JOHN DAY It was a bit of deja vu last week for Chris Labhart of John Day.

As a Grant Union High School student from 1964-68, Labhart and his Prospector teammates played each year in a Christmas Tournament during the vacation. The popular event drew talented teams from Prairie City, Mt. Vernon, Dayville and Monument.

Back then Labhart graduated in 1969 the Prospectors were in a different league than those opponents, just as they are now, but they still played the tourney.

Every team was very, very good. You never knew who was going to win it. It was always fun to play them. We never lost all four years (when he was in high school), said Labhart. 

He recalled the competition as the Prospectors prepared last week for a rivalry revival the preseason Dec. 14 game between the Pros and the Prairie City Panthers.

It was pretty special, and fun, said Labhart.

Games were played in the old gym, where there was standing room only. People lined the balcony that formerly ran along the upper portion of the room.

Playing there was quite an experience. If the ball ended up in the balcony, people would push it down onto the court. It was amazing, he said.

Rallying the teams were members of the Pep Club. There was no girls basketball then, but all the girls went to the games, dressed in skirts and white blouses. The boys had their own cheering section, complete with cheerleaders. The young men of the Lettermens Club wore their jackets.

And of course, there was the pep band.

Past issues of the Blue Mountain Eagle, at least in 1966-67, show that the Lakeview Honkers also were part of the competition. In that championship, which the Pros won, Labhart scored 12 points.

 

 

 

 

In the next game, against Heppner, Labhart suited up but was played sparingly. The Pros lost 48-58 to the Mustangs. The loss “cut short the most successful Grant Union hoop season since becoming an A-2 school,” wrote the Eagle.

“We took second at district to Heppner that year. It was just a little disappointing,” said Labhart, sarcastically.

Deiker, then a junior, won state honors. In the Heppner game, he scored 22 points. Stevens went 11; Dean Ogilvie, 8; Labhart, 7; Bill Deist, 4; and Simmons, 1.

Labhart and Deiker went on to play college basketball, Labhart for Oregon College of Education, now known as Western Oregon University (at Monmouth). Deiker played for Linfield College.

Another Labhart is also keeping the courts busy. Chris Labhart’s grandson, Brent, who graduated last May, plays as a freshman for the Blue Mountain Community College Timberwolves in Pendleton.

Like his dad, he didn’t miss last week’s game in John Day.