Town Team Basketball

click picture for larger

I just got an email from a good friend about a picture on the local site that our John Deere dealer keeps up. This picture is from Pete Thomas's CimarronKansas.net site, from this page where he posts group pictures that people have lost track of the identities of the subjects.

At any rate, do click on the picture to see the larger version. My dad is number 11, VFW #6. This picture was taken in the early fifties. Back then, not only did small towns watch their school's sports teams, they usually had a "town team" as well, staffed by high school graduates. Dad was pretty proud of his time on the town team. He mentioned it many times as we grew up, and I think I even remember him telling us he got to play the Harlem Globetrotters, who kicked their butts. Look at the score in the picture. Pete has one of the guys identified as being from Montezuma - a town southwest of Cimarron. He mentioned that Cimarron had assembled a "dream team" to try to take on the Globetrotters - so they even apparently cherry picked guys from competing teams to play. Also, keep in mind my father was 6'3", so that was a bunch of strapping lads right there. Just not nearly enough for the Harlem Globetrotters!

Also note the crowd that was present. That old gym was pretty full - it's the same gym my generation used in high school. That has to be the west end of that gym behind the players. Keep in mind the entertainment available to the citizens of the time. Broadcast television was just in it's infancy. There was a small movie theater in town. Fraternal organizations had plenty of members. I was even a member of the Odd Fellows for a while, and the Masons were big. People were more invested in their communities back then.

Ahh, the memories of having to "run the steps" of that ol' gym. It was heated, but had no A/C. What really strikes me about these old pictures is that no matter who is pictured or how old they are now, they all think of themselves as that person in that era. Not the wrinkled, graying and diminished survivors they are today, but rather young, vital, strong and healthy. Dad, if you can hear me now, you had the piss and vinegar to take on the Harlem Globetrotters at their own game. I salute you.