Basketball- Senior Year- Tournament Time

We played in two tournaments - Abilene and the Fort Worth Lions Club tournaments. We had an invitation to play in the Arlington Classic at UTA but it was the same weekend as the Abiliene tournament. Since that was our only out of town opportunity the team voted to play in Abilene.

North Side didn't play in the tournament this year, so, instead of taking a bus, we drove in 3 players' cars and Coach Howerton's car. I decided I wanted to make the all-tournament team and the way to do that was score a lot of points, even though that wasn't my strength or my role on the team.

Our opening game was against Lubbock Monterrey. They were one of the better West Texas teams and won their district. We lost by 4 or 5 points and I scored 15. I also took a lot of bad forced shots and cost us several quality offensive possessions. It was the kind of game that the stats might get me an all-tournament vote but it wasn't winning basketball. In the second game we played Haltom. They ran a full court press the whole game. They also had a guard who was a friend of mine from RA basketball who would jump in front of you and draw a charge. The way things are called today it would probably be called a blocking foul on him. Anyway, our team played poorly and I was atrocious. I didn't score a single point and missed several shots. I wasn't taking wild forced shots, but I wasn't making the shots I was shooting. So much for all-tournament and I lost my starting job for the last game of the tournament. I didn't play at all in the first half but played quite a bit in the second half. I went back to playing the way I was expected to play, scored 4 points, played good defense, didn't force shots, and our team won. I learned a lesson that is as good in life as it was in basketball: Don't try to be something you're not. Do what you can do and do it well. That will make you and your team better.

I mentioned the private cars to tell two stories about them. First, after the game against Monterrey David Lebeouf, the team manager, and Dwight Mitchell, a cheerleader, took David's Mustang and drove to Mexico. They had just enough time to get there and turn around and come back. They drove into the motel parking lot just before we were to leave for our Saturday morning game. No purpose to the trip, they just did it because they could. Dumb!

After the Riverside game we were supposed to meet at a particular restaurant for dinner. Coach gave us the name and said to meet him there in 30 minutes. I was in a car driven by Kim Riddle. Also in the car were Don Groody and Jimmy Swanson. Kim had a Chevy Impala with a big V-8 engine. Following us to the restaurant was Lebeouf with Allen Stanford, a little bitty sophomore kid with the big black plastic rimmed glasses that were the style in that day who was a team manager, and someone else. When we got to the restaurant no one was there. We found out there were three locations for that particularly named restaurant. We looked at the food, it was a cafeteria, and decided not to eat there. We also decided not to try to find the "right" restaurant and figured we'd find something to eat on the way home.

Abilene was 150 miles from Fort Worth and there was no I-20. You had to go through each town and most of the road was two lane highway. LeBeouf and Riddle decided to race home. Even worse, they decided to drink beer while they raced home. The only guys not drinking were the little manager and me. Riddle had the speedometer pegged a 130, that was as high the the speedometer went, and we were still gaining speed. Lebeouf passed us, probably going 135-140. The manager's eyes were as big as saucers in the back seat as they passed. Ahead of us on the highway the road turned to the left and went up a hill. An 18-wheeler was ahead of us. Lebeouf turned off his headlights and "snuck up" on the 18-wheeler. As he started to pass him he flipped on his lights. You could tell the trucker's startled reaction by the way his truck moved momentarily from side to side. We slowed down to 70-80 to go through the towns. Somewhere along the way we stopped at a roadside cafe and had chicken fried steak and all the trimmings. We arrived in Fort Worth 2 hours after leaving Abilene. Take out the 30 minutes for dinner and we made the 150 miles in 1.5 hour, an average speed of 100mph. It was crazy and I'm glad I only experienced it once. I wouldn't want to do it again. We were lucky we weren't killed.

The second tournament was the West Side Lions tournament. We played Lake Worth in the first game and crushed them. It was a total mismatch and everyone on our roster played. I only played the first quarter and scored 2 points. Most of the starters only played the first half. Worley wasn't having a good shooting day and Coach Howerton left him in into the 3rd quarter so that he could get close to his normal game average. Still, he only scored 8 points. The second game was a rematch against Haltom. This time we handled the press a lot better. We also did a better job of avoiding the charge calls. However, once we were going down the court on a fast break. I had the ball near half court and saw Hall open on the side near the free throw line. I also saw the Haltom guy setting up to take a charge. I passed down to Hall and stepped to my right to avoid the charge, but the guy slid over another step, too. I slammed him hard with my left elbow and forearm into the stomach and he crumpled to the floor. They called a foul on me, but it should have been a block. They had to help the Haltom guy off the court. When he came back he didn't try to take any more charges. We won and and I scored 8-10 points.

