The phone rings. I pick up. “Zack, this is The Goob.” The Goob, aka Daniel Johnston, is my fellow AV Panther from the old days. We were on the baseball team in the 1982-83 school year that had a miraculous comeback against Middletown to clinch a share of the old Northwestern League Championship. The only problem is that the triangular pennant we earned is not in its rightful place on the gym wall with the other felt totems of Panther glory. In fact, the pennant has never been on the wall, which I chalked up to typical bureaucratic incompetence.
But the plot thickens. With three sons blessed with their dad’s athletic ability, the Goob still visits the schools we played against. On every enemy campus he makes a point to look at the championship pennants on their gym walls, which leads to this startling discovery: two schools have baseball championship flags from the 1982-83 season: Point Arena and Geyserville. Point Arena sounds right to me, but I have difficulty believing that Geyserville shared the crown with us; the Broncos were okay in basketball, but baseball? I smell a rat. So does the Goob, who proved his sleuthing skills by sending a cell phone picture of our missing flag hanging in the Broncos’ gym. This is an outrage.
Here’s what the Goob remembers about that Panther squad: “We won in Middletown, which tied us for first place and the league championship. And I have the patch on my varsity jacket to prove it. Willie Prather was on the team, with Cindy Sturmur in right field, Bill Teague, Jerry Tolman, Matt Melvin, Eric Thomasson, Rick Wallace, me [the Goob], you [Zack Anderson], Rob Richards and Mike Haskins. Jim Mena was our coach.” I believe the Goob also mentioned Dan Baker, but obviously my detective skills are not what they once were.
I called Jerry Tolman and told him that Geyserville might have the pennant that we won. He wasn’t as offended, saying that he remembered Geyserville wasn’t horrible, and had a good player named Joe Lopez (whom the Goob also recalled). Jerry said a coin flip determined which NWL team went to the playoffs, and we lost. He also remembers the improbable comeback against Middletown.
I called myself, and after weeks of trying, finally got myself on the line. I remember the come-from-behind victory at Middletown, and our talented young woman in right field, Cindy. I believe Matt Robinson was on the team. Matt preferred to be called “Dunehare, Duke of Darkness,” and lived in Navarro across from Floodgate. Any time someone said, “Jesus Christ!” or “God” Matt would reply, “You called?” I remember we tied for the championship, but I thought Potter Valley or Point Arena went on to the playoffs. I remember the kind and generous Mrs. Crabtree of Ukiah being that long ago weekday afternoon game, because she was a big supporter of Jerry’s. Mrs. Crabtree is of Native American descent and I recall fondly playing in Indian basketball tournaments with Jerry and Tony Piver, since I could pass for a Pomo or Wylacki, minus the survival skills.
If anyone has information on the 1982-83 NWL baseball season, the missing pennant, or what really happened that day in Middletown, please contact the Goob or myself via the AVA. The Panther Detective Squad is on the case.
After speaking to the Goob, several other painful memories come bubbling like stinky Texas crude to the parched prairie of my exploited consciousness. Or, to take an unappetizing metaphor further, the 1982-83 Boonville sports year was for me like a mediocre Chinese buffet, heavy on the sweet and sour. Not only was the ignominy of mounting one of the greatest baseball comebacks in history that no one (including the participants) remembers, that year witnessed an even more brutal heartbreak on the gridiron.
There we were, in the crisp fall of 1982, only a few minutes away from beating Potter Valley at the Fairgrounds, and clinching the crown. Win and we’re in, as they say.
But on a fourth and goal from about the AV 35 yard line, and cornerback Rob Richards failed to follow his man in motion. The abandoned Bearcat receiver got loose for a deep pass and, worse, scored the go-ahead touch down. We tried to come back, but our offense was a little unsophisticated, shall we say. Basically it was Jerry Tolman runs, Jerry Tolman hands off to me, Jerry Tolman passes to me. Our running attack followed the blocking of tackle Olie Erickson and guard Brian Roberts, who switched sides of the line depending on, you guessed it, which direction the play was going. Despite our Boonville version of the West Coast offense, we had enough talent to hold our own, thanks to superb coaching by Deputy Squires and Jim Miller, and a hard-hitting defense featuring Jerry, Olie, Brian, myself, and the hard-nosed Brent Roberts, who had cut his very sharp teeth on Brad Shear’s Pop Warner powerhouses in Ukiah before donning the brown and gold.
Trailing with only a couple minutes left, we needed 80 yards to score. Jerry began to move the team, but two or three Potter Valley defenders tackled me before I could get off the line as a receiver. No flags. Despite the justified screaming of Coach Deputy Squires on the sidelines, the muggings continued. Jerry managed to get the ball into Potter territory but the clock cruelly expired, and thus depriving us of another felt pennant. I still shiver at the memory of an irate Deputy Squires pacing outside the coach’s office in the boy’s locker room, still demanding an explanation for the lack of officiating. But the scared referees kept their eyes down and hurriedly changed into their street clothes. Coach Squires was a high school football legend in Potter Valley back in his own day, and the game meant a lot. Especially galling is the fact that we had practiced Potter’s receivers going in motion all week. But funny things happen out there under the lights. Still, I get sick just thinking about it. I don’t remember everyone else who was on that team, so forgive me if I leave someone out by accident. But there was Jerry Tolman, Olie Erickson, Brian Roberts, Brent Roberts, Matt Melvin, Matt Robinson, Richard Waczack, Dan Baker, Kevin Wallace, Rob Richards, Autry Dean, and myself. The Goob might have been on that team, but I believe he was the star QB of the jayvees that year.
Which brings us to basketball, our best sport when I was in high school. We had won the Redwood Classic in 1981-82, on a strong team featuring Jerry Tolman, G.P. Price, Richie Wellington, Brian Roberts, Jeff Burroughs, Olie Erickson, and myself. It was the first time a Boonville team had won the Classic since Gene Waggoner and Charlie Hiatt’s legendary Panther squad brought home the gold in 1967, a five that also boasted Leroy Perry, Rick Cupples and Danny Huey, I believe. I apologize for not remembering anyone else.
But in 1982, by some twist of fate, Menlo School ended up in the Redwood Classic. Menlo was private school on the peninsula that played in a league against big districts like Palo Alto, San Mateo and Mountain View. The story goes that Menlo thought that Anderson Valley was actually the town of Anderson, near Oroville. To make another painful story short, we met Menlo in the championship game, where their superior size and speed overwhelmed everyone except for Jerry. Menlo had the 6’3” John Paye at guard, who was an all American QB in football and shortstop in baseball. Paye became a star QB at Stanford, and lettered in all three sports, which was almost unheard of even back then. He would have been in the NFL but for a severe shoulder injury. Menlo also had 6’8” Eric Reveno, who went on to a fine Pac-10 career at Stanford, plus several other kids who got football scholarships to division one schools like Colorado and Utah State. Menlo ended up winning the state championship that year in Division II, while we were Division 4 or 5. Paye’s squad also won the Norcal football championship, though were almost upset by a strong Clearlake team led by Scott Tabor, who became a great punter at Cal. Tabor was also a good hoopster, whom we played against several times.
Despite losing to Menlo, we went on to win the NWL, and extended our undefeated league streak to three seasons. But the season ended on another low note, as we lost to an inferior Emeryville squad in the CIF playoffs in Ukiah. In fact, we lost our opening playoff games three years in a row: first to St. Bernard’s, after being up 14 at halftime; then to Fort Bragg, led by Tony Piver, who broke our trap again and again; then to Emeryville. And now the Goob sends a grainy photo of our baseball pennant in Geyserville’s gym. It’s more than a Panther can take.
Be First to Comment