A Picture Perfect Season
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
NORTH MANCHESTER - The picture, 4 feet high by 5 feet wide, rests on a wooden chest in Gerold Faudree's garage, propped up against the wall.
Eleven people are in the black and white photo. Ten are teen-age boys who played basketball for Chester Township. The coach crouches in front of his players, a white net draped around his neck.
Fifty years later, Faudree looks at the picture taken in 1948, looks at the boys, looks at himself with the net dangling around his neck. Two months ago Faudree, now 87, began contacting the boys in the picture.
The 1948 Chester Panthers went 27-1 and advanced to the semistate, where they lost to Portland in the first round. Chester later consolidated and became Manchester High School. To this day, no other Manchester basketball team has won 27 games in a season. A couple Manchester teams have gone to semistate like Chester did, but no Manchester team has gone further.
Faudree decided to have a 50-year reunion for the team.
The boys are now in their late 60s. Of the 12, only two, June Hanley and John Morford, are dead. Nine of the 10 others will return to Friday's reunion at Earl's Place in Laketon, where they will talk about their grandchildren and eat oven-baked steak. Dick Piper, Bob Little, Dick Frantz, Robert Johnson, Theron Rupley, Ron Metzger, Tom McClure, Don Mosher and Ralph Bolinger plan to attend.
They will come from places like Louisiana, Florida and Texas. Three, counting Faudree, still live in or near North Manchester.
Faudree, who was born 2-1/2 miles west of North Manchester, looks at the picture and talks.
"Johnson worked at Baton Rouge, got his Ph.D. and was in charge of 650 people in a pharmaceutical plant down there," Faudree says. "Hyde works in a chemistry plant down in Texas. He's the last one I got in touch with. This kid committed suicide. McClure is retired. He was an insurance salesman west of Indianapolis. He lives in Florida now ..."
And on and on Faudree goes.
Fifty years being 50 years, Faudree remembers some things while he forgets other things.
Should he need any help, he pulls out a scrapbook kept by his wife, Edith, who died four years ago. The newspaper clippings have yellowed with time but are there.
"My wife kept a good scrapbook," he says. "She has every game we've played in here."
He turns to the page that has the 1948 regional games. After slipping past Kokomo 46-44 in the first game, the Panthers won the regional by dismantling Marion 76-54 in the championship game.
In the Marion Fieldhouse, no less.
"I had a couple of coaches tell me," Faudree says, "the day we beat Marion and Kokomo, we could have beaten anybody in the state. Marion and Kokomo were (ranked) nine and 10 then. Or maybe the other way around. They were way up there."
Then he looks back at the picture and taps the glass where the player behind him sits. This is Hyde, and like the other boys, Hyde grins from ear to ear. Hyde's hands rest on Coach Faudree's shoulders.
But something in the picture makes Hyde different than his teammates. His left knee has white tape wrapped around it.
"I don't know why we played so good, but part of the reason was right here," Faudree says, tapping at Hyde. "He thought he sprained his knee. He was stewing around. After he got to playing, he forgot about it. Everything he threw at the basket went in."
Faudree shakes his head and laughs.
Faudree considers Hyde, who is the guy undetermined whether he will make it to the reunion, as one of the three reasons Chester went 27-1.
"Dick Piper, Hyde and (Dick) Frantz were the big three," he says. "Hyde and Piper were all-state. Piper made 30 points against Marion, and Hyde had 20 some.
"Our guards didn't care whether they shot or not, as long as these two were doing their job."
The years on the calendar may say Faudree is 87, but in his mind, he clearly is not. He backs into a reporter to set a pick.
"We had a pick and roll play," he said. "You see it a lot now. We were the first team to use much of that. Hyde was 6-1, big and agile. He and Piper would work on that."
Faudree has had a knee replaced and 12 inches taken off his intestine because of cancer.
Then he tells you what he can't wait to do at the reunion.
"I will be 88 in August," he says. "I'm gonna show everybody I can stand on my head again. They can't believe it. I'll show them I can still do it."
They may not believe now, but they will believe it when they see him do it. He no more than finishes talking about it before he's on his head on the garage floor. The only thing separating his head from the cement floor is a thin layer of old carpet.
"I get down here like this, except I'm a lot slower," he says.
Then he is back on his feet, looking at the picture.
He used to own this big picture, but he sold it to Rupley several years ago. Rupley, along with Frantz, are the two former players who still reside in the North Manchester community.
Rupley had the picture in his attic. When they found it, the glass had broken. He put new glass on it and fixed up the frame.
On Friday, Faudree's players will do what he does now, just gaze at the picture and remember.
Remember what it was like to go 27-0 before losing, remember what it was like to beat Kokomo and Marion in the same day, remember the times had with teammates.
"Once in a lifetime," Faudree says.
GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY
1948 Chester Panthers
27-1, regional champions
Coach Gerold Faudree
Players:
Dick Frantz
John Morford x
Bob Johnson
Tom McClure
Ronald Metzger
Bob Little
June Hanley x
Don Hyde
Dick Piper
Theron Rupley
Ralph Bolinger
Don Mosher
x - deceased [[In-content Ad]]
NORTH MANCHESTER - The picture, 4 feet high by 5 feet wide, rests on a wooden chest in Gerold Faudree's garage, propped up against the wall.
