Otto-Eldred: Once in a Lifetime Year.

 

Congratulations to the O-E girls' and boys' basketball squads- 2022 Northern Tier League Champions and, as I write this, an opportunity for both teams to go undefeated in league play. That has to an extreme rarity, not only in the history of the Northern Tier, but in the entire Big 30, Olean-Bradford, or the name designated for our local Pennsylvania/New York area currently. Well done- Coach Gray and Coach Miller!

NOTE- There is some thought that in the past the girls' basketball playoffs were not held during the same calendar year as the regular season. The regular season could have been played in the fall and the playoffs may have been held in March- someone may be able to answer that question. This could have been one of those occasions.

I hope there are some local sports historians who can add more facts and validity to some of the information listed below.

I believe the first high school-sponsored girls' basketball squad arose in 1972 or 1973. I am not sure if volleyball was added at the same time. If not, it came very soon after. 

I went back to 1976-1978 because I knew many of the players of that era and recalled they had good to very good W-L marks. 

It certainly doesn't mean there weren't good boys' and girls' clubs in the years between the late 70's and today. There was a blog piece recently written about Coach Randy Stebbins and his clubs won 194 games in an eleven year run. O-E's Barb Close won the Margie Holland Award for the 2016-2017 season (girls' Coach of the Year).

Matt Splain, the current Superintendent-Otto-Eldred School District-coached the Coudersport girls' team in 2002. That Falcons' club was undefeated in the NTL until the final league game of the season- an away loss at Otto-Eldred. 

Mr Splain stated that the top three teams headed in to the District 9 playoffs that season were all from the Northern Tier (Coudersport, O-E and Emporium). Coudersport went to the western PIAA finals that season.

All of the clips and photos came from the 1976-1978 era-some years will be listed and I'm sure there are people out there who can verify the exact years for the girls and their teams.

Below: Jane Williams with 24 and Ronna Houben lead the Terrors in win over Oswayo Valley. Mimi Herger hits for 27 as Port Allegany defeats Northern Potter. Ruth Gehman tops NP with 12. Smethport goes 4-0.

(Below) 1975-76 basketball season-O-E defeating Oswayo Valley, then Northern Potter. Ronna Houben and Nancy Williams paced the Terrors in the win over Northern Potter. Mimi Herger (Port Allegany) had 17 points in their win over Oswayo Valley and Lori Danielson tallied 33 for Smethport in their victory over Coudersport. Hubbers go 5-0.

This piece came from a local, O-E HS page listing the '76 Terrors with an overall 10-4 basketball mark. Mrs. Pasko coached the varsity squad and Miss Radakovich-the J.V. team. There is a note that some of the girls' sports had been recently added.

(ABOVE) Some members of the '76 basketball team including some junior varsity players.

1976 basketball team: Front Center: Julie Kemp. Second Row: Sarah Rhodes, Mary Shay, Debbie Kelley and Nancy Williams. Top Row: Kira Stives, Theresa Wilcox, Daneen Breese, Ronna Houben, Carolyn Shields and Debbie Finnessy.

1976-77 NTL Basketball All Stars- Bottom Row (L-R) Lori Danielson (Smethport), Ronna Houben (O-E), Cathy Voorhees (OV). Back Row- Betsy Johnson (Port Allegany), Julie Neefe (Coudersport) an Ruthann Gehman (Northern Potter).

Terrors' Volleyball now 11-1 with wins over Oswayo Valley.

Volleyball Action- Otto-Eldred moves to 12-1 with wins over Coudersport. Ronna Houben sets the school record for points breaking Brenda Hahn's mark. Coach Radakovich's three year record is now 37-4.

18 game winning streak is broken as Emporium knocks O-E from undefeated ranks.

O-E wins the NTL with 13-1 record and Emporium goes 12-2. Both teams go to the playoffs.

Volleyball action- O-E was the Northern Tier Champs with a 13-1 mark. The Terrors finished second in the District 9 Tourney. Ronna Houben and Mary Shay paced the club.

Northern Tier Basketball- Defending Champ O-E defeated Northern Potter, 70-27 as Ronna Houben broke the school scoring record with 31 points. Port Allegany got ten points each from Brenda Barr and Patty Baxter in a win over Coudersport. Debbie Danielson had 36 in leading Smethport to a 55-53 win over Austin. Michelle Jeffers had 15 for Austin.

Basketball Champions: left to right- Julie Kemp. Mary Shay, Denise Welch, Ronna Houben, Carolyn Shields, Debby Finnessy, Nancy Williams and Debbie Kelley.

Below: Coach of the Year- Gene Bruss and two of the seniors: Kim Burgess and Debby Finnessy.

'77-78 All-Stars-

Two first-team O-E All-Stars: Carolyn Shields and Ronna Houben. Colleen Duffee (Austin), Debbie Danielson (Smethport), JoAnn McManigle (Emporium). Celeste Barker (Emporium) and Patricia Baxter (Port Allegany)

NTL All-Stars, Front row-Patricia Baxter, Celeste Barker, Colleen Duffee, and Debbie Danielson. Back Row- JoAnn McManigle, Carolyn Shields and Ronna Houben. Houben was named MVP, Eugene Bruss (O-E) was named Coach of the Year.

Second team was Kathleen Hammersley (Emporium), Cathy Voorhees (OV), Robin Fink (Coudersport), Brenda Barr (Port Allegany), Connie Kane (Smethport) and Carmel Barker (Northern Potter).

O-E Volleyball Champs, '77-'78. Team's record for the season was 16-2. First row- Debbie Finnessy, Mary Shay, Rose Nellis, Ronna Houben and Debbie Kelley. Second row- Debbie Martz, Tammy Crowe, Janet Spencer, Denise Welch and Julie Kemp.  Third row- Tina McAnallen, Carolyn Shields, and Chris Wilcox. High Scorer was Ronna Houben with 146 points and Mary Shay had the most spikes. Miss Finnessy was noted for her setting ability. The coach was Miss Radakovich.

PLAYOFF BASKETBALL:

Northern Tier League Champion O-E was eliminated by Clarion-Limestone, 52-43. Ronna Houben had 13 for the Terrors. Smethport won 47-42 over Clarion as Deb Danielson scored 20 points.

Undefeated season in the NTL, but playoff loss to Bishop Carroll, 43-32. Undefeated regular season with Gene Bruss as head coach. Starting lineup of Kelley, Williams, Houben, Shields and Shay.