High School Rivalry

by Phil Wohl

  Gary Palmer was becoming frustrated. Pete refused to either front him, or makes significant contact behind him. Palmer played by feel with his elbows and two powerful legs. He had no outside game and didn't have a great left hand. Pete was also trying to make him catch the ball beyond 10 feet away from the basket. Palmer caught a pass at the foul line and launched a shot that caused Pete to say "Long." The ball hit the backboard and dropped through the hoop, bringing an embarrassed smile to Palmer's face. After a Spalding miss from the foul line, Jimmy Hitchings hit a jumper from the left side to tie the score at two.

  The teams traded baskets until the score hit 9-9. Pete was still moving Palmer around and had five of the team’s points, with Melnick scoring two, Spalding one, and Lou Berman the other point on a tip-in. Palmer had three baskets, one on a long rebound and another as he parked in the lane for at least eight seconds. Hitchings also had three points, and the other three players had one basket each. Palmer, a college sophomore, was getting tired from the heat of the summer day. He was not in top shape and was beginning to pay the price of trailing the constantly-moving Pete around the court.

  Eric Spalding was dribbling the ball on the right side when he caught Pete looking at him. Palmer had abandoned the man-ball defensive principles and had his head turned toward Pete and away from Spalding. Eric threw a quick pass toward the bottom of the backboard in Pete's direction. Pete jumped off both feet and tipped the ball in with his left hand in one swift motion. He had redirected the ball with his fingertips instead of catching the ball and giving Palmer a chance to re-adjust. Palmer and his teammates moaned over what they thought was a lucky shot. Barry Melnick wasn't sure what to think, but Pete's other three teammates had seen him do that before.

  With a 10-9 lead, and game point in their sites, Pete's team needed a defensive stop. Palmer wanted the ball and was waving his right hand vigorously as if he was hailing a taxi. He was set up on the left block and kept backing up until he had a good idea that he had Pete locked. Hitchings lofted the ball to Palmer, he took one dribble toward the baseline, and then spun toward the middle. Pete stripped the ball cleanly out of Palmer's large, thick hands and quickly threw the ball ahead for a wide-open Spalding. With a deep voice, Palmer bellowed, "That's mine," signaling that he was fouled on the play. Pete and his team replied with "All ball" and plenty of head-shakes, as the sideline consensus leaned toward a weak call.

  Palmer said, "You slapped my wrist," but Pete was done talking. He was really pissed off. At that moment, Barry Melnick finally understood what his other teammates already knew: they were going to win the game. Greg Renquist threw a pass into Palmer, who rushed a weak jump hook from the right baseline. The ball hit the side of the rim and bounced up in the air. Lou Berman was perfectly positioned to corral the rebound on the way down, but was surprised when another body came out of nowhere and snatched the ball over the rim. Lou looked next to him, and there stood his sweaty son with the ball. Lou put his hands up like "let me get out of the way." He wasn't used to giving up rebounds to anyone, but was comforted by the fact that he had taught his son well.

  Eric and Pete again made eye contact. Pete wanted the other team to know that his previous shot was not a fluke. He also wanted to make Palmer go home and rest his tired, fat ass. This time Pete went up with his back to the basket. He knew exactly where he was and Spalding's pass couldn't have been better of it was put on a platter. Lou Berman got in the way of Palmer, in a true battle of trees, and the other six players were just observers. As Pete went in the air the action slowed, and he thought about how much he loved basketball and what a perfect day this was. Spalding's pass came from the right side, headed toward Pete who had moved into the left side of the lane. He reached his left arm up and spun the ball with his fingertips without actually catching the ball. All of those hours spinning the ball on his fingers had paid off for this one moment. The sideways-spinning ball banked off the giving metal backboard with air holes, and settled softly into the basket.

  Pete's teammates raised their hands in celebration, while the losing team walked away shaking their heads. The sideline crowd was mimicking Pete's tip-in movements as he walked off the court and made a right turn toward the water fountain. He sat his sweaty body on a thick concrete bench next to his point guard Eric Spalding. Barry Melnick and Lou Berman faced them, while leaning on the high fence, and Craig joined Pete and Eric on the bench.

