Massey- Do you have any memory going into your senior year what your goals were? Did you have a goal of being really good, but we can’t beat Richwoods? Or was beating Richwoods a goal? Or was it just, we can be better?
Doss- The first goal was to work hard and get into the starting lineup. We had 12 guys who could play! The guards were me, Mike Wilder, Carl Finley, Mark Mendez, Andy Hendricks, Jim Pogue, Barry Cheesman, and sometimes Rance Berry. I started most games, but coach started different combinations, kind of based on who was playing well at the time. Yes, beating Richwoods was a goal for the team. Mike Campbell took the roll as a leader and pushed everyone in practice. I can remember, “when you go, go hard.”
I also remember some of our practices. We went at each other, very competitive. Many nights the so-called 2nd team would out play the starters. The 2nd team consisted of Bill Dwyer, Mark Mendez, Barry Cheesman, Mark Brown (Slim), Jay Stone, Andy, Poguesly, and Rollie Williams.
Massey- One wonders what place in the Western Big Six the second unit could have taken. It was a team with incredible height. How many high school teams could have two 6’8”ish starters and also have two 6’8”ish second team players to challenge them in practice? Most schools if they had two bigs as starters probably had two 6’2” backups trying to make practice competitive.
I may be wrong but I think the team had close to 14 players who either started a game or two, or were one of the first couple into games. That made for good practices, but it is hard to get playing time for that many players. I am sure some players were disappointed and may still feel disappointed about playing time, but the players seemed so loyal to each other that any dissatisfaction didn’t show up in practice attitudes.
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| Chuck Bednar, Mike, Gerald Phillips- Phillips Award |
Campbell- Like Eric, I remember our practices being pretty competitive, with the “2nd unit” often able to hold their own. I don’t remember any one of us taking a particularly larger role in pushing the team in practice (although, as I recall, Bill (“Nate”) Dwyer had a particular chip on his shoulder that seemed to play a key role in not letting the 2nd teamers let up; at least not the back-up “bigs”).
I think our practice habits grew out of (1) the manner in, and energy with, which they were conducted by Coach Owens and his assistants, (2) the fact that we did have a number of very good role players, but none of which were so dominant that they could coast at all in practice without the risk of losing their role within the rotation, (3) we players just plain loved playing basketball and most of us had, in fact, dreamed of being Silver Streaks for several years, making each day’s practice another opportunity to put on Streaks gear and continue living out those dreams, and (4) the fact that our practices were, in some ways, a continuation of the competitive pick-up games and open gyms that we had, by then, been competing in against each other for years – some of those daily battles had a long history.
Kelley- Honestly, I do not really remember having any firmly set goals for senior year (personal or team). I am not sure you could get away with this today, but for me, I loved playing the game. And that was enough for me. I think we would all agree that we wanted to be more successful than we were in our junior year. During the summer between our junior and senior years, Mike and I played every day. Joe Swedlund and Ian Davies were both home from college (SMU and Graceland) and we played 2 on 2 with them most days that summer. I think Mike would agree that playing against Joe and Ian was instrumental in our improvement that summer.
I don’t ever remember thinking we couldn’t beat Richwoods. I think we all thought we could be a good team going into our senior season. I do think we did a good job of keeping the 1975 Richwoods debacle in our rear-view mirror. The Richwoods game(s) was (were) clearly rivalry game(s), but I don’t think that rivalry was what we thought would define our season. We were playing in a strong conference with several very good teams (Moline and Quincy especially come to mind). So being successful in the WB6 was important too.
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| Covenant Church Court |
Campbell- I do not recall the details of any discussions about our goals going into the 1975-76 season, either in general or specifically about Richwoods, although some may have occurred. Our overall mediocrity during the previous (’74-’75) season, and especially our spectacular flame-out against Richwoods in that season’s Regional, definitely hung over and motivated us going into our senior season. My recollection is that our focus was not so much on avoiding similar results but, rather, on a determination to show that we were better – much better – than what we had shown that prior season. I know that I – and I believe Scott Kelley also – believed that we were really ready to blossom as players. As I’ve noted, for me, this belief was based upon our play against older former Streaks in open gyms and in half-court pick-up games, including against then-current Division I college players Joe Swedlund and Ian Davies. Having played with and against these players for a number of years, since our early junior high school days, we could sense how far we had come and the power of the basketball weapons that we had gradually developed, first to keep up with and, now, with greater physical maturity, to surpass them and, in certain instances, control our match-ups with them. Personally, I knew that I was ready to unleash my newly refined “leg kick” jumper on the world, a shot, the fundamentals of which, after years of practice and millions of shots, plus the recent addition of the rhythm-promoting “leg kick”, I could now – like a good golf swing – self-correct, on the fly, if it ever malfunctioned for a short stretch during a game.
In addition, both Scott and I had the validation of our self-belief through our recruitment by a variety of Division I colleges, including, in my case, Northwestern University (then coached by the legendary Tex Winter, creator of the famed “Triangle Offense”, later used by the Chicago Bulls and L.A. Lakers to win numerous NBA Championships, and where I eventually attended and played), Purdue, the University of Iowa, several Ivy League schools, and others. Although at that time, our summer basketball experiences were primarily local and did not cross paths with the Richwoods stars, I believe that Scott and I believed (perhaps unjustifiably, at that moment) that we were becoming better – or at least more well-rounded and versatile – players than Richwoods’ Holcomb and Smith.
