That singular season
Many years from now, after the story is told and re-told, and never gets old, don't be surprised to hear everyone in town claiming that he or she also was there in the stands Saturday, March 10, 2007, at Hutchinson Sports Arena, dressed in a gold T-shirt with a big letter H over his or her heart, as their hometown Lady Trojans defeated Salina Sacred Heart, 50-31, to win the Kansas State High School Activities Association Class 3A Girls' Basketball Championship.
Perhaps if we hear and re-hear the story enough times, maybe someday those of us who missed it will be able to convince others that, yes, of course, we were there, in gold, eye-witnesses ourselves.
You may want to save your gold shirt, because Disney might want you to be an extra in a movie we plan to write about the 2006-07 season. First, we'll have to convince them that the season's story has a special message for everyone.
And we think it does.
It's a story about a group of All-American girls who grow up playing basketball together and come to high school with big dreams, but then are abandoned by two coaches in as many seasons.
As the oldest of the bunch enter their senior year, when no replacement coach can be found, they are shocked and dismayed to learn that their coach will be none other than the guy in the suit and tie, old Mr. Honeck, school principal.
The players wrestle with their attitudes. That life isn't fair; that grown-ups always let us down. But, as it turns out, this wasn't one of those times. Not by a long shot.
As the season unfolds, the players discover, to their delight, that old Mr. Honeck was more than just a suit and tie guy; he also knows a thing or two or three about hoops, and is pretty cool.
There wasn't a lot of off-the-court drama on the team this season, because Honeck let it be known from the get-go that he simply wasn't going to tolerate any outside (read parental) interference.
No matter who played or didn't play, or who was the star or not the star, his goal was to make the season as memorable as possible for every member of the squad.
High school basketball should be an end in itself, he said. Few players ever move on to the next level, so for most players this is as high as they'll ever go.
His goal was to create an atmosphere in which his players could relish every minute of the season, because for all but very few, when it's over, it's over; and there isn't any more.
Prior to Honeck, recent Lady Trojan seasons had been marred by delusional moms and dads who made life miserable for coaches and players because they were somehow convinced that their daughters could become college players if the coach gave them more playing time.
These parents sat in the stands with notepads, keeping track of the number of shots the other players on the team were missing, and mistakes they making, just to make a case for their kid. It was sick.
But in stepped Honeck, whose livelihood had depended on recruiting great high school players; and who knows that very few players who are good enough to make it at any level of college basketball come from small towns, such as Hillsboro.
And so, he told his girls that that was that, and this was it, and to go make the most of it. And they did.
They really, really did.
An unnamed official wrote the following game summaries for the high school sports history books, and posted them at the tournament web site:
In the first game of the state tournament last Thursday, Hillsboro senior JuliAnne Chisholm had a terrific all-around game leading the fourth-seed Trojans to a 54-39 quarterfinal victory over fifth-seed Garden Plain.
Chisholm led the Lady Trojans with 14 points, and had five of Hillsboro's nine blocked shots. She also had four rebounds, two assists and four steals.
Junior Amy Neufeld had nine points, while senior Tina Frick and freshman Dakota Kaufman had eight points each for the Trojans.
The victory earned Hillsboro a spot in the semifinals against top-seeded undefeated Neodesha, on Friday.
Hillsboro dominated the much-anticipated match-up, 57-30. Chisholm led the Trojans with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Frick had 11 points and five rebounds.
The win earned Hillsboro a spot in the championship game against Salina Sacred Heart on Saturday.
With the bleachers across the way filled with what looked to him like a yellow wall of Trojan fans, Honeck encouraged his girls to seize the moment, and turned them loose to play the game of basketball.
From the first possession, Hillsboro took the lead and kept the lead for the remainder of the game.
At one time Sacred Heart trailed the Trojans by 20 points. Hillsboro was led for the third night in a row by Chisholm who had 17 points and 14 rebounds.
The Trojans were able to hold Sacred Heart's leading scorer to only three points.
Hillsboro was crowned 3A State Champions with a victory of 50-31 over Sacred Heart.
What wasn't written in the headlines or broadcast on the TV news was that Honeck made sure every girl on the team played in every sub-state and state tournament game. Their names will be in the record books forever:
Kassidi Luthi, Amanda Faber, Candace Weinbrenner, Hannah Marsh, Samantha Heinrichs, Samantha Soyez, JuliAnne Chisholm, Dakota Kaufman, Tina Frick, Amy Neufeld, Lora Andrews, and Megan McCarty.
While it's unlikely that Honeck will coach the Hillsboro girls again next season, the state's writer was inspired to write about Hillsboro, "With many young players, there is hope in the future for a return to the state tournament."
As the search begins for yet another coach to lead the Hillsboro Lady Trojans, we hope those who were there, and those who weren't but will someday claim that they were, will tell their children and their children's children about that singular season, when a guy in a suit and tie taught us all what it really means to play high school basketball.
— GRANT OVERSTAKE
