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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy has retired from the Dayton Daily News after covering the Cincinnati Reds for 37 years. Hal's blog, though, will continue to be a must-read for Reds fans. He'll share his thoughts on the team this season and will file updates from Great American Ball Park. You also can catch Hal in print every Sunday in his popular Ask Hal columnHome > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2010 > December > 28 > Entry
Best prep basketball team - EVER
There are events we witness that don’t register until later in our lives, events that don’t mean that much in the great cosmos when they occur but at some point we think back and say, “Ohmigosh, that was something special. That was real special and I didn’t take the time to appreciate it at the time.”
One of those for me was The Big Red Machine, the Cincinnati Reds of the 1970s. I was a young baseball writer at the time and that extra-special team didn’t register with me at the time - I didn’t pause to savor and appreciate one of the best baseball teams of all time. I thought, “Hey, this is the way it always will be, this is the way it is.”
Not until the 1982 Reds lost 101 games did I pause to think back and realize, “I saw something rare and special that may never happen again.”
And there was another Year To Remember for me, and it happened about a decade earlier than The Big Red Machine, back in 1964, two years after I graduated from Kent state University.
I was a cub reporter, a rookie, assigned to cover Dayton high school sports, which is how I was fortunate enough to cover the 1964 Dayton Belmont basketball team.
Belmont won the big school state championship, but at the time I didn’t realize how special this team was - still the best high school basketball team I ever saw.
Keep in mind that in 1964 there was no three-point line, no three-point basket. Every basket counted two points.
And here are some of the points this team scored in 32 minutes, with no three-point goals: 113, 102, 101, 98, 98, 96, 88, 87 - well, you get the idea.
Against the best teams in the state - in the regional finals and state semifinals and state finals, they beat Urbana 90-64, Canton McKinley (No. 2 in the state at the time) 80-56, and Cleveland East in the state finals, 89-60.
Oh, they lost one game - the one game that year I didn’t cover. They lost to Chaminade, 68-64, in overtime when Belmont’s two best players, Don May and Bill Hosket, both fouled out.
Why didn’t I cover that game? Well, Dayton Journal Herald sports editor Ritter Collett wanted another perspective on Belmont. At the time I covered the Dayton City League, of which Belmont was a member, and Bucky Albers covered the Valley schools. So, for one game, we switched, and I was sent to a Fort Recovery-St. Henry game.
I am reminded of this team every year the week after Christmas. The Belmont team gathers at Geez in Centerville when the team’s coach, John Ross, now 84, is in the area visiting from his Deland, Fla. home.
The starters on that team were Don May, Bill Hosket, Tim Kenner, Harry Culbertson and Ray Ridenour. How good was that starting five? Well, the sixth man was Ralph Jukkola, who went to LSU to play with Pistol Pete Maravich and made All-America and is now in the LSU sports Hall of Fame.
May played at the University of Dayton, leading the Flyers to an NIT championship in 1968 and an NCAA runnerup trophy in 1967, losing to UCLA and Lew Alcindor (nee: Kareem Abdul Jabbar) in the finals, 79-64.
Hosket played at The Ohio State University, where he was an All-American and played on a gold medal U.S. Olympic team.
Hosket was the No. 1 draft pick of the New York Knicks in 1968 and, amazingly, May also played for the Knicks. Two guys from the same high school team were on an NBA championship team when the Knicks, led by Willis Reed, won the 1970 title.
When Belmont beat Patterson Coop, 113-57, sports editor Ritter Collett was incensed because he thought Ross poured it on a helpless opponent (Hosket scored 50 and May scored 38) and wrote a column entitled, “Soft-hearted John.” There was nothing Ross could do to slow down this multi-talented group. Everbody played and everybody scored.
The night after they lost to Chaminade, Belmont traveled by bus to Toledo (I was on tha bus, back, on the beat) to play Libbey, the No. 11-ranked team in the state. Final Score: Dayton Belmont 98, Toledo Libbey 48 - at Libbey and May didn’t play in the second half.
