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One Shot: My new book on high school basketball in Indiana in the 1960s.

Rotonda Jim

Benchwarmer
Sep 3, 2003
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I am a native of South Bend and graduated from Washington High School in 1965. After a long career in teaching and coaching, I have written a new book which is a coming of age story loosely based on basketball in South Bend during the early sixties. At that time, Washington had the greatest team that they have ever had (we lost to Fort Wayne North in the championship game of the Fort Wayne Semistate) and had a great rivalry with Central and Mike Warren among others. My book has been out only one day and did very well and actually has reached the top 600 of all of Amazon's sports fiction books on the first day of publication and is in the top 10% of all book that Amazon sells. I am obviously looking for some publicity for the book. I am attaching my Author's Link which tells you all about the book and gives you my biography. The book has a lot of twists, has a lot of basketball talk and strategy but it will also bring you to tears. I am very proud of it. Thanks so much and even if you can't help, I hope you read it. Those who have lived in South Bend a long time will appreciate it a lot. For those of you who need a basketball fix, this just might be it. Go Hoosiers!
Amazon product ASIN B098V1ZZPR
 
I remember Glen Sudhop from John Adams in the early 70's, 7'4" went to NC State but didn't do much, think they were ranked 3rd in state when they came to goshen and we beat them
 
Our starters were Tom Nowicki, George Johnson, Bobby Johnson and Floyd and Lloyd Kerr who were twins. The Kerrs went on to Colorado State to become stars and in 1968-1969 almost reached the final four. They were great players on a great team. Red McElhenney and Larry Gillen were the main guys off the South Bend Washington bench. Subby Nowicki was the head coach. Fort Wayne North got us by 2 points in the semistate championship and went on to lose to Indianapolis Washington in the state championship game. It remains South Bend Washington's best team ever and is the closest we ever came to winning the state championship.
 
I am a native of South Bend and graduated from Washington High School in 1965. After a long career in teaching and coaching, I have written a new book which is a coming of age story loosely based on basketball in South Bend during the early sixties. At that time, Washington had the greatest team that they have ever had (we lost to Fort Wayne North in the championship game of the Fort Wayne Semistate) and had a great rivalry with Central and Mike Warren among others. My book has been out only one day and did very well and actually has reached the top 600 of all of Amazon's sports fiction books on the first day of publication and is in the top 10% of all book that Amazon sells. I am obviously looking for some publicity for the book. I am attaching my Author's Link which tells you all about the book and gives you my biography. The book has a lot of twists, has a lot of basketball talk and strategy but it will also bring you to tears. I am very proud of it. Thanks so much and even if you can't help, I hope you read it. Those who have lived in South Bend a long time will appreciate it a lot. For those of you who need a basketball fix, this just might be it. Go Hoosiers!
Ordered it on Amazon yesterday. Thanks
 
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Thanks so much. If you like it please spread the word. Obviously I am prejudiced but if you love Hoosier Hysteria, I bet you will like this book. My hero goes through the sixties as a basketball prodigy and will face many obstacles. Will he succeed? Will he win the state championship? I mix in real people with my characters and thoroughly believe that you will enjoy the ride.
 
I remember Glen Sudhop from John Adams in the early 70's, 7'4" went to NC State but didn't do much, think they were ranked 3rd in state when they came to goshen and we beat them
Sudhop was 7'2" and Adams was ranked #1 when we shot a state record 81.8% and beat them 71-55 in 1974. Best high school game I have ever attended.

Probably few realize that a state high school boys basketball record held by Goshen for 39 years has been toppled.

The Tippecanoe Valley Vikings set the new mark last month when they hit 32-of-38 field goal attempts for 84.2 percent during a 71-49 victory over Northfield.

That bettered the old standard of 81.8 per cent by the Goshen Redskins in an historic 71-55 upset of No. 1-rated South Bend Adams on Friday the 13th in December of 1974.

Goshen, coached by Roger Tuggle, took mostly layups and free throws against Coach Dave Hadaway’s Adams Eagles who featured 7-2 Glen Sudhop, 6-7 Val Martin and 6-7 Mark Risinger.

The Redskins raced to a 17-5 lead by the end of the first quarter and were able to employ their strategy of drawing out Adams defenders to exploit the inside. Goshen was 8-for-8 from the field in the second quarter and 7-for-7 in the fourth, finishing the night 27-for-33.

Senior Jeff Hossler scored 28 points for GHS, senior Bob Lau 23, sophomore Kevin Cotherman eight, junior Tom Bowser six, seniors Ed Stacker, Jim Lindhorn and Gary Yoder two each.

