Pierpont proud

By KARL PEARSON
Staff Writer

Long before there was a team in Cleveland that bore the name, there was another outstanding group of Cavaliers that made an impact on the Ashtabula County basketball scene in the mid-1950s.

The Pierpont Cavaliers were the toast of small-school basketball in the county during the 1954-55 and 1955-56 seasons. Under the direction of coach Walter Robertson, the Cavaliers were the Class B county champions both years. The latter team recorded a 19-6 record, advanced to the Class B district tournament and, years later, was one of 48 teams from throughout Ashtabula County to be featured in the fictional Hoop Dreams tournament organized by Star Beacon sports editor Don McCormack.

The leader of those teams, 5-foot-7 point guard Bob Fenton, was truly a dynamic player. He not only ran the show for the Cavaliers, but was also an excellent scorer. Scoring 452 points during his senior year, he earned Class B Player of the Year honors in the county.

Then, just as quickly as he came on the scene, Fenton put the game aside to serve in the United States Army. He returned home to work at a variety of industrial jobs in the county and raise a family that includes three children and six grandchildren with his high school sweetheart and bride of 44 years, the former Faye Campbell.

Fenton has never strayed far from the community where he enjoyed his boyhood success. He still lives in Andover. His children are close by, with oldest son Mike living in Jefferson, second son Mark and wife Celeste and daughter Lisa Campbell and husband Bob still residing in Pierpont.

More than 50 years after his Cavalier days, Fenton believed the efforts of he and his teammates had pretty much been forgotten until he got the call recently that he was to be part of the 12-member Hall of Fame class for 2007 for the Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation. Fenton will be officially inducted at the ACBF's annual banquet April 1 at 6 p.m. at the Conneaut Human Resources Center.

"It was like something out of the blue," the 68-year-old Fenton said. "It never would have entered my mind that I would receive anything like this.

"After all, it's been 51 years since I played with that team. It's nice to be remembered. We're considered old by today's kids."

Talk about those Pierpont Cavaliers conjures up visions of the mythical Hickory High School team that won the Indiana state basketball championship in the movie "Hoosiers." What is now Pierpont Elementary School in the Buckeye Local School District was Pierpont High School, which included just 49 boys in it's top four grades.

Fenton's graduating consisting of just 12 students, equally divided between girls and boys. All of those boys were on the Cavalier basketball squad, including fellow starters Dave Holden and brothers Larry and Russell Cork, Gaylord Millard and Jim Speer off the bench.

That group of boys grew up through the elementary grades playing basketball together in the school gymnasium. It was especially easy for Fenton, who lived right across the street from the school. His father, Raymond, who is deceased, and his mother, Meribah, at 89 still a resident of the Villa at the Lake in Conneaut, didn't seem to mind when he and his younger brother, Barney, who is also deceased, went there to play.

"We all used to spend a lot of Saturday mornings over there playing ball," Fenton said. "We were over there as much as we could."

Playing that much became even more of a factor when Walter Robertson arrived in town when Fenton and his classmates were in junior high. That was partially because the coach lived just down the street, too. The fact he also was the superintendent didn't hurt the boys' ability to gain access to the gym, either. They took full advantage.

Robertson coached Fenton and his teammates from junior high on up. Apparently, the coach was not a particularly demanding taskmaster, but had a way of getting his team to play the game the way he desired.

"He really emphasized passing the ball well and making the right decisions," Fenton said. "Mr. Robertson was kind of on the quiet side. He wasn't a real hard coach. He just explained to you what he wanted you to do and you did it."

The Cavaliers played a pretty wide-open game for the day. Many times, they scored in the 70s and 80s.

"We tried to fast break as much as we could," Fenton said. "We did shoot the ball quite a bit from the outside if we were in the half court. I think we passed the ball around pretty good. I think we were pretty good foul shooters, too.

"Defensively, we pressed a little, mainly in the half court. We played a lot of zone defense, usually a 2-3."

Playing so much together for so long obviously made the Cavaliers a cohesive unit, but it wasn't just about that group of six seniors. Gradually, several underclassmen became key factors to blend in with Fenton and Holden in the starting lineup. Carl Wilson played the other guard opposite Fenton, while 6-2 Don Welty became a force in the middle for the Cavaliers and got plenty of help from Tom Radzyminski in the paint.

But there was never any doubt Fenton was the ring leader. Even at his slight stature, he was a premier scorer, a combination of a slasher and a respectable outside shooter. Playing in an era when there was no three-point line, his scoring feats might have been even more impressive.

Greatness rubbed off on Hood

By KARL PEARSON
Staff Writer

Few people have been as connected to greatness on the Ashtabula County sports scene as Jim Hood.

His life is a litany of work with people of towering stature, from the time he played junior high basketball at West Junior High School right down to the present. That was true on a three-sport basis for the Ashtabula Panthers.

Look at the list of names of people for whom Hood either played or worked with in the coaching realm. Tony Chiacchiero and Wash Lyons are just a few.

The list of persons with whom Hood has been associated in the sport which he said he truly loves - basketball - is the one that is really impressive. In junior high, he played for Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation Hall of Famer Ange Candela. In high school, he played for Hall of Famers Gene Gephart and Bob Walters.

He played with other standout athletes like Al Benton, Dan Craft, Pete Jepson, Bill Kaydo, Eugene Miller and Larry Wells. In his three-year varsity career, which ended in 1971, he played against great opponents like Harbor's Bob Millberg, Geneva's Randy Knowles and Mike Blauman, Conneaut's Scott Humphrey, Jeff Puffer and Al Razem, Jefferson's Larry Crowell and Pymatuning Valley's Craig Readshaw.

Even during a brief collegiate career at Youngstown State University, he was associated with legendary Penguin coach Dom Roselli. Then he came home to coach with Walters, through John Higgins, back to Walters, on to Hall of Famer Andrew Isco and finally to Tim Tallbacka.

