Wahoo Basketball Blog

March 25, 2009
The Wahoo Alumni Tournament was held last weekend and I had the opportunity to watch a few games. SOME of the old guys can still get it done SOME of the time. It was fun to watch. Several of the alums commented on the web site -- I keep encouraging them to sign the guest book so I have an idea of who (if anyone) is visiting. So, if you're reading this and you haven't already ------ SIGN THE GUESTBOOK!

It was fun completing the 1990 season -- I still have some things to add to the site, but "The Year" section is complete. The last segment, "The Last Word" has a video I called "Sounds of the Tournament" -- rather than using any background music, I just used actual sounds -- the chants, band, announcer, etc. I was especially fortunate to have been taping in the locker room when Coach Anderson gave his talk -- the final words, "we're gonna ride this baby out!" are kind of cool.

Coach Scheef also notified me of this year's All Conference and All State selections. Taylor Murren was recognized as 1st Team All Conference and a Second Team All State. I updated the "Records" section and "Today's Warriors" to include those awards.

The next big task is the video of the 1990 season -- I've got a lot of footage to work with. And, after talking to some of the players at the 1989 celebration, they indicated a willingness to share some background information. I want to do a "Where Are They Now?" page .... or maybe I'll just incorporate that into the Seniors. Of course, the first hurdle will be to get them to respond to the email .... well, actually to get the email sent out ..... "oh they'll pass you by, Glory Days."

March 16, 2009
The last couple of weeks have been very busy with basketball -- I've had to work on the NBDA site I produce with updates concerning the State Tournament. And, of course I attended some of the tournament and watched some games. There was only one repeat champion this year -- note how difficult that is to do, let alone three .... let alone four! Hastings St. Cecelia repeated in Class C1 -- I saw them play their semifinal game with Pierce. I saw Coach Scheef at the game and he predicted a St. Cecelia victory -- at the end of the first half I had my doubts, but they played much better in the second half. I thought Chadron would beat them in the finals, but that didn't happen -- Chadron should be back next year. Class A was won by Creighton Prep -- my alma mater, Lincoln High got edged by the Junior Jays in the first round .... argghhhh! Beatrice was denied a repeat by Ralston.

Saturday night was the celebration of the 1989 Championship. It was a fun night -- it seemed like the players all enjoyed a chance to "catch up." Many of them plan on playing in the alumni tournament next week. I thought it was especially nice to have some players from pre and post '89 attend -- Sean Forbes, Mike Simons, Kevin Jeppson, Travis Toline, and son Joel came down from Sioux City. As we plan for the future, I'm hoping we can encourage more players to come back and share the evening, even if they weren't on the team actually being honored. The main reason I haven't gotten any more work done for 1990 is that I got sidetracked putting together dvd's for the '89 players and making a PowerPoint we used when we introduced the team -- haven't used PowerPoint since my teaching days.

The "Special Features" section got its first entry -- a page on the 1989 Celebration. Soon I hope to add a page on the "Richter Roar" -- thanks to Guy Dunning I now have some radio audio that I can use. And (also thanks to Guy) I want to make a page featuring the rings from all the championship teams.

Now I should be able to get back to the 1990 state tournament -- the finals -- tentative title, "22 seconds" -- bet you don't know what that means! Also I'm hoping to reach the former players via email and get some update information -- where they are today -- that could be another "Special Features" page, or maybe I'll just include it with the Seniors pages. In the meantime, ..... "oh they'll pass you by, Glory Days."

March 1, 2009
I attended the Wahoo vs. Wahoo Neumann Subdistrict final at Waverly last Thursday night. The Warriors jumped out to a 13 - 2 lead with four 3 pointers, but Neumann climbed back in it as Wahoo went cold the 2nd and 3rd quarters. The Warriors lost by four and the Wahoo fans are once more disappointed that there will be no trip to Lincoln. But that shouldn't diminish the fact that Wahoo still has one of the best basketball programs in the state -- the 2009 season was the 24th consecutive winning season for the Warriors! Neumann plays North Bend for the District title tomorrow night -- had Wahoo won, they would have had a good chance at qualifying for the tournament.