Lau was 11-for-14 from the floor and Hossler 8-for-10. The Redskins were 17-for-23 at the free-throw line with Hossler going 12-for-16.

Martin tallied 21 and Risinger 15 for Adams while Sudhop was held to four. Andy Harris, the Eagles’ standout 6-2 junior guard, was held scoreless with Cotherman shadowing him much of the night.

The contest was never close as Goshen led 34-21 at halftime and 51-33 after three periods. About 3,000 spectators were in the Goshen gym, then 14 years old.

The only other time Goshen defeated a No. 1-ranked team occurred in January of 1963 when the Redskins stunned the Michigan City Red Devils, 67-64. Art Cosgrove was the coach with Ron Miller, Randy Saal, Fred Hostetler, Doug Smith and John Corporon the starting five.

Hossler also had seven assists in that 1974 game which didn’t require many rebounds with so few missed shots. Adams, which shot 50 per cent itself, held a 16-13 rebound edge.

Lau often found gaps in the Adams defense and his teammates hit him with sharp passes for layups. Goshen never attempted a shot from beyond five feet.

Hossler blossomed into a standout player that season and was Elkhart County scoring champion with 484 points for a 21.0 average. Lau tallied 326, Cotherman 188, Stacker 122, Lindhorn 120 and Bowser 105.

Hossler topped the 20-point mark 15 times that season with a high of 29 during a tough 62-56 sectional championship game loss to Northridge.

That came a night after the Redskins derailed No. 7-ranked Penn, 60-44, with Hossler netting 25 and Lau 12. Jim Hahn, future Concord coach, played for the Kingsmen that year.

Lau had high games of 23 against both Adams and Concord, Cotherman 18 against both South Bend Clay and Wawasee, Stacker 14 against Elkhart Central and Lindhorn 11 against Clay.

The Redskins finished with a 15-8 record, the program’s best since Cosgrove’s regional champions were 21-5 in 1968-69.

The current Tippecanoe Valley team is guided by the legendary Bill Patrick who was coaching his 1,000th varsity game the night the Vikings set the state record.

Patrick, now 75, graduated from Sidney High School in 1956 and Manchester College in 1960.

The win over Northfield made his career record 720-280 in 45 seasons - one at Sidney, four at South Whitley, 24 at Whitko and 16 at Valley.

Tippecanoe Valley will be defending champion in the upcoming local Class 3A sectional.

Amazingly, the coaching paths of Tuggle and Patrick crossed 42 years ago when an unbeaten West Noble team coached by Tuggle defeated Patrick’s Whitko club, 85-59.

West Noble won its first 15 games that season before dropping a 67-63 decision at Fairfield. This past Friday, another undefeated Charger team journeyed to Fairfield.

Kent Saggars, Phil Wysong, Dan Rarick, Dave Vanette and Eric Wolfe were starters for that 1972 West Noble club which finished with a 21-2 record, dropping a 57-55 East Noble sectional sizzler to the host Knights.

Fairfield, despite its upset of West Noble, was just 11-10 that winter with a lineup featuring Bob Alvarez, Donn Huber, Doug Thwaits, Gary Weybright and Fred Kurtz.

That was the first season Fairfield and Goshen met in boys basketball. The Redskins won 69-65 in what would be the last career victory for Cosgrove, a Hall of Famer.

How long will Valley’s 84.2 per cent record stand up. The guess here is quite awhile.

Contact former Goshen News sports editor Stu Swartz at stu.swartz67@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter at @SwartzStu.
 
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I can't imagine many states that would have 84.2% scoring in hs by a team unless it is one of terrible 100-6 scores.
 
Thanks so much. If you like it please spread the word. Obviously I am prejudiced but if you love Hoosier Hysteria, I bet you will like this book. My hero goes through the sixties as a basketball prodigy and will face many obstacles. Will he succeed? Will he win the state championship? I mix in real people with my characters and thoroughly believe that you will enjoy the ride. I am doing a live call in radio show tomorrow morning on WENG radio here in Englewood, Florida. It us 1530 AM or 105.7 FM. You can also listen on the internet
 
John Ritter still holds record for career and single pts scored. He was a senior during RMK first year and in one of the first game at AH, coach wanted Ritter to shoot a little more that game . IU won 81-29 with Ritter scoring 31....the team they beat? Notre Dame, located 25 miles west of Goshen
 
John Ritter still holds record for career and single pts scored. He was a senior during RMK first year and in one of the first game at AH, coach wanted Ritter to shoot a little more that game . IU won 81-29 with Ritter scoring 31....the team they beat? Notre Dame, located 25 miles west of Goshen
Minor correction, Ritter was a senior RMK's second year, 72-73.
 
