Basketball/March Madness

When I was in high school at Lafayette Jeff, I seem to remember a sign in the locker room.  It was a sign reminding student athletes that, to a small child, they were a hero.  It told us that we never know who is watching, and how our behavior will impact them. Every time I saw that sign, I remembered my (rapidly ending) childhood, and how the Jeff basketball team were my heroes, how much I looked up to them when I was a little kid.

My brother Craig and I were huge Jeff basketball fans.  Dad worked nights most of our childhood, and Mom didn’t have a driver’s license, so, especially on snowy winter days, it was tough for Craig and I to get to ballgames, but we got to almost all of them.  We loved every single minute of it.  We watched the “B team” games to get a better idea of who was going to be the next star.  We watched the trio of trumpet players play at every home Varsity game, and actually understood that they were a great tradition at Jeff. We watched every play from tip-off to the end.  We rooted for our heroes, such as Gene Bowen, Jim Fields, and Ron King, and loved every second of it.  We poured over every inch of the glossy programs that included pictures and stats for every player.  We wondered why 5’ 7” Ronnie Alting or 7’ Dave Moore didn’t play much, because we loved to see them play, too. 

So many great moments took place in that gym over the years!  One year Dad took us to a Regional tournament that Jeff won (They won them all back then, didn’t they?), and we actually got handed a piece of the net that they cut down!  We felt like we were a part of the team.  Our heroes had included us in their glorious victory by giving us a souvenir usually reserved for team members only!  I haven’t seen that little piece of net in years, but I bet money my brother Craig still has it, even though neither of us has gone to a Jeff basketball game in what seems like forever. Like the sign said, those high school athletes were our heroes.  We will never forget them.  I bet,  for all of us,  the heroes of our youth are still burned into our brains years later, no matter what they have done in life since. I wonder if that locker room sign is still there?If it isn't, it should be.