Sounds like Joe should have been coaching Track or Cross Country instead of basketball

I don't really know if Rusty Miller played in that tourney, but he was a player you could watch. 61 against any team is a load, and especially when you need every one of those points, they won by 1. There must have been one or more of the Graves boys in that tourney and although I did not see them play there, they must have been, well, very solid. I believe at least one of them was on the Indiana All Star team. I do not intend to dilute their individuality but it does seem to be a family tradition.

Well actually Joe did coach cross country. If you can call it that. Not sure to many teams run stair laps and jump rope for an hour after running. Of course we didn't run all that much until Joe left. Then I think Tom took over and had the same thought about cross country that he had for basketball... We will run more than the other team so we will be in better shape. Running a lot doesn't make you faster at 3.1 miles though. Or at least it didn't for me. :)

Don't want to call you out B ball fan but each sport uses different muscles in your body. Just like you would think basketball is harder than football but they are two different things. Basketball you just run the whole time or at least we did. In football you run for 5-8 seconds then rest but when you are digging in and giving it all you got for those short amounts of time it is just as hard if not harder.

I went and watched the state cross country meet this past year and let me tell you the kid that got first place was just flat out moving. They had a gator in front of the runners leading them and I think that kid was covered in mud from the gator that was just in front of him the whole time. I don't care how good of shape I was in when I was young no way could I have touch what that kid was doing. Not a chance in the world that it's not a sport. Unreal is all I can say about it. I will give you though you have to be very disaplined. Very!

Joe you forgot to tell how Tom's voice would change when he got mad or when he made us run... LOL.. :)

No it was a real question, I thought they played in the tourney and Bloomfield did not but I am still not sure.

First of all, back when it began as the Greene County Tourney, it was just that with the exception of Bloomfield, they would not, or at least did not participate. L&M, Switz City, Eastern, Shakamak, Worthington, and Linton were always there. As for Rusty Miller, he was a good player, had the pleasure of guarding him several times myself. But when you ARE the "offense" and shoot as many times as he did, you would score several points as well.

I would have to mention Gary Wier(SHAK), Tom Shelton(L&M), from the 70's Josh Hall(LSHS) from the 90's as some very good players from the tourney.

Must admit, you had me laughing and fell hook, line and sinker for the loyalty story!!

Thank you jrhall for such a concise answer to my question. There is a Bloomfield myth about the tourney that they are too good for the county tourney,silly,who would not want to play there.I played four years with one thing essential to success, beating Bloomfield just one time was the goal of my career. Better than the sectional maybe, it was the biggest game of the year and usually a pretty good pounding, like playing Loogootee, you had to be at your best and they had to be off their game. So,I guess the only question is what to name the tourney?

"Hoosiers" is a great movie. It knocks me out every time. I believe it tells so honestly about Indiana basketball, the fans, the players, the families, the rabitt, I love that scene. Where I played you had to go out for all the sports teams or you did not get to play basketball. The school had a coach and a B-Team or assistant coach, they coached everything. I don't care much for the "best medal for anything" individually,whether it is driving, diving, kite flying or guitar playing. Playing your best is just a process of trying to play your best. Best teams yes, and I like good players,and better players and that is about it, except for something to talk about among people of the same age, for context. There are good coaches and other coaches who may or may not be good guys. "The movie" showed that there is more to life than basketball, even in Indiana. So, I have found all the players and their parents, and many times wives of players from the tourney, and grandparents of student managers, every player who is still alive,this has taken me over two years, and every one of those people thought their kids, and or husbands and parents believed their family member was important to the team and was the best at some part of the game, even fans and cheerleaders. I liked basketball like it was and hope it will be that way every game I get to see. Sometimes it gets close, good performances by certain players, good close games, great almost comebacks and terrible calls. The Greene County Classic should be the best tourney in the nation. STO every game, Switz City has the best gym in the world.

Pastime--inform the rest of us about this blunder/rumor in the WRV athletic program!

Hey pastime 12335-get your story correct, the win goes to Shoals jv coach; the ineligible player (due to grades)was a freshman, who does not dress varsity. The varsity win stays with WRV. This is how rumors spread when you don't have all your facts.

I never saw Joe play ball, but I'll have to applaud his play, especially if he really was that good of a free throw shooter. I tried to shoot at those old peach baskets one time at a museum and it takes quite a shot to hit them.

Got me there Joe, but I wasn't all that good before the Sectionals either. I never lost any sleep over a basketball game, I was always so tired I drifted right off to dreamsville.

B ball fan, Me Dad is Bill, He graduated from Central in 61. Rusty was his next door neighbor. I will always remember the stories that my dad and Joe's dad told me over the year about basketball in Greene county. They saw the best play over years. My nephew is now a freshman on the Union JV team and has sparked the fire that my dad has for basketball all over again. I will also always remember the long trips that we took in the early 90's to watch WRV play. What a team!

I like to remeber the "not so" greats that played in the tourney. I just can't remeber all of them anymore.

Several years ago (about 1990) we held a Greene County Nostalgia Tourney at Switz City. Real nice event and the rules stated that you had to be out of school for 20 years to participate. I had only been out of school for 19 years at the time so I became the Shakamak coach. (Not sure they would have wanted me to play if I had been "old enough" anyway.) Ah yes...the victorious Shakamak coach.

There were a lot of old greats back for that tourney, but my old boys (including the tourney MVP, Gene Talpas, a slick shooting left-hander named Ron McBride, Bob McClanahan, Mike May, Mike Wilson, Rick Hammond, Tim Warrick and several other Shakamak greats). My pep talk in the locker room consisted of saying that it was a tremendous pleasure to just be there amongst so many of my old childhood heroes. That got a pretty good laugh.

So there you go Joe, my basketball coaching record is still a perfect 1-0.

If you would like to go into additional sports, we could talk about the first Regional Championship in Shakamak history...the 1971 Shakamak Baseball Regional Champions. Just happens to be Jerry Bender's and my favorite team of all time and none of us took any type of performance enhancing drugs whatsoever.

Or, if you want to talk about players that were multidimensional...how about Elmer Oliphant. You cannot beat a story like that.