1963 Team p2
From 7-6-14
After 2 straight region titles, we thought we had this "championship" thing solved, but we had a set-back in 1963 even tho' we had a very good team. We rambled through the season with a 27-2 record, but were in a tough region with 2 other state-ranked contenders, Winder & Hart Co. We had beaten Winder, twice in close games during the season, by 2 & 4 points. We reached the region semi-finals with a trip to the state tournament on the line, & led Winder with seconds left near halftime, when a Winder shot from behind mid-court "hit nothing but net"! The Winder team & crowd rode their celebration to a 39-36 victory.
Meanwhile, the finest team that Coach Stone Cooper & the NCHS Lady Rams had ever had were "on a roll!" With a roster loaded with talent, all Newton Co. thought this would surely be the team to bring a state title home. The Lady Rams were loaded, with Jordye Bailey, Day Morcock, Carol George, Rosemary Laster, Donna Dooley, Kay Shaw, & others. But don't make the mistake of not knowing that it was Betty Faith Jaynes that was the "glue" that held this team together! The Lady Rams blitzed 30 straight opponents, including the big region championship win over perennial power, Hart Co. The day that the girls were leaving for Eastman, Ga., probably set in motion the motivation for the next several years. The boys' team, who had finished the season with the sub-region title & a final record of 29-3, sadly watched the girls' team leave for Eastman, Ga., & the beginning of the state tournament. Excitement was felt throughout the school as the players wore their corsages, displayed their "goodie bags" given to them by the cheerleaders, and with the band playing, the cheerleaders leading cheers, the pep rally moved to the parking lot as the girls' motorcade left, with all the cars highly decorated with signs! The girls swept through their 1st 2 opponents easily, & were preparing for their semi-final game in the Ga. Tech coliseum. But, a strange thing happened that will never happen again---the Hart Co. Girls won, coached by an assistant coach while 4 hours north, in Atlanta, Coach Bill Ensley, Ronald's college roommate & good friend, was coaching his boys' team to victory. After the smoke had cleared in the state semi finals, the 4 teams left standing were the same 4 teams as had faced each other in region 4AA tournament. The outcome was reversed as both the Hart Co. girls & boys gained sweet revenge in the state finals. Watching all of this excitement from the stands must have motivated the Rams boys team as over the next 2 years they would win 69 of their next 70 games and the long-sought State Championship!