The 55-year-old Hood readily admits he has been blessed by his associations in sports. But, although he left Ashtabula High School as it's career scoring leader with 937 points, and retained that status for many years, Hood never thought about being in the company of such luminaries until he got the call that he has been chosen as a part of the 2007 Hall of Fame class for the Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation. He will be inducted in ceremonies April 1 at 6 p.m. at the ACBF's annual awards banquet at the Conneaut Human Resources Center.

"That was all those years ago, and I thought everybody needed to score at least 1,000 points to be considered," he said. "In my era, getting 1,000 points wasn't that big a thing. It was just about getting the wins.

"It was so hard to get 1,000 points because there was no 3-point line. The rivalries were so intense that if you didn't play team ball, you didn't win."

What isn't stated is that Hood is one of rare breed of players to earn first-team Star Beacon Ashtabula County honors for three years. When he graduated in 1971, he was believed to be the only player ever to have achieved that distinction. Even today, Hood would be be in pretty select company.

Having his name connected again to some of his old coaches and coaching colleagues is a point of great pride to Hood.

"It's quite an honor to be associated with the best," he said. "It's kind of interesting to be with those men when you consider someone like Bob Walters was my coach and then gave me my first coaching job. It's kind of come full circle for me.

"My life has been connected with Hall of Famers. I've been very fortunate in my associations."

That applies almost from the time he was in elementary school, first at the old West Avenue Elementary School, which is no longer utilized, then at what was known as Station Avenue Elementary and is now called Thurgood Marshall Elementary.

"Mr. (Bob) Russo was my gym teacher," Hood said. "He taught me how to shoot my first layup. I see kids today trying to do the same thing, which is stop at the foul line and take the shot. He taught me to keep driving in to use the backboard.

Growing up on West 41st Street, Hood and other youngsters like Jim Gilbert, whom he succeeded as Ashabula's career scoring leader in 1971, Eugene Jones, Jim Smith and Wells started a tradition of playing together every chance they got.

"We played at a place on Alfred Drive that we called the Dust Bowl," he said. "All it had was a hoop and a clay court. Every time the wind blew, it would kick up the dust."

As years went by, that group would include boys like Craft, Jepson and Paul Kelly.

"We used to go anywhere in the summer to play," Hood said. "We'd drive to Cleveland, Erie, anywhere to play."

Those early lessons instilled a lifelong love of the game in Hood, even though he was also a standout in football at a variety of positions, including fullback, defensive end, safety and even quarterback for the teams coached by Chiacchiero and Gephart. He was also a fine discus thrower, shotputter and relay runner for Lyons' track squads.

"I just loved (basketball)," he said. "I always tried to give it my all. Basketball was the sport I loved best."

He was willing to put in the time to hone his game.

Man of all seasons

By KARL PEARSON
Staff Writer

It is such a rare occurrence that it happened just twice in the 20th Century. And those occasions were just three years apart.

Ashtabula, in the 1946-47 season, and Geneva, in 1949-1950, remain the only two Ashtabula County boys basketball teams to qualify for the state tournament in Columbus.

Coincidentally, two of the players on those unique teams, Ramon (Ray) Peet of Ashtabula and Dale Arkenburg of Geneva, were first cousins.

At its annual banquet on April 1, Arkenburg (along with Eagles teammate Don Marsh) will join Peet in the Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation Hall of Fame. Like Peet, Arkenburg will be inducted posthumously. He died on Feb. 13, 2005, at the age of 72.

Arkenburg, the only junior starter on that Geneva team which reached the state semifinals and finished at 23-3, being eliminated by imposing center Gene Neff and Eaton, 56-41. Arkenburg, Marsh, Jim Merrell and Dick Eller were the four usual starters for the Eagles that year. Coach Bruno Mallone split the other starting position between Andy Mellon and Bob Scoville. All except Marsh, who now lives in Connecticut, have died. Merrell, Arkenburg and Eller have all died in the past three years, just a few years after reuniting in 2000 on the 50th anniversary of their tournament run.

Arkenburg and Marsh were similar players, about 6-foot or 6-1 forwards who were the scorers for their team. That year, Arkenburg nipped Marsh, 161-160 in league games to win the Lake Shore League scoring championship. The LSL selected the pair as co-players of the year.

"Marsh and I carried the scoring load, but Eller was a good shot," Arkenburg said in 2000. "We'd tell those guys to shoot to take the pressure off Don and me. But (Eller) would just pass it off.

"Dick Eller was as tough as they come on defense. He always took the other team's leading scorer, unless it was a center. He wasn't big enough to shut a center down. I would have hated having him guard me. He was tough and quick as a cat. (Merrell) was a giant back then (at 6-3). Jim was big and strong. If he got his hands on the ball coming off the boards, nobody was going to get it. He was tough and very big."

"We had a few set plays on tipoffs (which were then held at the beginning of each quarter)," Merrell said. "Usually, we had picks to set up Marsh or Arkenburg to get open some place. They played at the foul line or farther out so they could drive. They were good outside shooters."

In the 1949-50 season, Geneva won its first 13 games before being beaten by Harbor, 32-31, in the Mariners' gym, which had I-beams hanging from the ceiling which hindered Arkenburg's and Marsh's shots.

"Back in those days, we called it the 'Harbor Arch,'" Arkenburg said. "In practice, we would take a rope and hang it about four or five feet above the rim and shoot under it.

"The gym was a cigar box. The Harbor guy (Johnson) threw in a bullet at the end of the game. I don't know how it went in; it was a low line drive. You couldn't shoot from any distance on that floor."

That was the Eagles' only league loss. They lost one other game, to Cleveland Lincoln, before the state tournament, prevailing in a clutch victory over Ashtabula in Ball Gym, 40-38.

Down 10 points with two minutes left, Geneva tied it at 38-all on a free throw by Merrell, setting the Eagles up for the win.

"Dick Eller was all over the place," Arkenburg recalled in 2000. "(On the final possession), Don Marsh shot and got drilled into the wall. I didn't react at first because I expected a foul to be called. But I was trailing the play and went back up with it (for the winning shot).