Art Rose stopped by and said hello at the game -- he recently sent me a picture of the 1998 team. I told him it would be awhile before I get to that year, but the picture gave me an idea -- rather than waiting, maybe I'll post a page with the pictures of all the championship teams -- it would be the first page in the "Special Features" section (there's an unused link on the home page). I also want to do a page there of the championship rings that Guy Dunning provided for a picture. So much to do! But I have made progress on 1990, having written about the 1990 state tournament and produced pages about that tournament and the first round game against Schuyler. I can tell I struggled with finding a place to tape from -- I would learn in later years to get some kind of "official" badge that would authorize me to be on the floor. I think that year I eventually forged one so I wouldn't get kicked off the endline. The first three segments of "Chapter 6 -- Back to Back to Back" are titled "party time," "the record," and "hard sell." Hopefully I'll get the chapter completed and posted before the state tournament.

Bryce Cook has indicated that ten of the 1989 players will be able to be at the celebration on March 14th. It should be a great time.

February 18, 2009
Last night I attended the Wahoo girls basketball District game against Ashland played at Waverly High School. The Lady Warriors have had a good year, but alas, they lost and their season is over. It was a reminder of how quickly the season ends and how few teams actually get to experience the state tournament -- even good teams miss out. It puts the experience of the "Glory Days" in perspective -- winning that many District titles was truly amazing.

Maybe being basketball tournament time has inspired me. At any rate, I completed Chapter 5 of my review of the 1990 team. It's the story of the 1990 District Tournament and titled "As Expected" so you can probably guess what that meant. Putting together the videos from that tournament was especially revealing. After the opening blowout of Ashland, Joel and the other "bottom" players saw little action -- understandable as coaches usually keep things a little tighter at tournament time. Jason Glock was his usual phenomenal self, and the others made their normal contributions. What stood out was the play of Mike Dvorak who had a very good tournament, even getting the starting nod in the tournament championship game. I got some good shots of the crowds at Bellevue High School and there is even some video of the coaches showers after the championship. And there is one rarity -- actual video of myself -- somebody else obviously had the camera. I don't get in many of the pictures -- probably a good thing. All of this footage should be usefull when I make the actual highlight video -- it gives a good feeling for the atmosphere of a district tournament. I hope I got some good footage at the state that year, too -- I'm looking forward to looking at those tapes. ..... "oh they'll pass you by, Glory Days."

February 14, 2009
Snowstorms make nice days to stay in and work on the computer. Thus, "The Year -- 1990", Chapter 4 -- "The Journey" has been posted. One page is titled, "a nice accomplishment." It comes from a couple of quotes attributed to Coach Anderson when he talked about the win streak and the Conference Championship. It tells a lot about the mind set of the 1990 team. I still want to get video of Jason Glock's 52 point record, but decided to go ahead and post the chapter and add that video if/when it becomes available. For 1990 I don't have video of all the games, but I do have a good representation. I think there are some good clips included on these pages. I especially like one sequence against Mount Michael with Steve Volin making a pass along the baseline to Jason. Another good sequence is from the Syracuse Conference Championship game when Randy Hoffman gets a steal -- the ball goes to Ryan Eddie, to Glock, and then back to Eddie for the layup. And, there are a few dunks in the highlights. Next I get to work on the District Tournament -- with video from all three games. Should be fun. ..... "oh they'll pass you by, Glory Days."

