Sports Extra with Dave Ross: Sunday afternoons at Hara were special

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Back in my high school days, our Varsity “S” club at Sidney High School made a few interesting Sunday afternoon jaunts to Hara Arena for Dayton Gems hockey. Our seating area of choice was in the south end zone where many unique and notable fans gathered. One of those trips was in February 1971.

I was recently sitting with good friend Bruce Dickman at a Sidney girls basketball game when he evoked a special memory. “Remember when the goalie ate the hot dog at the Gems game?” Yes, I did. I even recalled his name, Ted Ouimet of the Port Huron Flags.

The game was out of hand when a big fight broke out that even included the goalies. As things subsided, equipment was all over the ice including several items of goaltending gear. Ouimet was standing near his net when a fanatic seated near me, but not in our group, took the wiener from his hot dog bun and threw it at Ouimet. The aim was perfect and the wiener fell to the ice when the netminder grabbed it and ate it.

500 x 2

Eight nights ago, a pair of Shelby County girls basketball coaches gained career win number 500 on the same evening just several miles apart. While Fort Loramie’s Carla Siegel was victorious at Houston, Russia’s Paul Bremigan got his at home in a visit by Botkins. All of Siegel’s wins have been with the girls of her alma mater while Bremigan is best known for 35 seasons of boys head coaching with 31 at Russia.

The current campaign finds Loramie and Russia both unbeaten atop the girls league standings, setting up a pair of critical contests between the two on January 12 and February 2 with Siegel’s squad hosting first. They could possibly meet again later on the tourney trail in March.

Honor unfulfilled

The background on recently hired Sidney head football coach Dave Taynor has been well documented on these pages. One more honor would have been included had his alma mater, Urbana University, remained in business. Taynor was an All American offensive lineman at Urbana before successfully coaching the Blue Knights. He was destined for the UU Athletic Hall of Fame when the doors closed in 2020.

MAC identity

The Midwest Athletic Conference is justifiably proud of its collective prowess in amassing OHSAA state championships. Go to their website midwestathleticconference.com. The updated numbers are on the home page.

Sports Extra

With Dave Ross

Sports Extra appears each Friday. Thanks for reading. Happy New Year!

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