"That was a big game for us. We were able to beat Ashtabula. We were the little kids on the block at that time."

One of Arkenburg's teammates, Eller, remembered the frenzy that hit Geneva during the tournament.

"It was amazing," Eller said in 2000. "We'd had a good football season, then started advancing in the tournament and the whole community became more and more excited. I remember suddenly the members of the team became names in the community, known faces. I'd be walking to school and people would offer me a ride, people I wasn't sure I knew.

"I was kind of flabbergasted with all the attention. The businesses and the school were great. You didn't have to be a player on the basketball team to be part of that season. I had a lot of classmates and we all shared."

Coaching is in his blood

By KARL PEARSON
Staff Writer

Having a passion for something is important to any individual. Tom Henson freely admits that, next to his family, coaching is his.

"I have always loved coaching," the Grand Valley High School athletic director and head football coach said. "I have always loved being around kids and sports. It's just a love of the game.

"Many people have asked me why I haven't gone into administration. That's not what I love to do. Coaching is what's important to me."

It's pretty obvious coaching is in the blood of the 1966 GV graduate. At 59 years old, many other persons who have expressed a similar love of coaching are long gone from the scene, but Henson just keeps churning away in the profession, with no foreseeable end in sight.

Coaching is what Henson feels is his legacy. Although he has been the head football coach at his alma mater for two seasons, and spent 25 years before that as the top assistant to his brother, Ashtabula County Football Hall of Fame member Jim Henson, it is not necessarily for those factors that he is best known.

For 29 years, and until the conclusion of the 2003-04 season, Tom Henson was the head boys basketball coach at GV, a feat no other boys or girls coach in Ashtabula County has matched. In that time, he accumulated a record of 293-323 for a .476 winning percentage, claiming three championships in the conferences in which the Mustangs competed in that period, winning four sectional championships and reaching the district-championship game twice.

Henson ranks sixth all-time among all Ashtabula County basketball coaches and fifth among county boys coaches. He trails only Jefferson girls coach Rod Holmes and Hall of Fame boys coaches Bob Ball of Ashtabula, Jon Hall of Edgewood, Andy Garcia of Conneaut and Bill Koval of Geneva.

Those factors have led to his inclusion in the 2007 class of inductees into the Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation Hall of Fame, which will take place April 1 at 6 p.m. at the Conneaut Human Resources Center. He will be one of 12 persons inducted that day.

In many ways, Henson is uncomfortable to be joining such company.

"I was shocked when I was told," he said. "I don't think my record compares to those coaches. I think my longevity does.

"There have been so many great players and great coaches that have come through this county. I'm proud that other people felt I had done something to be a part of their group. That group includes a lot of great people that have done a lot of positive things for Ashtabula County."

Although he's generally associated with Grand Valley, Henson first became connected to basketball at another school, the old Deming school.

"I first remember playing in the fourth grade," he said. "Linc Jerome's grandmother had our class and she used to set up the teams for us to ball and let us play."

It was pretty much the mode in which the Henson brothers continued in the game into junior high.

"Seventh grade was the first organized ball I played," Henson said. "That was when I was still at Deming. In the eighth grade, they consolidated everything and I ended up playing at the old Grand Valley Middle School. That's where it all sort of fell into place."

In his freshman year at GV, Henson made his first connection to a family that would later impact on his coaching career.

"My freshman coach was Carl Paskey, who was Nate's dad," he said. "I also played a couple JV games and he was my coach for that, too. In my sophomore year, I played JV and dressed varsity."

The varsity coach throughout Henson's career was Bill Young. Henson was the point guard in his junior and senior seasons.

"When I was a junior, the big stars were Larry Bates and (present Newbury girls basketball coach) Bob Johnson," he said. "I just had to get the ball to them.

"My senior year, I was the only returning letterman. (GV coaching colleague) Ron Chutas was the post. I'd could dribble penetrate for a layup or kick the ball out to Ron if I was double-teamed. I was confident he would score. It was easy to get him the ball. He and I played well together. He was my best friend in school."

The Mustangs had a good season Henson's junior year and seemed to be headed to a better record early in his senior season.

"My senior year started out great and ended in disaster," he said. "I was leading the county in scoring through the first six or seven games, but I injured my hip and was laid up after that until tournament time."

Family affair

By KARL PEARSON
Staff Writer

"I felt I had to work twice as hard at it," he said. "I did it on my own so nobody could say my brother gave it to me.

"I think that helped make me an even better athlete. I've always worked hard at anything I did. I think that's why I've had the success I had."

Fred Hirsimaki always knew whatever his relationship was with his brother on the court, he could rely on Charles Hirshey for help.

"We had a great relationship," he said. "Our relationship was like most brothers. I could call him up and we'd talk about anything."

Even though Charles Hirshey passed away in 1998 at age 84, the two brothers will be linked again on April 1 when Fred Hirsimaki joins his brother in the Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation Hall of Fame at the annual ACBF banquet at the Conneaut Human Resources Center. Hirshey was inducted into that body in 2005.

Hirsimaki is definitely pleased about that distinction.

"I was there when he was inducted," the 82-year-old Findlay resident said. "I'm kind of surprised to be recognized like that after all these years. I was kind of shocked when I was told. I appreciate that I am being remembered."

The brothers will not be the only Rowe Vikings in the ACBF Hall of Fame after this year. Bob Puffer, a guard on the teams that included Hirsimaki, is also a part of the Class of 2007.

"Bob was a junior when I was a senior," Hirsimaki said. "He was a good dribbler. He was a good boy."

Hirsimaki's early basketball exposure came from another of his brothers, Martin, who still lives in Conneaut in assisted living at the Villa at the Lake. In addition to Charles, they had five older brothers - Aarro, Eli, John, Raymond and George - two older sisters - Sylvia and Helen - and a younger brother, Ted. George lives in New York.

"Martin was three years older than me," he said. "We played a lot at home."

As he went through the elementary grades, Hirsimaki found another outlet to hone his skills in the thriving church league basketball scene in the area.