And there was an infamous trip to Portsmouth, a talented team that had two future major-league baseball stars on its team - Al Oliver and Larry Hisle.
Every January, I make a trip to Portsmouth for a baseball dinner to benefit the Portrsmouth murals and Oliver always is there. I always bring up the 1964 Dayton Belmont basketball team and he says, “Those dudes were unbelievable. We thought we were good and they destroyed us. Final score: Dayton Belmont 79, Portsmouth 60, after Belmont led 55-21 at the half.
And that’s not all they destroyed that night. I was with the team in Portsmouth that night and we stayed at the Holiday Inn. Remember now, I was only five years older than the seniors on that team, a rookie/cub reporter.
It all started with a snowball fight in the parking lot and, yes, I was involved. When the coaches popped out of the hotel, I dove under the bus and was not spotted.
As the years progress, my involvement in what happened after that gets exaggerated more and more. The boys-will-be-boys got out of hand. Stuff got thrown into the swimming pool, including a baby carriage. Some damage was done.
When the team returned to Dayton, Ross told them, “Next practice will be without basketballs. Nothing but running.” And I was there to watch that practice and one of the team members said, as the team ran killer sprints, “Why isn’t McCoy out here running, too.”
The team took up a collection to help pay for damages. Kenner, the team captain, walked up to Ross and handed him some cash and said, “To help defray some of the costs.” The sum? $12.
Ross, who employed a stifling 1-3-1 zone defense to confuse and confound opponents, quickly left Belmont and became Wright State University’s first basketball coach, actually starting the program when the school had no gym and the team traveled to road games in a van.
Belmont, though, has its most fun destroying good teams on the basketball floor.
Amazingly, every year they get together for the reunion and nobody talks about those games. There is no bragging. There is no, “Hey, remember how bad we beat Libbey or McKinley or Portsmouth or Middletown or Patterson?” They talk about current things, how each of them are doing and how many grandchildren they have.
The event is put together every year by Mal Peaso, who was a member of the team until his senior year when he realized he wouldn’t play much with this bunch. He became the team statistician.
“And he was real honest,” said May. “You could bribe people in those days with a Snickers or a Milky Way. But Mal couldn’t be bribed to mark down a couple of extra rebounds for you on the stat sheet.”
Not long ago I wrote about my Bucket List and one of them was, “I want to see a high school basketball team as good as the 1964 Dayton Belmont team. But I know I won’t.”
And I won’t. Now I appreciate what I was privileged to witness. Anybody out there think they saw a better team???
THE SCORES:
84-58 over Oakwood
67-52 over Fairmont West
87-67 over Dayton Roth
101-69 over Fairborn
92-53 over Dayton Roosevelt
113-57 over Dayton Patterson
96-44 over Dayton Kiser
88-50 over Dayton Fairview
101-58 over Dayton Dunbar
79-60 over Portsmouth
64-68 overtime loss to Dayton Chaminade
98-48 over Lima
66-52 over Dayton Meadowdale
98-46 over Dayton Wilbur Wright
61-50 over Dayton Colonel White
82-63 over Dayton Stivers
85-64 over Toledo Libbey
67-47 over Middletown
DISTRICT TOUNAMENT
75-43 over Oakwood
102-72 over Colonel White
73-44 over Fairmont West
61-50 over Roth
56=48 over Fairview
REGIONAL TOURNAMENT
64-50 over Cincinnati Withrow
90-64 over Urbana
STATE TOURNAMENT
80-56 over Canton McKinley
89-60 over Cleveland East
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By Urgestretscof
May 31, 2011 4:49 AM | Link to this
lesa allt bloggid, nokkud gott
By Bob
February 19, 2011 2:19 PM | Link to this
1964 XHS graduate. It seems to me that Belmont played Chaminade again and beat them by about 40 points. Best Ohio TEAM I ever saw. In 1982 we moved to Washington DC area. Baltimore Dunbar 1982 had 6 players make it to the NBA.
