20 Years Later, Warsaw's '81 Team Will Receive Rings
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
This summer Warsaw junior varsity basketball coach Doug Ogle showed former Warsaw basketball player Dan Wray his ring the basketball program provided for reaching the semistate finals.
Wray thought back to 1992 and the time he and John Snyder, then both members of the Warsaw coaching staff, talked about how they never received their rings for being state runners-up in 1981.
Al Rhodes' first year as Warsaw's varsity boys basketball coach was 1981. He didn't do it that year, but every year after that his team made the final four, he gave players, managers, coaches and others associated with the team rings for their efforts. Last year's team lost at semistate, but under the current class system, Rhodes refers to the team as a final four team.
On Saturday, members of the 1981 team that went 22-5 and lost to Anderson 71-62 in the state finals will receive their rings. The presentation will take place at the Tiger Den at the three-minute mark before Warsaw's varsity game against Fort Wayne South Side.
To raise money for the rings, Wray contacted businesses still in existence that advertised in the 1981 program.
"Twenty years later seemed like the right time to do it," said Wray, a 6-foot-4 senior on the 1981 team. Wray, who currently calls Warsaw boys basketball games on WRSW, and Snyder, a 6-6 sophomore starting center and a current Warsaw varsity assistant, started calling players in late September. The only player who cannot attend is Kenny Jones, who is in the Air Force in San Antonio, Texas, and can't get a leave of absence.
Rhodes, who now owns a 378-126 (.750) winning percentage in his 21 years as Warsaw's coach, was 28 years old when he took over for Jim Miller in 1981. Miller left for Huntington North, and Rhodes was elevated from JV coach.
"That team was special to me because, one, it was my first varsity team, and two, it was the last group I had a JV coach's relationship with," Rhodes said. "When you are JV coach, you are on a little more friendly basis. I do believe it made me extra close to that group."
"That group" featured 5-9 senior guard Ron Brandenburg, 5-11 senior guard Eric Sebo, 6-2 junior forward Mike Bradford, 6-3 senior forward Monty Bolinger and Snyder as starters. Six-foot-4 senior Brad Whaley served as the sixth man, and rounding out the bench were were 6-2 sophomore Herb Bailey, 6-3 junior Ken Frauhiger, 6-1 junior Brent Messmore, 5-6 junior Mike Miller, 5-10 junior Dale Morris, Jones and Wray.
"Everyone accepted their roles in 1981," Rhodes said. "When high school teams do that, it's a big step toward success."
Two players on that first team received Rhodes' "best" label, and it remains stuck on them 20 years later.
Rhodes calls Sebo the "best individual defender" and Brandenburg the "best offensive rebounder" he's ever coached. Those two were the only returning starters from the 1979-1980 team that went 21-5 and lost in the Fort Wayne Semistate. Brandenburg averaged 26 points per game, and at the time, owned the school record for most points (704) in a season. Had he played today, he undoubtedly would have scored more as he was a deadly perimeter shooter in an era without the three-point arc.
"In all of the years I've coached, Ron and Eric were as good of leaders on the court as I have ever had," Rhodes said. "Ron's was quite an accomplishment for a 5-9 player. Players like (6-7 former Warsaw player) Marty Lehman had more offensive rebounds total than Ron. With Ron, I'm saying if you got 100 shots and told your player to get in offensive position to rebound the ball, he would get in offensive position more often and better than anyone I've ever had.
"Ron had an eye for where the ball would bounce. If the ball would bounce left, he would know it and be there to get the rebound. That's a real skill to be where the ball is at the same time.
"Eric had great balance, great upper body strength and a bulldog type nature that made him stay after whoever he was guarding. Anyone guarded by Eric was in for a long night. We would play zone and he could guard the whole top by himself, which meant the wings were never open because our other guys never had to help."
Brandenburg, now 37, works at DePuy and resides in Warsaw with wife Katrina and children Courtney (9), Cara (5) and Cameron (3).
"I happened to have an instinct for the ball," Brandenburg said. "I knew where it would come off the rim, how to get into position, and I had the quickness to get there."
Sebo, now 38, resides in Zionsville with wife Kathy and their three children, Shane (8), Courtney (6) and Andrew (2). He's a physical therapist who treats elderly patients in their homes. When asked if this was true, that Rhodes left him alone at the top of the zone defense, Sebo said, "That's pretty accurate. There were many times I did control the top. My quickness and ability to move side to side, the ability to cover ground, I think that's why he calls me his best defensive player.
"I don't know if anything made me want to play good defense. It was God-given talent. With my quickness, it was always the challenge of shutting someone down. Even now as an older guy, I play to win, not just to play."
While it's easy for Rhodes to talk about his players on that team as if they took the court yesterday, it's harder for him to talk about how he has changed. He gives up on how he's changed as a person and offers this as to how he's changed as a coach: "I think that throughout the years, I've kept seeking a knowledge of the game of basketball, looking for the best way of any given team to play. The 1981 team would walk the ball up and have a slow style of play where we would run a lot of offensive plays and play excellent half-court defense. The 1984 team, we moved to a post style of play with transition offense."
Sebo backed Rhodes' claim that he was close to this team.
"He was a player's coach," Sebo said. "If a play broke down, he wouldn't get bent out of shape if we let our athletic ability take over. That was special. You wouldn't end up sitting beside him on the bench for doing that."
Rhodes has led five teams to the final four, in 1981, 1984, 1992, 1996, and, counting last year's team that advanced only to semistate but under the current class system was a final four team, 2000. Warsaw won the state title once under Rhodes, in 1984.
What people told Rhodes in 1981 ended up being false.
