 33-32 on the Catholic School Raiders from Windsor. Jon and I were tied for our scoring lead with nine points. Dennis Grainam and Andrew Werring had four rebounds each to pace our team.

During his halftime talk, Coach Williamson stressed the value of each possession to each team. If we could limit their big men’s scoring chances by creating a few more turnovers or limiting their offensive rebounds, we stood a good chance of defeating the third ranked AAA team in Ontario. He told our big men that they were doing a great job on the Raiders’ ‘bigs’, but that one missed block-out or misplayed entry pass could be the difference in this game.

On the way back into the gym from our side’s hallway halftime spot, Coach W pulled me aside and said, “If we get up on them by four or more points in the second half, I want to make their big guys come out and chase us in our four corners offense. I’m going to tell Matt and Andrew to play up top with you in our spread, which should allow you more chances to drive to the basket with their ‘bigs’ away from the goal.” Andrew at six-five and the six-three, two-hundred and thirty pound Matt were both skilled ball handlers for their size, unlike Gary Dander and Dennis Grainam. The five ‘man-defensive’ guys I normally played with were all well-schooled in ball security.

“You got it coach,” I replied and then took a drink of my Gatorade as I entered the gym.

On the opening jump-ball of the third quarter, Andrew once more controlled the tip by directing it to Matt. We immediately used an alternate play from the one I scored that opening dunk on. Because the Assumption players reacted to my similar run to the goal, Matt faked that pass to me and then quickly fired a chest pass to Jon as he waited for my man and his man to run with me. Jon then had the option of dribbling into his shooting range for a jumper or waiting for Big-Mike to run off the screen I set for him along the baseline. Because Jon’s defender didn’t react to his attack, he pulled up for a twenty foot ‘J’, which ‘tickled the twines’ to give us a three point lead.

Similar to the first half, we traded baskets, fouls and turnovers with the Assumption Raiders. Our team held a three point lead at the end of the third quarter, 48-45. The one trouble spot for both teams was foul trouble. Matt picked up his third and fourth fouls before our man-unit was subbed out. Fortunately for us, I and then Wayne were able to cause the third and fourth fouls on the Raiders starting point guard, Terry Haskins.

In our team huddle before the start of the fourth quarter, Coach W hammered home to me the need to ‘up the pressure’ on their young, untested backup guard. He wanted us to alternate using our ‘press and overplay’ and our ‘jump-trap’ defenses on this less skilled ball handler. Coach also told Gary, Matt’s substitute, and Big-Mike that he wanted them in the low corners of our spread offense, with Jon and Andrew joining me as the main ball-handlers. After my five man unit broke the huddle, Coach W grabbed my arm and simply said, “Four points, four corners.” I simply winked at my coach, and hustled out to join my teammates for the jump ball.

Andrew lost the tip for the first time in the game, so I quickly moved to pressure the Raiders’ backup guard as he carefully shielded me from the ball as he dribbled over the half-court line. When he thought I had overplayed him to his left, he did a cross-over dribble move, which I anticipated. With my longer reach, I came around from his backside and poked the ball away from him in Big-Mike’s direction. Knowing my older team was going to corral that lose ball; I tore off for the Raiders’ basket at top speed.

“Up Big! Up Big! Up Big!“ Andrew hollered to make sure our teammate knew the proper action. Big-Mike didn’t need the helpful instruction as he immediately tossed a looping pass, which I ran onto before powering up to throw down a right-handed cuff dunk.

After celebrating that dunk for a moment with Jon, I picked up #13, their backup guard and harassed him as soon as he started dribbling the ball up court. I turned him twice in their back court before easing off my pressure to steer him to the right side of the court in Big-Mike’s direction. Right after ‘13’ crossed half-court; Big quickly attacked the dribbler with his arms waving high above his head. Gary, Andrew and Jon all rotated to the nearest open Raider as we tried to hem in their ball-handler. Big-Mike and I forced a harried pass along the sideline, which Gary got a couple of fingers on. The Raider forward wasn’t able to catch that deflected pass, and it went out of bounds off his hand turnover – Cowboys’ ball.

Coach W’s shrill, two-fingered whistle caught our attention on the court. I immediately knew what he wanted and mimicked his ‘4-C’ hand motions to my teammates. As I took Jon’s inbounds pass, I called out, “Andrew, Big! Swap positions!” as I saw my taller teammate initially go to the lower right corner. I tossed a short pass to Jon as he crossed half-court, and we stood about ten feet apart with him holding the ball as the Raiders settled into their regular 2-3 zone defense. Andrew soon joined us as the Raiders were content to sit back in their zone at that moment.