"When I was in fourth, fifth and sixth grade, I played for the Finnish Lutheran Church," he said. "I was put in with the older boys."

His basketball training continued when he reached the junior-high level at Rowe, although it was very informal. Meanwhile, his brother had already begun working as a history, social studies and physical education teacher and was already establishing a basketball juggernaut that would eventually compile a 172-38 record (.819 winning percentage) in nine seasons, average 19 wins a year over that period and never won less than 19 games.

Hirsimaki remembers sitting in many of his brother's classes over the years. Hirshey also had a reputation as a dynamic educator and took the same approach in the classroom that he did with his basketball team or equally excellent baseball and track squads.

A true mighty mite

By KARL PEARSON
Staff Writer

At 5-foot-3, Jefferson's Traci Hozian proved brains were better than brawn

Traci Hozian has always been interested in the workings of the mind. It was that way when she was a player, both in preparing herself for competition and in testing her limits and the tolerance of her coaches.

"I had a lot of mental talks before games to help myself out," the 1990 Jefferson High School graduate said. "I've always thought of basketball as a mental game. Yes, you have to be athletic, but you also have to be smart."

Hozian, who was one of the key players for coach Rod Holmes in what he calls the "second tier" of the growth of the Falcon program into an area girls basketball power, also was known to enjoy trying to push the buttons of Holmes and his coaching staff.

"I was kinda of feisty," she said from her home in Berkley, Calif.

Holmes, Ashtabula's County career record holder for basketball victories, puts it a slightly different way.

"There were times when Traci and I butted heads," he said. "I probably tried to play as many head games with her then as she does with the kids she works with now."

That is said by the coach with his understated sense of humor and a great sense of pride in Hozian's path in life.

"I couldn't be prouder of what Traci has done," Holmes said of his guard, who played at 5-foot-3 and 103 pounds. "Where she is now is a great testimony to how hard she has worked and still works."

That penchant for hard work has the 36-year-old Hozian well along the road toward a degree as a clinical psychologist. She is studying at the American School of Professional Psychology.

"I got my undergraduate degree from Kent State in 2004," she said. "I have a masters in passing that I should be finishing up this summer. I'm also doing my predoctural studies and working on my dissertation. Hopefully, I'll be done with that by the end of next year.

"After I graduate, I've got a year of postdoctoral work, which will be clinical work. Then, most likely I'll go into private practice for a while. Right now, I'm also working with kids at Santa Rosa College in Sonoma County, which is about a 40-minute drive for me."

Even when she was in high school, Hozian had two real goals for her life. She is closing in on the second.

"I dreamed of playing college ball," she said. "I also knew I wanted to be a psychologist.

"I had a few full-ride offers. I regretted a bit that I didn't follow through with that and try it."

But she also found out from some of her old teammates who did pursue college basketball that it had certain pitfalls.

"I have talked to some people like Anita (Jurcenko Moore) and Trixie Wolf who went on and played college ball," Hozian said. "They said it wasn't the fun that high school basketball had been, that it was a job in college. Now, I have no regrets about my decision. It was just meant to be."

Instead, Hozian credits Holmes and volleyball and JV basketball coach Jeanine Bartlett with giving her the direction she needed to,set out on the path she has chosen.

"Coach Bartlett and Coach Holmes did a lot for me," she said. "The impact they had on me has meant so much in my life."

Fittingly, Hozian is being honored for her impact on Ashtabula County basketball with her selection into the Class of 2007 of the Ashtabula County Basketball Hall of Fame. She will be the only female inductee in a group of 12 to be honored April 1 at the ACBF's annual banquet at the Conneaut Human Resources Center.

Appropriately, it was Holmes who first informed Hozian of her selection to the Hall of Fame.

"I'm really flattered," she said. "I wasn't even aware anything like this existed until Coach Holmes called me. It took me back a bit to a time of a lot of good memories.

"The last time I really played competitively was in high school. I still like to get out there and pop a few on my lunch hour. People don't believe a short person like me can play like that, so I have to show them."

Being connected again in the Hall of Fame to other former Falcons like Moore, who followed her at Jefferson, and predecessors like Di (Anthony) Henslee and Kelly Boggs is also an unexpected pleasure.

"It's great to be linked to those players again, to people who have been such a large part of the success of Jefferson basketball," Hozian said. "Players like Kelly Boggs and Di Anthony put the fire in my eye. They were a feisty group. They really inspired us. And girls like Anita and Trixie were such great teammates."

Basketball was a great source of comfort and enjoyment for Hozian even as a little child. Her mother, the former Sharon Maloney, was killed in a car crash when her sister, Chris Hozian was just 3 and Traci was still a toddler. Intrigued by the action going on among the kids on Susan Drive, right near Jefferson High School, young Traci decided to get involved.

"I was probably 7 or 8 when I started playing basketball." she said. "I grew up in an all boys neighborhood, so I had no other choices than to play with the boys. I came home crying a few times and my dad (Raymond Hozian, who died last year) told me it didn't do any good to be crying and to go back out and play."

That probably helped Hozian become the tough competitor she was. She carried that attitude into her first formalized basketball experience in the junior-high program at Ashtabula's Mother of Sorrows School. her first coach was a familliar area sports figure, former St. John and Madison coach and local official Paul Stofan.

"It was so much fun playing for him and with that group of girls," Hozian said. "Amy Laffey and Heather Liuzzo were a couple of teammates.

"I remember one time before a big game against Mount Carmel, which was our big rival. Stofan sent over a singing clown to school before the game. That really was good for us."

Instead of staying on the path of parochial school basketball to St. John, Hozian ended up heading to Jefferson for high school.

"I had played softball in the summer with girls like Ronda Carter, Di Anthony, and Michelle Miller, who were all real good athletes," she said. "We became real good friends. I wanted to be a part of their success."

When she got to Jefferson, the coach she first worked with most directly was Bartlett, who had Hozian for volleyball and JV basketball.

