Fifty-five years ago — on January 28, 1966 — history was made at the old Bucyrus High School gymnasium (now the elementary school).
The Bucyrus Redmen and Galion Tigers played a basketball game for the ages. What started as a run-of-the-mill Northern Ohio League game between county rivals turned into a 111-108 double-overtime win for the Tigers — the highest combined score in the archives of the now-defunct NOL.
As a freshman at Bucyrus at the time, I was in my usual spot — middle of the back row of the middle section downstairs — with my friends Mike Stuckman, Randy Wynn, Bob Kottyan and Dennis Brombacher — taking in the spectacle.
With the greatest scorer in school history, the legendary Jim Kirkham, in his senior year, we were accustomed to high-scoring games, especially at home. But nothing prepared us for what would unfold on this night.
A glimpse of what was in store came in the first quarter when, according to Telegraph-Forum Sports Editor Joe Powers, Kirkham scored 17 of Bucyrus’ 21 points. However, Galion led 22-21 after one.
The Redmen returned the favor in the second period, outscoring the Tigers, 24-23 to tie the game, 45-45, at halftime. That is a good third-quarter score in many games now, but the best was yet to come.
The floor at the old Bucyrus gym was, of course, shorter than new floors, but there was also not 3-point line. That doesn’t mean that all the scoring was on layups and free throws. Powers estimated that Tom Hubble hit from 25 feet out to tie the game at 95-95 at the end of regulation, five feet beyond today’s 3-point line and Mike Burling scored the final points of the game on a 35-footer.
As a side note, Burling never met a shot he didn’t like. Teammates often joked that Bucyrus coach Bill Pace would yell at Burling to “get in the gym before you shoot it.”
Galion coach Carroll Kent countered with his scoring machine, Mike “Bones” Miller, who nearly matched Kirkham point-for-point, finishing with 39. Miller had the advantage in that he was able to play both extra periods. According to Powers’ account, Kirkham fouled out with less than 20 seconds left in regulation.
Tom Roberts, a sophomore for the Redmen, who himself scored 21 points, said that it was not only a school rivalry but a friendly rivalry between Kirkham and Miller.
“One thing I thought about after the game was how many points Kirk could have gotten if he hadn’t been in foul trouble the whole game and eventually fouled out in the fourth quarter,” Roberts said. “It was two good friends trying to top one another. It was a classic.”
To get to the overtime, both teams needed monster fourth quarters. Galion had outscored Bucyrus, 20-18, in the third quarter, to lead 65-63. However, the Redmen came back to edge the Tigers, 32-30, in the fourth quarter, capped by Hubble’s bomb, to send the game to the first extra frame.
Playing without the leading scorer in the NOL in the overtimes, Bucyrus was able to match the Tigers’ six points with six of their own. Kirkham’s replacement, 6-foot-6 sophomore John Seele, hit a pair of clutch free throws as did Roberts. It was 101-101 heading to the second overtime.
But the Redmen fell short in the second extra period. Galion outpointed the hosts, 10-7, to bring an end to the most electrifying games in Bucyrus history.
It is of interest to note that Bucyrus point guard, Bob Hamm, ill when the game started, played only a few minutes of the second period, before taking himself out. Powers noted that Hamm “was sorely missed.”
Roberts, Seele and Hamm were the core of the 1968 NOL championship team two years later, Bucyrus’ last one in the NOL.
Bill Roelle scored 19 points for Galion in support of Miller’s 39. Kirk Graf had 14 and Mike Hughes and Pete Kemp had 12 each.
Besides Kirkham’s 44 — still a Bucyrus single-game scoring record — and Roberts’ 21, Burling finished with 22 and Hubble had 18.
Ironically, Bucyrus ended the year with a 7-12 record, Galion at 6-13.
Since that night, the highest-scoring game in NOL history has taken on a life of its own. Doubtless several thousand people have claimed over the years to have been at the game in a gym that seated less than 1,000.
I, as a gawky freshman hoops fanatic, was among those who actually did see it. While I did not remember many of the details prior to reading Powers’ game story from the T-F archives at the Bucyrus Public Library, I clearly remember the final score glowing from the scoreboard on the back wall of the old gym — three digits on each side — 111-108.
Kirkham, Miller, and several other participants are no longer with us, but what they accomplished that January night in 1966 will live on for generations to come.