Garfield's 1966-67 Basketball team that went 21-3. Click for larger view.

by Jane Buchholz Gallagher Class of 1967

This article is reprinted from Randy Andrew’s Class of 67 web site.  It was written by Jane Buchholz of the Class of 1967.

Every so often the stars align, the right combination clicks, and a good time is had by all. Such was the case of our high school basketball team in 1967. My high school, Terre Haute Garfield, no longer exists, as it was consolidated into Terre Haute North High School. Boys’ high school basketball tourney time always calls for a nostalgic trip back to that glory year when I was a senior.

Our class fell in between the time of preppies and hippies. Our senior boys were called into the office for wearing Levis, madras plaid shirts, and loafers without socks. We were pre-Woodstock, not into the make love not war era yet, nor were drugs a problem to be dealt with. We lived for the social life provided by the school activities. A big highlight of the year was basketball season. The ‘66-67 boy’s basketball team provided a season of 21 wins and 3 losses. The ten talented players worked hard together. They played a hard press game, and it became a challenge to the fans to urge them to scores of over one hundred. The local Burger King would have food give-aways if the team scored over one hundred. The fans followed the team in caravans to the out of town games. The cheer block practiced their special cheers and our class was the first to have a ‘Spirit Stick” which a cheerleader would wave and our crowd would maintain a deafening roar until she lowered the stick. Max James, the team manager, even came up with a theme song for that year’s team. It was to the tune of the Monkee’s song “Hey, Hey were the Monkees”, with the words changed to Hey, Hey we’re the Eagles. Soon everyone was singing the song. The Garfield Purple Eagles were on a roll by the time the sectionals came around. At that time there were eight teams in the sectionals and games were played Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The Purple Eagles sailed right through the sectionals and it was on to the Bloomington Regional.

We had a group of guys in our class who started an off-campus newspaper. It was called “Food for Thought”, and it contained an alternative venue to the school paper, The Royal Purple.

The Food For Thought Gang

It was creative, funny, and just a touch philosophical. The boys that were a part of the newspaper had given the team a challenge. If the team won the sectional, they would dribble a purple and white basketball all the way to Bloomington to the sectional. Once again, the Purple Eagles triumphed over the Bloomington Panthers and were bound for the Sweet Sixteen. The Food for Thought boys got ready to dribble an even longer road trip, as the team prepared to go to Evansville for the Semi-state. The day finally arrived. It was a beautiful southern Indiana spring day. The team played hard and earned a chance to play in the final game against Evansville North on Saturday evening. They were evenly matched, although Evansville had a young 6? 6” Bob Ford playing  as a senior on their team. The game was nip and tuck and was tied with a few seconds to go. With a missed free throw, Evansville got possession of the ball, and Bob Ford shot a hook shot at the buzzer. The crowd sat in stunned silence, unwilling to believe that the season of glory was over in a split second. Fans stood around for a while then slowly moved out of the arena and on home to Terre Haute.  Fans, families, and faculty met the team the following day upon their return home and bestowed upon them applause for a job well done.

This scene was replayed time and again for years across the state of Indiana. Same story, different teams, but the outcome is the same. Win or lose, people came together and had a common interest and wish. One of the players on that 1967 team was my husband Larry. When we moved to Crawfordsville, it didn’t take long for him to meet people who had played on Crawfordsville’s basketball team in 66-67. One of them is his good golfing buddy, and I’ve heard them refer to the C’ville-Garfield game more than once. Memories of those glory days seem to be resurrected each winter at tourney time.

You’ll never guess whom we ran into at the mall in Lafayette this past fall. Larry saw Bob Ford waiting outside of a store. He approached him and asked if he remembered playing Garfield in the final game of the Semi-state. He said, “Yes, and it seems to me we won with a last second shot!”

Okay, you won, but I bet you didn’t have a theme song!