By Tom Haley
RUTLAND HERALD
I will always remember the 2022 Division IV girls state championship basketball game as one of the most riveting, thrilling contests I have ever seen.
West Rutland’s Anna Cyr’s clutch step-back 3-point field goal, the biggest hoop in a game with dozens of big hoops and plays, is an image that will never go away.
The four 3-pointers by Proctor’s Laci French that kept the Phantoms in the game whenever you thought Westside might be ready to deliver the knockout punch, is another indelible memory.
The rebounding by West Rutland’s Isabel Lanfear, Peyton Guay, Mallory Hogan and Serena and Arianna Coombs enabled the Golden Horde to get as many shots as they needed to score on numerous possessions.
Yet, as pulsating and memorable as West Rutland’s 57-56 was, another memory I will carry from the tournament at Barre Auditorium this past year was separate conversations I had with Dave Noyes and Jeff Bergeron, two of the guys who help keep the Barre Aud’s tournament basketball humming with all of their work on game day and behind the scenes.
They each told me one day during the tourney that the longest home run they had ever seen was hit was by Bennington’s J.J. Moore during a game in Barre Town.
Moore went on to have an incredible career at Castleton University and remains the best hitter I ever saw.
It’s odd the way that you will always associate things you hear at games with the event itself. With the vast storehouse of memories collected from games at the Barre Auditorium, I will remember those two conversations as vividly as anything that happened between the lines.
When you go to a game, you never know what news you might hear that could stay with you longer than the game.
It was in 2013 that I ventured over to Northeast School to cover a high school softball game between Brattleboro and Rutland.
Nine years later, I can’t recall who won that game but I certainly remember the news that began circulating after I arrived at the field.
There was a buzz that April day about the bombing at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. There were some Brattleboro fans deeply concerned because they knew people from the Brattleboro area competing in the race.
Rachel Olanoff, a 2000 Rutland High graduate, was on duty at the race as a police officer and her photo was on the cover of two Sports Illustrated issues at the finish line.
I was at a soccer game at Mill River Union High School in 2010 when I got a call from WSYB Sports Director Jack Healey telling me that Jim Taranovich, a beloved Proctor citizen and ardent sports booster, had been killed in a motorcycle accident,
Who won the soccer game? I don’t know. That phone call was the image of the day and it will endure.
Taranovich was a successful businessman, loved his hometown Phantoms and supported the school and community with zeal.
Today, the Jimmy T Showcase, an event to kick off the high school soccer season, is played in his honor on Taranovich Field.
There are some people still alive who were attending the football game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants that December day in 1941 at the Polo Grounds.
Whatever they remember about that game, it certainly is far less prominent in their consciousness than the news they heard during that football contest.
Pearl Harbor had been bombed. There was a planned announcement being made at the game but it was interrupted by the public address announcer telling all servicemen in attendance to report to their stations.
It was early January of 1973 when I was watching the late-night West Coast college basketball game between UCLA and USC at Rich Alberti’s apartment in Proctor.
Again, I don’t remember who won the game, but I certainly recall everything about what happened after the game.
I walked out of the apartment to a red sky and turned on the radio. There were reports about the Berwick, a hotel in downtown Rutland, being on fire.
I drove into Rutland to see it for myself. It was one of the coldest nights of the year — any year.
It was a tragic fire that killed people. It won’t be forgotten and despite the terrible loss of lives, I will never be able to disassociate it from a West Coast basketball game.
It was on that November day in 1963 that I was sitting in an afternoon history class at Proctor High School. Principal Robert Belding walked into the class and whispered something to the teacher, Doug Monmaney. It looked like Doug’s jaw about hit the desk so I knew whatever he was told was pretty important.
It was minutes later that the intercom clicked on and we were told that the President of the United States had been shot. We were informed that school was immediately dismissed and that the Sadie Hawkins Dance that night was cancelled.
John F. Kennedy died and we became glued to our TV sets for anything we could learn.
That weekend, games were played. Games were not played.
There were over 100 high school basketball games that same night that were played in Wisconsin.
The Iowa-Notre Dame football was was canceled along with many other college football games.
Professional games were also canceled, but none in the NFL. The show went on as scheduled on that Sunday.
Commissioner Pete Rozelle later said that playing games that weekend was his biggest regret.
Sometimes, it is more than the game.
tom.haley @rutlandherald.com
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