Thirty-five years ago, the Sidney Yellow Jackets were winding up a 2-8-0 football season that had a major oddity. All ten games were blowouts.
The average margin of the two victories over Colonel White and Tecumseh was 34+. The average deficit in the eight defeats was 33+. The closest encounter was a 15-point loss to Piqua that wasn’t really as tight as the final score made it appear. Though it obviously didn’t impact any Sidney games, the overtime rule became universal in Ohio high school football in 1985.
Personally, there were two “events of a lifetime” in 1985 that I’ll always treasure. Throughout March I was the radio voice of Jackson Center’s drive to the boys state basketball crown including the winning shot by Jeff Teeters as time expired. In mid-September I made three consecutive round trips to Cincinnati to make sure I witnessed Pete Rose’s hit number 4192 to break Ty Cobb’s all time major league baseball record.
Away from sports in that same year, a major economic engine began to roar in the Shelby County region as Honda initiated operations near Anna.
Before, after, and during the 1980’s, the local sports scene was covered primarily by two guys who rarely wore ties. However, the accompanying photos show there were exceptions.