February 7, 2009
I just finished writing the fourth chapter of "The Year -- 1990" titled, "The Journey." The journey (the regular season) ends the weekend Jason Glock scored his school record 52 points. It's interesting to note that there were many opportunities during 1990 when Glock could have set that record, perhaps scoring even more. Certainly had he played more against Fort Calhoun (either time) that season, he could have at least approached the 50 point level -- in fact, he played less than half of those games. And even in the other blowouts that season, he was often sitting in the third quarter. But in the Schuyler game, Coach Anderson opted to let Glock play into the fourth quarter even with Wahoo leading 76 - 46. Anderson said, "We knew he was close, so we kept him in there." As soon as Glock scored his 50th point, a sub was sent to the bench, but with no dead ball, Glock managed to score another basket before leaving the game. I think this is a hard call for all coaches -- whether to leave a player in a game with a chance to set a record or sub them out when they are close. Certainly the best scenario is when a record is set in the heat of competition. If memory serves me right, that was the situation when Tim Shanahan set the previous record (48). Wahoo was trying to fight from behind to defeat Schuyler at Schuyler -- ultimately losing the game. I'm sure there were those at the time that saw Coach's decision to leave Glock in as evidence of how he rubbed it in to lesser opponents. One factor that night was the absence of Hoffman in the lineup -- it made Glock even more of the focal point of the offense. In my opinion it was the right call. Had Glock remained in the game up until the last minute, I might have a raised eyebrow. But in fact, there was still five minutes left when Glock went to the bench. And it's amazing to me that, with all the high scoring, offensively dominating teams Wahoo has had in subsequent seasons, that record still stands. Alas, I have no video of the game, but am going to try to get a copy of the game tape for use on the web site -- I think that record breaking score should be recorded for posterity. We'll see if I can locate one -- maybe at the anniversary celebration for 1989. ...... "oh they'll pass you by, Glory Days."

February 6, 2009
It's official -- there is a "celebration event" planned to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 1989 State Championship. Bryce Cook has taken charge of the project and hopefully is getting the word out. If you are reading about it here for the first time, note that everyone is invited to the celebration. They will be specially honoring the 1989 team, but if you have been any part of Wahoo basketball over the years (players, fans, parents, siblings, relatives, neighbors, etc.), you are encouraged to attend. I am looking forward to seeing any and all of you. I especially hope the players honored as part of the '88 team last year return. I would like to take advantage of the event to get some material for the web site. The event is scheduled for the Saturday of the State Tournament -- if either of the Wahoo teams make the championship, they will play in the morning. The Class A game will be the 7:00 game and the plan is to have it on the television at the Vet's Club if you are interested in watching. ...... "oh they'll pass you by, Glory Days."

January 25, 2009
I just posted the third chapter of 1990 and I stuck with the title, "Pursuit of Glory." It seems rather jaded to think of 1990 as just another championship, but there was a sense at the time that the title was "expected." Players and coaches continued to relegate the win streak to lesser importance. But I know that somewhere along the line, that pressure of the win streak becomes undeniable.

I did get another "hit" on the guestbook -- Judy Stuckenholtz checked in and I thank her for the response. I'd love to hear from others, but either the guestbook is too inconspicuous, or people are not inclined to make their presence on the site public. Oh well. I did correct one oversight -- when the "Season Summary" pages were made (first page of "The Games" sections) I didn't put a list of games with dates and scores on the page -- I've added those of '88, '89, and '90.

As we get into February, the basketball season will be winding down and I am beginning to anticipate the state tournament. This will be the 20th anniversary of the"richter roar." I am wondering if there will be any retrospect either in the state tournament program or in the newspapers. Last year, WHS honored the 1988 championship team during a high school game. That reunion was probably the impetus for me renewing my efforts on this web site. So far, nothing has been planned for this year. It would be a shame if nothing was done -- if I still lived in Wahoo, I might try to initiate something. In fact, I'd love to have those guys from 1988 back again to get some material for the site. Maybe I'll drop some hints. ...... "oh they'll pass you by, Glory Days."

