Chapter 23

At supper that night, we ate with the alumni group in a huge banquet room set up with a massive buffet. Trish and Delta’s folks were there about as excited as the team was. After we ate, the players were gathered at one end of the room while the banquet people cleaned up. They set up a bar for the alums, but the players were warned off any liquor. Anyone violating the no liquor rule would be benched.

The coach was standing in front of everyone like he was giving a speech, telling the alums about the season and our successes. He introduced the assistant coaches, the trainers, and then the players. I was the last one to be introduced. When I stood and waved, the coach told me to keep standing.

“Part of our success has been attitude and cohesiveness,” the coach started up. “One of the ways we have stayed close as a team and organization is our entertainment while we are on those long rides on the bus. See this guy, this long, tall scrawny basketball player? Actually he has put on about twenty pounds of muscle this last couple of years, but turn him sideways and you’ll still miss him. Anyway, this guy can really play some good music. He has help, though. He has two senior cheerleader girlfriends that ride with us to every game, and they play some good music with him. I can’t begin to tell you how great it is to sing for four or five hours straight. What do we sing? Everything. You name it; they find it in their book and play it for us. Sometimes it takes them two or three times playing it through to get it right, but then we all sing along. By the time we get where we are going, we are in a great mood.”

The coach moved aside then pulled a cover off an upright piano. “I’m told the kid plays the piano and all kinds of instruments, but we have his guitar with us plus this piano. His personal cheerleaders are here, too, with their guitars. So if we’re lucky, we can get them to get our spirits up by playing some of these classics for us tonight.”

Delta and Trish came in lugging the three guitar cases and the big fake book. The coaches and assistants were already hollering what they wanted us to play. I could hear George, Dan, Cecile, and Carol hollering their selections, too. The first thing we did was our now near perfect rendition of the “Roller Skate” song for George. I played the piano for that one while the girls did the rhythm. Then we started through a lot of the songs that we played on the bus, but this time we switched back forth, with Delta and Trish playing the piano as much as I did. After about two hours, coach said it was getting late. I told him I would play us a lullaby to close, and he thought I was going to play “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”

I was playing the piano so I actually did the first few bars of the famous kids lullaby and then broke into “Lullaby of Bird Land.” That must have been the right thing to do, as those that were still there applauded. The girls and I had been practicing our arrangement of the piece with some good solos for each of them. We probably should have had Carol or Cecile come play with us, but they usually would rather listen, and I think they both had a lot to drink.

We packed up our guitars and headed up to our rooms. This time only two guys to a room with two beds. Kenny was my roommate, and we always got along great. He was telling me that Susie was there, and he was going to slip down to her room as soon as we had bed check. We were still dressed when the coach came by.

Coach eyed us a second before he said, “You two get some rest tonight. I won’t be back by your room tonight, but I want you two to promise me you will get a good rest. We don’t meet for our late breakfast until ten, so be there. Be careful boys and don’t rub it in any of the others’ noses.”

As soon as he shut the door, Kenny and I looked at each other and then busted up laughing. We thought we were going to pull a fast one. Ha! Coach was ahead of us. The girls were across the hall and two doors down. I called their room and told them to be at the door as I was on my way. There was no one in the hall as I walked to the opening door. As soon as it was closed, the two dynamos were stripping me. I fought back, baring their bodies as well. In less than two minutes we were cuddled under the blankets with a girl on each shoulder kissing and hugging. We were actually pretty tired from the trip and playing music so we enjoyed some real gentle tender love making and then slept soundly.

I woke at eight being fondled by both beauties. “Does this thing need to use the bathroom before we use it?” Trish asked.

Jumping up, I said, “Let’s take a nice slow shower and get ready for the day.”

The girls grumbled before I had both of them under the water. When I started washing one then the other in a very intimate way, they understood what I had in mind. We played and touched. I knelt down and licked and sucked until their legs almost gave way then I bent both of them over and slowly thumped them both bringing them to orgasm after orgasm. When I couldn’t last another stroke, I pulled free and sprayed their butts with long streams of thick juice.

I was given lots of kisses and hugs before we finished our shower and dried off. While the girls dressed, I went back to my room to find Kenny coming out of the shower. He had a big grin on his face but looked rested and relaxed.

We all went down to breakfast, again eating with the alumni. There were actually four huge banquet rooms full of people from our school. The coaches circulated among the rooms, making sure that all the supporters got some attention. It was almost like eating at the cafeteria with Kenny and Susie, Delta and Trish, and of course, we had Misty and Cherry. We ate, and then coach said for the players to ride over to the gym and start getting ready.

By the time the game started at two, we were all so excited, I’m surprised we knew how to start a game. The coach was smart though as we started right off running hard and then challenging their throw in for an almost full court press. The other team obviously didn’t research us at all, as they were stunned at how hard and fast we were playing. They couldn’t keep up. The first half had them dragging while we were in good enough shape to be getting warmed up. Every one of us was hitting whatever we threw up, plus we were transitioning so fast that almost every shot was a lay-up.

The final buzzer was merciful for the other team, as the lop-sided score was eighty-eight to fifty-nine. The coaches and alumni were going out of their minds with hysterical happiness, as we had soundly defeated a much higher seeded team. We showered, dressed, and headed back to the hotel. The second game would be Sunday. We were all elbowing each other talking about getting to the sweet sixteen.

