Marion's win over Minster key in '75

There's a rather solid chance that not many former Flyers can snag rebounds from above the rim, post up on a defense, or run a relentless full-court press quite like they used to, but the 1975 Marion Local Flyers should have no trouble bringing their home crowd to their feet like in the old days when they are honored on Friday in Maria Stein.

It's been 40 years since head coach Irv Besecker's boys raised the Midwest Athletic Conference's first state championship trophy after capturing the Class A title in the spring of 1975. Floating around this weekend will be stories covering all angles from that magical year.

"It's sort of ironic. A few weeks ago I 'Googled' a few of my former players to see where they were and what they were up to, and when I got home, there was an email inviting me to Maria Stein for the celebration," chuckled Besecker. "I moved in 1978, so it has been 37 years since I have seen a lot of those guys. In my mind they are all still 16-and-17-year old kids!"

It was a campaign littered with countless memorable moments for Flyer fans, but one of the most anticipated was their final battle of the season with their neighbors to the east, the Minster Wildcats.

The Flyers were 16-1 and ranked 11th in the state, while the unbeaten Wildcats countered with a number three ranking in Class A. Due to the expected overflow crowd from each community as well as curious spectators from the outside and an onslaught of media coverage, Besecker agreed to move the encounter to Fort Recovery, which had the largest gym in the area at the time.

The contest was a sellout within a few days, setting the stage for the MAC's first premier matchup of its early years.

"I remember some discussion and concern about moving the game, but the excitement about playing in front of an even larger crowd was still a thrill," recalled former All-Ohio center Steve (Snake) Hartings. "Playing against Minster made it all even more exciting. They were a great team with some very talented players."

Minster's Mark Bernhold drew first blood when he drilled the game's first bucket just 11 seconds after tip-off, but all that seemed to do was ignite the Flyers as they reeled off the next 11 points. The Wildcats regained their composure by the conclusion of the first period and the two rivals battled into the second quarter with the Flyers in charge, 17-10. The Blue and Gold watched their advantage get trimmed to five points at the onset of the second stanza, but they soon brushed that aside by erupting for the next 12 points to move ahead, 29-12. The Wildcats refused to pack it in, though, and dropped the curtain on the first half with two straight baskets as everyone retreated to the locker room with Marion Local enjoying a 29-16 cushion.

"Going into the game, we knew we would have our hands full because they matched up with our size and athleticism very well and they had a good handle on our strengths and weaknesses," Besecker admitted. "We didn't have a real good stretch during January that year. We won our games, but they weren't very pretty and we just didn't seem to click. By the time the Minster game rolled around, we were finally starting to run on all cylinders and we managed to surprise a few teams."

Sensing their unblemished season and top seat in the MAC standings was in jeopardy, the Wildcats emerged with urgency in the second half and sliced their deficit to seven points midway through the third quarter.

Trouble soon struck though when Fred Sommer and George Thieman each collected his third foul and took a seat on the bench next to head coach Bill Axe.

The Flyers took advantage in a hurry with a 10-2 spurt, forcing Axe to put Sommer back onto the floor only to watch him log his fourth foul a couple of minutes later.

"We were never comfortable with any kind of lead against a team like that even when we got up big," Hartings, who finished with 23 points, explained. "A great quality of our team though was that we were a very even-keeled group of players who never let our composure get too high or too low."  

Ahead 46-30 with one quarter remaining, Hartings and teammate Rick Brunswick combined for 18 of their team's 19 points in the final eight minutes, applying the exclamation point to a 65-47 Marion Local triumph. The win gave the Flyers the Auglaize-Mercer County League championship and forced a tie with the Wildcats in the final MAC standings as they finished the regular season 17-1 overall.

"Winning that game with so much on the line made it all the more special," recalled Howard Overman, who was a junior for the Flyers that season. "At that point, it was the biggest crowd we had played in front of and it was an intense atmosphere. Marion Local basketball didn't have a real storied history at that time, so it was neat to sort of set the trend with the success we had that season."

Although the game didn't quite stack up to its pre-billed hype, it seemingly lit a fuse for Marion Local, who began their tournament trail the following week and eventually steam-rolled through the remainder of their schedule en route to the state championship.

"Winning a game like that gave our kids a lot of confidence in themselves and helped to propel us for the next few weeks," Besecker commented. "It was neat to watch all of our strengths finally start to come together offensively and defensively and for the kids to start really believing in themselves. That, along with a little luck along the way, helped to make it a very special season for all of us."