January 21, 2009
Work proceeds on the 1990 Year - chapter 3, but keeps getting interrupted. This week my excuse is the birth of grandchild #10 -- Kruz Harvey Fiddler. He's got his grandpa's middle name so he should develop into a great basketball player worthy of being mentioned here on the "Glory Days" site. ..... Ahem. Basketball season is in full swing and I was back in the Wahoo gym last week to take some video for the girls team that is currently doing quite well and are in contention to make the state tournament -- maybe even with a District Championship -- something that hasn't been done since the Weyand coached team of 1988 ..... Ahem. It was a little strange being back in the WHS gym as I now feel so disconnected -- the players today were not even in high school when I retired. The boys team is also on a major comeback as they've won four consecutive since that first ever loss to Fort Calhoun. Research on the 1990 team also had a little of a personal turn this past week as I was reading an article in the Wahoo paper about the team's reaching for a 3rd straight Class B title. Coincidentally, the only other team to do that was coached by my dad back in 1938 and he was interviewed for the article. Chapter 3 of 1990 does have a title -- "Pursuit of Glory." That's a "working title." Sometimes I like it and sometimes I think it's a little over the top. But my reflections on the legacy of the "Glory Days" teams has taken on a little bit of a flow -- there was the initial push to get a championship, followed by the challenge (1989) to stay on top and not be a "one hit wonder." And then in 1990 it seems the team became something more than a state champion -- it became a mark of excellence, the standard bearer for an emerging dynasty. In 1991, the team started to become more about "not losing" and the reaction to the championship was one more of relief than celebration. Of course '92 would be the disappointment, the inescapable feeling of failure in spite of such monumental success. '93 would be redemption, '94 Coach Anderson's farewell tour, and '95 the beginning of the Watton era ...... and more thoughts will come. But this thought process has led me to the current impression that the 1990 team was special in its domination of opponents, accomplishments even beyond the state title, and a joyful exlhilaration that would start to diminish the next season as the weight of the winning streak began to take its toll. ...... "oh they'll pass you by, Glory Days."

January 12, 2009
With the basketball season in full swing, part of my time is filled with keeping the "Rankings" current (I post those on the NBDA web site I am responsible for, as well as on the home page of the "Today's Warriors" section of this web site). The current Warrior team has taken some lumps but came back with two big wins this past weekend. Last Tuesday they lost to Fort Calhoun -- I believe that might have been the first time ever the Warriors have lost to Fort Calhoun. But the team won redemption with a victory over #9 ranked Syracuse on Friday night and they raised their record to 4 - 5 and moved up to second place in their subdistrict.

As I work my way through the videotapes of 1990, one challenge is the poor job I did of labeling the tapes. Often times they are tapes that have been taped over -- the first label being crossed out and a new label scribbled in. And sometimes the labels are less than descriptive. And I suspect that some were labeled long after the taping and perhaps some have been labeled with the wrong year. One perplexing development has been my inability to locate footage of the 1990 North Bend game. I know the footage exists because it was used on the original highlight tape. That North Bend game has some bad mojo -- that's the one I cannot find newspaper accounts for either. One thing I did find was some television coverage of the team after the Mount Michael game -- the 10/11 crew came out to practice to interview and take some footage. So it turns out that I do have some tape of a practice session -- but the tape isn't very good quality. It appears this was taped from the television, copied to another tape, and then (copied again) and added to one of the 1990 tapes. But it does provide some potential material -- comments from Coach Anderson, Jason Glock and Ryan Eddie. Maybe I'll use some of that as audio overdub? Be that as it may, work is proceeding on chapter 2 of "The Year, 1990." ...... "oh they'll pass you by, Glory Days."

January 8, 2009
With the Christmas season, there wasn't much progress on the "Glory Days," but I have gotten some work done on the 1990 team description -- the title is "Armed and Dangerous" -- pretty dramatic, huh? And I do make one statement that I shared with Joel the other night that he said might be a little controversial. I have written that "top to bottom, the 1990 team might have been the most talented of the 'Glory Days' teams." But I think the record supports that statement. The starters on that team most often didn't get to play at all in the fourth quarter. And in many cases, the final 4 - 6 minutes saw the freshmen and sophomores on the court. In the second game of the year against Logan View, at the end of the third quarter you see Latham, Dvorak, Hoffman, Jason Glock, and Inbody coming off the court with a 75 - 32 lead. Jeremy, Jeff, Trent, Joel and Ryan started the fourth quarter and Justin would sub in. Only those six played that 4th quarter (verified by that reclaimed scorebook). Those "bottom six" scored 29 points in that fourth quarter with Trent contributing 9. The crowd was enthusiastic as Justin hit two baskets toward the end to push the score to over 100 points. That was one of the downsides to being so good. The underclassmen actually got more playing time that night than even the starters -- they had played at least two quarters (probably three) of the j.v. game and then a whole quarter of the varsity. For the upper classmen nonstarters (Dvorak, Latham, Inbody) it was a double whammy -- they had to wait until the starters gave way to them and then their time got preempted by the j.v.'s. Game nights must have had a frustrating side to them. But as I also will note, the players got to play an awful lot of quality basketball in practice. Quotes from players and coaches reflect on the intensity of the scrimmages and I recall standing in the doorway of the gym, privy to watch as we awaited the girls practice time, and thoroughly enjoying the competition. Those were some of the best games -- wish I had some of that on tape. ...... "oh they'll pass you by, Glory Days."

