Catching Up With Coach Dave Nicholson

It’s said that laughter is the best medicine. Heck, I’m no doc and I didn’t even stay at some well-known hotel chain last night . . . but I’ll tell you that I believe with my whole heart and soul that’s true.
My dear Mom, God rest her soul, loved to have fun. She had one of those infectious giggles that could quickly grow into a full-fledged laugh. It usually took along anyone who was in the room. It might start as one giggle, but pretty soon everyone was in on it.

Mom was diagnosed with a terminal illness in 1986 and given six months. She passed away in 2000. Yup, do the math. She always told me that being positive and having a sense of humor would have more to do with it than anything else.

I believe.

Not sure if I ever laughed so much as I did one summer back in the mid-1980s. That’s when a young sports writer had a Saturday morning golf date with two folks from Southmont – Superintendent Bob Tandy and basketball coach Ron Henricks. We’d meet at Crawfordsville Muni around 7 a.m. on Saturday and play at least nine holes.  The number of times I doubled over, laughing until tears came to my eyes, was at least twice that.

If you knew either Tandy or Henricks, you understand. Henricks was an outstanding basketball coach, and knows how to tell a story. But he was out of his league when it came to Tandy’s wit and humor.

For example, we were standing on the tee box waiting for Ron to hit. Just as he started to bring the club back Tandy, in a whisper loud enough for Ron to hear, “have you ever seen a shorter backswing in your life?”

Followed five seconds later by, “Well, I guess if that’s all the farther you’re going to hit it you don’t need much of a backswing.”

I hadn’t thought about Bob Tandy for years (he passed away in 2000, four days apart from when my Mom went). His name came up during a recent conversation with retired Hall of Fame basketball coach Dave Nicholson.

“Bob Tandy hired me for my first varsity job,” Dave told me. “I was in my second year out of Indiana State and my wife Julia was teaching at Brook High School way up in northern Indiana. I got the job as the JV coach and after that year I sent out some applications. Bob Tandy called and we talked. I really don’t know if he would have hired me but he needed two teachers in business and English. I taught business and my wife taught English.”

Tandy brought Dave to Montgomery County to coach at New Ross.

“I didn’t even know if there was a boy in the school,” Dave said. “I walked into study hall the first day, and there sat a 6-7, 6-5 and 6-2. Well, I thought we might have a chance.”

They did indeed. After a two-year stint with an overall 21-17 record, the coaching seat at Darlington opened up.

“I inherited some really good players,” Dave recalled. Nicholson led Darlington to a total varsity record of 46-2, including two undefeated seasons.

Back in those days, the varsity coach also coached the JV team. It too went undefeated one season – and darn near did it twice.

“Gary Dale burned his hand and I didn’t know if he would be able to play (in the varsity game),” Dave said. “So I went to our best JV player who was Terry Cain and told him I was only going to play him two quarters in the JV game because we might need him to play if Gary couldn’t. Well, Gary had a great game and the varsity won easily. The JV lost by one because I held Terry out. We could have had a perfect season if I hadn’t done that.”

In his two years with the Indians, they won both county tourneys and did not lose a regular season game.

Dave would go on to more coaching greatness, turning around a downtrodden Noblesville program and leading them to eight sectional titles in 16 years. He compiled an overall 401-172 record. He is an Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame member, won 16 coach of the year honors, coached an Indiana All-Star and NBA player, won conference titles in five different conferences and even went on to be the president of the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association.

“If it hadn’t been for Darlington, I don’t know if I would have done anything,” he said. “I have great memories from my time there and think often about them. I had the stone in my Hall of Fame ring colored red,” he added with more than a little pride.

He said he still keeps in touch with several of his former players, including Gary Dale and Rich Douglas among others.

And it all started with an interview with Bob Tandy. Now that’s something to smile about.

Two cents, which is about how much Timmons said his columns are worth, appears periodically on Wednesdays in The Paper. Timmons is the publisher of The Paper and can be contacted at ttimmons@thepaper24-7.com.