A few days ago, there was a headline indicating that the temperature in Canaan Valley had plunged to -31 Farenheit. That is newsworthy when you consider that Canaan Valley is located far southeast of here in West Virginia. I looked to see where it was and while doing so saw Mouth of Wilson which is located farther south and even farther west, although it is in the state of Virginia. State boundaries in the United States tend to wander around a lot.
It was while surveying the boundary that young Wilson died in 1749 and he was buried near the mouth of the creek which was named after him. Mouth of Wilson is a very small and isolated community, but you may have heard of it since it is the home of the prep school, Oak Hill Academy. The reason you have heard of this small Baptist academy is because of basketball.
In the late 1970s the small school was in trouble and the saviour for this Baptist entity was basketball. Trips were made to the big cities where the best and tallest basketball players were recruited. Particularly the very best ones who had hopes of getting into NCAA Division I schools, but were unlikely to do so because of poor grades.
There was (is) nothing to do in Mouth of Wilson and nowhere close to go. It was the case (and probably still is) that "Breakfast is at 7 a.m., classes are from 8:20 a.m. to 3:35 pm....Study hall is at 4:30 p.m. Practice (against the other very tall best players) is from 7:30 to 9:30 and then lights out. Beds have to be made and uniforms worn and there are few temptations.
USA Today started publishing high school rankings in the early 1980s and small Baptist schools like Oak Hill Academy began to appear to a national audience along with Catholic ones like Dematha and Mater Dei. Oak Hill was usually one of the top schools in the country, so Mouth of Wilson showed up and was noticeable among the names of the big cities.
It appears to still attract top players and the team is highly ranked. The members of it do get out of Mouth of Wilson some, since most of their games are played at major tournaments, some in places like the Virgin Islands and Los Angeles. The unofficial team motto is "Have Team, Will Travel" and I notice that their game on Feb. 4, is against Wasatch Academy which is in Utah.
Canadians also know about Mouth of Wilson. Lindell Wigginton from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, was the first Canadian boy to go there and he was shocked when he arrived. Girl players also seek full scholarships and the Montrealer, Nirra Fields, passed through Oak Hill on her way to Mater Dei. She now plays professionally for Ismit Belediyespor in Turkey.
Sources:
The article about Canaan Valley that started this all: "West Virginia's Canaan Valley Plummets to minus-31, Setting Record Low for Region," Jason Samenow, Washington Post, Jan.22, 2022.
For background on Oak Hill see: "Giant Oak: From a Tiny Academy, Oak Hill Grew," Bob Ryan, Boston Globe, Jan. 31, 1986 and "College Prepping: This Is the Spot," Mark Whicker, Hartford Courant, Dec. 7, 1995 - This is the story of how the president of a small Baptist preparatory school gambled the Institution's very existence on basketball-- and won.
For the Canadian content see:
"Fields of Dreams: This Young Canadian Draws Praises From Some of the Biggest Names in Basketball, Including the Coach of the L.A. Lakers. 'With the Way She Plays the Game, Her Upside is Tremendous... Nirra is One of the Best Girls I've Ever Seen'," Eric Duhatschecksean Gordon, G&M, Feb. 11, 2012. And: "Nova Scotia Teen Chases Hoop Dreams at Elite Basketball Academy, by Lori Ewing, G&M, Jan. 18, 2017.
The Bonus:
If Oak Hill had only started earlier, they could have grabbed this recruit from close by. In 1933 the director, Robert Fechner, of conservation work at the CCC camp in North Carolina complained that a new recruit required extra-extra size clothes and shoes and two cots. The headline reveals most of the story: "Boy 7 Feet 3 Inches, Problem to Fechner: Forestry Camp Must Clothe Him- Left Home Because Older Kin 'Picked On Him'", New York Times, Aug. 15, 1933.
For those of you who are disappointed that this post is about BASKETBALL, I will say that I think I have only done two that are sports-related, and both about golf: Joy in Mudville and Rod Spittle.
For those of you more interested in geography, here is a bonus that will help you identify places farther west than or farther south than, etc.
No comments:
Post a Comment