During the after game meeting, the coach gave us the word on our next opponent. They were good. They were runners and defended similar to our scheme. He said we needed to be rested and ready for the game Sunday evening. We would practice some shooting in the morning and then rest for the day in anticipation of the game.

That evening we repeated the entertainment for everyone playing mostly different music than the night before. We went to bed a little earlier, and Kenny and I were bed-checked by the coach again. He gave us the same speech as we had the night before. Kenny said Susie had given up her room and was going to stay with him in our room. That was good with me as I was going across the hall. I was across the hall playing with my cheerleaders’ minutes after the coach left.

The next morning we had breakfast before the university chaplain held a service for those who wanted to attend. Most of the team was there along with four of the eight cheerleaders. From there we went to practice at a local high school gym. We did a shoot around and two sets of twenty-five free throws. We practiced driving to the basket over and over from every possible angle. The coach called a halt and said we were as ready as we could be.

When the game finally started, we were not surprised to find the other team running as hard as we do. They were a little put off for us guarding them so closely in the far court. That just kept them from getting an easy score by tossing the ball down court. At the half we were tied at thirty-two but not tired out. Coach had subbed us out often enough that we were in good shape. The other team looked a little tired but that didn’t mean they were. They just looked like it.

Coach had seen a couple of things we might be able to take advantage of. When they posted to their center it was a little slow and a little sloppy. Coach felt like we could force a turnover at that point. He also noticed that they had not scored from farther out than fifteen feet. Anything further was either an air ball or off the front rim. And finally he stood Kenny and me up and said, “Shoot the ball. Kenny just lay it up or turn and dunk it. But shoot the ball. Chuck, you haven’t been in position to make a shot from the corner the entire first half. Everything you’ve shot is twelve to fifteen. You’re about sixty percent but you can do better than that. Get to your spots and shoot the ball.”

The other team started out the same as the first half but about half way through the third quarter, they changed to a plodding pace, walking the ball up court after they got it in bounds then working to get an inside shot. We were doing pretty well on defense, except that we picked up a quick three fouls on their attempts to drive the lane.

Kenny scored on two hooks and I hit two from the corner. Our point guard was nailing everything, especially from the top of the circle. By the end of third quarter we were up by eight but had two guys with three fouls. Coach told us to start driving the lane hard to pick up some fouls as the opponents were tired.

Sure enough, every time we had an opening and drove to the basket, we picked up a foul. Most of the time it was in addition to the points scored. Amazingly, they actually let up driving on us at their end of the court. We won by seven. Not a bunch, but a win against a good team, sending us to the sweet sixteen.

After the game, the alums were celebrating in a hospitality room at the arena complex. They were delirious with the win and anticipating going to the sweet sixteen. As soon as we had something to eat and drink, the staff hustled us onto the buses for the trip home. We were two hours into the trip before someone wanted to do the sing a long. We only played an hour before giving way to fatigue. We slept the balance of the ride.

We were greeted by what looked like most of the school. Someone had printed up sweet sixteen ball caps and T-shirts. Tiny Sandy met us by jumping into my arms. She was wearing a home-made shirt with Sweet 16 written all over it. In tiny letters in little circles she had written “And been kissed.” It was like we had won the whole thing already. We carried our stuff to Trish’s car to haul back to the dorm. We were dragging. We were mentally ready for school in the morning, but we were not prepared as we really didn’t get any assignments before we left.

The next day, there really wasn’t much teaching going on. All anyone could talk about was our school going to an even bigger tournament. We were given assignments for Tuesday through Thursday and told that assignments would be suspended for the coming weekend for the sweet sixteen. This was definitely a situation where sports became more important than learning.

Wednesday night the country club was having a reception and dinner for the basketball team. I was thinking this was a little over the top, but Dan assured me that it was just alums showing their appreciation.

Coach had us working hard. Our first opponent was going to be really tough. Our little school was playing Kentucky. They were icons of college basketball with a coach known for his winning abilities. Coach felt like we should run, run, run to win. We practiced shooting from everywhere along with being perfect from the free throw line. Coach had me setting up in the corner, feinting toward the bucket, and then driving the base to the basket. He also had me crowding to the boards on every shot to help out Kenny.

The sweet sixteen was being held in Chicago, so we had a four-hour drive to get there. Again we left a day early so we would be rested and practiced. The alumni association was in full force. There were even more folks here than in KC. After our meal, the coach did his thing, introducing the players and staff along with the cheerleaders. Again he left me till the end and then asked me if we could entertain for a little while. I smiled that no, we couldn’t entertain, but we sure could help make a sing a long.

We all partied until ten before we were shooed off to bed. Kenny and I waited an hour for someone to come by to do a bed check on us, and then we decided we would do what we needed to do. Susie was knocking on our door while I was leaving to go to the girls’ room. We had a pleasant loving hour or so, and then we slept soundly snuggled together. I felt like I needed to get ready early, so I showered and then went back to the room. Kenny was already up with Susie in the bathroom. Coach came by to check on us and was happy to see us both up, showered and dressed. He said we should go to breakfast early so we could practice.

The coach walked out, pulling the door closed and Susie came strolling into the room stark naked, with a towel over her head. She heard me gasp and pulled the towel off her head. She turned an instant red and tried to cover herself with the towel. I turned my back to her and told her that I was leaving for breakfast so I would see her later. Kenny was cracking up laughing.