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Monday, March 23, 2009

OHS Basketball: The 1992 State Title Ring

Here's part 1 of 4 of the visual history of Orrville's 4 state title rings in football and basketball.

Through my vast network of associates...I was able to get my hands on the state title ring (made by Jostens, of course) from Orrville's first ever state championship team.

The 1991-92 Red Riders captured the Division III State title with a 78-65 win over Hamler Patrick Henry at St. John Arena in Columbus. They defeated Sparta Highland (with 7' stiff Jason Terry) in the semifinals, 68-55. For the season, they finished 27-1 (only loss being to Wooster at the COW).

It was their 2nd trip to the state final four (first coming in 1980, which ended with a loss to Hamilton Ross, 67-57, in the semifinals) but this season was their first trip to the title game.

Players on the team...off the top of my head.
1. Sly
2. Kevin
3. Coop
4. AD
5. Dee
6. Haley (Jim)
7. Rodgers
8. Vernon
9. Hardnett
10. Snyder
11. K. Robinson

I know I'm missing someone....someone jog my memory in the comments section.

A little thing, but definately something you just don't see anymore....this was one of the last teams to wear different jersey numbers depending on whether they were wearing their home whites or their road reds (remember when we wore red jerseys?).

For example...Sly wore #12 at home, but #13 on the road. Durden was 32/33, Summers was 44/45, Coop was 10/11, Dee was 42/43.

I'm guessing it had something to do with the home team wearing even numbers and the road team wearing odd numbers, possibly for scorebook purposes. I was a huge fan of this little uniform quirk (and the red jerseys...note to new coach: Bring back the Red Jerseys)

Anyways, here's the ring. Click on the picture for a larger version. Kind of bland, but still steeped in greatness.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jeremaih Dehart/ is this who you call coop?

Red Rider Sports Blog (Tim Snyder) said...

Yes...Coop was JERMAINE's nickname, after LA Laker great Michael Cooper.

Anonymous said...

I believe you are missing Andre Johnson if I am not mistaken...

Red Rider Sports Blog (Tim Snyder) said...

Was Andre on the 1992 title team? Let me do some research. Thanks for the comment though.

Red Rider Sports Blog (Tim Snyder) said...

Update....
I just confirmed this with a very trusted source.....Andre Johnson was a member of the 1991-92 team, but he left the team early on to focus on football.

He and Damian Vaughn were both on the team at the beginning of the season, but both left before the halfway point of the regular season.