Jon held the ball for a good forty-five seconds before the Raiders’ head coach motioned his players to match up and come out to pressure us. Jon immediately flipped me the ball at the center circle, and both he and Andrew moved further away into the opposite upper corners of the attacking half. When ‘13’ drew near, I assumed a ‘triple-threat’ position and rocked on my left pivot foot. Knowing I was right-handed, my defender overplayed my right side. I gave him a fake step in that direction and immediately drove past him to my left. As I expected, both Jon’s and Andrew’s defenders jumped in my path, allowing me an easy outlet pass to either of my upper teammates. With Andrew guarded by the Raiders’ bigger but slower center, I passed to Andrew and immediately made a hard ‘V’ cut back to the center circle to receive his return pass.

I repeated that jab-step to the right, drive left and made an easy outlet pass to Andrew and return to the top cycle of actions. On the next attack, I anticipated that the upper defenders might cheat on a possible outlet pass, so I dribbled hard through their half-hearted attempt to stop me at the free-throw line. This forced both lower defenders to react to my attack. I had both Gary and Big-Mike in the lower corners available, so I bounced a hard pass out to Big. He dribbled a few feet towards half-court before passing to Andrew, who held the ball until I completed my run back to the top of the attacking zone.

I lifted up my left hand and rotated my four extended fingers as I held the ball at the center circle. I was letting Gary know that if his man came to stop my penetration, I wanted him to slide towards the basket for an easy dump off. I picked Gary to do that move because his defender was bigger and slower than Big-Mike’s defender. I figured Gary had a better chance at scoring on that dump-off than Big-Mike.

This attack, I blew straight by ‘13’ to my right and noticed the upper defenders were cheating to their man, so I continued towards the basket. When neither of the low defenders moved quick enough to stop my drive, I took off just inside the free-throw line towards the basket. Gary’s big defender slid over too late to take a charge and moved underneath me as I flew to the goal. With my eyes locked on the rim, I jammed the ball through the goal with my right hand as I felt contact on my legs below me. Somehow, I was able to grab ahold of the rim with my dunking hand and hung there as the large Raider tumbled backwards after straddle-jumping completely over his body. The ref blew his whistle as the crowd went ballistic over my ‘posterizing’ dunk.

“Thirty-three, purple with the block!’ the referee loudly shouted as he ran from below the basket with his hands on his hips, motioning that foul signal. That was Assumption’s big power forward’s fourth foul, too.

When I was sure I wasn’t going to land on ‘33’, I dropped down from the rim. My teammates mobbed me after that play with Gary shouting, “Jesus! Mike! That was freakin’ wild!”

With my free-throw, we led the Raiders by eight points, 53-45. Assumption’s coach couldn’t wait any longer to reinsert his starting point guard as we totally flustered his backup on their previous possessions.

Coach Williamson called out, “41!-41!” which was our full-court man-to-man defense but without our ‘overplay’ style of pressure. He wanted us to challenge the Raiders, but didn’t want to give up any easy baskets should we mess up in that aggressive style of defense.

The Raiders scored on a tough put-back play by ‘33’, although Gary argued with the ref that he was pushed in the back on the preceding rebound. With a quicker defender back on me, I allowed Andrew to bring the ball up the court as the Raiders center wasn’t about to challenge him. Because Terry Haskins, my defender was playing with four personal fouls, I tried to tempt him into a silly reaching foul by waving the ball out in front of me after I took Andrew’s pass at the center circle. He didn’t bite on it, so I faked right, and drove pass him to my left. Because he was a step behind to my right as I dribbled to the free-throw line, I veered hard in that direction and then tumbled to the court as our legs and arms got tangled up.

The ref’s whistle blew and I heard him call out, “Purple, ‘3’ with a reach!”

The Assumption coach jumped in anger and yelled, “Twenty veered into him! Jeeze, Tyson, my guy has as much right to that space as ‘20’ does!”

Tyson, the ref reacted in a fairly calm manner and replied, “Twenty had a step on your man, Coach. He actually had a right to move in that direction.” In all honesty, that was the case in this situation as I indeed had a step on ‘3’ and purposely angled that way with hopes of drawing his fifth and disqualifying foul.

“That’s B-S, Tyson and you know it!” Assumptions’ coach replied, which immediately earned him a ‘T’ from the referee.

The PA horn sounded and the official scorer informed the referees that Terry had committed his fifth foul. He was still sitting on the court, so I went to him and offered him a hand up. After helping him to his feet, he gave me a half-hearted smile and said, “That was a smart play, Mike ... dang it,” as he patted me on my shoulder.