"I think of her a bit more in volleyball, but Coach Bartlett definitely helped start the winning tradition there," Hozian said. "I remember her as being very committed and very intelligent and how much she pushed me."

By time she was a sophomore, Hozian led the Jefferson JV's to a 19-1 record. But she was already capable of playing at the varsity level with girls like Anthony and Boggs and dressed for many of the games. Holmes probably would have utilized her more, but Hozian held herself back a little bit from really emerging on the varsity scene.

"When Traci first came in, she was the type of kid who as a sophomore really wasn't sure if she could contribute to the varsity team," he said "She could have started as a sophomore, but didn't want to make the older girls mad at her."

Still, Hozian contributed quite a bit to the success of the Falcons in 1987-88 season, assisting Jefferson to its first regional tournament appearance.

"She came in and hit some really key shots to get us a win over Madison up there," Holmes said. "She made a lot of key contributions during the season."

That first trip to regionals was an eye-opening experience for Hozian.

"Getting to regionals my sophomore yaer was a big thing," she said. "It helped me realize we could all be successful."

Hozian may have been a bit overwhelmed by the presence of Holmes, who already had established himself as one of the area's premier coaches.

"I was intimidated by him," she said. "I always remember him blowing the whistle and telling us to run. But, I also remember he created an atmosphere that was conducive to winning."

As time wore on, and as the years passed, Hozian developed a greater sense of her relationship with Holmes.

"He was the father I didn't have," she said. "He pushed me to become not just a great player, but a great person."

Holmes realized the basketball court was a place of refuge for his little point guard, one of the few places she truly felt comfortable. He tapped into that and watched Hozian blossom.

"After Di and Kelly and their group graduated, people would ask me where we were going from there," he said. " Traci and her group were the answer. They just kept the ball rolling."

It seems Hozian also had a unique sense of timing. Just as her career was taking off, the 3-point line was introduced in high school basketball, along with smaller ball for girls. She took complete advantage of those factors in her junior year, setting the state record for 3-pointers with 49, a mark that stood for several years after she graduated. In her senior year, she backed it up with 47 treys.

"At the beginning of my junior year, I think I began to see something really special could happen if we all continued to work hard," Hozian said. "I think I realized we had the opportunity to really be something special, and there was something in that for me. I think as a group, we decided we wanted to win the NEC championship in all three sports.

"I really didn't fully realize how good I could be until probably about the midpoint of my junior year. At first, I was just glad to be on the first team."

What a group it was, too. The basketball team had all the elements, from Hozian and Jurcenko creating havoc out front with their quickness, speed and athleticism, through forwards like Sue and Steff Nemet and Heather Kelner with shooting and rebounding ability and inside strength from players like Cheryl Coon, Jackie Whitbey and Wolf.

As much as the team benefited from Hozian's outside shooting, Holmes came to count on her floor generalship and ballhandling ability.

"Traci really stepped it up in her junior year," he said. "Probably one of the best parts of her game was her passing ability. She could get the ball to people in some incredible positions."

That junior season turned out to be a testing ground for Hozian and the Falcons for even greater things ahead.

"There were great expectations, going into my senior year," she said. "The pressure was on, and everyone was trying to stop me."

A lot of pressure was self-imposed.

"I was mainly worried about the team," Hozian said. "I wanted us to go to state. I wanted to try and break my record for 3-pointers and I wanted to keep my free-throw percentage up."

The Falcons and Hozian did a good job pursuing those goals. Despite defenses geared to stop her, she just missed her record for treys with 47 and was one of the main cogs in getting the Falcons back to the regional tournament, beating Villa Angela-St. Joseph for the district title. She was also a first-team All-Ohio selection.

Paul stood tall

By KARL PEARSON
Staff Writer

"I'm from New England originally," the 62-year-old Freeman said, with a hint of that New England accent still in his voice. "Our family moved to Richmond when I was in the fifth grade.

"When I first got there, baseball was more my game, but I quickly found out if you didn't play basketball, you didn't fit in. We played basketball before school, at recess and after school. I found out I really liked basketball."

The love of the game was fostered by Richmond principal E.J. Kinleyside, himself a prominent figure in Ashtabula County basketball for four decades.

"It wasn't so much about the mechanics of the game as the love of it that he taught us," Freeman said.

It all molded an extremely cohesive group by the time they got to high school and made for great achievements. That group is beginning to come together again, with Freeman joining Bob Hitchcock this year as a member of the Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation Hall of Fame. He will be inducted Sunday at the annual ACBF awards banquet at 6 p.m. at the Conneaut Human Resources Center.

Freeman expressed shock at his selection, although he really shouldn't have been surprised.

"It would be an understatement to say that I was caught off guard," he said. "I had never given thought to the possibility of going into the Hall of Fame. Obviously, this is a very much unexpected honor. I'm honored to be in pretty exclusive company."

His contributions to Ashtabula County basketball go beyond playing for those fine PV teams. When he returned to the county from his college studies, he got into teaching and coaching at Conneaut High School, learning from ACBF Hall of Famer Andy Garcia at the end of his coaching career, then assisting Harry Fails, another ACBF Hall of Famer, with his fine Conneaut teams. When Fails left Conneaut, Freeman succeeded him as the Spartans' coach for three seasons.

Even though he moved rather quickly into administration, Freeman also kept his hand in the coaching realm at the junior high level. That gave him the opportunity to work with his youngest child, Renee, molding her into one of the finest girls basketball players PV has ever produced and sending her on to an equally productive career at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pa., where she is now an assistant coach.

Two county schools also owe a date of gratitude to Freeman and his wife, Evelyn, for providing them with four fine athletes and for their support to those programs. They will celebrate their 43rd anniversary Wednesday.

Oldest child Brent was a fine player at Conneaut for Tom Ritari before his graduation in 1983. Brent and his wife, Tina, who are residents of Andover, may be sending more fine athletes through the PV system with sons Adam, 10, and Jared, 7.