By Old Bird
February 7, 2011 12:00 PM | Link to this
I remember Tim Kenner suing the City of Kettering Schools when his son Benny got cut from varsity his junior year. Where did Benny play his college ball at? Did Benny go onto the NBA? He had a lot of potential!
By Larry Groff
February 1, 2011 12:51 PM | Link to this
76@77 Middletown Middiesby far. I still have play by play broadcast’s of those games.
By Red Rick
January 12, 2011 12:50 PM | Link to this
I was at the eagles and bison game at the UD fieldhouse - great game. Same guys on those two teams used to battle at Cleveland Park and the Oakwood park during the summer.
By Rob Hunter
January 11, 2011 5:22 PM | Link to this
I was not old enough to remember this group but have heard alot about them from older relatives. Looks like Ohio has produced lots of talented players. Unfortunately now we are going thru a dry spell where everyone is an all star and can’t make simple bounce passes, can’t make entry pass to the post, learns the three pointer but can’t hit a 12-18 footer. When will we ever see this game come back in this area? Basic basketball pick and roll, lay-up without dunking, backboard has become obsolete in this generation. And the list goes on, by the way thanks for sharing your memories…
By wade
January 9, 2011 11:20 AM | Link to this
I really enjoyed this article. It was the best short sports article that I read in 2010. It was interesting, brought back some great memories and resulted in some sound debate.
By Harry Ness
January 6, 2011 11:19 AM | Link to this
You bring back good memories. I attended Belmont during those years and went to every game. Stood in line for hours to get final four tickets. They did play Lima Senior after their loss. The score was 24-5 at the end of the first period. Thanks for the memories.
By Harry Ness
January 6, 2011 11:19 AM | Link to this
You bring back good memories. I attended Belmont during those years and went to every game. Stood in line for hours to get final four tickets. They did play Lima Senior after their loss. The score was 24-5 at the end of the first period. Thanks for the memories.
By Harry Ness
January 6, 2011 11:18 AM | Link to this
You bring back good memories. I attended Belmont during those years and went to every game. Stood in line for hours to get final four tickets. They did play Lima Senior after their loss. The score was 24-5 at the end of the first period. Thanks for the memories.
By keithfromxenia
January 6, 2011 9:49 AM | Link to this
great article Hal, but i think you are wrong about who the Bison slaugtered after their only loss. i think it was a highly ranked Lima Senior team that came to Belmont and got run out of the gym. i think it was 56-12 or something at the half.
By Bob L
January 5, 2011 12:33 PM | Link to this
Great article. Please get some photos at the next reunion. Would love to see what my idols look like today. Thanks
By coach 24
January 2, 2011 9:09 PM | Link to this
Roth with D. Anderson Middies with Vic Merchent, Butch Carter before them, J. Lucas Madison with Mike Dalabo, Carpenter, Young, Marts No 3 points with these teams either
By rob c
January 2, 2011 9:34 AM | Link to this
i’v seen chaminade class of 70 win the state and go undefeated. i saw the alter class of 75 with jim paxon crush every opponent till the got screwed at the state semis, and the best team i ever saw was alter 78.
By David
December 29, 2010 9:15 PM | Link to this
I was a student at Cincinnati Withrow in ‘64, and attended the regional game with Belmont. Our team was really good, so the loss was terribly disappointing. Look at the point spreads of the tournament games - it looks like Withrow was probably the 2nd best team in the state that year.
By Lars Benders
December 29, 2010 5:04 PM | Link to this
I saw the 78 Alter team win the state. If I recall correctly, all 5 starters went on to D1 colleges to play: Boyle-Toledo Bockhorn-UD Meineke-Providence Heher-Richmond Paxon-Notre Dame Here is a blurb from the Alter website: Coached by Joe Petrocelli and assisted by Gary Trick, players include Dan Bockhorn ’78, Dan Boyle ’78, Pete Boyle ’78, Mike Crotty ’79, Dan Donahue ’79, Andy Heher ’79, Don Meineke ’78, Rick Minor ’78, Jim Nowicki ’78, John Paxson ’79, Dart Ramsey ’78 and Tim Riazzi ’78. Team managers were Phil Muegel ’79, Mike Fronista ’79 and Tony Grunkemeyer ’78.