“You’re one tough hombre, Terry. I enjoyed playing against you,” I replied as we shared a ‘fist-bump’ of respect.

“Good luck in the finals,” he said as he looked at the scoreboard and shook his head in apparent defeat.

I hit all four free-throws, my two ‘One & Ones’, as well as the two technical attempts. As Terry just said in slightly different words, we were well on our way to the finals of the Purple & White as those four points gave us a 57-45 lead with slightly over two minutes left in the game. The final score of this game was 61-50. I scored nineteen points to lead our team in scoring. Jon added fifteen points to go with his team leading four steals. Gary Dander and Andrew corralled ten and eight rebounds, respectively.

Back at the Thames Hall locker room, Andrew and I took a quick shower and then changed into our dry ‘Scarlet’ uniform and basketball warmups. Wayne and Jon also showered before they put their on their red unis and warmups, as they too were going to be involved as helpers in this $500-$250 dunk contest.

Back in the stands at Alumni Hall, we now had a chance to rest and watch Dr. Candi’s boyfriend, Coach Clifford’s Beal Raiders play the top ranked high school team in Ontario, Toronto’s Eastern Commerce Saints. I wasn’t the least bit surprised to hear Dr. Candi calling out to me as I looked into the crowd for my friends. I waved at my teammates and their girlfriends and family before heading up a little higher in the stands to say hello to the good doctor.

“Is there anything you can’t do, Mike?” Candi laughed as I plopped down in the seat next to her. “Good Lord, you were a one man wrecking crew on the court, just like on the football field or on a concert stage.”

“I did play pretty well,” I replied with a grin on my face.

“How many points did you end up scoring?”

I gave my head a slight shake before I said, “I think I had eight or nineteen points. I’m happier to say I only had two turnovers, which is more important than me scoring points.”

“Yes. That is what Cliff said he was going to stress to Johnny in his pregame talk; that ball security is key!” Candi said as we watched the last couple of minutes of the first quarter. My friend, John LaPlante, was Beal’s starting point guard and the best high school player in London in his grade twelve and thirteen years.

As we watched Beal hang with Eastern Commerce, Candi asked how Lisa was doing health wise as our pressure filled concert neared. I told her that her Bricky-Baby was doing well and that she hadn’t had an episode to the best of my knowledge in almost three weeks. I then said, “My bandmates are squaring off against each other this morning at the Saunders’ volleyball tournament. Lynette said Lisa and Eda were playing out of their minds in their earlier games. I just hope Eda and especially Lisa won’t be too crushed because I highly doubt their Cougars can hang with Cano, Zupena and the Cowboy team.”

“Is Lynette’s team that much better than Eda’s and Bricky’s?” Candi asked and then jumped for joy when John LaPlante’s twenty-five footer swished through the basket to give the Beal Raiders a one point lead with just over a minute left in the first quarter.

“Oh, yeah,” I replied as I clapped after that sweet shot. “Medway’s team is the top ranked, double-A team in Ontario. They beat Saunders earlier in the tournament, and they are the fourth ranked triple-A team,” I added as Candi lightly pounded on my thigh with her fists as her boyfriend’s team was playing outstanding basketball.

A few of my teammates, and their girlfriends who knew Dr. Candi came up and sat with us during the second quarter of Beal’s game. Jon Lunby laughed when he found out Dr. Candi was dating Coach Clifford and said, “Now I’ve got an ‘in’ with Coach C when I try out for London’s U-18 team next summer. I’m sure you’ll put in a good word for me ... Mike, too.”

“Yeah, like Jordan will listen to me about who to select for his team,” Candi chuckled. She then turned to me and asked, “Are you gonna try out for Jordan’s team, next summer?”

“I doubt it. I’m not sure I can hang with Johnny P at the point and there are a lot of other guys who can shoot the rock better than me ... like this guy, here.” I replied as I smacked Jon on the back of his head as I paid him that complement.

“Well, six-foot-three playmaking, defensive beasts disguised as a point guard don’t just grow on trees up here in London,” Candi said as she gave my right shoulder a gentle punch.

I smiled at Candi’s true complement and then said, “If I’m not working on my uncle’s farm, I think I’d rather try out for the Junior Mustangs’ football team instead of the City’s basketball team. I enjoy playing with the pigskin more than the round-ball.”

“And you’ll more than likely end up back in my ER with a concussion or broken bone if you keep on playing like you did last fall,” Candi said with a slight hint of consternation in her voice.

