We all know a number of people who think March is “the most wonderful time of the year.” And now you have Andy Williams stuck in your head. You’re welcome.
Last weekend was fun, particularly Thursday and Friday, keeping up with all the games and being able to switch around to watch the close ones. Pretty well basketballed out by the time Purdue mopped up Sunday afternoon but after a break … still went back before the evening was over to watch a late game.
So it seems appropriate, perhaps natural, for some basketball thoughts.
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Regular visitors to this Saturday space will hopefully recall that a few inquiries last year regarding a possible Memorial Day story led to getting to know a remarkable family. Two brothers married two sisters and lived together in one farm house for several years. They had children at about the same pace, resulting in some double-cousins growing up more like brothers and sisters.
When it was announced late last year that Dick Harris would be inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in March, I marked it on my calendar that he would be back in town.
Dick’s same-age double-first cousin and best friend Lt. Jim Harris lost his life when his A-37 fighter jet was shot down Feb. 1, 1971. Dick, along with Jim’s older brother Don and sisters Patty and Cindy were not just excellent resources for that story but I think we formed a unique bond between a writer and subjects. That sense was confirmed for me when I got to meet them all in person two Sundays ago at an open house in Liberty Center to honor Dick’s induction. Even got a hug from the girls.
I had the opportunity last summer to have lunch with Dick and his brother Mike when Dick was in town, visiting from San Diego where he and his wife Donna live. So it was good to see him again and pleased that he remembered me. In this process, I learned that Dick’s older brother Bob also played at Manchester, younger brother Mike was no slouch at Southern Wells and his son David also played for the Raiders. Something in the genes.
Dick is a very humble guy and he has a great sense of humor. He has no idea how his name came up to the top of the list, but noting with a chuckle that several of this year’s class was honored posthumously, “I’m very grateful they did it for me while I’m still around.”
I will always remember an exchange with Dick sometime last year regarding the now-famous, record-setting 9-overtime regional semi-final between Liberty Center and Swayzee. Dick had fouled out with only a few minutes remaining in the fourth quarter with Liberty Center leading by a few points. It was always assumed that had he not fouled out, the Lions would have advanced to meet Huntington that evening in the finals.
“But, looking back,” Dick told me, “Huntington had a stacked team.” The Vikings defeated the Swayzee Speedkings 58-33 to win the Marion Regional and would advance to the state finals in the still one-class tournament.
“So sure I was disappointed but we would have lost that night anyway. If I’d not fouled out, it would have been just another game and we would be long forgotten,” he concluded. “So you never know.”
His acceptance speech was limited to three minutes, but he made the most of his time, squeezing in thanks for his dad, his coaches and his teammates, “who made me look good enough” to receive the honors that have come his way.
“I can’t think of a greater honor,” he told those at the induction banquet, “besides hitting the last minute winning basket at the state basketball championship for Liberty Center.” That was, of course, in his dreams.
It is ironic that this excellent athlete is now confined to a wheelchair. “Well, I probably just wore my body down,” was his first response to my inquiry. He seems predisposed to somewhat blame himself. He remained active in a number of sports, but a bicycle accident several years ago resulted in surgery that resulted in complications. But I’ve not heard him complain. “I’ve had such a wonderful life,” I recall him saying more than once.
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Dick’s induction got me to browsing through the Hall of Fame’s website while watching my bracket getting busted, looking for local connections. Some I knew were there, like Norwell’s Teri Rosinski, legendary Norwell coach Jerry Lewis and Bluffton’s equally revered Jack Cross, with whom I was blessed to be able to play a few rounds of golf. It was neat to see that Dick Harris’ Liberty Center coach, Richard Butt, of whom he speaks of expansively, is also a member. I recognized the name Bob Dro of Berne and then IU fame, but did not know that his coaching career included a stint in Bluffton.
Two names I was not familiar with:
• Keith Showalter, Chester Center ’33. Wells County’s leading scorer in his senior year; played three years at Ball State; a 22 years coaching career that started at his alma mater and finished in Vincennes. His 1949 Auburn team made it to the state finals.
• Dick Piper, Chester Township ’48. That 1948 team defeated Kokomo and Marion in the same day to win regional. He then went to Manchester where he was the first player to surpass 1,000 points for the Spartans. I wonder if it was his scoring record that Dick Harris broke (slightly) with 2,643 career points. Piper eventually became headmaster at Howe Military School.
And then Bob Purkhiser’s name popped up. He was a BHS ’61 classmate of longtime N-B sports editor, managing editor and all-around Bluffton legend Joe Smekens, who liked to talk about his old buddy. Bob led the Tigers to the semi-state final his junior year and regional finals his senior year; I’m pretty sure Joe was the student manager of those teams.
Purkhiser went on to an illustrious career at Purdue, becoming only the sixth Boilermaker to score 1,000 career points. He played professional basketball in Europe but died in an automobile accident in LeMans, France, in 1982 at age 39.
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So now you can watch more games this weekend with a bit more local basketball knowledge. Bob Purkhiser’s connection to Purdue is another reason to root for the Boilermakers. Hopefully, they survived their battle with Gonzaga last night. My bracket has both those teams getting to this point with Purdue advancing. But I may have jinxed them, just like I have many others.
miller@news-banner.com