December 8, 2008
Miracle of miracles! -- the scorebooks from the "Glory Days" have re-appeared. When I began this project in 2005, one of the first resources I sought was the old score books. Coach Scheef had used them extensively to compile his extension of the record book Coach Anderson had begun. After several referals back and forth between Coach Scheef and Coach Watton, it was determined that the books had been trashed. It turns out that Coach Watton still had them stored in his back room -- and he maintains that he knew this all along and cannot figure out how I was so misled. Regardless of the confusion, they have resurfaced and I look forward to using them. They will be especially helpful in clearing up some of the incomplete news reports, like the "missing" North Bend game from 1990. I was able to at least get the accurate numbers for freethrows, fieldgoals, and 3 pt. fieldgoals made for the game, but of course the "attempts" will have to remain estimates. This week also marked the beginning of the '08-'09 season. The Warriors began with two losses to two tough opponents. I have begun posting the District and Conference Rankings on the "Today's Warriors" home page and will post game summaries as they become available. I've also spent some time entering the player statistics for 1990 into the database and will post those soon. Next up for "The Year" is a chapter on the make-up of that 1990 team -- so I'm looking at some video before I start writing. I'm still amazed the video tape has held up as well as it has. Preliminary viewing has even revealed some dunks .... really .... I'm not kidding. ...... "oh they'll pass you by, Glory Days."

December 4, 2008
With all the games from 1990 entered on the database and converted to web pages -- "The Games" section of 1990 is completed! One of the things that leaps out from all those news articles was the dominance of that 1990 team -- 20 point wins were close games. I've also completed the "Introduction" to "The Year" for 1990. As I reviewed the accounts of the games and watched some of the video it brought back some memories that are somewhat conflicting. As related in the "Introduction," one of the story lines for that 1990 team was the issue of "running up the score." The reality was that the 1990 Wahoo starters gave up a lot of playing time due to their dominance. That year I was on one end of that spectrum. I can remember waiting anxiously as the point margin grew, anticipating my son, Joel (a freshman) getting to enter the game. Sometimes it wasn't until the fourth quarter; sometimes it was even in the first half. Sometimes he'd get a few minutes with a few of the upper classmen like Scott Latham or Mike Dvorak, but usually it was with his junior varsity teammates. As noted in the narrative of 1990, that "junior varsity" group often extended the lead in the fourth quarter; and often times that was still against most of the opposing team's starters (left in to try and at least salvage some of their point averages). That was fun to watch for a parent. A few years later I would have the opposite experience -- anxiously watching those point margins grow and hoping Coach Anderson would give the starters a few more minutes. By then I had a much greater empathy for the starters of 1990. And looking back, it might have been hardest on Scott and Mike and maybe even Bernie (Inbody) to some extent as they lost playing time on both ends -- not in as starters, and then subbed for prematurely when the game got "out of hand." I would also note that the issues discussed in the "Introduction" (the win streak, running up the score, competing in Class A) wouldn't go away. Those issues hung around for several more years. Next task is to write about the players on that 1990 team -- that will be a pleasure because it truly was a great group of guys. And of course, the 2008 - 2009 season gets underway tonight. Wahoo plays Bennington. Go Warriors! ...... "oh they'll pass you by, Glory Days."

