ALBANY — If you win in a small town, you’ll be remembered for an eternity. Although the school closed its doors for good shortly after their season, the 1964-65 Albany Red Devils basketball squad will never be forgotten in Athens County.
A team that finished the season 26-2 with a trip to the state semifinals at St. John Arena in Columbus, Albany captured the hearts of a small farm town in Southeast Ohio with the memories lasting to this day.
The team was led by Jerry Turner, who was 6 feet 7 inches tall, in the middle, with co-captains Jerry Morrison and Dave Enlow taking up key spots. Steve Hamill and Loyd Colburn were the other seniors on that team with Larry Van Dyke, Baxter Ervin, Ron Stanley and Ken Turner rounding out the upperclassmen. The squad also had a sophomore trio of Greg McDaniel, Dave Hamill and Fred Baumgartel.
Albany was coached by Bill Whaley with Wayne Clark, Larry James and Terry West acting as team managers. Little did he know at the time, Clark would be essential in keeping the memory of that special season alive.
Clark credits Debbie Henthorn Phillips for helping to spearhead the effort to create an event to commemorate the efforts and memories made from the team after he stumbled upon a rare find, recovering game film of the 1965 state semifinals matchup from Northwestern.
After receiving the film from nearly 60 years ago, Clark eventually came up with the idea to host the watchalong event in a place dear to the Albany community. Taking place in the old Albany High School gymnasium on Friday night and despite Clark admitting that he would’ve been happy with 20 people showing up, a large crowd packed into the gymnasium to relive and reconnect with the memories of the past.
“The chances of seeing this many people just for an Albany, not an Alexander event, is phenomenal,” Clark said, clearly touched by how the event played out. “We’re just tickled to death because it’s brought the community together once again to remember one of the greatest sports events in the history of the school.”
The baseline of the old court was littered with pictures from the fateful season while a banner of the team photo hung a few steps away as the feeling of nostalgia hit everyone who went up to look.
Beside the video projector and rows of chairs was a table with the cooking of Mammie’s Country Kitchen, which provided food for the event. Mammie’s, operated by Karen York, is located inside the old school building.
Aside from being there to relive a game from decades ago, the event was an opportunity for part of the community to reconnect. Before the film was shown, there was an open mic session of sorts with various different people grabbing the microphone to spew stories and memories that put smiles onto the faces of everyone in the small gym.
Then, it was game time. Like any sporting event, an impromptu singing of the national anthem broke out just before tip-off.
Adding to the local flavor of the event, Mark Ervin called up Lou Horvath to help with the play-by-play for the game. A voice recognized by so many in Athens County when it comes to basketball, Horvath recorded a play-by-play of the game in order to improve the quality of the experience.
Though there was no typical “From the third ring of Saturn!” you’d hear from the Ohio University and Alexander High School announcer given there was no three-point line in basketball in 1965, Horvath still found the game to be as riveting as ever when looking back.
“Surprisingly, basketball is basketball,” Horvath noted. “You watch the movement. You watch the cutting, the passing, the defensive structures and the traps. It’s pure basketball. No three-point shot, but it’s pure basketball. It’s exciting to watch.”
The game was certainly different back then. Aside from the lack of three-point shots we see today, the tape showed a more structured game in a sense. There was more of a rigid offensive gameplan with less of the free-flowing movement we see today.
How the game was played is far less important than the memories it presented to those who were there on Friday night. While the story of the 1964-65 Albany Red Devils ended nearly 60 years ago, the memories made from that squad will live throughout Albany forever.
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