READ TODAY'S STORIES AND E-EDITION SUBSCRIBE |  CONTACT US |  SIGN IN
Sports Extra!



SPORTS EXTRA BLOGS

FOR THE RECORD
LOCAL PROS

ALL SPORTS

PHOTOS & VIDEOS

OUTDOORS

FIND A STORY

EMAIL ALERTS

SOCIAL MEDIA

RSS FEEDS

CONTACT US
BUY PHOTOS & PAGES

ADVERTISE ON SPORTS EXTRA


Print story only Print story with comments Email Twitter Facebook Pinterest
This school wins a game, loses a hex
Published: 3/5/2011 2:55 PM
Last Modified: 3/5/2011 2:55 PM

Pud Ross scored 32 points Friday night to help Locust Grove’s boys basketball team clinch its first state tournament trip.

Whether Ross knew it or not, he was also playing for guys like Robert Ballou, Scott Allen, John Ragsdale, Tim Mullins, James Knott, Joe Warren and all their teammates.

Here’s the backstory:

Only twice before had Locust Grove reached area tournament play without a postseason loss. All the Pirates had to do to gain a state tournament invitation was win one more measly game. On both instances, they went 0-2.

In 1982, Locust Grove took a 23-2 record to the area tournament. The Pirates failed to score a point in the first quarter of an area title game loss to Muldrow, never mind what should have been Vatican-based good karma (one of the Locust Grove starters was “Pope” John Paul Phillips). Down to a last gasp, the Pirates got out-athleted by Wewoka in an area tournament consolation final.

In 1991, Locust Grove was 19-4 prior to the area tournament. Okmulgee’s Waylon Jones (who would later be a teammate of Chad Ochocinco at Langston University) hit a basket with 21 seconds left to seal a 59-58 decision that knocked the Pirates to the loser’s bracket. And a second chance at earning a trip to state vanished with a lopsided loss to Jason Yanish-led Glenpool.

Going 0-for-2 once in an area tournament is bad fortune. Going 0-for-2 twice in an area tournament is enough to make you wonder if your school is cursed.

But Ross and his buddies shed the hex by rallying from a nine-point deficit to beat Vinita, a team that had beaten Locust Grove twice in the regular season.

The current Pirates will get to make the state tournament trip that was snatched away from their predecessors at the last moment. I wouldn’t blame former players for living vicariously through the guys who now wear their jerseys -- like Adrian Houser, an Oklahoma baseball signee who happens to be the nephew of Knott, whose 3-pointer with 42 seconds left to gave Locust Grove a one-point lead over Okmulgee in the final minute of the 1991 area championship game.

Ballou, by the way, was a senior in the best season ever for alpha males in Oklahoma high school basketball. Wayman Tisdale, Mark Price and Steve Hale headlined a blue-chip senior class in ‘82. Then-Locust Grove coach Johnny Allen was loyal to his player and nominated Ballou over Tisdale, Price and Hale for Tulsa World state player of the year.

Ballou was among smiling Locust Grove people that I saw walking out of Skiatook’s gym after the Pirates learned they will finally get to experience the joy of traveling down the Turner Turnpike to play for high stakes.

“That was a good one,” Ballou said of Locust Grove’s 56-49 victory. It was better for him than most.


Reader Comments 2 Total
hddennis (last year)
As a player on the 82 and 83 teams (mainly on the bench though), which failed to live up to our own expectations as well as other peoples, I am very happy to see that finally a team from Locust Grove is advancing. Locust Grove seems to be a mid size school that never is a dominating sports school, but every once in a while we get a chance only to fall short. Make the best of your chance for everyone who has played on any of the previous athletic teams from Locust Grove! WAY TO GO PIRATES!!
2curious (last year)
Congrats to your alma mater, Jimmie.
2 comments displayed


To post comments on tulsaworld.com, you must be an active Tulsa World print or digital subscriber and signed into your account.


Games People Play

Tulsa World sports writer Jimmie Tramel is a former class president at Locust Grove High School. He graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern State University with a journalism degree and, while attending college, was sports editor of the Pryor Daily Times. He joined the Tulsa World on Oct. 17, 1989, the same day an earthquake struck the World Series. He is the OSU basketball beat writer and a columnist and feature writer during football season. In 2007, he wrote a book about Oklahoma State football with former Cowboy coach Pat Jones.

Follow Jimmie Tramel on Twitter

Subscribe to this blog


Archive

 
Jimmie Tramel's Blog Archive:

2/2013  1/2013  12/2012  11/2012  10/2012  9/2012  
8/2012  7/2012  6/2012  5/2012  4/2012  3/2012  
2/2012  1/2012  12/2011  11/2011  10/2011  9/2011  
8/2011  7/2011  6/2011  5/2011  4/2011  3/2011  
2/2011  1/2011  12/2010  11/2010  10/2010  9/2010  
8/2010  7/2010  6/2010  5/2010  4/2010  3/2010  
2/2010  1/2010  12/2009  11/2009  10/2009  9/2009  
8/2009  7/2009  6/2009  5/2009  4/2009  3/2009  
2/2009  1/2009  12/2008  11/2008  10/2008  9/2008  
8/2008  7/2008  6/2008  5/2008  4/2008  3/2008  
2/2008  1/2008  12/2007  11/2007  10/2007  9/2007  
8/2007  7/2007  6/2007  5/2007  4/2007  3/2007  
2/2007  1/2007  12/2006  11/2006  10/2006  9/2006  
8/2006  





Home | Contact Us | Search | Subscribe | Customer Service | About | Advertise
Copyright © 2013, World Publishing Co. All rights reserved.