Second son Sean, a 1990 PV graduate, was one of the Lakers' greatest all-around athletes. He was an outstanding quarterback for Ken Parise and a member of Bob Hitchcock's 22-1 team in 1988-89 that reached the district finals and a 1,000-point career scorer. He really found his niche in baseball, playing high levels of minor league baseball before illness and injury sidetracked him. He lives in Dorset with his wife, Laura.

Third son Kerry was also a fine all-around athlete for PV before his graduation in 1994 and still lives in Andover. Youngest child Renee, married to Jason Drake, had the distinction of scoring 1,000 points at PV before her graduation in 1999 and repeated that in college, while also being a standout softball player at both schools.

Sports was always a big thing for Paul Freeman, one of three sons and six children of the late Ozzie and Charlotte Freeman. He also maintained his passion for baseball, ran cross country and was good enough in track to qualify for the state meet in the discus and hold the PV record in that event for more than a decade.

His five siblings took various paths. Older brother Dexter was a baseball player. Dawn, the youngest child, played basketball for ACBF Hall of Famer Beth Helfer at PV, then took her talents as an outstanding distance runner to Kent State University. Older sisters Charlotte and Joyce and younger brother Keith were not athletes.

Dolan's fire still burning

By KARL PEARSON
Staff Writer

Note to area athletic directors: Looking for a head basketball coach with plenty of experience in building downtrodden programs into winners who still has a burning passion for the game?

There is an answer close at hand.

Jim Dolan is just waiting for an athletic director to give him a call. At 73, the fire in the belly still burns hoty, as it has for most of 50 years, to get back on the sidelines, turn a program around and make it a powerhouse as he has done at Crestwood, West Geauga, Madison, Brush and Berkshire high schools, Lakeland Community College and Lake Erie College. In that time, he has compiled more than 500 victories.

"Basketball is my life," he said. "I hope I've always been good for kids. I've always looked for opportunities to make situations better for everybody. I'm searching for that opportunity again.

"I'm only a phone call away. If the conditions are right, if we could do this as a family, I'd love to do it again. We like people. We're looking for something we can do together as a family."

"He's always happiest when he's coaching," his wife of 34 years, Mary Anne, said with a smile.

Basketball is the blood that courses through Dolan's veins, even though it has not always been necessarily good for his health. Over the years, he has had one heart bypass surgery and three angioplasties, but he says he has never felt better. He looks far less than his age.

"I'm feeling great," he said with a wry smile. "I'm still at 147 pounds."

That's probably just a few pounds more than when he was the player trying to carry out the orders of coach Cyril Barabas as a whirling dervish at point guard for Williamsfield High School from 1948-52. He was the first great player for the Cubs during that four-year period, then went on to even greater success with the Clinton Drugs team sponsored by Jefferson pharmacist Joe Clinton and eventually to Little All-American honors at Hiram College.

It is for those achievements, as much as anything, that Dolan is being inducted into the Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation Hall of Fame, where he will become the second Cub player in two years to be so honored, following in the footsteps of one who followed him, gigantic Harvey Hunt. Dolan will be one of 12 persons inducted Sunday at the ACBF's annual award banquet at 6 p.m. at the Conneaut Human Resources Center.

"I had no idea such a thing existed until I was told, but I'm very honored to be included," he said. "I'm very pleased that people looked back and remembered me."

Learning he is joining old coaching rivals like Geneva's Bill Koval, Ashtabula's Bob Walters, Harbor's Andrew Isco and Edgewood's Jon Hall from his old Northeastern Conference days at Madison and Pymatuning Valley's Bob Hitchcock from their East Suburban Conference confrontations while he was at Berkshire also makes Dolan proud. All are members of the ACBF Hall of Fame.

"I didn't have the luxury of learning from great coaches when I was coming up," he said. "I got my training from the battles we had in the NEC with Bill Koval when we played Geneva, Bob Walters at Ashtabula and Ed Armstrong and Andy Isco at Harbor. I was very respectful of the job they did and I think they were of me."

Connections to great coaches began almost as soon as Dolan picked up a basketball from his uncle, Darl Dolan, who was an outstanding coach at Boardman High School. By the time he

was 4, he was dribbling the ball and shooting at a hoop on the barn of the family farm on Stanhope-Kelloggsville Road.

"I always had a ball around," he said. "My uncle helped me out. I got a lot of encouragement from George and Bob Riser, too."

Dolan wasn't the only coach among the children of James and Mildred Dolan. His older brother, Richard, was a coach at Chillicothe High School. His oldest sibling, Cleo, still survives, as well as Marge and his younger brother, David, who runs Scooter's Bar and Grill in Andover. Other children in the family were Theron, Ruth and Ronald, who taught at Grand Valley.

"We lived on a dairy farm," Dolan said. "We also raised hay. We used to play ball out around where the hay was kept."

He developed an effective two-handed set shot and became a deadly free throw shooter.

"John Toth helped me develop my shot," Dolan said. "When he taught me the set shot, I never used anything else. All I used to do was dribble and shoot."

Dolan had developed a pretty solid all-around game by the time he was in junior high. Barabas tapped into those skills almost immediately and also recognized his new arrival's leadership qualities and fiery competitive nature.

"I started as a freshman," Dolan said. "Just after the season started, the team captain was taken off the team and I was named the captain. I was the point guard and captain all four years."

Perhaps Dolan was given those roles because he fit Barabas' philosophies so well.

"He was a disciplinarian," Dolan said. "He emphasized passing the ball and team play. I learned from him that you have to coach according to your personnel."

Although the Cubs had a fine record throughout Dolan's career in a very tough Ashtabula County Class B League, they always found themselves finishing behind the Deming, which produced Hall of Famers Richard Scribben and Frank Zeman. Williamsfield was regularly matched up against teams from Pierpont, Rowe, Kingsville, Spencer and the like.

That was then...

By KARL PEARSON
Staff Writer

When Geneva High School honored it's only boys basketball team to qualify for the state tournament in Columbus (and the only Eagles team in any sport) in 2000, there was one notable absentee.