“You know I only play at one speed ... all out full, so bumps and bruises are part of the game with me,” I softly said as I squeezed her hand to let her know I appreciated her concern for my health.

At half-time, Beal trailed Eastern Commerce by three points, 41-38. I wasn’t positive but I figured that John LaPlante must have scored over half of Beal’s points against the bigger and more athletic boys from downtown Toronto.

I’m Undefeated!” (The bridge and chorus from Def Leppard’s, Undefeated.)

University of Toronto, Sports Medicine Clinic, Toronto, Ontario

10:27am, Friday, December 28, 1979

“I’m sorry to say this to you, Tempe, but it sure looks like you’ve got a complete tears to your ACL and MCL ligaments in your right knee,” Dr. Kaynar, the chief sports medicine doctor at UT’s clinic said to the teary eyed teen, as Paul St. Georges, her high school coach held her hand. The tall, lean doctor simply confirmed what the head athletic trainer for U of T’s gymnastics’ team had already determined on the spring-loaded tumbling floor.

Tempe was at the U of T’s Invitational Challenge for top-level high school gymnasts, and was a shoe in to claim the overall championship when misfortune came to rest upon her head. Tempe had already won the uneven-parallel bars event, and as well as finishing second and third on the beam and vault. If she had completed her routine with just an average score for her, she would have won the prestigious all-round championship. However, the petite blonde gymnast’s right knee buckled after completing her first tumbling pass on her floor routine. She also sprained her left wrist in that fall, but that was of minor concern.

As it so happened, Tempe and Jennifer’s friend, Evy Ashton from St. Mike’s in Toronto won the all-round title. St. Mike’s also claimed the team title as Evy, her younger sister Lilly, Colleen McGinny and identical twins, Toni and Tawni Charlton performed well enough to win that trophy.

“Oh, Coach. I’m so sorry for screwing up our season like this,” Tempe cried as she pressed her head into her coach’s shoulder.

“Listen to me, Tempe,” Coach St. Georges quickly replied as he hugged his hurting athlete. He continued, “You’ve been nothing but awesome for our team, and this injury is in no way your fault. I’ve gone over that tumbling pass a thousand times in my mind and I didn’t see a darn thing that could have caused this to happen to you, Tempe.”

“I know! I landed just like always but my knee, well, it just gave way for some unknown reason,” Tempe softly said through her tears.

Dr. Kaynar just shook his head and said, “Unfortunately, this happens all too often to our female athletes. I’ve had female basketball and volleyball players tear those same ligaments from simple, controlled landings. You tearing those ligaments is more reasonable based off the difficulty of what you were doing, but still ... it happens more so with female versus male athletes.”

“Can I ask that you to send your medical report to Dr. Peter Fowler at Western’s Sports Medicine Clinic in London?” Coach St. Georges asked. “I’m fairly certain that he or someone on his staff will be looking after this young lady’s knee.”

“Knowing you were from the London area, I’ve already have told my secretary to put my report, along with Tempe’s MRI results together so you can give them to Dr. Fowler or someone on his staff.” The doctor then looked directly at Tempe and added, “You’ll be in excellent hands, young lady. Just do everything Dr. Fowler’s people have you do, and I’ve no doubt you’ll be back flying around the gymnastics’ airwaves before you know it.”

With a few tears of disappointment still on her cheeks, Tempe softly said, “Thanks for all you’ve done for me, today. I’ll do my best to get back on my feet as quickly as possible.”

“Yes. Thanks for all you’ve done, Dr. Kaynar,” Coach St. Georges added and then shook the physician’s hand.

Tempe wiped the tears from her cheeks with her sweatshirt sleeve and then chuckled, “Well, at least we should get back to London in time to watch the girls’ volleyball championship, and Mike’s basketball game, if they beat Windsor Assumption.”

“I take it you talked with your friends, last night, huh?” Coach said as they waited for the nurse to handle the discharge paperwork, and give them Tempe’s pain prescription and medical reports.

“Yes, Sir. I talked with both Lisa and Mike. Our girls are playing Lisa and Eda’s Montcalm team in the semi-finals match ... starting about now,” Tempe replied as she peered at the clock in the exam room. She then added, “Lisa is so-so excited to be playing against Lynette and Zupena. I just hope she can handle things, if her Cougars get trampled by our girls like she said is gonna happen.”

“As you well know, strange things can happen in sports,” Coach chuckled. “So, how did the boys’ basketball game go?”

