Shelby and I spent the last full day of our Las Vegas trip with Aleene and Lowell Dyer. Lowell was a colleague of mine while at Ripon Foods. They had journeyed 8 hours from Sacramento, California to Vegas and it was nice to see them.
During our visit, I coaxed Lowell into describing his basketball exploits his senior year in high school and there was an eerie similarity to my senior experience (read Almost Perfet).
Lowell played basketball for Richmond High School in California. They were the "Oilers" because of the oil storage and refining operation in Richmond. Richmond, for those of you that don't know, is located in the north San Franciso Bay area apparently near the Ocean. 20,000 population. The school year was 1952-53. The Richmond Oilers had a very good team. Several 6ft.4in. forwards and some guy name Mike Farmer at center measuring 6ft.7in. Lowell played guard and was 6ft. In 1953 that was a pretty tall team. Well, like my experience, the Richmond Oilers were undefeated going into the last 3 games of the year. Glory was in sight. They too could be perfect if they just "win out".
Yep, you guessed it. Fate stepped in and Mike Farmer, the big center, came down with appendicitis. The prognosis was that he would not play the last 3 games.
I can't take you through a step by step dramatization of the end of the season but playing the 3rd last game of the year without their big man, the Oilers lost by 1 point. Damn! One loss.
Then came the 2nd last game of the year, again without Farmer. The Richmond Oilers actually won. Still one loss. A terrific final game was now set up.
The last game of the year was a home. They were playing their fierce rival that also had only one loss. No Mike Farmer! I can only imagine but I bet the place was rocking. In their first meeting during the season, Lowell sunk a the last shot of the game to win by two points. Well the final game wasn't as dramatic as my last game in high school, but the Oilers also lost. Lowell couldn't tell me the final score but he said it "wasn't very close". Like my senior year, the season came down to the final game of the year. Close but no cigar.
Lowell ended the season as the Oilers leading scorer with 14 points per game. He got a basketball scholarhip to Stanford and played all four years for them. I think he varsity lettered his final 3 years.
Mike Farmer (having recovered from appendicitis) graduated from Richmond High School the next year in 1954. Richmond Oilers did win the league championship his final year. He got a full basketball scholarhip to San Francisco University. He was a team-mate of some guy named Bill Russell and helped USF win two NCAA Championships. Bill Russell went on to play in the NBA for the Boston Celtics and is considered to be one of the greatest players of all time.
Mike Farmer, I think went on to the NBA. I know he was one hell of a player.
I asked Lowell if he had seen Mike Farmer since high school and he said he hadn't. You'd think the friendship and team-mate status would have entitled Lowell some free tickets to an NBA game but no such luck. I guess like all high school relationships, time creates distance.
So you see Grasshoppers, another person experienced "an almost perfect" season and I'm sure Lowell reflects on what could have been. He can take solace in the fact that he was part of something very special. In truth it shaped his life.
So with this entry, a sincere thank you to Lowell for sharing his experience and to both Lowell and Aleene for joining us in Vegas. It was very, very special.
Love,
Dad(Just Chas.)