When I got the elbow from the big dude, I didn’t go down, but ‘out on my feet.’ The rest of the game was played by instinct only. Those close to me said I kept shaking my head from side to side as though trying to ‘remove the cobwebs.’ When the halftime buzzer sounded and we headed for the dressing room, I was very talkative and hyper, which was not my normal state of mind; I was usually very quite during a ballgame. The team doctor, Dr. Ashby, came in to check me out, looking at my eyes, etc. He told our coach, McNeely, to watch me closely. If I started staggering or mentioned being dizzy, to take me out of the game.
Back on the floor after the halftime break, my good friend, E. Jay, said I asked him what I was supposed to do out there. He told me on offense I was suppose to run around in that painted area on the floor and the others would throw the ball to me ... and I was to put it into the basket. At which time he pointed to the goal on our end of the floor. I am sure he was thinking we were in a heap of trouble if I didn’t know which end was our end of the court! I answered “Oh, okay, okay, got it.” Well, the buzzer sounded and thus began the second half of this close, important game.
With no recognizable pressure on me, I was one relaxed, ‘loose as a goose’ player. I was laughing and having a very good time out there. The film showed that I was waving at the crowd as we ran down the court; I was unbelievable at blocking difficult shots, on offense I was dribbling behind my back, and even sank a hook shot from the top of the circle! Our team gradually built a lead and ended the game with a wide margin.
As you can imagine, we did a lot of celebrating, because this win was sending us on to play in the State Tournament. In the dressing room all the players were popping towels, hollering, and throwing whatever was handy at teammates. Especially me ... I had celebrated so much that I was out of the dressing room.
