A ‘Desperation Long Shot’ Butch Will Never Forget

  My wife and I attended the North Montgomery vs. Western Boone boys basketball game recently . . . held at the Thorntown gym. It brought back memories of the time I played there for the Darlington Indians in 1965.

This time around, we witnessed Charger star Kelby Harwood score the 1,000th point of his high school career, which is a great accomplishment. Another memorable moment came with North trailing by 3 points with just 3 seconds to go. The Chargers had the ball at the opposite end of the floor. The ball went to guard Cameron Enlow, who took four or five steps and hurled it from the way beyond the center line . . . SWOOSH . . . nothing but net, and the game was tied. The crowd went wild! Unfortunately, with three starters having fouled out in regulation, North lost in the overtime. But it was one of the most exciting games we witnessed all year.

  It is always a thrill to see a player make one of those desperation long shots. They just don’t happen that often. I’ve witnessed perhaps three or four during all of these years.  But the one I remember most was when I was a sophomore in high school. My team was playing the Turkey Run Warriors at home. No one on our squad topped six feet in height. I was a forward, averaging 10 points a game. Our two leading scorers were senior guard Bob Hole and junior guard Joe Mahoy, who each averaged 12 points. At halftime, the Warriors led 33-29, but Joe had a hot hand in the third quarter and we surged ahead 47-39 going into the final frame. However, Turkey Run made a comeback in the last quarter and went into the lead 59 to 58 with 30 seconds to go. With the clock winding down, Joe got trapped with the ball, threw it to me, and I sunk a 20-foot jump shot to put us ahead with just four seconds on the clock. When Turkey Run called a time-out, there was one second on the clock. My team, along with the Darlington crowd, knew there was no way that the opposing team could go the entire length of the floor and make a basket with only one second left.

    Emerson Mutterspaugh was our coach. He told us to set up defense at the half-court line. I looked over at the Turkey Run team in their huddle. Their coach was talking to the boy I had been guarding, and two other team members were patting him on the back. I told my coach that I believed that boy was going to receive the inbound ball and shoot, but he said not to worry . . . “Just let him shoot . . . He can’t make it . . . Just position yourself at half-court.”

   I thought that perhaps it would be wise just to have someone guard that player, and at least put some pressure defense on him, but I never said a word.

   I should have. The Turkey Run player received the inbound pass, took two steps, and threw the ball with one hand from the free throw line from the opposite end . . . and banked it in as the buzzer sounded.  Warriors-61 . . . Indians-60. The Turkey Run crowd whooped and hollered with joy, and two of their players hoisted the shooter on their shoulders. Our fans were stunned. Then they began yelling at the timekeeper, a Darlington teacher, because the final buzzer did not go off with zero seconds on the clock. As it turned out, Turkey Run actually had two seconds to use. When the clock hit zero time left, there was another second before the final buzzer sounded on the automatic timer. That poor teacher had no control over the clock’s buzzer. The referees agreed. The game was over. We lost . . . again.

   There are exciting moments in sports which you will always remember . . . A long desperation shot which hits the basket is a prime example. The same can be said of those successful “Hail Mary” passes that win football games. Both are a combination of skill and luck. I have also learned that in both sports and in life, sometimes you win, and no matter how hard you try . . . sometimes you lose . . . But it’s a heck of a lot more fun to win than it is to lose!

John “Butch” Dale is a retired teacher and County Sheriff. He has also been the librarian at Darlington the past 36 years, and is a well-known artist and author of local history.