The 3rd game was against IM Terrell. This was the first year of intergration, although we had played them in a tournament the previous year. They were in a different zone from us in district so this would be the only time we played them unless we met for the district championship playoff. They had several of their key players back from the previous year. They didn't get to do their dunking routine because of the rule change outlawing dunks, but they still all had to be able to dunk in order to make the team. We played a 2-3 zone and really sagged on their big guy, Lee Shaw, a 6'4" guy who could really jump. We invited the guards to shoot the 15' jumper. While they missed some, they also made a bunch.

My first shot early in the first quarter rattled in and out from the top of the key. I wouldn't miss again from the field until my last shot of the game. Later in the quarter I made a 15' jumper and then, as time was running out in the quarter, I made a 25' jumper. Nothing but net!

In the second quarter I made another basket and was open for a 20 footer near the end of the quarter. Worley was determined to take the last shot and was trying to get free even though he was being double teamed. They poked the ball behind him and I was able to run over and retrieve it about 30 feet from the basket with a second on the clock. I jumped and shot, nothing but net! We went into halftime tied or ahead by one or two. Shaw had 4 fouls on him and we were in an excellent position to win. For the quarter we had shot 50%. Terrell had shot 80%. We had no turnovers and had allowed almost no offensive rebounds. That's why we were still ahead even though they were shooting such a high percentage.

In the third quarter is was still a close game. After a foul call on them, a double cup full of ice came flying onto the court from high in the stands and hit just a few feet in front of me at mid-court. At least it wasn't a whiskey bottle like they'd thrown the year before against Paschal, but the damage was done. The refs were now scared. I kept setting up in front of Shaw and let him run over me but they wouldn't call the 5th foul on him. Riddle fouled out midway in the third quarter. Shaw could do whatever he wanted and no foul was called. I still hadn't missed a shot since the first one and with three seconds to go in the 3rd quarter it was our ball out of bounds near half court and we were ahead by one. I made Worley throw it in to me. Standing in the corner of the halfcourt line and the sideline I took the inbounds pass and heaved a shot toward the basket, off the glass and in! We were ahead by three. I had made last second shots at the end of each quarter from successively further distances - 25', 30', and half court.

The fourth quarter continued with the refs afraid to make a call against Terrell. I was really tired. I played the whole game with no substitution. I was fouled once and had trouble shooting the free throws because I was so tired. I should have called time out so we could rest. Terrell had rotated 8-10 players in so they were much fresher in the 4th quarter. They got ahead of us. Without Riddle in for us they were getting offensive rebounds and scoring. We were get one shot and that was it. I turned the ball over on a poor pass to Hall and then missed a shot from the side. They ended up winning by 6. In the last minute they finally called the 5th foul on Shaw but the game was already over. The refs came into our locker and apologized after the game. They said they were scared.

In the Fort Worth Star Telegram story of the game the headline was "Terrell holds off hot shooting Highlanders". If you looked at the stats they shot a much higher percentage, ours were just from further away. The story also read "Gary" Goodyear did this and that. Bob Hood, the sportswriter, knew my brother Gary's name from football and just assumed it was G Goodyear instead of C Goodyear. He made it up later in the season by featuring me in a 1/4 page story with picture.

In the last game of the tournament we played Arlington Heights and beat them by 30 points. Again, even though I was shooting and scoring well Worley hogged the ball. On one 2 on 1 fastbreak he wouldn't throw me the ball. Finally, he threw a behind the back pass below my knees. In full running stride I couldn't reach the ball and kicked it out of bounds. Despite the 2 point opening game, I averaged 10 points for the tournament. I played well and I played within myself. More importantly, the team won.

We either played in another tournament that I forgot about or we played another game in the Lions Club tournament because we played Paschal. Like Terrell, they were in another zone for district play but we played them in a tournament game. We drilled them, beat them by 10 or more but they played the whole game at a slow, slow pace. We were running a 2-3 zone defense and they would simply hold the ball out front. They wouldn't try to penetrate. There was no shot clock so they weren't doing anything illegal, just boring. Charlie Turner was their coach and he was a strict disciplinarian. Anyway, that's what I remember of the tournaments. Next post, district play.