By teak
December 29, 2010 4:14 PM | Link to this
Manny Leaks was center on the Cleveland East Tech squad. he played with Calvin Murphy. they came out in Harlem Globetrotter style uniforms. and Columbus you only won 2 state titles at Dixie.
By econprof
December 29, 2010 1:43 PM | Link to this
Hal, It’s off the subject of your posting, but you mentioned the 1982 Reds. The recent articles about Dave Parker’s HOF chances reminded me of seeing the Pirates play the Reds in 1982. I feared that a Reds player might get hurt from a ball of the bat of Stargell or Parker. I still remember a line drive that Parker hit — it was probably the hardest hit baseball that I ever saw. The Pirate hitters couldn’t wait to bat that night!
By Lynn
December 29, 2010 11:39 AM | Link to this
I graduated from Fairborn in ‘64 and saw the Belmont-Fairborn game that year….Saturday night in Fairborn and Belmont destroyed us that night, game was over at halftime…..know Belmont was good at the time,but how they played and played well in college proves how good they really were..no dunking was allowed then, but wow what a team…
By JimO
December 29, 2010 11:35 AM | Link to this
I’m a ‘64 Fairmont grad and we got waxed twice that season by Belmont. But the year before we beat Hosket/May,etc at UD Fieldhouse with Steve Logan and the Reddy twins. The game was later ruled a forfeit for us playing an ineligible player
By darryl skale
December 29, 2010 9:38 AM | Link to this
Mike Pratt(UK) and Steve Yeager (Dodgers) played for Meadowdale. Fairview had Bob McCowan(UK) and Mike Schmidt(Philies)
By HS Fanatic
December 28, 2010 11:34 PM | Link to this
PR Joe, who highlighted the Middies of 55-56, 56-57 and 57-58, is right on the money. In fact, the 55-56 Middies have often been described by national researchers of high school sports as the best high school basketball team ever in the entire USA! The Belmont team in 1964 was tremendous and blew away every opponent but one. However, in the Dayton area, it is no better than the fourth best high school basketball team ever to play the game. The Middies, for sure, are #1, #2 and #3.
By Jim
December 28, 2010 11:00 PM | Link to this
The 88 Wayne team with Vedova, Ables, Beane,Sibley and Burcham was also very good..
By PRJoe
December 28, 2010 10:59 PM | Link to this
Had Hal covered Middletown in 55-56, 56-57 or 57-58, he would have selected one of these three teams as his “best ever.” The 55-56 Middies squad is the most superior team to ever play high school basketball in Ohio. It averaged nearly 90 points per game and destroyed Canton McKinley and Cleveland East Tech in the Final Four, whch was played that year in Cleveland. Lucas, as a soph, was one of five to average as least 14 points. During his senior year, the Middies won 25 contests by 20 points or more. Over the three seasons, they won 76 straight, plus two state titles. Hal’s “best,” Belmont in 1964, suffered a loss. Middletown was unbeaten two consecutive campaigns. By the way, in February 1963, when Hosket and May were juniors, a very good, senior-dominated Middletown team spanked Belmont, 78-56.
By bh
December 28, 2010 10:22 PM | Link to this
Yeager played at Meadowdale, & Mike Schmidt was at Fairview.
By darryl skale
December 28, 2010 10:12 PM | Link to this
That year Mike Pratt and Steve Yeager played for Meadowdale. I believe that when Belmont played for the District it was against Bob McCowan(played at UK as did Mike Pratt) and Mike Schmidt(Philies) who both played at Fairview.
