Opinion: Following ’50 After 50′ was great, but Muddy River Sports forgot 1988-89 Griggsville team

To the Sportswriters at Muddy River Sports,

Over the course of the past three months, I’ve enjoyed following your “50 After 50” feature, in which you listed and published write-ups on teams you believed to be the 50 best west central Illinois Class A basketball teams of the past 50 years in your four-county coverage area (Adams, Brown, Hancock, and Pike counties).

As weeks passed — each featuring teams from towns and times I knew by heart and legend — I read the articles carefully to try to discern the cumulative criteria for why teams may have been included: some made appearances or placed in the state tournament, while others only made it one or two games out of their respective regional. Some only lost one or two games across the season, yet others had as many as nine losses.

There were some familiar faces along with quotes from former coaches and players I had known and played against. I found myself (along with several of my former teammates of the 1988-89 Griggsville Tornadoes basketball team) giddy with anticipation as to where our team would land in the rankings.

Strangely, however, our team was never listed — not in the top 10, the top 20, nor even in the full 50 —while others (including a top five team who went as far as we did in the postseason but eventually had their top player declared ineligible by the IHSA for illegal recruiting) were.

When I inquired of column contributor David Adam as to how teams were evaluated and chosen, he wrote back, saying:

“After receiving suggestions from several coaches (and doing a little research ourselves), a group of several people met at the Tangerine Bowl restaurant in November to pick the top 50 … Was the ‘89 Griggsville team considered? Yes. But like any ranking such as this, good teams get left off. Someone has to be No. 51 and No. 52. We left out teams that reached the state tournament and the super-sectionals. There’s no fail-safe way to make everyone happy. It’s merely the opinion of that group of people who met at the Tangerine Bowl. Comparing teams from eras like the 1970s to the 2020s is an impossible task.”

Perhaps sensing my disappointment (as well as my curiosity as to whom the “group of several people” might have been, since their names were not published), Mr. Adam added:

“My suggestion: A letter to the editor that we print on MRS. Tell us why your Griggsville team should have been included on the list. Provide facts and details as to why. Send us a team picture. I admit it’s possible that Muddy River Sports might have overlooked someone.”

At Mr. Adam’s invitation (and in honor of my former teammates, as well as the Griggsville community), I respectfully submit our case in bulleted format for your Muddy River Sports readers.

1988-89 Griggsville Tornadoes

• Team record: 24-6. The Tornadoes went further than any Tornado team since Griggsville’s 1927-28 team that went 22-8 and placed fourth in the state tournament before the 1971-72 A/AA split.
• Top scorer in the area, Scott (Nate) Bradshaw, averaged 27.8 points per game and twice scored a season-high of 45 points.
• Top playmaker in the area, Jeff Wilson, averaged 19 points and 9.7 assists per game.
• Top “sixth man” in the area, Ryan Stauffer, averaged 9.8 points and 3.4 rebounds per game.
• Offensive firepower. The Tornadoes averaged 80 points per game and scored over 100 points in a game three different times, including 121 against West Pike, which is still a school record
• Solid bench depth. The Tornadoes’ infamous “Killer B’s” were largely responsible for the team making the National Federation of State High School Association record book by scoring 50 points in one quarter against Industry.
• Five of Griggsville’s six losses came against teams outside of the Adams, Brown, Hancock, and Pike counties (the exception being Augusta Southeastern)
• 3rd place in Havana Round Robin Tournament
• 1st place in Pike County Conference Tournament
• 1st place (and undefeated) in Pike County Conference play
• Regional champions (defeated Pittsfield, 75-57)
• Won semifinal game of Petersburg Porta Sectional (defeated Girard 79-59)
• Defeated 78-74 in sectional championship by North Greene, who went on to defeat Quincy Notre Dame in the Macomb super-sectional before being defeated by eventual state champion, Carlyle

I count it a privilege to have been part of the 1988-89 Griggsville Tornadoes. Ours was a wonderful team during a wonderful time of west central Illinois basketball. Indeed, there is no perfect list of teams, but I submit that, for reasons listed above, ours should have been included in Muddy River Sports’ “50 After 50.”

Thank you for your efforts in covering west central Illinois sports.

Craig Dunham, No. 51
for the 1988-89 Griggsville Tornadoes