Eleven people are in the black and white photo. Ten are teen-age boys who played basketball for Chester Township. The coach crouches in front of his players, a white net draped around his neck.
Fifty years later, Faudree looks at the picture taken in 1948, looks at the boys, looks at himself with the net dangling around his neck. Two months ago Faudree, now 87, began contacting the boys in the picture.
The 1948 Chester Panthers went 27-1 and advanced to the semistate, where they lost to Portland in the first round. Chester later consolidated and became Manchester High School. To this day, no other Manchester basketball team has won 27 games in a season. A couple Manchester teams have gone to semistate like Chester did, but no Manchester team has gone further.
Faudree decided to have a 50-year reunion for the team.
The boys are now in their late 60s. Of the 12, only two, June Hanley and John Morford, are dead. Nine of the 10 others will return to Friday's reunion at Earl's Place in Laketon, where they will talk about their grandchildren and eat oven-baked steak. Dick Piper, Bob Little, Dick Frantz, Robert Johnson, Theron Rupley, Ron Metzger, Tom McClure, Don Mosher and Ralph Bolinger plan to attend.
They will come from places like Louisiana, Florida and Texas. Three, counting Faudree, still live in or near North Manchester.
Faudree, who was born 2-1/2 miles west of North Manchester, looks at the picture and talks.
"Johnson worked at Baton Rouge, got his Ph.D. and was in charge of 650 people in a pharmaceutical plant down there," Faudree says. "Hyde works in a chemistry plant down in Texas. He's the last one I got in touch with. This kid committed suicide. McClure is retired. He was an insurance salesman west of Indianapolis. He lives in Florida now ..."
And on and on Faudree goes.
Fifty years being 50 years, Faudree remembers some things while he forgets other things.
Should he need any help, he pulls out a scrapbook kept by his wife, Edith, who died four years ago. The newspaper clippings have yellowed with time but are there.
"My wife kept a good scrapbook," he says. "She has every game we've played in here."
He turns to the page that has the 1948 regional games. After slipping past Kokomo 46-44 in the first game, the Panthers won the regional by dismantling Marion 76-54 in the championship game.
In the Marion Fieldhouse, no less.
"I had a couple of coaches tell me," Faudree says, "the day we beat Marion and Kokomo, we could have beaten anybody in the state. Marion and Kokomo were (ranked) nine and 10 then. Or maybe the other way around. They were way up there."
Then he looks back at the picture and taps the glass where the player behind him sits. This is Hyde, and like the other boys, Hyde grins from ear to ear. Hyde's hands rest on Coach Faudree's shoulders.
But something in the picture makes Hyde different than his teammates. His left knee has white tape wrapped around it.
"I don't know why we played so good, but part of the reason was right here," Faudree says, tapping at Hyde. "He thought he sprained his knee. He was stewing around. After he got to playing, he forgot about it. Everything he threw at the basket went in."
Faudree shakes his head and laughs.
Faudree considers Hyde, who is the guy undetermined whether he will make it to the reunion, as one of the three reasons Chester went 27-1.
"Dick Piper, Hyde and (Dick) Frantz were the big three," he says. "Hyde and Piper were all-state. Piper made 30 points against Marion, and Hyde had 20 some.
"Our guards didn't care whether they shot or not, as long as these two were doing their job."
The years on the calendar may say Faudree is 87, but in his mind, he clearly is not. He backs into a reporter to set a pick.
"We had a pick and roll play," he said. "You see it a lot now. We were the first team to use much of that. Hyde was 6-1, big and agile. He and Piper would work on that."
Faudree has had a knee replaced and 12 inches taken off his intestine because of cancer.
Then he tells you what he can't wait to do at the reunion.
"I will be 88 in August," he says. "I'm gonna show everybody I can stand on my head again. They can't believe it. I'll show them I can still do it."
They may not believe now, but they will believe it when they see him do it. He no more than finishes talking about it before he's on his head on the garage floor. The only thing separating his head from the cement floor is a thin layer of old carpet.
"I get down here like this, except I'm a lot slower," he says.
Then he is back on his feet, looking at the picture.
He used to own this big picture, but he sold it to Rupley several years ago. Rupley, along with Frantz, are the two former players who still reside in the North Manchester community.
Rupley had the picture in his attic. When they found it, the glass had broken. He put new glass on it and fixed up the frame.
On Friday, Faudree's players will do what he does now, just gaze at the picture and remember.
Remember what it was like to go 27-0 before losing, remember what it was like to beat Kokomo and Marion in the same day, remember the times had with teammates.
"Once in a lifetime," Faudree says.
GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY
1948 Chester Panthers
27-1, regional champions
Coach Gerold Faudree
Players:
Dick Frantz
John Morford x
Bob Johnson
Tom McClure
Ronald Metzger
Bob Little
June Hanley x
Don Hyde
Dick Piper
Theron Rupley
Ralph Bolinger
Don Mosher
x - deceased [[In-content Ad]]