By Gem&Heater
December 28, 2010 9:36 PM | Link to this
Can’t comment about Belmont in ‘64, I wasn’t in Dayton then. But, one thing I am certain of, Donnie May was the best player I have ever seen play for UD. I’ve seen many including Smith and Chapman, but he was simply the best.
By belgian
December 28, 2010 9:12 PM | Link to this
i think don may was the best player i ever saw.the best player i ever played against was frankie sanders,we didnt even know who he was till we started playing and it was just a pickup game in a alley behind my friends house on grafton ave.we knew we were in trouble when he was playing above the rim and we were just kids,good times.
By Spoon
December 28, 2010 7:47 PM | Link to this
I was 13 when the Bisons destroyed everything in sight. Grew up a Roosevelt fan though though I moved and graduated from Roth[69] Used to say “those white boys cant beat the brothers on the west side”but as you can see by the scores they destroyed them. Thought Hosket would become the star in college but as we know Donnie May was a monster at UD[he hit 13 shots in a row in a 1967 ncaa game against them]That was a special team as was the the 60Teddies 70 Roth and Chaminade[played before 13,000 at UDarena still a high school record in 1970]Loved those days when the fieldhouse on campus was packed and the old fairgrounds was also………..ah such memories best game ever Columbus EastI believe 102 Roosevelt 97 3 overtimes at the fairgrounds coliseum probably not exact score but close in 1967.
By wilbur "shooter" flatch
December 28, 2010 5:07 PM | Link to this
I remember that team well. There have never been two better players on one high school team than Hosket and May. Also gotta give credit to Jerry Lucas and the Middies of the 50’s. But don’t forget the Columbus East teams from 1967-69. 70-1 record, 2 state championships and one runner-up. Every starter earned a division 1 scholarship. Players included Dwight Lamar (led nation in scoring at NE Louisiana) and Ed Ratleff (all-American at Long Beach State).
By CJ grad but 78'Alterfan
December 28, 2010 4:32 PM | Link to this
78 Alter team was as good as any team ever. Bockhorn, Paxson, Boyle, Meineke and Andy H(?)…Danny Bockhorn could score on anyone..John Paxson enough said there and a front court that went 6’9, 6’8 and 6’7…strong bench..this team had it all and were extremely fun to watch
By C K
December 28, 2010 3:37 PM | Link to this
And how about those Roosevelt Teddies in the mid to late 50’s with Ray Brown?!
By Bulldog
December 28, 2010 3:31 PM | Link to this
Milton-Union basketball won six straight SWBL titles from 1950-1955. Finished second in the state tournament to Cincinnati Taft in 1953. Pretty good for a small country football school.
By Roscoe
December 28, 2010 3:21 PM | Link to this
Didn’t Don May have a game with 50 points and 30 rebounds, or is may memory faulty? Chaminade was coached by Tom Fericks who was also a great coach before he became Dayton’s AD.
By IndySteve
December 28, 2010 2:44 PM | Link to this
My proud Hoosier soul can’t sit idly by and not counter with the 1956 Indianapolis Crispus Attucks team: http://hoopshall.com/hall/c/1956-crispus-attucks-team/ UC fans - or really basketball fans anywhere - should recognize #43.
By Columbus Hines
December 28, 2010 2:37 PM | Link to this
We had some pretty good teams at New Lebanon Dixie Greyhounds. Won many state titles!
By Jerry Lucas
December 28, 2010 2:16 PM | Link to this
How about the Middletown Middies with 76 straight wins and 2 consecutive state championships in ‘56 and ‘57?
By sec 312
December 28, 2010 2:12 PM | Link to this
a little before my time, I played at ALTER in early 70’s, so I think Dunbar 71, Roth, and the 75 Alter team. But I sure do remember Donnie at UD his brother kenny and the dunbar guys would always come over to the outdoor courts at old Fairmont West..those years I believe were the best run
By rick
December 28, 2010 2:07 PM | Link to this
Donnie May was also an All-American….was Mike Pratt on the Meadowdale team that year?….Steve Yeager also played for Fairview somewhere along that time…but perhaps a little later.