McCallie High School - Pennant Yearbook (Chattanooga, TN)

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Sparkling Improvement The strongpoint of Coach Bohner's seventh grade basketball squad was a mass of enthusiastic young athletes. At the beginning of the season, the young team geared to individual performance, but as the season progressed, so did their ability to work and think together. This improvement sparkled after winning their last three games of the season, against Ringgold, Brown, and Lutheran. Defeating Lutheran was the zenith since the mini-Torna- do cagers had earlier been routed by them by 20 points. Offensively, the seventh grade squad was led by John Test. Alan Lebovitz, Craig Cala- han, and Rodney Harris were also noted for their playmaking ability. I mi uw-uw 1 K My Coach Bohner gave most of the credit of their sudden surge to the assistant coach, George Frank. Coach Fred Steen and his fre- quently demanding attitude led his team to a third place finish in the conference and a 10-5 overall re- cord. The winning season, the only one in the junior high, was due large- ly to the playmaking and shooting abilities of the starting members. Early in the season, the team found Baylor to be tough, but Rossville was the main threat. The peewee players Michael Brown and Howard Pouncy were voted to the all-conference team, Scott Hayes and Clark Rose were named to the all-tournament squad. Coach Steen commented, The team was the best I have had as a whole. Stricken with an off season, the ninth grade cagers won only two games, both of which were against Hixson. Coach Campbell felt that al- though the record was not success- ful, everyone on the team pro- gressed individually on offensive fun- damentals. Coach Campbell said, Rightly or wrongly, time was sacri- ficed for individual work rather than team practice. The most improved players on the squad were Brad Harwell and Alston Hamilton, while Lewis Collins was the most consistent. - Peter Hunt Displaying versatile form, ninth grader Lewis Collins brings the ball downcourt in action against A ngtiggble asset under the boards, Bob Lew- Baylor. is reaches for a rebound in a match against Baylor.

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I num Kurt Boyd displays his ball handling tech- nique with a quick fake while bringing the 5 ball downcourt. High acfign, urrounded by oniooking teammates, Alston Hamilton stretches for a crucial rebound in Jr

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l Gallant Transition With six state and ten regional qualifiers, the wrestling team surprised everyone with an impressive conclusion to a mediocre season. Mr. Gordon Connell, while plagued with the imminent difficulties of transition, still managed to lead the McCallie grapplers to a successful season. The true success of the year should not be measured by dual meet and tournament performances, but rather by the smooth and unhindered coaching transition. Unfamiliarity with moves, drills, and techniques charac- terized the atmosphere at the beginning of practice sea- son. Most wrestlers were initially confused and disorient- ed because of the alien approach taken by Head Coach Gordon Connell. He espoused a wrestling philosophy based upon the pretext of intense concentration on con- temporary technique before conditioning. At first this confused many veteran wrestlers, but gradually the con- cept began to show auspicious results. Coach Connell's exceptional knowledge of the sport slowly began to imbue the minds of his predominantly inexperienced matmen. By the beginning of the dual meet season, the wrestling squad had sacrificed their needed conditioning for the opportunity to experiment with an innovative style of wrestling. ln this respect, the transition in coaching style and philosophy proved a success. The regular season began gloomily with a defeat at the hands of the regional champions, Tyner. The dual meet season, however, was not as bad as that promised by the meet. With consistently skillful performances from cap- tains Rod Brown and Joe Bennett, as well as Wesley Moore and Terry Parker, the grapplers handily defeated such state powers as defending state champion Cleve- land, City and Hixson. The wrestlers also placed well in such rugged tournaments as the City Invitational and the Father Ryan Invitational with Rod Brown taking a first and second, respectively. Although the team posted an 8-6 record, the experience gained by the nine returning ju- niors and sophomores more than compensated for the middling slate. The injury problem which had plagued the team all season seemed under control by the beginning of the District Tournament. This factor, combined with peaking physical and mental condition, was responsible for the ten McCallie wrestlers that qualified for the regional tour- nament and the second place team finish. In this tourna- ment, McCallie's district champions were Rod Brown, George Miller, and Eric Ayers. In the regional tournament, the varsity grapplers did not fare as well individually fonly Rod Brown slated a championshipj, but the team took a surprising fourth place, one place above rival Baylor. Of the six state qualifiers, only Eric Ayers and Anthony Shrader received medals for second and third place showings, respectively. - Bill Oldham