High School Basketball - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

High School Basketball

Congratulations to Loramie girls and Botkins boys for winning state basketball championships. What an accomplishment for both teams as well as a testament to the Shelby County Athletic League and Shelby County schools in general.

The long history of the athletic programs in the SCAL schools originated for the most part during the Great Depression when the federal government established the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and hired unemployed workers to build infrastructure projects like schools, libraries, roads and bridges. It was during this time that many of the Shelby County schools were built or expanded to include gymnasiums. Those old cracker box gyms written about in this previous blogpost provided the foundation for the time-honored athletic success of the SCAL.

Ft. Loramie's basketball program officially started when their old school pictured on the left with the fire escape was expanded with WPA-built classrooms and gymnasium on the right that opened in 1935. Altogether, the WPA built or expanded over 9000 school buildings and other infrastructure projects across the country, employing over 3.5 million people.

Prior to that time, I recall my dad telling about playing other teams from around the area in about 1930. They played in the upper level of Brucken’s Café and those initial games eventually led to the creation of Ft. Loramie’s basketball program and eventually the Shelby County Athletic League. After a recent meal at Brucken’s, my brother and I, along with our sons, climbed up to the Brucken’s upper level to see the setting for ourselves and to share the story with our sons. There were a lot of cracker box gyms prevalent back in the day, but upstairs at Brucken’s literally takes the cake!

The Shelby County Athletic League is very special. As evidence, here’s an impressive list of every Ohio state champion from the SCAL over its long history, starting out with the Russia Boys baseball in 1971:

Click To Expand

A few final points, the Pleiman boys, who starred in the Botkins state championship run, have Ft. Loramie roots!! Also, my niece, Lauren Francis, was a key member of the 2013 3200 meter relay State Championship team. As a member of the self-proclaimed inaugural County golf league, I’m still waiting patiently for a golf state championship for SCAL. What do you say, Ross Fiessinger? Learn from your grandpa; he’s the best!

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