  "You teach him that shot?" Barry Melnick asked Lou Berman.

  "No, I think he came up with that one himself."

  "Puff basketball." Pete interjected.

  "Yeah, I still have one of those," Spalding added.

  "Spent most of my winters playing puff basketball," Craig chimed in.

  Lou Berman said smiling, "I'd hear Pete banging off the walls with his friends, and ask him what was going on in there. And he'd coming out face-flushed, sweating and out of breath saying, 'Nothing. We're studying.'"

  "Looks like all of that studying paid off for all of us," Craig added.

  They all laughed as Pete slowly got up from the bench, leaving a sweat stain on the concrete slab.

  "Let's go," Pete said, as his teammates followed him back to the court.

  They won three more games until the warm weather started to wear down the teams three older members. They lost the last game in overtime, 14-12, and were happy to be fighting to the very end. They held the court for nearly 90 minutes, and enjoyed every second of it. Barry Melnick, the coach, also realized that winning also made everyone happy, and he planned to make the game fun again the following year.

 

  CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

  Isabel spent her summer working at a local church summer camp. She was a volunteer and was only paid with "god's thanks." The summer had moved by quickly. Much too fast for a 17 year-old girl who's boyfriend was leaving to go to college. Pete and Isabel had a great summer, but Pete was leaving for school the following morning. She was amazed that the pressure of carrying a basketball program, moving to a new place, and doing all that schoolwork, hadn't even seemed to bother him. He couldn't be that confident. He had to have reservations and doubts.

  Pete didn't know what to think. His imagination had been on call since he got the first Barringer College brochure. His thoughts had been running wild since his trip to Barringer in March. Seeing the campus only heightened his excitement, while lighting a fire under his level of apprehension. Pete picked up Isabel and said goodbye to her family. Her mother was teary, because she was going to miss Pete. She also knew that the pureness of his relationship with her daughter would be gone the moment he stepped foot on the Barringer campus. But, she loved Pete like a son and wanted him to reach for the stars.

  Pete was still holding it together as he brought Isabel back for a farewell barbeque at his parents’ house. The Berman's were happy to have Isabel over, knowing that they probably wouldn't see her again for a while. The night was enjoyable and ended all-too-fast for everyone concerned. Pete's family said their completely dry-eyed good-byes, as the two headed toward Pete's car. They both closed their doors and Isabel looked over at Pete, who then did something completely out of character. All of Pete's bottled emotions rushed toward his brain at the same time with his eyes as a vehicle for release. Without provocation he began hysterically crying and sank into a surprised Isabel's arms. She had already been crying for months, and was now completely tapped. Pete didn't have to say a word. He was nervous about going to college. There was nothing she could have said that would make him feel any better, so she just hugged him tight.

  Pete rolled up the bottom of his t-shirt and dried his moist eyes. He took a few deep breaths and turned the car on. As he started to drive, Pete thought back to when he was seven years old. His dad took him to sign up for Little League at his elementary school. The president of the baseball league's Farm Division was a family friend named Bert Schiller. Bert knew Pete was a
player and took great pleasure in seeing how excited he was. Lou Berman finished filling out the necessary paper work and Bert was just reviewing the information as a formality.

  When he got to Pete's birthday, Bert hesitated and said to Lou, "He's only seven?"

  Lou nodded his head and said "Yes."

  "Well, I'm sorry but you have to be at least eight to join the league," a considerate Schiller responded.

  "But you know he could play now," Lou Berman lightly protested.

  "I'm sorry, but we can't make exemptions," Schiller added.

  Pete was devastated and started to cry. Lou Berman felt terrible looking at Pete with his Mets hat and slightly worn-in leather glove. "I'm sorry Pete, I didn't know," Lou said. Pete didn't say a word, and cried into his glove as he held his father’s hand on the walk home.

