| Soon, it will be so-long to Marcus, Zach, Chris, Derek, Shawn And Goob.
By Gaylen Duskey SPORTS EDITOR
realfang@citlink.net
As entertainer Bob Hope used to sing, ⦠"thanks for the memories â¦"
Tonight, when the Red Devils play Richwood, is Senior Night for the Calhoun
County basketball team. It's the night when the school and fans
honor all the guys who have been with the program for all these years.
I've had the pleasure of watching these guys grow the last few years and tonight
will be a bittersweet moment.
While its good to have the young men go on to bigger and better things in their
lives - I hope everyone gets to live their dream exactly as
they dream it - it is also sad because I shall miss watching them play.
Let's take a look at the graduating seniors:
Marcus Davis: I used to think that Phil D'Orazio was the greatest player in Calhoun
High School history. Now I am not so sure. Marcus
does a lot of things that Phil did not do because Marcus is a different kind of
player - he's bigger and stronger. Marcus can be a scoring
machine as evidenced by his 44 points against Herbert Hoover in the Red Devils'
last game. But there's more to his game than that. He's an
outstanding rebounder and a good ball handler ⦠or, as they say, an all-around
player. I was sitting at the scoring table talking to a guy from
Herbert Hoover Tuesday night and mused, "I hate to see him graduate." The guy
from Herbert Hoover simply said: "I can see why."
Zach Houchin: One of the big reason Marcus scores so many points is that
Zach gets him the ball. As the point guard on the basketball
team Zach assumed the exact same roll he had on the football team - the
quarterback. Zach isn't the fastest guy or the greatest shot on the
court, although he does fine he is fine in both categories, but he IS (with a capital I
and S) the floor general. When he has the ball, it is his
show.
Chris Sampson: Who knows how good he could have been had he been able to
play his entire senior season. He could start - and maybe
should start - but he is so valuable off the bench when he comes into the game
because he is a spark for the Red Devils. He's very quick and
very athletic and when he's on very dangerous from the field.
Derek Roberts: For a relatively short guy Derek has been an awfully good guy
around the basket. Somehow he has managed to snare an
awful lot of rebounds away from guys who often stand a half-foot taller. Another
thing Derek brings to the court is extreme quickness. I
enjoyed watching him in football ⦠I enjoy watching him in basketball too.
Shawn Hillegas: They call him "Little" because he is. On a "tall" day he may hit 5-4.
But he does so many things right that his lack of
height has never been a problem. He's a great press breaker when handling the
ball and a tremendous pest when the other team has the ball.
He's also not a bad shot. One of the plays I will remember for a long time was
when he sat a pick for Roane County's Derek Hardman. Shawn
bounced off him like a pinball off a cushion and Hardman broke out into a big grin.
But Shawn had done exactly what he needed to do at the
time ⦠he freed a Calhoun player up for a shot.
Ryan 'Goob" Fitzwater: How can I say I consider him my hero? I mean I am a
56-year-old man and he is a 17-year-old kid but his life the
past three years has been nothing short of heroic to me. He was crushed in a
horrible farm accident that nearly killed him. They said he might
not walk, but he did. I still get chills and choke up a bit when I remember the
homecoming game with Wirt County a couple of years ago when
he got out of his wheelchair and walked through the tunnel made for the football
team. I was not the only one standing on my feet cheering
and wiping back tears ⦠there were a sea of people doing that. They said he
would not be able to run again, but he ran well enough to play
sports. He played a lot of football - starting on many occasions - and has seen
quite a bit of basketball action. Who knows how good he may
have been had it not been for the injury? It's sad it happened. But his courage and
perseverance taught us much, much more than any mere
high school athlete ever could.
Guys, thanks for the memories.
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