Posted by Dan Jensen
In Curley Lenox's recent story on the 1963 state championship year, he spoke of the 25th reunion of that great event and the dismay he and his teammates had regarding the state ot the trophy.
He said, "...the silver had changed to a rustic brown, the writing was almost unreadable, and they did not know if it could cleaned up enough to be presentable. I, along with some of the teammates I talked to, were very upset that our state championship trophy was put in a place to corrode and not be taken care of as it should have been. We weren’t talking about a third place trophy for a junior varsity track meet. This is a state championship trophy. In our minds, it should have been the center piece of the best trophy case in the school. It wouldn’t hurt to have a light shine directly on it twenty-four hours a day. What disrespect the leadership of the school showed. It makes me wonder where it might be “hidden,” today. If I had known in 1963 that our trophy would be treated like it was, the entire team would have rebelled against turning it over to the school in the first place."
The anger was entirely justified and, even before Curley's piece, some of us were discussing this tragedy after 21 more years had passed. Retired coach Buddy Carlisle did some work on rearranging the trophies and noted the horrible condition of our sterling trophy. He took it to a local orthodontist named Lynn Davis. Now Dr. Davis aligns teeth and restoring a shine to a trophy was not in his training. But Dr. Davis is a deep thinker and after seeking expert help to no avail, he decided to try something called Brasso. Hallelujah! Our state championship trophy shines again! You can even read the lettering.
Some have accused Ralph Parr and Lynn Davis of being gone with the wind and hiding in the tall grass. That is only half true.
The message below was sent to me by email by Dr. C. Lynn Davis. I wanted to share his comments with all of you. Also, we will look forward to some photos of the finished products.
Ed Davis
As you may know by now , Coach Buddy Carlisle has brought me a couple of the state tourney trophies to see if we can bring back the luster finish. Thanks to a little elbow grease and BRASSO, the shine is back!!
Buddy and I have agreed he will bring me two of the State trophies at a time so I can polish, photo, and post them. We will do all the State trophies from 1956 till 1967 - an era that will LIVE in our minds and hearts forever as Wildcats.
Posted by: C. Lynn Davis | September 05, 2009 at 09:21 AM
I give Lynn Davis a hard time whenever possible but I must acknowledge with great appreciation his labor of love in restoring our championship trophies to their proper luster.
Following is a note from him: "Just finished the final polish on this trophy that Buddy Carlisle will return to the CCHS trophy case. Noticed something strange as I was polishing this silver ball with the names on it. Joe McKinney's name was not spelled correctly. Joe did you know on this trophy that they spelled your name as McKinnley ? It was an honor to polish this trophy which will be in all our hearts for a lifetime."
Then, this response from Joe McKinney: "Coach Henry had told me when the trophy came back, but since I was a Soph. and just happy to be part of the team, it was left with the incorrect spelling."
I think that proper spelling is important and that this mistake is unfortunate but it is way too late to correct it now.
Posted by: Dan Jensen | September 10, 2009 at 10:43 AM
Snubbed by the UIL
As part of its Centennial Celebration, the UIL is taking votes for All Century teams in various sports. I went to their website to take a look at their candidates for their basketball team and was disgusted to see that not one player from Clear Creek was on their list. With our rich tradition and extensive list of great players I can't believe they couldn't come up with a name or two. I'll be sending them my thoughts about this. Just thought you'd like to know.
Posted by: Keith Carson '71 | January 03, 2010 at 10:35 AM
What are the details on the all-century basketball team? A first team, second team, etc. situation or ten players or some number on one team? I need to know more about it before I complain.
Posted by: Dan Jensen | January 03, 2010 at 01:53 PM
Here's the link:
www.uil100.org/
You can vote for 5 guards, 5 forwards and 2 centers.
Posted by: Keith Carson '71 | January 03, 2010 at 04:20 PM
OK, I just checked the list. It's an outrage that Bennie Lenox is not listed and probably Bill Doty too.
I wonder who was involved in forming that list? Bennie was one of the very best of the guards and it is mind boggling that he is not even listed.
Posted by: Dan Jensen | January 05, 2010 at 08:43 PM