One-Game Wonder
A Hoops Memory and Compilation
by
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Time does fly as Judy put it in so many words. No question about it. But like many mothers, Elsie followed her oldest son's exploits on the prep athletic fields. She would even add a newspaper clipping or box score to a baby book as I discovered years later. Thing is, without that info, I would not be able to share this hoops story with you. During the 1964-65 winter basketball campaign, I was a 16-year-old junior on the Ray Flint-coached Churchville-Chili Saints varsity hoops team that eclipsed the century mark on the scoreboard with a 101-55 triumph over the visiting Greece Arcadia High Titans Friday night, January 8, 1965. No team in the history of the C-C boys' basketball program had ever torched the nets like that before at the school. It was a special evening for me, because I scored a career-high 16 points in approximately two quarters of play, coming off the bench. It was my first double-digit game as a Saints varsity player...and as it turned out, my last. Even so, mom had the presence of mind to scissors-cut out the small write-up and box score of the game in the sports pages of The Democrat & Chronicle newspaper and put it aside for me. While mom was not at the game, dad was, and I think a couple of my sisters -- Diane and Laurie -- were also in attendance at the C-C gym. At a year-ending school sports banquet in the Churchville-Chili Senior High cafeteria, Flint first spoke to the overflowing crowd of how I made seven consecutive perimeter baskets in that Greece Arcadia contest. (Mind you, this was before the 3-point shot.) Then, Coach presented me with my varsity basketball letter. At 5-foot-10 inches, 145 pounds, I was on top of the world. But little did I know at the time, and even though I continued to play varsity ball into my senior year, I would never duplicate a game like that and be so red hot offensively again on the Saints hardwood. Looking at the accomplishment many years later, I realized that I enjoyed a "one-game wonder" experience -- and that's not a bad thing.
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About the Book
On Friday night, January 8, 1965, the 5-1 Churchville-Chili boys' basketball team hosted Greece Arcadia in the Saints gym at approximately 8 p.m. It was the first game of the new year and would turn out to be school record-breaking as C-C won 101-55. 101 points, WOW! All 14 Saints on the roster played and scored. Ron Johnston, a junior non-starter and the author of this book, became a one-game wonder when he scored a game-high 16 points in almost two quarters of action on the hardwood. He couldn't miss, draining seven straight perimeter shots in the "pre-3-pointer era." Thing is, Ron had a condition known as bronchiectasis that he has never revealed until this narrative now. Only his parents, immediate family, and doctors knew about it. The lung disease which he has had all his life has not hindered in any way his participating in athletics on both the prep and collegiate level. In fact, competing in sports, running, and walking have benefitted him. Ron never had a prep varsity basketball game like the school record-breaking January 8 one ever again. But this story is more than him being a "one-game wonder." ("Better a one-game wonder than not," he would tell you, laughing.) It's also kind of a love story back in a time of teenage innocence. It's about teammates, cheerleaders, classmates, coaches, teachers, soldiers, and...people. GOOD PEOPLE, who have gone on to have families and been successful in life. Being a newspaper sports editor/writer has been very helpful to Ron on this life journey. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy...and maybe you'd better have a box of Kleenex tissues handy. Because "One-Game Wonder" evokes emotion.