Don Marsh, who, along with Dale Arkenburg carried the scoring load for Geneva in it's run through the state tournament in 1950, didn't make it to the celebration.

The other living starters - Arkenburg, Jim Merrell and Dick Eller - all attended, though for Arkenburg and Merrell, both lifetime Geneva residents, that was a fairly simple task. For Marsh, residing in Connecticut, it was more difficult.

Merrell, Arkenburg and Eller have since died, Merrell and Arkenburg within a couple months of each other, in December, 2004 and February, 2005, Eller more recently. That leaves Marsh as the only living survivor of the 1949-50 team who saw any significant playing time.

Marsh and Arkenburg, though a senior and junior, respectively, were so similar in their play that they were almost indistinguishable. Fittingly, both will be inducted into the Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation Hall of Fame, Arkenburg posthumously.

Both stood a shade over 6-feet tall and both were scoring forwards who could fire away from long range or drive to the basket. So close were they in abilities that in that fantastic season, Arkenburg nipped Marsh for the scoring championship, 161-160, after outscoring Marsh 13-9 in their final Lake Shore League game at Harvey. The LSL couldn't separate the pair and selected them as co-players of the year.

In addition to Marsh and Arkenburg, the lineup coach Bruno Mallone (himself a former star at Geneva) used included 6-3 powerhouse Jim Merrell at center and Dick Eller, a 6-foot defensive whiz at guard. Andy Mellen joined that group as the fifth starter in the early games of the season with Bobby Scoville serving as sixth man. Those roles were reversed during most of the tournament play. All of that sextet except Arkenburg, a junior, were seniors.

Marsh and Arkenburg did most of the scoring, Merrell the bulk of the rebounding.

Though similar in their talents on the court, Marsh and Arkenburg were quite different as individuals, team manager Earl Gornick pointed out in his fine article on the Geneva team published in the Star Beacon last Thursday.

Marsh, his class's valedictorian and a straight-A student, was cool and collected, Gornick says.

"Marsh exhibited an ironic detachment, seemingly loath to show any emotion on the court, and was an ominous, foreboding presence to opponents as he displayed a practiced, elegant repertoire of precisely-arched shots from the outside and clever feints and strong power moves to the basket; he likewise excelled at defensive play and rebounding."

Gornick considers Arkenburg "the most naturally gifted player on the team," one who played with "dash and sparkle."

Though they played cohesively as units of the team, theirs was never a close friendship, Gornick said.

"(Marsh and Arkenburg) barely nodded to each other than meeting in the school hallways or at parties, or at Rees' Drug Store, or Louie's Poolroom, apparently reluctant to risk diluting or squandering their basketball magic," Gornick wrote.

"They developed the curious ritual of stiffly, almost formally, shaking hands a moment before the tipoff in games, as if acknowledging to each other that they were the two best players on the court."

Any animosity between the two stars was buried when they set foot on the court, Marsh said in an interview in 2000 over the phone. Marsh, as was his habit, failed to attend that year's 50th reunion.

"There were never any egos that got in the way of how we played the game. Dale was quite a player and quite a football player."

Eller, Marsh's closest friend on the team (the pair would later attend Kenyon College together) thought fate seemed to play a role in bringing the key figures on that 1949-50 team together.

"It often occurred to me that we were fated to be together," Eller, who would become an English teacher and then an English professor, said in 2000 while pointing out that, other than Arkenburg and Merrell, few members of the Geneva team were born in that community. Eller himself moved from Madison in the fourth grade. Marsh came to Geneva from Martins Ferry between the fifth and sixth grade, Mellen's family moved from Toledo and Bob Beech, a key substitute, began his life in East Liverpool.

"They all came here with a passion for basketball," Eller said. "You've got to love the game to play it well. I think we all loved playing. I think that's why you play.

"I think we played intense basketball. We played with the expectation that we were going to win, not because we were better, but because we were going to play better, play harder."

According to Marsh, his family moved north to Geneva when his mother and father divorced.

"My mother had an aunt and cousin who lived in Geneva and took us there," he said.

Of Geneva's team that year, Marsh said, "They had talent. I think Dale Arkenburg was especially talented.

"Everyone worked hard, especially Dick Eller. He was a hard-nosed type who got involved in all the plays. He'd get on the floor and get all those burns. Because of all that, we got to the districts. It's especially the reason we got to the (state) tournament."

Ashtabula B-Ball's king of the Hill

By KARL PEARSON
Staff Writer

Every summer, Tom Hill comes back to Ashtabula from his home in Clarksville, Tenn. His path takes him past the outdoor court at West Junior High School. Often, he participates in the annual Westside Shootout.

These days, when he comes back for those occasions, or even when he pays his annual Thanksgiving visit to see his father, David Hill Sr., and his siblings, he views those courts with a bit of sadness since they generally go unused.

He also remembers those courts with fondness, because that is where Hill developed the skills, even as a preteen, that would serve him well as the leader of what many people feel is the greatest basketball team Ashtabula County ever produced, the 1977-78 Ashtabula Panther squad coached by Bob Walters.

It won the much-acclaimed Star Beacon Hoop Dreams Tournament two years ago.

It was those skills that helped him earn a scholarship to Chattahoochee Valley Community College in Phenix City, Ala., then to Austin Peay University in what is now his hometown. In an indirect sense, it also helped him connect with his wife of 24 years, the former Monica Claudy, whom he met at Austin Peay. They have a 17-year-old daughter, Ashley. It has brought him to his career in the insurance industry.

"West Street was like home to us," the 47-year-old Hill said by telephone from Tennessee. "I wish it was there more for today's kids. If you provide the facilities for them, you can save some people, and they won't face the consequences they do.

"Basketball was the thing that kept me on the straight and narrow. Back when I was a kid, Ashtabula was closer to Mayberry than it is now. Those games on that court gave me the preparation and the sense of purpose I needed for my life.

"Definitely, something very good came out of it for me."

Hill misses those formative years on that court. He may even start visiting more frequently.

