March Madness

When we Hoosiers think of March it's usually associated (really) with a kind of madness -- basketball!  When I was in Junior High School at Wallace our school janitor, "Putt" Rudisell, was drafted to coach us.  He was a good coach and we thought he was probably better than some of our hired High School coaches.  Anyway, believe it or not, I served on the team (all 5 feet of muscle) and enjoyed being a forward and we did win a game or two, although I can't remember scoring any points.  There was a bonus for the effort, though, when Putt arranged for all the team to see the Harlem Globetrotters in a game at Crawfordsville!  Then, moving on to High School sports (basketball only in winter) we had to undergo a physical examination by Doc Rusk, and that's when my budding (?) athletic career came to a sudden halt.  Doc discovered that I (only age 14) had some high blood pressure which led him to disqualify me, at least for that year.  Eventually that problem was traced to bad tonsils and helped by subsequent surgery, but still lingered through High School and beyond.  However, the disappointment was relieved when I was chosen to be Student Manager, which consisted of making sure the basketballs were waxed and polished before every game and propherly inflated, floor burns and other injuries were properly treated, and towels and drinking water were on hand at each game.  I even made a cart to carry  those essentials out on the floor to the team at timeouts.  It did have a problem...the casters were not scientifically installed and the cart had a tendency to boomerang and so was retired in short order, to my embarrassment.  There were some perks, like riding on the bus with the team and sitting with them and the coach on the bench at the games.  The boys were great and the excitement was electric at every game.  Wallace played hard and fair, but never had great success during those years, and it seemed that we would always draw a much bigger and better team for the county and sectional tournaments.  But I'm proud of those town- and teammates, several of whom went on to serve in World War II with distinction, like Merle Shuler and Kenny Davidson.  And one, Forest Babb, gave his life on the Normandy beach.   Still another, Russell Gooding, who sat next to me in the assembly, married my sister Joan!   Oh, yes, there's still another perk that came my way -- I received a Student Manager sweater with a school letter.  I'm so thankful for those school days and for lessons learned in the classes

and on the gymnasium floor.  We didn't win a state championship, but we had fun and good times and made lots of great memories!  Life is like that, too.  God doesn't expect us to set the world on fire with popularity, fame and fortune, but He does invite us to turn from sin, trust His Son as our Saviour, and then live through Him and for Him on this earth.  As the Apostle Paul (who loved athletics) wrote:  "Know ye not that they which run in a race run all (that is, all run), but one  receiveth the prize?  So run, that ye may obtain (an eternal reward)! -- I Corinthians 9:24.   In Christ we are eternal winners!