Through the Hoop in 1977

In December of 1977 I was busy playing for the mighty Ithaca Junior High basketball team and making mix tapes on my Panasonic Stereo with cassette. Between writing disciplinary themes and doing farm chores, there was not a great deal of Phil time. The two things that helped me get through the winter were basketball and music. That is not unlike today for me! Riding to the games on the bus we would hear such future classics as We Are the Champions by Queen. My friends and I would sing along, but we were far from champions. We may have won one game that season. My friend, Scott Crine, was a very good player. One game he and I scored all 40 of our teams’ points. He had 38 and I had 2! This I swear is a true story. We played in several parochial school gyms that did not have a scoreboard. They kept time with an alarm clock. Fred Dillon was our fearless coach. One time at Seneca, he walked out to the court just as we were starting the layup drill for warmups. When the first 3 players collided and tripped the next 3 players, there were 6 on the floor. Mr. Dillon turned around and went back in the locker room for a few more minutes. Other songs that we heard on the bus radio in December of 1977 include Swingtown-Steve Miller Band, Come Sail Away-Styx, Baby Come Back-Player, Point of Know Return-Kansas, Turn To Stone-E.L.O., Draw the Line-Aerosmith, Peg-Steely Dan, and Stayin Alive-Bee Gees.

I hope you will join me for another Those Were the Days radio show Saturday night on WRCO FM 100.9, WRCO.com, or courtesy of the Civic Media app. There will be more stories and songs from that time all of those years ago. The request line will be open for you to suggest a song from the first forty years of rock and roll music. Thanks for being there for me all of these years. Our show is now in it’s 40th year! That reminds me of that magical night in 1977 when Scott and I pumped in 40.

Phil