Reminisces – Dave LeMonds, ’72

The start of the ’72 season was a train wreck. Before the very first game (maybe even before practices got going) several starters quit the team in apparent protest to Floyd and his “old-school” coaching style. We were left with one returning varsity starter, Terry Wheeler and a varsity reserve, Jeff Wall. The rest of the team consisted of two other seniors, Ron Frymire and me, and several underclassmen, including John Reichert, Ken Neuschwanger, Bill Zahler, and Roy Garrision.

The team had virtually no height, with Terry Wheeler at 6’3″ the tallest. Our lack of varsity experience really showed early in the year, as the team lost its first few games. I’m sure it was tough for the CR fans to watch after so many high-caliber teams and winning seasons. It had only been a few short years since the ’69 team had won state, and the ’70 and ’71 teams finished with great seasons, as both qualified for the tournament. It seemed like Castle Rock went to state virtually every year.

I’m sure Floyd was getting plenty of advice on what he needed to do to improve the situation, but he never let it show or shared any of it with the team. He challenged us with the goal of getting better and the ultimate objective – post-season play at state. I actually believed we could do it. I mean, Castle Rock had been sending a team to state since World War II!

I wasn’t a starter but subscribed to Coach’s plan and worked to support the team coming off the bench. My chance came in about the third game of the season against R.A. Long. We were taking the traditional pre-game team walk when Coach informed me, “You’re starting tonight.” He’d not given me any indication in practice or at anytime that I would start.

Needless to say, I was nervous but it worked out with me scoring 17 points! We lost to a hot-shooting team led by John Donahue but came back to beat them in the rematch at CR. Shortly after I was moved into the starting line-up, the guy I replaced quit the team. Instead of panicking, the team settled down and seemed to unify around Coach. There never was any negative talk from Coach about those who boycotted the team or about the player who quite after league play started. He didn’t dwell on this or make any negative comments. It was all about the team and getting us to play better.

Rarely did Floyd coach through criticism. Sure there were times, like when a player who shall remain nameless took a 30-foot jumper immediately following a timeout where Coach had told us to work the ball in for a good shot (He missed and we ended up losing the game to White Salmon).

We ended league in third-place in Trico with a 9-5 record, 14-11 overall. Certainly not great, but good enough to qualify for district. The bad news was that the number of berths to state from our district had been reduced from prior years. As the third seed from Trico, we ended up playing 5 or 6 games at district. We got into the loser bracket but stayed alive until the final game. We missed going to state by one game.

Talent-wise, I think the ’72 team had the least of any CR team for the prior 10 to 15 years, but Floyd was able to get the most out of what he had.

I had to refer to my old Rocket annual to locate the team’s record. On the same page was the team photo. Floyd had signed my annual. His congratulatory comments on a great year meant a lot then and even more now.