Monday, September 1, 2014

a little more

"Every story & journey has a beginning.  This one started with a framed picture in my bookcase - a picture of the 1937 Versailles Frenchies boy's basketball team. My father is in the left corner of this photo, the team manager.  That is all I know about the image.  I don't know where they played or what their record was, don't know the names of the players or what became of them.  What I do know is that they played high school basketball in Indiana."  














And with that, our journey to historic Indiana high school gyms began.  From Vevay to Rushville, Loogootee to Richmond.  So far, we have enjoyed every mile, every game, every tale.  Who wouldn't like to watch Spence Schnaitter touch Madison's State Championship trophy after more than sixty years or walk 97 year old Loretah Blake back into the Paris Crossing gym.  And now I know a little more about the photo that jump started this story.  Hidden away in the pages of a family history album was another picture - this one a newspaper clipping proclaiming, "Versailles High School's Sectional Hope."  There they are: Bill Braley, Bill Spencer, Quentin Hooton - the Versailles Frenchies (not yet the Lions or Raiders), ready for their march to the tourney.  And after that, to graduation, to war?  I don't know, but maybe by the time this journey ends, some of those stories will be told.  CGS.