1994 State Champions!

I remember it like it was yesterday.  My Dad's basketball team, and the team for which my brother played starting point guard, made it to State!  It was really no surprise, as they had been blowing out their opponents all season long, but still so exciting!  Going to "Hutch" for the state basketball tournament was the best family vacation ever.  Thankfully my dad's teams were very successful in the 80s and 90s, so we got to take this vacation nearly every March, it seemed like.  What we didn't expect, though, was how easily this 1994 team handled their 3 games at state to become State Champions!  It was such a fun time for the players and our entire community, as basically the entire town of Wellsville made the trip to support their team.  Talk about a party in the Holidome the night they won the championship!  It was so much fun, and LOTS of great memories were made.

Well, it's hard to believe, but 20 years have passed since that talented team won State.  Last Friday evening at the varsity boys basketball game, the championship team was honored and everyone remembered back to the fun we had 20 years ago.  Pictures were displayed, and how fun they were to look at!

There's my Dad, Coach "D", with the senior players on that team.  Uncle Scottie was a huge part of the reason they won state that year with his great athletic ability and basketball skills.  He's on the far right in this picture, the one with the awesome mullet.  And look how young Dad looks!

The Seniors with their dads: Look how young Denny looks also!

The Seniors with their Moms, so proud of their babies!

Oh, and did I mention that Russ was on the team, too??  The arrow is pointing him out.  He played in every game at the state tournament; we just won't say how much. (As only a sophomore, it was pretty awesome that he got playing time in such big games!)  Uncle Kyle is in the black hat on the back row.  And in case you were wondering, Yes, Uncle Scottie is wearing boxers (with hearts, I believe), in these pictures.  Gotta love the early 90s.

So the whole team, except Uncle Kyle who was coaching his own team and Jake Bauer who was ironically coaching Oliver's basketball team, made it back for the celebration.  (The two of them will be photoshopped into the front row.)  It was great to see all of these guys together again!

These guys hadn't changed a whole lot, although the mullets have mostly been replaced by, well, nothing.  Bald is the new mullet apparently.

After pictures, Violet and her friends played with the Eagle for a while.  It took Violet a bit to warm up to the idea of the big furry thing, but eventually she liked him.

Uncle Scottie gave the talk at the recognition and he told everyone just how fun high school basketball was for this team.  Every home game was a sold-out crowd and the community support was second-to-none.  He encouraged all of the fans to once again fill the stands for these games, because the memories for the players last forever.

My four favorite members of that 1994 State Championship team! (I know, I know, this is a terrible attempt at getting Uncle Kyle in the picture.  But it gets the point across anyway.)

Here's a much better picture after Kyle and Jake had been added -- This is a really great group of guys!