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player ready...I always knew I could play high school basketball. It just had to be the right time and the right place.
Who knew that time would be 1900?
The place was Wayland Academy, the coed boarding school I attended as a day student, or “townie.” That was where in 1962 a coach who clearly knew nothing about basketball had cut me from the freshman team.
This turned out to be good news for Wayland basketball and for me. The school’s varsity team immediately had one of its best seasons ever, and I discovered I was better in the pool than in the gym anyway.
Still, you always wonder what would have happened had you only been given a chance, and now I was about to find out. The reason was Wayland’s 150th anniversary, a yearlong celebration that would include a re-enactment of the school’s first basketball game, which took place in 1900 against the University of Wisconsin.
The rematch, featuring the “Wayland Wonders” against the “Badger Boys,” would be 105 years to the day later, and thanks to an invitation from Jim Cape, the school’s vice president of advancement, I would be in it.
The game, Cape said, would feature five-minute halves and would be played by the rules of that day–two-hand set shots, underhand free throws, no dribbling and a jump ball after every basket. This would not, in other words, be Farragut against Westinghouse, but it sounded tailor-made for me.
I practiced a bit in the weeks preceding the game and was feeling pretty good about myself until I got a picture of the throwback uniforms we would be wearing. As I gazed at the tank top and shorts, reality hit me with the force of a Shaq dunk: I was about to make a fool of myself in front of the pride of America’s youth in my underwear.
My wife then crushed the last shred of my dignity, saying, “If I’d known you were going to be wearing that, I’d have told you to lift some weights.”
I considered telling Cape I’d gotten a last-minute assignment to cover the state tournament in Zimbabwe, but I nonetheless showed up Wednesday in Beaver Dam, a southeastern Wisconsin town of 15,000.
Organizers had planned the game in admirable detail. Except for two faculty members, players would be Wayland alumni. The Badger Boys would be mostly Wisconsin grads as well.
Ron Blomberg, who coached Wayland from 1966 to 1970, would lead the Wonders. John Powless, Wisconsin’s head coach from 1969 to 1976, would coach the Badger Boys.
Most of the players had graduated between 1966 and 1973. The referee would be John Keil, Class of 1950, an active official who would don a fake handlebar mustache for the occasion.
Wisconsin had defeated host Wayland 25-15 in the 1900 game. Basketball was only 9 years old, and it wasn’t unusual for colleges to play non-collegiate opponents.
It was the Badgers’ second season of basketball and their first victory. The following season, they would defeat Wayland 35-22.
This would be the schools’ third meeting. Cape, a late-1960s Wayland star, wanted revenge and had tilted the rosters in the Wonders’ favor.
On the other hand, I was starting for the Wonders, so Wisconsin still had a chance.
After a team meal, we changed into our uniforms–which included spats over our gym shoes–and warmed up. We re-entered the dining hall for a brief pep rally, led by cheerleaders dressed in bloomers and using megaphones.
We then climbed into an open wagon for the short ride to the domed field house. While two gray horses pulled us along under a full moon, students trotted behind.
OK, it wasn’t exactly a stretch limo, but that’s what happens when you negotiate your own contract.
In the locker room, we discussed strategy, which basically boiled down to one thing.
“I just want someone to score,” said Cape, fearful of a 0-0 finish.
We would be shooting at portable baskets with plywood backboards whose nets were mesh bags, intended to simulate the peach baskets of the day. After we scored, students would climb ladders to fetch the ball, and the result would be noted on a manual scoreboard.
Once the junior varsity game ended, we were introduced to a crowd that included virtually all of Wayland’s 180 students, staged a ceremonial jump ball with school President Robert Esten and proceeded to the real thing.
It’s difficult to describe my play, although the phrase, chicken with its head cut off, comes to mind. Let’s just say I played with a lot of energy . . . for about 2 1/2 minutes.
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That’s when my lungs began to burn. Fortunately, we subbed hockey style.
The game itself was a hard-fought succession of picks and bricks until P.J. Osvald, Wayland’s girls basketball coach, grabbed an offensive rebound and scored for the Wonders. Cape made it 4-0 on a 15-footer, and Steve Blomberg, our coach’s son, gave us a 6-0 lead.
Don Downs scored for the Badger Boys, but Cape hit again to clinch the Wonders’ victory. A last-second Badger basket made the final tally 8-4.
“After all these years, it feels great,” Ron Blomberg said jokingly.
Wisconsin didn’t take defeat lightly.
“On Wayland’s bicentennial, you’re going down,” the Badgers’ Mark Saunders vowed.
As for me, well, the goal was to get a shot and hit something besides thin air. My chance came early in the second half, when I let fly with two hands from 15 feet out and watched the sphere hit the front rim.
That and a steal made my night complete, but what made it special was the chatter that mingled with the odor of sweat in the locker room afterward.
It brought back memories of long-ago football games and swim meets and reminded me that the joy in sports is in the camaraderie as well as the competition.
Even after 105 years, it’s still fun to play.
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