Fouled Out: Junior, Senior Year

In 11th grade, I was a starter for the JV team and on a few occasions I was allowed to dress for the varsity team. Usually at half-time for the varsity team, the head Coach Dale Batzel would give me and Ronald Steele the nod to go dress for the second half. Those were the days that I wanted our varsity team to have a great lead by half time!

My senior year was extra special. I was five-foot-ten and 155 pounds. A thin, lanky fellow, with a big smile. The 1968-69 basketball season was off to a poor start as our tall man and center Tom Beach had a shoulder injury during the football season and to make matters worse, the football team didn’t win a game that fall.

Well, we started out with a win in the first game but then lost the next seven games in a row. After Christmas, Tom was able to join us. We changed in many ways. We used a full court press, I was on the opponent who ever brought the ball in and we would quickly double team whoever the ball was passed to. This was a successful strategy.

The big difference was I was now assigned to guard the opponent’s high scorer. Most teams had only one high scorer or starman. They would be averaging over 30 points a game. I was trained and taught to be close man-to-man with that top scorer. I was to keep within a hand reach. Keep one eye on the top gun and the eye on the ball. The other four team mates made a zone box defense and limited any other offense moves.

The opponents were so used to giving the top scorer the ball, that they would try to pass him the ball, I would intercept it and a fast break was on. A full-court press followed the score and if the double team didn’t harvest the ball, then I was man-to-man with the high scorer again. The most points ever scored by a player while I guarded him was six points. He was a good foul shooter. Some never scored a point at all. We worked as a team and won. Time after time Coach Batzel said “To be on my man as close as deodorant!”

My problem was our opponents would set up picks, blocks, and occasionally hold me to try and get the ball to their top scorer. This resulted in me, running into opponents, trying to squeeze through two guys, or even tripping which resulted in being called for fouling the opponent.

In basketball, the foul refers to illegal personal contact or unsportsmanlike conduct on the court or sidelines of a game. Most player fouls involve contact that impedes an opposing player’s gameplay. Well, the fact was usually the opponents were impeding my gameplay. Coach Batzel’s strategy worked well as a defense, except that I got called for a lot of fouls. In fact I fouled out of more games than anyone ever had according to the score keeper. The good thing was that I usually fouled out in the fourth quarter and by then we were well ahead of the opponent.

Editor’s Note: This is the fourth installment in Ritchey’s recollections. The Herald will publish the last installments in the next two editions.