“From Mike’s brief report on it, it sounds like they laid a whoopin’ on Sarnia Northern. I think he said the score was something like 68 or 69 to 47. He didn’t tell me much more than that, other than he thinks Assumption is going to be a tough game. They played at 8-o’clock, so I wonder how they did,” Tempe prattled on with her injured leg in a full length brace and propped up on the exam table.

“I’m sure the Cowboys did well. If we get back in time, and if you’re up to it, I suppose we can swing by Saunders to see how the girls’ teams are making out. You best be careful about over-doing things, though, so you and your parents will have to decide about going to the basketball game.”

Tempe was given a Lortab pain pill before leaving, so she would be half-way out of it during the two to three hour drive back to London. Coach St. Georges and Tempe were on the road shortly after eleven-o’clock. He thought that if the traffic on the 401 was moving at a decent clip, they should make it back to see the championship, as well as the third-fourth place games of the Saunders tournament. Looking in his review mirror, he saw Tempe resting against the far door with her legs elevated on the rear seat. He chuckle to himself, ‘It won’t be long before she’s out like a light, the poor girl.‘

So, let’s get it on!” (The second verse of Undefeated.)

Saunders Secondary School, London, Ontario

11:21am, Friday, December 29, 1979

“You’re playing great, ladies,” Coach Gregg said to her Montcalm Cougars volleyball players after swapping ends of the court. The Cougars just lost the first game, 15 to 9 to the Medway Cowboys. The coach then said, “You are doing everything I’ve asked you to do. We really can’t help it that they are taller and have a little more athletic ability than we do. Eda, you’re doing a great job running our attack. Maybe run a few more short sets to counter that monster in their front row. You may want to set your sister up a little more with those back-slides, too.”

“We’re gonna have to do something different, Eda,” Mary-Teresa Kenny, the Cougars’ captain and strong side hitter said. “I mean, I just can’t get anything by their strong-side blockers. That tall blonde is just hell to go against.”

“Yeah, Zupena is a beast, isn’t she,” Lisa replied with a negative head shake.

“I’m proud of you, ladies. We may not be able to beat the Cowboys, but you sure are giving them a good game,” Coach Gregg said as the referee blew her whistle to call the teams onto the court.

“C’mon, Cougs! Let’s give these Cowgirls a game!” Eda shouted as the starting six players moved to their positions for the referee to check their lineup.

The second game of the match was a near repeat of the first game with Medway winning, 15-8. Lynette directed a simpler Cowboy attack from her setter’s position as her bigger teammates pounded the ball against the overmatched Montcalm girls. The one unfortunate event for Medway in this second game occurred when Eda set up her sister for a back-slide attack. Lisa jumped and absolutely hammered the ball for a winning point. Her spike was hit so hard that Medway’s defensive specialist, Deb Watney couldn’t react fast enough to it and took a direct shot to her face. While Coach Jacket and the athletic trainer at the tournament weren’t positive, it sure looked like Deb’s nose was broken by that volleyball attack.

For Medway, Lynette averaged fourteen assists per game, and had seven service aces in the two games. Zupena once more led the Cowboys in kills with nineteen, and had eleven blocks in the two games. Even when Montcalm had two blockers against her, the six-three middle hitter simply hit over the top of their double team wall. Janice Hurt, Joanne Gramm and Katy Forbes all had strong games with fourteen, twelve and eleven kills, respectively.

For the Cougars, Eda had a solid two games with only three setting errors and an assist average of twelve-point-five per game. She also was the top server for Montcalm with four service aces. MT Kenny and Lisa tied for the team lead with eleven kills, although Lisa had a higher hitting percentage than her older teammate. Lisa also led her team with six digs.

At the end of the two game semi-final match, both teams meet up to offer each other congratulations. “You gals played well,” Andi Whiting sweetly said in the Cougars direction.

“Yes, we did. We just couldn’t handle your team’s height,” MT Kenny replied with a smile.

“Yeah, I can’t count the number of times we had our blockers set up right, and you, Zupi, just hit it like we weren’t there,” Eda said with a slight negative head shake.

“I do have four, five inch advantage, so best for me to use it, no?” Zupena said.

“Zupi, plus Janice and Jo-Jo make my job pretty easy,” Lynette added as she lightly popped Zupena and Joanne Gramm in their arms.

“Yeah, you just have to get the ball in their neighborhood, ‘cause they can sure pound it,” Lisa chuckled.

“Speaking of pounding the ball, where did that hit come from that clobbered Deb’s nose?” Andi bewilderedly asked to Lisa.

“Oh! God! I was never happier to be on the opposite side of our court as then! Jesus! Brick! That was ungodly!” Lynette cried as she lightly touched around her nose in faux anguish.