"I couldn't have picked a better place to grow up," he said. "I'm even thinking about trying to get up there three times a year to see my dad, my brother (David Jr. of Kingsville), my sister (Joanne Scruggs of Harpersfield Township) and (Panther teammate) David Benton. Part of my heart is still there."

Another occasion for Hill to get back to his roots is coming Sunday when he returns for his induction into the Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation Hall of Fame. He will be one of 12 people inducted at the ACBF's annual banquet at 6 p.m. at the Conneaut Human Resources Center.

"I thought someone was kidding when I was called about it," he said. "I didn't know anything like this even existed. When I found out (former Harbor rival and boyhood friend) John Coleman was in it, I was pleased."

Joining his old coach, Walters, in that body brought added luster to the honor.

"Coach Walters was probably the greatest mentor I've ever had," Hill said. "The things he taught me transcended basketball.

"He taught me discipline and doing the job right. He told me when I accomplished something not to make a big deal about it. He taught me to be an assassin, always cool, calm and collected. And he taught me it was always about the team."

Walters took the student to school more than a few times on the court when the youngster played for the Panthers.

"I used to play him one-on-one, and he never let me win," Hill said. "We played by his rules. You weren't allowed to dribble the ball more than three times."

As high an esteem as Hill holds the coach in, Walters responds in kind.

"Tom was the best point guard I ever coached," he said. "He was one of the quickest players I ever coached. He was an extremely intelligent young man with a really high basketball IQ. He was a coach on the floor."

The development of that basketball acumen began around the home David Hill Sr. and his wife, Barbara, who is now deceased, established on West 38th Street.

"I remember dribbling the ball up and down the sidewalks and watching other kids play when I was little," he said.

When he got to Station Avenue Elementary School (now Thurgood Marshall), Hill was united with other kids who would become key factors with him later at Ashtabula.

"I played with guys like David Benton, Deora Marsh and Stanley Ball," he said. "Later on, when we got to West Junior High, was when Perry Stofan, Lou Murphy and (Harrison) Scooby Brown joined up with us."

(Radio) waves of greatness

By KARL PEARSON
Staff Writer

Ask Pat Sheldon about his basketball skills and he will tell you that they were very ordinary.

But thousands of area players and coaches, not to mention fans, would quickly reply that few people have had a greater impact on the game in the area. Their esteem for Sheldon has nothing to do with his skills on the court, but the way in which he and his WFUN broadcasting buddies, Jim Cordell and Gene Gephart in the early years and Jon Hall, Ed Batanian and Gephart in recent years, have presented basketball for 38 years.

It is almost with a sense of bewilderment that Sheldon talks about his selection to the Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation Hall of Fame. He will be the media representative of the class of 12 inductees for 2007 at Sunday's annual banquet and awards ceremony at 6 p.m. at the Conneaut Human Resources Center.

"I was thrilled when I was informed," Sheldon said during a conversation at his office off Prospect Avenue. "I'm certainly honored.

"If there's a reason for it, I guess I would have to say it's my longevity. There are so many other people who are more worthy of the Hall of Fame than I am. I'm just a support person."

He is proud to be back in the company of broadcast partners Cordell and Gephart, who are previous inductees into the ACBF Hall of Fame.

"If it weren't for Jim, Gene and now Jon Hall, there would be no broadcast," Sheldon said. "I've tried to do a little play-by-play before with matters like Little League or the Conneaut girls softball team when they won the state championship (in 2000), but that only made me realize how much talent it takes to perform that role, and I admit I don't have that talent.

"It's unbelievable to me to be in the same company with Jim, Gene and Ed. When I consider that I'm also joining people I've admired for 75 years like Bob Ball and Bob Walters, it truly is amazing."

If not for Sheldon's intervention, though, the WFUN radio team might never have been formed.

"I was listening to a game on WICA (now WFUN) on my way back home from Geneva in 1969," Sheldon. "The disc jockey was so bad that I called (station manager) Dick Rowley to complain. He asked me if I thought I could put together a team that could do any better, and I said I could. That's when I recruited Jim and eventually Gene, who was retiring from coaching (at Ashtabula). The rest is history."

Long before he got involved in broadcasting, basketball was important to young Carey S. Sheldon Jr. Born Aug. 6, 1925 as the youngest of five children of Carey Seth Sheldon Sr. and Ruth (Dunbar) Sheldon, his mother was the first one to tag him with the name most people who know him call him.

"My dad said he would never name a child Junior," he said. "But when I was born, my mother said my dad was too busy to give me a nickname, so she just started calling me Pat. Carey is just my business name. Most people call me Pat."

He and his sister, Carol Keyes of Florida, who was born in 1923, are the lone remaining survivors of their siblings. Older children David, born in 1916, John (1919) and Dorothy (1921) all died relatively early in life.

"I've outlived all the Sheldon men by at least 25 years," he said. "My sister still lives in Florida. We're very close.

"My dad had kidney disease and diabetes and lost his sight. He died the week of Pearl Harbor. David died of diabetes when he was only 28. John died in 1964 of kidney disease. Dorothy died when she was 64."

Because of his father's work, including service as city manager from 1928-37, the Sheldons were of somewhat better means than most families in Ashtabula, even though young Pat's formative years were during the Great Depression.

"We lived on a seven-acre farm out on West Prospect behind what's now Kardohely's Restaurant and back in where Busy Beaver is now," he said. "We had a barn on the back of the property and we set up a basketball court on the second floor.

"It was about 75 feet long and had a slanted roof. My brothers and sisters and I all played up there all the time. I was probably 8 or 9 when I started playing."

It attracted a lot of the poorer kids in Ashtabula, too.

"We had a lot of kids like (Ashtabula County Football Hall of Famer) Ralph Mauro and Tony Collette play up there," Sheldon said. "I was able to play at the Y and in the church leagues in town. I even had kids going to church with me, not because they wanted to go to church, but because they wanted to play in the church league.

"But there was no church league for the Italian kids, so they came over to our barn to play a lot. My two older brothers took care of things there. My sisters even played there as well."

That was different than a lot of girls of that era.