Orrville is an Ohio farm town -- just a little south of Akron, a little west of Canton - with two claims to fame: It is the home of Smuckers, and the birthplace of one guy who is still making sports history to this very day.
His father was a railroad worker and his mother was a school teacher. Born on Oct. 25, 1940, a little more than a year before the Japanese would attack Pearl Harbor, he grew up in this farming community just as common and as plain as any of its 4,400 residents. That is, until he became a teenager.
Farming, you see, wasn't in this kid's blood. It was basketball that coursed through his veins. He loved the game. It was as much his entire being as it was for Jimmy Chipwood, the boy that Gene Hackman so desperately needed on his Hickory team in the movie "Hoosiers."
In Orrville, they would laugh from time to time about this kid who would do anything to practice his passion, even if it meant sneaking into the gym after hours or going to another town where he could play.
And it paid off: He became the marquee player for the Orrville High School Red Raiders. Still, although many people agreed he was very good, most suggested he wasn't good enough to play on the great teams in the country when the late 1950s rolled around. Even his high school coach suggested he pick a Mid-American Conference school, a place where he could be a big fish in a small pond.
BUT THIS ORRVILLE LAD was not going to settle for the second tier. He wanted the big-time and the big time is what he got.
Ohio State accepted him as a student and as player on the men's team -- a team that would play three times for the national title between 1960-62, and win it once. This was a great team.
This player, however, did not see many minutes of game-time. That was rather hard to do, even for a very good player, on this Fred Taylor-coached club that featured such people as John Havlicek and Jerry Lucas.
So, he also studied hard and in 1962 he graduated with a bachelor's degree in history and government. But the love of his life was still basketball and because he knew the game and was a natural-born teacher, he took a coaching position at Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, High School in the Cleveland area.
While he might have been average as a player, he was a natural as a coach. A star brighter than the brightest of stars. So bright that one year later, he became an assistant coach at West Point. And in 1965, when his boss, Tates Locke, left to take over the helm at Miami of Ohio, the Army picked this 24-year-old sensation as its new head coach.
FROM THERE, the rest is history. He took the Cadets to an 18-8 ride his first year. Six years later, he capped off his Army career with a .671 winning percentage.
He said goodbye to West Point in 1971 and hello to a place where this young man from a nothing town called Orrville became a legend. A place where that move, "Hoosiers," is not just a feature film -- it is a documentary.
The place was Indiana and the name is Bob Knight, one of the greatest basketball coaches of all-time. To this day, no other active coach can match what he has done: Three NCAA championship rings, an NIT victory, an Olympic Gold medal, a Pan American winning team and a perfect record for a single season (32-0 in 1975-76).
WEBVIEWER MAIL: Got a trivia question that you think will stump the ol' Irishman -- or a gripe about sports or some particular incident -- just email me and I will try to include it in my next column. Just click here.
Yo, Irishman, who coached Ohio State's championship teams in the 1960s?
-- From a Buckeye Bob kind of guy at a Compuserve.com.
Thanks for your question, Bob. It was answered above and was the inspiration to write something on Coach Knight.
Do you think the Packers can repeat next year?
-- From a lady named Sue at a Michigan edu.
I think they have a very legitimate shot at doing do, Sue. Brett Favre, Desmond Howard and Reggie White will be back. But these three must remain healthy and they must somehow find the same intensity as they had this year.
Please settle a bet: I say Connie Mack was almost 90 years old when he was still managing and my friend says that I am nuts. Am I?
-- From a young man named Hank, whom I think is using his dad's Colorado.edu.
I am sorry, Hank, but I am not qualified as a psychologist to address your mental state. However, your trivia state is in fine shape. Mack, the Philadelphia A's owner, was still managing the team in 1950 -- at the ripe old age of 87!
Do you think I could have won that fight?
-- From O. McCall, hiding out in an undisclosed net.site.
Ollie! Hey, homes, don't get me wrong, but if you want to win a boxing match there are two things you simply must do: Throw punches and never cry.
TEST TIME: OK, STC nuts, it's time to get on with the business of sports trivia. Yes, I told you all about Bobby Knight. Let's see how much you know about his Indiana teams. Here we go:
1) Has any Bobby Knight team failed to reach postseason play? Give up?
2) What team has Knight's Hoosiers thumped more than any other since he took over? Give up?
3) What team has beaten Knight the most during his reign? Give up?
4) Knight is tied for the most Big Ten championships with what other coach? Give up?
5) An easy one: Knight has led many no-name teams to greatness, but for a few years he had a star on his team who also became one of the NBA's all-time greats. Who? Give up?
Mike Emmett has been kicking around sports departments in newspapers and online operations around the U.S. for years. Got something to say to the Irishman? Email him with a click here.
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