  Eleven years after the Little League mishap, Pete was crying out of release rather than disappointment. He loved the game of basketball so much. He wasn't as worried about playing the game as he was the radical change about to take place in his life. Just as Little League Baseball would eventually showcase Pete's talents, the extra year spent in high school would afford him this opportunity to excel on the next level. As Pete turned the car and parked around the corner from Isabel's house, he realized that he had been blessed with everything in his life. From his parents, to his good sister, to the sports genes he had been given at birth, to his relationship with Isabel, to living in West Valley, to his connection with Barry Melnick. He also came to realize that whatever happened in the future, his hard work would eventually bring success.

  EPILOGUE

  Pete and Isabel

  It took Pete over two hours to say goodbye to Isabel the night before he went to school. He called her every other night for the first two months, and she drove up to see him the first week in October. At that point, Pete was trying to hold his own between a five-class workload, with courses such as Accounting I, Management Principles, English 101, Marketing Principles, and Business Communications I. Once the basketball season started in November, the relationship started to fall apart. By January and the winter break, it was over a year after it all began. The breakup was slow and painful for Isabel. Pete even wound up taking Isabel to her Senior Prom, despite his parents usual objections. He had never been with another girl, so he was understandably hesitant to go out with someone else. It took Isabel until the spring of her freshman of college to kiss another guy. She got a scholarship to nearby Division II Parrings College and lived at home all four years. She and Pete remained friends until he got married. He still owes a lot of his early personal development to her.

  Gerry Williams

  Gerry went to a school in the Ivy League but did not play on the basketball team. Despite receiving about five offers from Division I and II schools, he packed it in to become a doctor. After two semesters in the medical program, he shifted his emphasis to engineering. After one semester in engineering, he changed his concentration to business. He became a moderately successful Wall Street trader before he burned out at age 28. He is now the junior varsity basketball coach for Fellingwood High School, and he teaches typing classes.

  Pete Berman

  Barry Melnick thought it would be better for Pete to be in a regular dorm, as opposed to the hectic life of the freshman dorm. Living with sophomores and juniors gave Pete a chance to ease the transition to his new life. Those students had "been there," and "done that," and helped him navigate over some early rough spots. Melnick also separated Pete and Eric Spalding in an effort to let each of them grow independently. Spalding and Berman were best friends and managed to hang out together most of the time anyway.

  Barry Melnick's faith in Pete was quickly rewarded. The team went 17-13 in Pete's first year and finished in fourth place in the conference. They won their first round conference playoff game before losing to champion Boulder Hill College. Pete's sophomore season was a landmark year. Barringer did not lose a home conference game all year, and finished second in the conference with a 20-10 record. The team got all the way to the conference finals but lost again to Boulder Hill by one point. The team hoped to get an at-large NCAA Division II bid, but was turned away. The team didn't lose a single home game Pete's junior year, and were drawing capacity crowds for each game. They lost only two conference games and finished with a 25-5 record, good again for second place behind Boulder Hill College. Barringer breezed through the conference tournament and beat arch rival Boulder Hill 73-67 behind a 26-point, 18 rebound effort from Pete. The town of Barringer celebrated as the team received an automatic bid to the N.C.A.A. tournament, the schools first in its history. They won their first round game but then lost by six to the team that eventually won the championship. Pete's senior year, the team was ranked in the top 10 all year, finishing at number two in the country with a 28-3 record. They had lost three out of their first six games (against Division I opponents) and reeled off 25 straight victories to end the season, including a 15-point blowout of Boulder Hill in the championship game. Barringer then won four straight games to advance to the final four, where they lost a close game to the eventual champion Heyward State University. Pete was named a second team All-America and a first team Academic All-American with his 3.6 Grade Point Average.

  Talks abounded in the Spring of Pete's senior year. Barry Melnick accepted the head coaching job at the University of Florida and Pete was subsequently offered the head coaching job at Barringer. Melnick also asked Pete to join him in Florida as an assistant coach. If Pete didn't take the Barringer job, his good friend Bruce Spalding would vault from an expected assistant coach position to head coach of the Bruins. Pete was also offered a job by a major school booster, who just happened to be the portfolio manager of a major mutual fund. The decision would impact the rest of his life but, in Pete's mind, he believed that any direction he went he couldn't miss.