November 21,2008
I've been working on the 1990 season -- task one being to enter all the statistics and game summaries in a dababase by going through all the old news articles. One problem has arisen as I refer to both the stat booklet provided to the team by Coach Anderson, and the scrapbook Grandpa Tassler did for Joel -- some of the stat lines in the articles are incomplete. Specifically, they sometimes didn't record fieldgoal attempts. When all the data is entered I will need to "estimate" those -- extrapolating the numbers from the season totals that are provided. Also on the down side, the articles from the 1990 season rarely mention the rebound leaders, and almost never the assist or steals leaders. There is a chart in the stat booklet of top rebounding efforts that I am using, but the steals and assists list is for a combination of those stats. And most amazing, there is no article on the final game of the regular season -- a home contest against North Bend. Neither source has one, so I am concluding that the local newspaper did not publish an article!? There was a list of scorers in a box score from a Lincoln paper .
As far as the articles and story of the year itself, I am finding it fascinating -- one forgets exactly how dominating that team was. For one thing, they scored over 100 points six times! Lots of records fell -- I'm sure I'll write about that. And as the win streak extended it started to be mentioned in news articles more and more.
I have decided what I'll focus on for the "Introduction." Here's a trivia question for you -- when the Warriors set the Class B scoring record (130) against Fort Calhoun, who scored that basket? I've got that on tape and the video, and the reaction to the record, will be the focal point of "The Year"'s "Introduction." Two controversies from that season are already becoming apparent -- the "running up the score" issue, and the "All Class Ranking" issue. Fortunately, both Grandpa Tassler and Coach Anderson provided some clips from letters to the editors and news coverage of those issues. Just had to take a break and write this ... now I'll get back to work ... the Warriors are entering District play vs. Ashland. ...... "oh they'll pass you by, Glory Days."

November 15,2008
The '08-'09 basketball season is about to begin and Coach Scheef has agreed to keep me posted on the team's progress -- I'll be posting results and other information in the "Today's Warriors" section. I have archived the '07 - '08 material, so it is still available (accessed from the "Today's Warriors" home page). It seems like the site has kind of bogged down as I've been busy with very important matters (fantasy football!), but I'm ready to get to work on 1990. This past couple of weeks have been a little tough as Judy's Dad passed away on October 30. He was 92 years old and had been dealing with Alzheimer's. Some of the best memories of Melvin are connected to Wahoo basketball -- he attended many of Joel's games and the state tournaments. I especially like a photo I have of him and Dorothy at the state tournament. He continued to follow Joel during his Morningside career, often riding with us to Sioux City -- he was there for Joel's last game, played at UNO. Melvin kept scrapbooks for all the grandkids and all their sports -- I'm sure I'll be using some of that material as I get into the years Joel played (beginning with 1990). When games ended at Morningside, Melvin would always be the first over to the scorer's table to get his printout of the stat pages for Joel's scrapbook. He was a great fan of the Warriors and we miss him. I never knew a man of stronger faith -- he is joyfully with his Lord.
Scott Latham signed in on the Guestbook -- I'm sure he wants me to get on with that "greatest of all seasons," 1990. Okay Scott -- I'll get to work. ...... "oh they'll pass you by, Glory Days."

October 9, 2008
The announcement that the 1988 - 1989 dvd is available was posted today. Now I can move on to 1990. I did get an email last week from Troy Glock indicating he'd been enjoying the site. I wish some of you would use the "Guest Book" -- I guess that's a little too intimidating??? Anyway, Troy indicated he'd be interested in a copy of the dvd, so I'll be getting back to him. Also, Troy indicated he's coaching again this year as they had an "emergency" need at Grand Island Northwest for a girls' basketball coach. Best wishes to Troy. ...... "oh they'll pass you by, Glory Days."

September 22, 2008
The pdf file project developed into more of a task than I foresaw. In trying to make the documents more "presentable," I added cover pages and created "bookmarks" for the documents. I did a pdf for both the 1988 and 1989 teams to put on the 1989 dvd. Each document has the story of "the year," a summary page for each game (the "Games" section of the web site), a chart of games and scores by quarters, player statistics, and the team photo. For the 1989 game summaries, I also pulled pictures from the video footage (small picture and caption for each game page). Now, all I have to do is incorporate these documents into the dvd. Then, it will be on to 1990! ...... "oh they'll pass you by, Glory Days."

