Basketball - A Constant at TCHS

I am excited about the reunion and am looking forward to the fun of seeing everybody and am especially excited about our having the opportunity to honor a great coach and a great man who was such a positive influence in our lives.

I am at the same time a little apprehensive about seeing everyone because in my mind’s eye I look pretty much the same as in my high school days, just slightly more mature. I’ll be much obliged if nobody lets on to me that the truth is not that.

Basketball was a constant throughout high school. No matter how much everything else changed, there was always basketball to focus on. I know how blessed I was to have the opportunity to witness great coaching up close and to be part of the Lady Vikings team.

We all worked so hard! The overpowering smell of us after a hot spring practice going down the steps into the locker room! Remember that? It was such a closed space, and we smelled so unladylike, but it was the smell of hard work and meant that we would win again. And I don’t know where Coach Carter came up with those medicine balls, but they looked they could have been unearthed from an Egyptian tomb. He surely knew how to keep us all motivated to give our best!

Growing up in Reynolds with Bunny and Sandra, I had no doubt as to who of the three of us not only was lacking in physical talent, but who also lacked the competitive drive that makes a great athlete. They were amazing basketball players from early on, and I know I was fortunate to come along when they did.

I was still a freshman when Maxine Lawhorn explained to me that what I was was a Rinky-Dink. Ordinary teams had benchwarmers, but even the Lady Vikings’ bench was a step above other teams’ benches and had its own proud name. Maxine may have been joking, but that’s sure what we called ourselves. It was part of the tradition.

Games are won in practice, and we Rinky-Dinks were an important part of the team. Once when a big game was coming up, Coach Carter had some of the B-team boys come to practice against the starters. I don’t know if Coach Carter thought the other team’s players were on steroids or what, but I remember feeling a little let down that he thought his own Rinky-Dinks might not be keeping the first team on their toes. I took my role on the team seriously.

I vividly remember the night of the loss to Perry even though I was no longer on the team. I was at Middle Georgia College in Cochran and had met the light of my life, Robert Cooper, who had heard lots about my high school basketball team that could not lose a game. So when the Vikings were playing in Perry, he and I rode over for the game. Incidentally, my mother was there since Harriet was on the team, and that was the first time she met Robert. (She liked him right away, and we all know how much easier life is if your mom approves of your boyfriend.) The evening started off great, but it ended horribly. I was devastated by the loss. The thought had never ever occurred to me that the combination of Bunny Harris, Sandra Arnold, and Norman Carter could lose a game. On the way back to Cochran, I concluded that Coach Carter had decided that the pressure of the winning streak was so heavy on the players that it was a hindrance to the main goal of winning State and had arranged to lose by a slim margin to a worthy opponent. That was how impossible it was to me to comprehend that we could lose.

But then Robert and I went to see the game in Warner Robins. Another loss, which blew my theory. That was the last game Robert Cooper was allowed to attend. He and I thought about going to the State finals that year, but didn’t. I’m not really superstitious or believe in jinxes, but still it seemed best for the team if he just wasn’t there.

To this day, when the topic of the Lady Vikings’ incredible winning streak comes up, Robert jokingly comments that all he ever saw the team do was lose!

Can’t wait until the 17th! You’ll recognize me right away because I look pretty much like I did in high school, just a little more mature.