In general, I recall that we entered that senior season, as a group, believing that much better results lay ahead for us, if only in that somewhat naïve way that young people sometimes think they must succeed, because, well, this is going to be their last chance to do so! Logical? No. But perhaps emotionally empowering, especially for us in the context of our recent experiences. I recall feeling the same way about the looming challenge of playing Richwoods again: I didn’t know that we would beat them but, despite that recent 52-point loss to them, I believed that we could beat them, a belief that was bolstered by an early 1975-76 regular season loss to them by only 10 points.
I agree with Scott that, going into our senior season, beating Richwoods was not our sole, or maybe even primary, objective. Playing in the very competitive Western Big Six Conference probably kept us from being overly fixated on just Richwoods to what might have been the detriment of our performance during the regular season.
Massey- Do any games during the regular season your senior year standout where you realized how good you had become?
Doss- I believe we were the first team to go undefeated in the WB6 conference. Very tough to do, go to places like Quincy, Moline Wharton Fieldhouse, East Moline, and Rock Island. Every game was close to a sellout, so you were used to playing in front of large crowds, under pressure, with the hostile crowds. We should have won the holiday tournament, lost to Normal Community (Randy Smithson) by a couple in OT. That hurt. And we lost to Richwoods by 10 in December at Galesburg, but think it was close until the end. I do remember that game, mostly because I didn’t get off the bench, and felt I could have helped us.
Campbell- I totally agree with Eric’s observation that playing in the often sold-out hostile WB6 venues prepared us for the emotional and extremely boisterous environment of the Richwoods 1976 Regional Final game. Given the ease with which Richwoods typically won its games that season, I wonder if they might not have been as prepared as we were for the Regional Final environment, potentially contributing to our confidence-boosting fast start in that game?
Kelley- Several games come to mind. The first Richwoods game in December was a good game. We were playing at home. It was a close game. We ended up losing by 10. We played well and I had a good game. But the main recollection of that game I have is posting up late in the game when the score was close, spinning to the baseline and dribbling the ball off my foot and out of bounds. My recollection is that after that we had to foul, and they made their free throws. Disappointing. But in the end, it probably was a blessing that we did lose that game. We proved to ourselves that we could play with Richwoods but also did not give them any sort of revenge motive for the Regionals.
Another game that kind of still gnaws at me is the game we played at the Illinois State Classic in Normal. We lost in the championship to Normal in overtime. Their best player was Randy Smithson and he played the game with a cast on one wrist.
Another memory is not specifically one game, but going undefeated in the WB6 was a significant accomplishment. As I recall, we were the first team to go undefeated in the conference.
Campbell- Several games in our senior (’75-’76) season stand out as confirmation that we were becoming an outstanding (if ultimately flawed) team. Personally, that confirmation began when I hit the first two shots of our season, both jumpers from the free throw line/top of the key area, using my now-refined jump shot technique, after which, as the fans – as enthusiastic as we were about starting a new season – cheered as we ran back down the court, I believe I might have looked directly at the “nice sweater” folks in the center court front row seats – the ones who had booed me the season before -- and thought, “How do you like me now?!”
The next game that confirmed our progress as a team was our 73-63 loss to Richwoods in mid-December 1975. Scott and I both had big scoring games, confirming our belief that we were catching Holcomb and Smith and, indeed, could match or even defeat them head-to-head. I do not remember details about the game, but we were able to get the shots that we wanted and, ultimately it was Richwoods’ balance that allowed them to win this one, further feeding our belief that we could get them if we could get a full team effort on a given night.
I remember hitting the game-winning jumper, from the left wing, as time expired, to defeat Galesburg’s traditional arch-rival, the Quincy Blue Devils, on our home court, to preserve our unblemished Western Big Six Conference record that would eventually become the first undefeated conference season in WB6 history. That WB6 record included two very close wins over a Moline team that seemed to give us fits (and which team we would eventually squeak by for a third time in the Supersectional game), nevertheless confirming our ability to win games against teams that were a difficult match-up for us and/or knew how to attack us.
More generally, I remember sensing on the court that season that, now, as a senior and with the experiences I had had, and that we had had as a team, over the prior two seasons, we were the ones in control; playing to our strengths; looking to make plays rather than avoid mistakes; reading the game and, with the help of our coaches, making adjustments, but also sometimes making them among ourselves, based upon the many hours that we had played together. To sense that this feeling of control was now carrying over from the open gym and pick-up games of the summer onto the high school season courts was very empowering and, although it didn’t guarantee victory, it meant that we would likely never be caught on the court with no answers for what our opponent (even a Richwoods) was throwing at us and, most often, would be able to dictate the action in our favor, just as those older, former Streaks had done against us, back when we were youngsters and on the defensive against their aggressive on-court assaults.
Next Up- Galesburg vs Richwoods 1976- Part IV The Game
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