Cheers and tears with a lot of fun in between filled the Logan County High School gymnasium Friday as the state champion basketball team was honored on the 25^th anniversary of its final regular season game.
     Actually, the gym wasn’t ‘filled’ like it was when the 1984 Cougars went undefeated in the regular season in 1984, but it was a much bigger crowd than has been attending Logan games.
     Many of those present on the LCHS side stood when it was asked who saw this great team play in person 25 years ago. Several of them remained standing to indicate they attended one or more of the four wins at Rupp Arena.
    The tears came when the memories of Gary Barker and Glenn Sams were invoked. Barker was a steady senior reserve guard who played a key role at state. His brother Terry represented Gary, who died in an automobile accident while he was still young. A touching plaque had been created in his memory.
     Sams was the dedicated official scorer for the team. He died not too long ago after a painful illness. His daughter, former LCHS cheerleader and Logan educator Dawn Slaton, was recognized in his honor.
     The cheers came as each player, coach and manager came to midcourt to receive a beautiful championship ring from the men who were their principal and athletic director, Howard Gorrell and Bob Birdwhistell, respectively.
     Present were Head Coach Gerald Sinclair and assistant coaches Barry Reed, David Billingsley and David Beckner, along with their wives; managers Danny Pendleton and Jimmy Cornelius; and players Stacey Mason, Karl Dawson, Tim Viers, Tim Thomason, Todd Parker, Warren Thomason, Phillip Mallory, Keith Hines and Brent Hinton.
     Henry Jones, who lives in California, was not able to attend. His brother Paul, who was an original Cougar in 1982-83, represented him.
     The Tisdale brothers, Fred and John, chose not to attend.
     For most of us, it was the first time we had seen Viers in over 20 years. He played two years in junior college in Illinois, went into the military, completed his college education and now works as a probation officer in California. He looks like he could still play. He was wearing his trademark-winning smile.
     “I thought I had done pretty well and was successful until I learned that Mr. Birdwhistell had become a probation officer. Then I though I had failed,” he joked. (After retirement, Birdwhistell served as a probation officer in Logan County, but he has been assistant principal at Chandlers for a decade or so.)
     Beckner, who retired from LCHS last year, looked spiffy and fit in the same blue sports jacket that the coaches donned during that championship season 25 years ago.
     Dawson had a big family around him with lots of basketball ties. One of his sisters, Gwen Dawson Barnes, was a player on both Lady Cougar state quarterfinalist teams, including as a starter in 1990. His niece, Sarah Speck, is the leading scorer on the current Lady Cougars. His dad Bobby was a standout at Olmstead, and his father-in-law, Jim Riley, who was the tallest man in the gym even though former LCHS principal Bob Nylin was there, was a starter for Georgia Tech. All of them were present.
     Mallory, still the team’s biggest jokester, still had everyone laughing Friday. He was glad that his dad, former LCHS bus driver Gilbert Mallory, was there. Gilbert has waged a very successful battle so far against an extended case of cancer. “I value every day now,” he said.
     Incidentally, Phillip wants everyone to know that he not only was part of this state championship, but he was also an individual state champion. Actually, he was a two-state champ, having won the Optimist Tri-Star basketball competition for 10-year-olds from Kentucky and West Virginia. He was state runner-up the next year.
     Looking very much like his late dad is Stacy Mason, an all-state tournament performer for the Cougars. Stacy works at Logan Aluminum but hasn’t seen as many Cougar games lately because he now lives in Clarksville. The Masons have been one of the most athletic families in the county for many years, and several of them were present.
     Hinton had his young son and daughter with him. They are part of a basketball family. His wife, the former Amy Goodman, was one of Logan’s all-time great point guards. Her parents, softball legends Jearald and Nelda Goodman, joined them for the ceremony.
     Brent is one of three members of this team to be involved in two regional finals. He played for Reed at LCHS in 1987. Viers and Fred Tisdale also played for Reed in the 1982 regional finals as Auburn sophomores.
     Especially enjoying the occasion were the Thomason cousins, Tim and Warren. They are always grateful for this kind of team recognition. W.T. went around getting signatures on a scrapbook he has kept (with his mom’s help) throughout the decades. More than any other member of the state championship team, W.T. can be seen at Cougar games now.
     W.T. had the bulkiest body of the Cougars when he was a player, but Hines, who looks like a pulling guard in football, rivals him now for that distinction. He does utility work in Ohio.
     Among those present was Mark Thompson, an LCHS alumnus who had a distinguished career as a major league baseball player. He now sells medical supplies in the Nashville area. He is the son of Jim Thompson, who coached the Lady Cougars to two regional finals in the school’s first five seasons.
    Some of the biggest Cougar fans from that era in attendance were Bill and Nancy Gaines, Sue Wood, Patty Wilson, and Charlie and Jackie Barnett.
     Everyone involved should be grateful to new LCHS Principal Casey Jaynes, who orchestrated the entire evening, including getting the beautiful and impressive rings sized and cast while working with suppliers Jerry and Jay Bush.