September 10, 2008
I've had the dvd done for over a week, but have decided to add to it a pdf file of the material from the website so a person could put it on their computer and have access to the data on the games, etc. So, it's going to take awhile to get that all put together in one pdf document. Guy Dunning brought me his ring collection and I took a scan of it so I will eventually do a "special feature" on those rings. I haven't started on 1991 yet, but will soon. I haven't got much response to the guest book, but am still hoping. ...... "oh they'll pass you by, Glory Days."

August 29, 2008
The 1989 highlight DVD is completed -- now I just need to finish putting together the labels and it will be ready for distribution. I received an email from Bernie Inbody today --

"Thanks for the work you’ve put into this and for sending it over on email. I spent some time with it the other night and plan to more so in the coming days/weeks. I sent it to my dad as well, and I think he’s spent 2-3 hours with it so far. Hope you’re doing well and just wanted to let you know that I appreciate you doing this."

It was great to hear from Bernie and to know that I'm appreciated. It triggered an idea to put a "Guest Book" on the site -- so I searched for a "free guestbook" and found a service at www.a-free-guestbook.com and signed up. It was easy to quickly generate the book -- I'm hoping I get some responses. I also added to the home page the logo of my nephew's web production business -- he is my inspiration and generously provided the domain name for the site. Always looking to improve the site -- if you have some suggestions, SIGN THE GUESTBOOK! ...... "oh they'll pass you by, Glory Days."

August 27, 2008 --
I just got an email from Coach Scheef at WHS indicating he put a link on the Wahoo Schools homepage -- I checked it out and it's not just a link, but a promotional blurb. That was great -- makes me feel real important. As long as I have all the vhs clips digitized on my computer for 1989 I'm putting together a new master highlight (still can't decide whether or not to use "highlight" or the modernized "hilite") video. I created a new "intro" segment and am combining it with the three hilite videos posted on the web site. Of course, the new master is full screen and will be put on a dvd. It's all done and I hope to "render" it today. I'm looking forward to seeing what it looks like on the full screen -- I'm hoping the low quality of some of the original video holds up okay. Then I'll make a disc label, put it in a nice case and make it available. Right now, I think I'll combine the 1988 and 1989 videos on the same dvd as the 1988 is a "limited production" since I didn't have a lot of video available. Also, Guy Dunning is bringing me his collection of championship rings -- I tried photographing them last May, but didn't get the best results, so I'm giving it another shot. I want to make a "Special Features" page on the rings. So I've still got some things to do before I start tackling 1990. (Be patient, Joel.) ...... "oh they'll pass you by, Glory Days."

August 23, 2008 --
Having finally resolved my problems with the 1989 hilite segments, I completed the "Special Features" section for 1989. Well, at least I completed enough to post the pages. I still want to do a separate page on the "richter roar" and am awaiting an opportunity to get a copy of a radio station tape -- Cliff says he has one. I also want to put on that page the photo and plaque presented to members of that team when they were honored by the Nebraska Sports Hall of Fame in 1999. I also finished my "Personally Speaking" page for 1989 -- the place where I indulge myself with personal recollections. At the end of the State tournament tape (the one that didn't get much recorded) I found taping of the pep rally held at school the next week. The girls basketball team put on a skit and I posted that on the page. It's amazing when Amy Peterson actually makes Troy Glock's shot. As I watch it, I wonder if people found it funny at the time, or saw it as a cheezy attempt by us to get in on the boys' glory. I am concerned about people's ability to view the videos (skit and hilites) on these pages as the files are pretty large -- you need to be patient while they load. Also, Joel showed me on his computer that he couldn't get any of the videos to display. If anyone has that problem, I would suggest going to a web site and downloading the most current version of QuickTime. I've been able to display the videos on all the computers I have used. It does take a pretty fast internet connection and reasonable processor -- older computers might have a problem (certainly dial-up connections will not work). With 1989 completed, I will next need to begin work on 1990. First step is to enter all the games on my database -- a somewhat pedestrian task. But when all the years are completed (when will that be?) I'll be able to generate lots of interesting lists -- like all the teams that lost to Wahoo during the decade (+1) and how many times. I wonder what team racked up the most losses?
...... "oh they'll pass you by, Glory Days."

