The Night We Lost

The Lady Vikings lost their first game in five years on January 4, 1972. It was a sad night for all of us. We never wanted to lose. Winning was way too much fun!

There are many amazing stories that came from that night. I've learned more in the last few weeks.

Perry was the team who finally beat us. They had focused on trying to do just that for a couple of years. Although Perry at that time was a AA school and we were A, Coach Carter scheduled them because they were good and we needed the competition before play-offs. We beat Perry in Butler (pictured) on Dec. 10 by five points, 56 - 51, so we knew that first game after Christmas in Perry would be another close one.

Sandy Harris (now my brother-in-law), who was the boys' coach at the time, talks about how very hard it was for the boys' game to follow close girls' games. He said when the girls would have a close game, he would have a time getting his boys settled down and ready to play. They wanted us to win about as badly as we did. The night that we lost was the worst. The boys had to wait a long time before they could even take the floor for warming up. They say that near pandemonium occurred on the gym floor immediately afterwards and it was 30 minutes before the boys' game could begin.

Most anyone you ask, who was halfway a basketball fan, will say that they were at the game that night. Many college students came home to be there. I know Mr. Cecil Kendrick drove to Georgia College in Milledgeville to pick up Joyce Kendrick, Dianne Kendrick, and Lynn Young so they wouldn't miss this game, and drove them back afterwards. Jean Jones and her boyfriend (and now husband) Robert Cooper drove over from Middle Georgia College. Many, many people went to the game in support. We can't say we lost because the other fans were louder. Ours were there and were loud.

Mr. Buddy Dunn said that the talk that day at the Warner Robins base where he worked was that a Houston County school would break the winning streak in 1972, and that it would probably be Perry that night. He was at the game of course. Mr. Buddy was a loyal fan for years.

I just learned this week that our scorekeeper, Melodie Bohler Stinson, was so upset and crying so hard after we lost that the official scorekeeper (Perry, because they were the home team) told her that she should not be allowed to keep the boys' scorebooks. She walked into the lobby to compose herself, but she only cried harder. Mr. Grady Trussell overheard and came to her rescue, but his arguments got nowhere with the officials. Melodie was not allowed to keep the boys' scorebook that night.

Over the past couple of weeks, a student movie-making team at the middle school has been interviewing former players for a short film on the Lady Vikings. When they ask the players about the game that was lost, the players start talking, and then nearly get choked up. Even after so long, it still touches us to talk about it. It was a hard night for those of us on the team, and for those in the stands that night.

After the game that night, when the buzzer sounded and signified the end of the streak, we went to the locker room and Coach Carter went also. I remember we just sat quietly for awhile, all of us in a daze. It was surreal. Tears were rolling, and everybody was very quiet. There was shock and disbelief. We could hear the celebrating in the Perry locker room, and rightfully so. They'd played a good game; they'd reached their goal. Coach Carter then asked if we'd like to go and congratulate them. We nodded that we would. He led the way and we went in and shook hands with all the team members and the coach. They'd done what no other team in five years and 132 games had - beat the Lady Vikings of Taylor County High.

When I remember that 1972 season now, I don't dwell much on that loss to Perry. It would have been easy to have dissension on that team after we lost. But we didn't. We picked ourselves up, our coach motivated us to continue, and we reached our number one goal of the year - to win the state championship.