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John Ritter still holds record for career and single pts scored. He was a senior during RMK first year and in one of the first game at AH, coach wanted Ritter to shoot a little more that game . IU won 81-29 with Ritter scoring 31....the team they beat? Notre Dame, located 25 miles west of Goshen
John is the reason that i became an IU fan. My dad took me to his games in high school so when he signed with IU I became an instant fan.
 
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I am a native of South Bend and graduated from Washington High School in 1965. After a long career in teaching and coaching, I have written a new book which is a coming of age story loosely based on basketball in South Bend during the early sixties. At that time, Washington had the greatest team that they have ever had (we lost to Fort Wayne North in the championship game of the Fort Wayne Semistate) and had a great rivalry with Central and Mike Warren among others. My book has been out only one day and did very well and actually has reached the top 600 of all of Amazon's sports fiction books on the first day of publication and is in the top 10% of all book that Amazon sells. I am obviously looking for some publicity for the book. I am attaching my Author's Link which tells you all about the book and gives you my biography. The book has a lot of twists, has a lot of basketball talk and strategy but it will also bring you to tears. I am very proud of it. Thanks so much and even if you can't help, I hope you read it. Those who have lived in South Bend a long time will appreciate it a lot. For those of you who need a basketball fix, this just might be it. Go Hoosiers!
Oooh this is very cool, I read what you wrote about. You and I are very similar, only you have already managed to write a book, I respect you. I generally write essays, I used to be a teacher. Now I am reading very interesting articles about how to describe yourself https://studymoose.com/describe-yourself on this platform. I will definitely read your book and write a short essay about it so that as many people as possible read it.
 
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John Ritter still holds record for career and single pts scored. He was a senior during RMK first year and in one of the first game at AH, coach wanted Ritter to shoot a little more that game . IU won 81-29 with Ritter scoring 31....the team they beat? Notre Dame, located 25 miles west of Goshen
John is the reason that i became an IU fan. My dad took me to his games in high school so when he signed with IU I became an instant fan.

John was robbed of having the greatest regular season shot in IU basketball history, and possibly the greatest regular season shot in college bball history.
 
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I am a native of South Bend and graduated from Washington High School in 1965. After a long career in teaching and coaching, I have written a new book which is a coming of age story loosely based on basketball in South Bend during the early sixties. At that time, Washington had the greatest team that they have ever had (we lost to Fort Wayne North in the championship game of the Fort Wayne Semistate) and had a great rivalry with Central and Mike Warren among others. My book has been out only one day and did very well and actually has reached the top 600 of all of Amazon's sports fiction books on the first day of publication and is in the top 10% of all book that Amazon sells. I am obviously looking for some publicity for the book. I am attaching my Author's Link which tells you all about the book and gives you my biography. The book has a lot of twists, has a lot of basketball talk and strategy but it will also bring you to tears. I am very proud of it. Thanks so much and even if you can't help, I hope you read it. Those who have lived in South Bend a long time will appreciate it a lot. For those of you who need a basketball fix, this just might be it. Go Hoosiers!
Anything on the Tipton team from that ear who had 3 D1 players but Harvey Harmon got hurt before tournament and they were upset? Curnutt, McIntosh and Harmon were the 3 D1 guys.
 





here's as close to an exact recreation of the shot as you'll find, other than John being just inside the right baseline instead of in the lane.

to set it up, UK at IU at 17th st field house..

Ritter, McGinnis, were sophs. (freshmen were ineligible then).

score tied, UK has the ball working for a last shot.

with a few seconds remaining UK player puts up a short maybe 6-8 foot shot from the right side of the lane.

rebound goes to Ritter just right of the lane.

just as in the video, Ritter pretty much grabbed the rebound and turned and threw it overhand all in one motion, probably a 95 footer.

no bank, no rim, clean swish.

place goes wild.

ref runs to scorer's table calling off the shot, saying McGinnis called time as Ritter touched the ball.

IU losses in OT.
 
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John Ritter still holds record for career and single pts scored. He was a senior during RMK first year and in one of the first game at AH, coach wanted Ritter to shoot a little more that game . IU won 81-29 with Ritter scoring 31....the team they beat? Notre Dame, located 25 miles west of Goshen
Ha ha, yeah, I was at that game. Tough introduction for Digger but he and Coach Knight became good friends.
 
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My only memory of SB Adams is having to go up against Jimmy Webb... which of course was a losing battle back in the 1972-73 season.
 
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