Hobbton set to honor historic state champions

On Friday night, when Lakewood heads to Newton Grove to face off in both boys’ and girls’ basketball against the Wildcats, it will be a night full of celebrations as the 1960 and 1984 state champion Wildcat boys’ teams will be honored between the two varsity contests.

Kenny Bass, who coached the ‘84 squad, detailed the entire season for his Wildcats’ run 41 years ago. Going back to the fall of that school year, Bass recalled that Hobbton had a very good football team, but as only one team from the conference made the playoffs, the Wildcats were out, and thus it became basketball season in Newton Grove.

“I had three or four,” the former Wildcat coach noted, regarding football players. “A couple of the key ones were football players. Actually, they were really good football players.”

With the abundance of talent for the Wildcats, Bass said he was optimistic going into the season. “We knew we had the potential to be a pretty good team. I had a group of seniors and two juniors that Gary Weeks had been their middle school coach in seventh and eighth grade. He came up to Hobbton and coached girls’ basketball and JV boys’ basketball, and he helped me with the boys, so he coached them in ninth and 10th grade.

“They had outstanding seasons. They were regular season champions both of those years. The amazing thing about the first of those years was I had the best player on the team — David Chestnutt — up on varsity. He was my leading scorer and leading rebounder for three years,” the longtime Wildcat coach continued.

With a disappointing end to their 1983 season, Bass said he and his team were poised to make another run at things the following year.

“We had won 15 games,” he said, in reference to their outing in ‘83. “We went to the playoffs and lost a close ball game to Whiteville, so we knew that we had the capability.”

It was a tough road back, he admitted, with Union being the leader of an already-tough conference.

“In ‘83, Union played for the state championship in boys’ basketball. If a block/charge call had gone their way, they probably would have have been state champions. And they had most of their team back,” he recalled. “Wallace-Rose Hill had a really good team and so did South Lenoir. We were in a conference with them, and that’s back when basketball was really, really strong around here.”

Fourth place is where the Wildcats would find themselves in the standings that year, as a three-way tie held first place in the conference. From there, it would take a miraculous but stunning run through the playoffs, including losing three seniors in the sectional tournament. The senior ball players averaged a combined 22 points and 13 rebounds a game.

“We went from a team that had played nine players extensively to a team that had six — and those six were unbelievable,” the coach continued.

With double-digit wins over conference foes Union and Wallace-Rose Hill in the sectional tournament, the now-17-8 Wildcats were faced with Jones Senior in the eastern regionals. The Trojans sat at 27-1 going into the match-up and being touted as the number one team in the state. Their only loss on the season was to 4A Jacksonville in a holiday tournament. Despite multiple double-digit deficits, Bass coached his team to the upset win over Jones Senior, due to what he credited as an “exceptionally equipped” team that was strong defensively, despite their small size.

After the Trojans, it was Louisburg that the Wildcats faced, and once again, they took care of business, but not before a rocky start. “We were down 14-3 in the first quarter,” Bass recollected. “But then our defense really kicked in and we would beat them 48-38.”

West Davidson would be Hobbton’s foe for the state championship game that year, who had not lost to a 2A team all season. The Wildcats trailed by eight points at halftime, Bass noted, and they were down by eight or more five separate times in the second half. With 43 seconds left to play, Hobbton was ahead 68-67. With back-and-forth action, David Chestnutt would be sent to the line with 12 seconds left, for a one-and-one set of free throws. As the three-point shot had yet to be implemented, the five-point lead the Wildcats held would be a three possession advantage for them. They held onto their lead for the last dozen seconds, winning the state championship 73-68.

This season marks the 65th anniversary of the 1960 team winning their championship, and six members of the team remain. Bass said five have committed to being at Hobbton for the ceremony. Of his team, Bass said one member has passed away, and another will be tending to his father after heart surgery, but “11 or 12 of mine will be there.”

“There are a lot of similarities between the two teams,” the 1967 Hobbton graduate-turned-coach said, with a bit of a smile. “They (the 1960 team) possibly had a better team. They had a 19-game winning streak, but they got beat in sectionals by Bladenboro in ‘59.

“They started five seniors, and those five basically played all the time. They beat Bladenboro in the semifinals of the state tournament in Winston-Salem. Bladenboro was unbeaten, and Hobbton beat them by three. And then they played North Wilson in the state championship game. North Wilson had not lost to a 2A team all year, and they beat them. I believe it was 65-51.”

The ceremony honoring the two historic Wildcat squads was originally scheduled in two parts, with one team being honored at halftime of the girls’ game and one at the boys’, coinciding with the Wildcats’ senior night, but they have be combined into a single ceremony in between the two games. Senior night has been rescheduled for Monday, Feb. 10 against Union.

“At the conclusion of the girls’ game, we will have a 15-minute ceremony. Once the ceremony is over, 10 minutes will be put on the clock for both varsity boys’ teams to warm up,” an email update from Hobbton athletic director Jason Fussell said last Friday.

“We will have a reception in the library at six o’clock, for the players and the two teams to meet each other and talk,” Bass continued. “They’re playing against Lakewood, so it should be a good ball game.”