Unless you were living under a locker room bench for the past 40 years, you’ve probably become familiar with the movie “Hoosiers.’’ Rural Hickory High School emerges from the cornfields and achieves the improbable with guys like Ollie, Strap and out-of-this-world shooter Jimmy Chitwood, knocking off a string of basketball powerhouses to win the Indiana state championship.
It’s Hollywood’s take on Milan High School’s run to the 1954 Indiana state title game in which Bobby Plump’s 15-foot jumpshot in the waning seconds stuns behemoth Muncie Central.
Hollywood never came calling in 1967, but the Hammond Red Devils boys’ team, the smallest school in the region, made its own miraculous run to win the Section X basketball championship.
Hammond never was known for its boys’ basketball teams, but the girls were considered the David among the Goliaths of New York teams. The Hammond girls built a 113-game winning streak and won consecutive Class D state titles in 2007 and 2008. The Devils, with the smallest student enrollment in New York, returned to the finals two years ago and won again. All the while, the boys remained an afterthought.
A Facebook post late last season by Phil Lavarnway, Hammond native and former Alexandria Central School counselor, revived interest in the boys team’s upsets that seem unlikely to be duplicated for several generations.
“In 1967, the Hammond Red Devils beat Canton, Potsdam and Tupper Lake all in one week to win the overall Section 10 Championship,’’ Phil wrote. “My brother Greg Lavarnway played on that team. If they only had the States’ then I think that team could have won it. No classifications then.’’
High school basketball was a different genre in the 1950s and ‘60s. State basketball playoffs were not adopted until 1978 so teams never advanced beyond the North Country. Passing and high-percentage shots in the lane were emphasized over this era’s three-point shooting and dribble drives. Forget the entitled parents and coarse fans that diminish games today. Coaches like Pat Damore of Hammond and Fran Holleran of Morristown could compete on a Friday night, then share a ride to St. Lawrence University on Saturday morning to work on their Master’s degrees.
Small gymnasiums dotted the North Country. Morristown and Knox Memorial’s playing floors were tiny. At Edwards, a 4-inch blackline separated the playing floor from the end wall. But Hammond had the smallest gym, so small that the jump circles overlapped. Many fans watched from a stage behind the benches. The 3-point shot hadn’t been adopted yet, but it didn’t matter. The sidelines were only 12 feet from the basket, 3 feet shorter than the free-throw line.
That was the homecourt of Greg Lavarnway in 1967. He is retired after 30 years with National Grid and living in Three Mile Bay, near Cape Vincent. He said the lack of court space perplexed visiting teams, and the Red Devils used that to their advantage. They won the St. Lawrence Valley League regular season title but stumbled in the league playoff championship, losing 60-47 to Hermon-DeKalb. That led them to their sectional run.
1968 yearbook photo
On a Monday night in Canton, the Red Devils handled the Potsdam Sandstoners 66-57. On Wednesday night in Potsdam, they edged the Canton Golden Bears 65-63 in the waning seconds. On Friday, they worked a similar play in the final seconds at Potsdam Central School’s gym to edge the Tupper Lake Lumberjacks 71-69. The Red Devils ruled Section X.
“What a thrill it was for me and my teammates,’’ recalled Lavarnway, who graduated with only 26 classmates in 1968.
The Ogdensburg Journal reported the trifecta in its Sunday editions.
“… with only 6 seconds to play and the scored tied again at 69-69 and with Tupper Lake pressing hard, Greg Lavarnway passed off to Steve Storie who came through with a layup from an angle to win the game for Hammond 71-69. The final four seconds produced nothing.’’
Lavarnway can recall the sequence.
“Dennis Hanson inbounded the ball to me. I moved the ball to the top of the key and Steve cut to the middle. I made a bounce pass to him for the layup. It’s funny, because in the game on Wednesday it was the same scenario against Canton.’’
The community was ecstatic.
“We had a village-wide banquet in the gym a few days after the game,’’ Lavarnway recalled. “The speaker at the banquet was Tom McCarthy, who at the time was employed at Tupper Lake school. I’m not sure what his title was, but he started a basketball program at Hammond for fifth- and sixth-grade students at the time I was in fifth grade.’’
Lavarnway’s coach, Tom Chapman, had produced a title for his alma mater. He grew up on Black Lake, graduated from Hammond in 1956, earned a physical education degree from SUNY Cortland, then returned in 1961 to coach baseball and basketball in a 32-year career. He died in March 2020.
“Coach Chapman was fun to play for,’’ Greg said. “He had a great since of humor and he was not too hard on us.’’
He coached three Lavarnways; Lee is 81, Phil 79, and Greg 75.
1965 yearbook photo
“Playing for Tom Chapman was a unique experience,’’ Phil remembered. “He coached both JV and Varsity at the same time in that little gym, as I’m sure you recall its size. He let us freelance most of the time. We always had good shooters and enough size to hold our own. Playing on the bigger courts was a challenge.’’
Phil said he regrets missing the title run. He was earning a phys ed degree from SUNY Brockport, but the games were replayed around the village when he got home. “I never had the chance to savor the wins with some of the guys I played with.”
But he could catch up on all the village news with a visit to his Uncle Bernie’s barbershop.
“I spent my youth listening to the older generation in that barber shop. What an education that was!’’
Morristown native Jim Holleran is a retired teacher and sports editor from Rochester. Reach him at jimholleran29@gmail.com or view past columns under “Reflections of River Rat’’ at https://hollerangetsitwrite.com/blog/
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