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August 17, 2008 --
There's been a big gap since the last entry and it's obvious I'm having difficulty completing the hilite segments for 1989; that and other things (golf, vacation, fantasy football preparation) have gotten in the way. The 1989 hilite segments present two problems. One is that I have so much video available (8 two hour vhs tapes) that it is hard to condense it down to a size appropriate for posting on the internet. I don't want the size of the file to go over 20 megs (would really prefer around 15 megs). Secondly, there is the nagging problem of the quality of segments I have for the final two games of the state tournament. My current solution is to divide the 1989 hilite into three segments for the web site: Regular Season, District Tournament, and State Tournament. For the most part I am using clips for each of these that were not used in the other pages on the web site. But then I plan on combining all the clips in a new version of a hilite video for 1989 that I will put on dvd (pleanty of room on a dvd for all of it). I have completed the Regular Season and the District Tournament segments. But I know I'm going to struggle with the State Tournament segment because I won't be happy about the quality. But I will persevere. I've thought about posting all the other stuff I have for the 1989 "Special Features" pages, but still think I'll wait until it is all ready -- then I'll be able to proclaim that the 1989 section is complete! ...... "oh they'll pass you by, Glory Days."

June 25, 2008 --
With "The Year 1989" completed and the "Player (statistics)" section posted, I've been working on the "Special Features" section for 1989. Most of that is fairly easy to do, but the biggest project is the highlight video for the year. When I did the one for 1988, I was fairly limited as I didn't have any original footage, just the primitive highlight tape made at the time. In 1989, I actually did quite a bit of my own taping of the games, so I have much more to work with -- I used a lot of it in the clips included with "The Year 1989." But the quality of the taping is still much below today's standard. At the time, I was using a standard vhs camera. The vhs tapes I have kept are actually in pretty good condition, and amazingly (especially after retiring from school and then moving to Lincoln), I still have most of them. They are labeled, but sometmes not very well. There is a "BBall 2" and "District 1 & 2," but I cannot find "BBall 1" -- still looking. And my biggest disappointment is that my taping for the final two games (state tournament), for the most part, did not work -- the tape head was dirty and I got little or no video image. Still, it's amazing that I got some of the things I do have. Former Coach, Mark Watton, commented to me that he couldn't believe I had the video of Ms. Hambleton and Mr. Porter at the community banquet that year. I was surprised to find that footage, too, as it was tacked on to the end of the District Tournament tape. I'll get that video done soon ...... "oh they'll pass you by, Glory Days."

June 13, 2008 --
That's kind of an intimidating date to begin this "blog": Friday the 13th. But you've got to start somewhere, right? I am nearly finished writing "The Year 1989" -- the second year of the "Glory Days" and it will all get posted in a few days. Of course, that was a really fun one to work with -- it's the year of the "Richter Roar." I must confess that I'm still bewildered when I watch the end of regulation in that game. For all of you who have tried to describe those events to others over the years, you'll soon be able to refer them to the web site and they can watch it happen.
Watching the videos of that year, I've been struck by several things. The first one will probably jolt you too -- the short shorts the guys were wearing. I'm sure their kids will enjoy that! Another thing that leaped out at me was how young they look. After seeing them in their adult years, I guess I've forgotten that these were 16 - 18 year olds back then. The sophomores especially look young -- were Bernie and Ryan promoted in grade school and were really only 11 when they were sophomores? Well, I know that's not true since they were classmates of my daughter. Another striking thing from the video that I'll have to reserve judgement on until I watch some of the later years' video is the size of the crowds. My memory has that gym almost always full when those Warrior teams played. But maybe that was just in the big games. In many of the videos of the 1989 year, you can see lots of room in the bleachers. Not the case in the Yutan game (at Yutan), but certainly the case of the 100 point game at home vs. Ashland. Anyway, .... COMING SOON -- "The Year 1989" ........"oh they'll pass you by, Glory Days."