Guest Contributor: Rex Bickers, FCHS 1970

To start the first issue of the year, we’re breaking the mold of Alumni Spotlight. Instead of profiling an exceptional individual from each school, we’ll be telling the tale of an entire team of Bulldogs, followed by a series of teams at Floyd Central. And once again, I am grateful for the help from two terrific guest contributors.

The tennis programs of both NAHS and FCHS have been very successful. But over fifty years ago, the Bulldogs got the party started and won the very first state tennis championship in 1967.

Wrestling has been phenomenally good for hundreds of boys at both schools. A key difference is that (the late) Phil Thrasher already had a good wrestling program in 1967. Up the hill, Roger Moody had to build something from virtually nothing.

I think you’ll enjoy both stories.

——————————————-

The Beginning of NAHS Tennis

Calise Peden Mossler, NAHS 1970

The first state championship for New Albany was also the first-ever IHSAA  state tennis championship. The year was 1967.

New Albany’s trio of Ray Briscoe, Sam Peden, and Bill Ellis were already recognized tournament players before starting high school. Prior to that, New Albany had not allowed freshmen to play on the varsity team. However, it was obvious to NA’s advantage to change that policy and play the freshman trio. There was no state tournament at that time for tennis. Lacking a sanctioned tourney, a “mythical” state championship had been established which NA won. As the trio was about to begin their senior year, the push was on to get IHSAA to sanction a state championship tennis tournament. Finally, a state tourney was set for the end of the 1967 fall tennis season.

Joe Cerqueira had been their coach for the first three years. But Coach Cerqueira left in August 1967 to become the varsity football coach at Floyd Central in its opening year. Bob Dusch was tagged to take over but was already committed to being an assistant varsity football coach for the Bulldogs. The HSAA required that the players be accompanied by a coach or school representative and, with Coach Dusch unavailable, New Albany appointed Coach Emeritus Damon Sims to accompany the trio to the state championships. Incidentally, Coach Sims had been Sam’s first tennis instructor in the parks, so he was not new to the sport.

Different from today’s format, the first tourney allowed each school to enter two teams of singles and two teams of doubles. The winner in each advanced to the state finals while the runners-up advanced as alternates. Ray advanced in singles competition; Sam and Bill advanced in doubles. Terry McCooe and Glenn Mason earned points for New Albany by advancing as alternates. In the finals, Ray won the singles title 6-0,6-3, and Sam and Bill won the doubles title by the same score. New Albany easily swept the state tourney totaling 20 points to defeat Northwestern (Kokomo) who scored only 9 points.

The team had dominated the high school competition in Indiana and in Kentucky, ending their four years with a 94-1 winning record while being undefeated for the last three years. The capstone of their high school sports experience, though, was being the first Indiana state tennis champions.

——————————————-

The Origins of FCHS Wrestling

Rex Bickers, FCHS 1970 and Ken Hart, FCHS 1976

In the span of six years, FC wrestling went from 0-11 to 11-1-1 and laid the foundation for a culture that has lasted 50 years.

There had been no wrestling at Georgetown when FC opened. Likewise, no returning upperclassmen from previous years. It turns out that the secret sauce had been planted in the fifth grade by Mr. Phil Hart at Lafayette Elementary (now Floyds Knobs Elementary). And a few had gone to Scribner, where they had the option to wrestle as JV Bulldogs for Coach Phil Thrasher at New Albany.

Coach Roger Moody’s first team was composed of three juniors, five sophomores, and the largest number – – nine – – from the freshman class. They didn’t have a single win.

Seventh and eighth-grade wrestlers were one reason for optimism. There were 21 of them, and half had wrestled for Phil Hart at Lafayette. No one knew it at the time, but Mr. Hart would go on to win the Floyd County “elementary school championship” for 25 consecutive years with his fifth and sixth graders. And he came around fairly often at Floyd Central to watch and help with coaching. Year two improved to a record of 5-7 with 25 wrestlers on the team. Coach Moody would have a winning team every year after that, through his final year of coaching in 1972-1973, in a resounding way.

Year three saw the winningest team in FC’s short school history at 10-2. Just three seniors, but the juniors more than made up for that. By 1971, when they became seniors, five of them made up of “Murderers’ Row”, in the middleweight classes (112 through 138): Doug Hollis, Larry Traub (team captain), Dennis Bryant, Mike Lynch, and David Snow. Traub finished his four-year career 59-7, a record that would stand for over a decade. Sophomore Terry Overton went on to have a single-season record of 26-1 by 1973, his senior year. It was Coach Moody’s best and final year.

FC wrestling has gone on to become a culture of pride. But it all began with Coach Roger Moody believing that he could build something from nothing. And then, with the dedication of a lot of boys, the goal was attained.

Read the entire January 2022 Legacy Ledger (Issue 17).

Sharing is caring!