"One thing people said to me is you really need to enjoy it, because it's the only time you'll get there," he said. "I did enjoy it, but I didn't believe that." [[In-content Ad]]
This summer Warsaw junior varsity basketball coach Doug Ogle showed former Warsaw basketball player Dan Wray his ring the basketball program provided for reaching the semistate finals.
Wray thought back to 1992 and the time he and John Snyder, then both members of the Warsaw coaching staff, talked about how they never received their rings for being state runners-up in 1981.
Al Rhodes' first year as Warsaw's varsity boys basketball coach was 1981. He didn't do it that year, but every year after that his team made the final four, he gave players, managers, coaches and others associated with the team rings for their efforts. Last year's team lost at semistate, but under the current class system, Rhodes refers to the team as a final four team.
On Saturday, members of the 1981 team that went 22-5 and lost to Anderson 71-62 in the state finals will receive their rings. The presentation will take place at the Tiger Den at the three-minute mark before Warsaw's varsity game against Fort Wayne South Side.
To raise money for the rings, Wray contacted businesses still in existence that advertised in the 1981 program.
"Twenty years later seemed like the right time to do it," said Wray, a 6-foot-4 senior on the 1981 team. Wray, who currently calls Warsaw boys basketball games on WRSW, and Snyder, a 6-6 sophomore starting center and a current Warsaw varsity assistant, started calling players in late September. The only player who cannot attend is Kenny Jones, who is in the Air Force in San Antonio, Texas, and can't get a leave of absence.
Rhodes, who now owns a 378-126 (.750) winning percentage in his 21 years as Warsaw's coach, was 28 years old when he took over for Jim Miller in 1981. Miller left for Huntington North, and Rhodes was elevated from JV coach.
"That team was special to me because, one, it was my first varsity team, and two, it was the last group I had a JV coach's relationship with," Rhodes said. "When you are JV coach, you are on a little more friendly basis. I do believe it made me extra close to that group."
"That group" featured 5-9 senior guard Ron Brandenburg, 5-11 senior guard Eric Sebo, 6-2 junior forward Mike Bradford, 6-3 senior forward Monty Bolinger and Snyder as starters. Six-foot-4 senior Brad Whaley served as the sixth man, and rounding out the bench were were 6-2 sophomore Herb Bailey, 6-3 junior Ken Frauhiger, 6-1 junior Brent Messmore, 5-6 junior Mike Miller, 5-10 junior Dale Morris, Jones and Wray.
"Everyone accepted their roles in 1981," Rhodes said. "When high school teams do that, it's a big step toward success."
Two players on that first team received Rhodes' "best" label, and it remains stuck on them 20 years later.
Rhodes calls Sebo the "best individual defender" and Brandenburg the "best offensive rebounder" he's ever coached. Those two were the only returning starters from the 1979-1980 team that went 21-5 and lost in the Fort Wayne Semistate. Brandenburg averaged 26 points per game, and at the time, owned the school record for most points (704) in a season. Had he played today, he undoubtedly would have scored more as he was a deadly perimeter shooter in an era without the three-point arc.
"In all of the years I've coached, Ron and Eric were as good of leaders on the court as I have ever had," Rhodes said. "Ron's was quite an accomplishment for a 5-9 player. Players like (6-7 former Warsaw player) Marty Lehman had more offensive rebounds total than Ron. With Ron, I'm saying if you got 100 shots and told your player to get in offensive position to rebound the ball, he would get in offensive position more often and better than anyone I've ever had.
"Ron had an eye for where the ball would bounce. If the ball would bounce left, he would know it and be there to get the rebound. That's a real skill to be where the ball is at the same time.
"Eric had great balance, great upper body strength and a bulldog type nature that made him stay after whoever he was guarding. Anyone guarded by Eric was in for a long night. We would play zone and he could guard the whole top by himself, which meant the wings were never open because our other guys never had to help."
Brandenburg, now 37, works at DePuy and resides in Warsaw with wife Katrina and children Courtney (9), Cara (5) and Cameron (3).
"I happened to have an instinct for the ball," Brandenburg said. "I knew where it would come off the rim, how to get into position, and I had the quickness to get there."
Sebo, now 38, resides in Zionsville with wife Kathy and their three children, Shane (8), Courtney (6) and Andrew (2). He's a physical therapist who treats elderly patients in their homes. When asked if this was true, that Rhodes left him alone at the top of the zone defense, Sebo said, "That's pretty accurate. There were many times I did control the top. My quickness and ability to move side to side, the ability to cover ground, I think that's why he calls me his best defensive player.
"I don't know if anything made me want to play good defense. It was God-given talent. With my quickness, it was always the challenge of shutting someone down. Even now as an older guy, I play to win, not just to play."
While it's easy for Rhodes to talk about his players on that team as if they took the court yesterday, it's harder for him to talk about how he has changed. He gives up on how he's changed as a person and offers this as to how he's changed as a coach: "I think that throughout the years, I've kept seeking a knowledge of the game of basketball, looking for the best way of any given team to play. The 1981 team would walk the ball up and have a slow style of play where we would run a lot of offensive plays and play excellent half-court defense. The 1984 team, we moved to a post style of play with transition offense."
Sebo backed Rhodes' claim that he was close to this team.
"He was a player's coach," Sebo said. "If a play broke down, he wouldn't get bent out of shape if we let our athletic ability take over. That was special. You wouldn't end up sitting beside him on the bench for doing that."
Rhodes has led five teams to the final four, in 1981, 1984, 1992, 1996, and, counting last year's team that advanced only to semistate but under the current class system was a final four team, 2000. Warsaw won the state title once under Rhodes, in 1984.
What people told Rhodes in 1981 ended up being false.
"One thing people said to me is you really need to enjoy it, because it's the only time you'll get there," he said. "I did enjoy it, but I didn't believe that." [[In-content Ad]]