Crim: Four decades later, 1984-85 Pittsfield boys basketball team still creating memories

PITTSFIELD, Ill. — It was an opportunity to turn back the clock and enable a band of brothers to reunite and reminisce about their accomplishments on the basketball court four decades ago and the friendships that have endured since.

The 1984-85 Pittsfield High School basketball team is remembered as one of the best in school history. The Saukees went 28-4 that season, won both the Midwest and Western-Macomb Holiday tournament titles, were ranked as high as third in the state rankings and reached the quarterfinals of the Illinois Class A tournament.

Ten of the 14 players from that team, along with coach Dave Bennett and assistant Leonard Onken, returned to Voshall Gym to be honored on the anniversary of that season before Friday night’s game against Riverton.

“I couldn’t believe it when I walked out on the floor,” said Layne Bennett, the coach’s oldest son and a guard on that team who lives in Alton. “Some of the greatest memories of our lives happened right here in this gym, and even though it’s been 40 years, you hold on to them.”

The players and coaches sat in the bleachers behind the Pittsfield bench during the game, catching up, telling stories, ribbing each other and analyzing the action in front of them. They cringed at turnovers and applauded stout defense and crisp ball movement, two trademarks of their era.

Nostalgia was in the air.

“It’s always special when we come back here and we’re all together,” Frank McCartney said. “A lot of big games were played on this court. The place was packed, it was must-see. There seldom was an empty seat. It was an era that was a lot of fun for us to go through.”

While Dave Bennett still refers to them as “the boys,” the players are grown men now with families and careers of their own. The roster includes corporate CEOs, businessmen, educators, a judge and a retired sheriff. Some still call Pike County home, others are scattered across Illinois and the country.

Yet, the bond of being part of that team remains as strong now as it was 40 years ago.

“Some of my best friends today are from that team,” said Tim Fischer, an all-state forward and the team’s leading scorer that season who lives in suburban Atlanta and annually vacations with former teammates Jeff Hayden and Phil Hoover.

“It was a good basketball team, but it was made up of even better people. We just enjoy hanging out. I think that chemistry showed 40 years ago, but we still have it today.”

John Tanner, whose fallaway jumper with 5 seconds left in the super-sectional against Warsaw propelled Pittsfield to the Assembly Hall in Champaign, agreed.

“It was such an unselfish team. It was never about one individual person, and I think that’s what helped us continue our relationships after we graduated,” said Tanner, who lives in Auburn and works for the Teacher Retirement System of Illinois.

“The teamwork we were instilled with carried over to our adult lives. You realize as you get older that it’s not about you; it’s about working together to accomplish the common goal.”

Hayden, a forward who formed a formidable one-two scoring punch with Fischer, said the lifelong camaraderie has been, in part, a product of “playing together and always having each other’s back.”

That included the coaches.

“We had a great coach, and he preached team,” Layne Bennett said. “And when you play for a great coach, you trust him, you believe in him, and he showed us how to win. When you’re winning, you’re gonna trust each other. That’s what we had.”

The biggest smiles on a night of handshakes and hugs belonged to Dave Bennett.

He doesn’t attend many Pittsfield games these days, mostly for special occasions like this. His focus is on the Centralia Orphans, coached by his youngest son Lee, who already has achieved more victories than his father in crafting a Hall of Fame-worthy career.

He moved around talking with each of his former players. He retold a story about how some of their fathers helped place the banners in the gym’s rafters. He laughed when quizzing those around him about the meals his wife, Ruth, used to make. He pulled out a laminated copy of a newspaper story from the 1980s and asked the author if he remembered writing it.

Now 82 and coming off back surgery, it has been 25 years since his Hall of Fame career ended. His 23-season run at Pittsfield produced 527 victories, 17 regional titles, 11 sectional crowns, four appearances in the Elite Eight and a memorable state championship in 1991.

His teams won 20 or more games 18 times and never suffered a losing season. Adding to that legacy, he also spent three seasons doing double duty as head football coach, guiding the Saukees to the Class 3A state semifinals in 1981.

The 1984-85 basketball team was the second he took to Champaign, “but it was the first team that went there and really competed,” he said, reciting pivotal moments that saw Pittsfield’s furious second-half rally fall painfully short in a 60-58 loss to Hoopeston-East Lynn as if it had just happened.

While victories are the primary measuring stick in sports, and the reason for this night’s celebration, Dave Bennett is most proud of what his former players have become. Like most coaches, he hoped the lessons he taught in athletics would prove useful in life.

“You know, there’s never a guarantee that any of that is going to carry over,” he said. “But I think most of these guys will tell you that they got something besides just playing basketball or football. I hope they did. It sure appears they got it from somebody.

“All the boys who were here are really successful in what they’re doing, and the boys who weren’t here are also doing well. They’re just a special group of kids, just good kids. I’m happy for them, proud of them.”

McCartney tried to sum up the night.

“It’s great to get together and celebrate what we had,” he said.

And what they still have.