Jock Talk

The big attraction this week for Kimball High sports fans is the Western Trails Conference Basketball Tournament and it gets underway this evening with first round play at the seeded team’s home sites.

Now you Kimball fans are going to have to travel, and to two different sites, if you want to catch both the girls and boys, but it can be done. The Kimball girls play at Bayard with game-time set for 5 p.m. The Kimball boys are at Bridgeport, with game-time set at 6:30. There is a girls game at Bridgeport prior to the Kimball boys game between Bridgeport and Hemingford and that game is set for a 5 p.m. start-time, so you could go to Bayard and then zip on over to Bridgeport. You got it?

Mitchell, of course, is the number one seed for the girls and has a first round bye. The winner of Bayard-Kimball will face Mitchell at Cougar Palace on Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. I mentioned that Bridgeport-Hemingford play at Bridgeport tonight, and the other first round pairing is Gordon-Rushville at Morrill, with those winners playing at 3:45 Friday. All first round losers are done. Play for 3rd place and the championship is on Saturday at Cougar Palace.

In the boy’s division, Gordon-Rushville gets the number one seed and the bye. Bayard hosts Mitchell in the upper bracket with the winners meeting up with Gordon-Rushville Friday. Morrill is at Hemingford in 1st round play and will meet the winner of Kimball-Bridgeport to see who advances in the bottom bracket on Friday, and into Saturday play.

If you want to get 3 games this week, you have to win in first round play today. It is always a special treat to the players to get to play at Cougar Palace, but to get there, you have to win that 1st round game. It will be tough for both Kimball teams, but it can be done, so Go Big Red!

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Other action on the Kimball sports schedule shows the Kimball High wrestlers at the SPVA Tournament in Grant today (Thursday) with a 1 p.m. start-time. The Kimball junior high boy’s basketball teams are at the Morrill Tournament Saturday and are at home this coming Monday, hosting Bridgeport for games at 3 p.m. On Tuesday (Feb. 6), the Kimball High girls and boys teams are at Pine Bluffs with JV games at 4, in two locations, followed by girls varsity at 5:30 and boys varsity at 7 p.m.

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There was a story in the Observer last week informing you readers about Potter-Dix suffering an unexpected loss in MAC Conference Tournament play to Bayard. In case you are wondering what happened, I can give you a bit of insight. Starting senior guard, Payge Hoffman, who is one of the key members of the Lady Coyote team, missed that entire tournament as she was out with a concussion. You might recall that she was very responsible in leading Potter-Dix to an earlier win over Bayard.

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I got a surprise call from a very good friend and former teammate of mine way back in my High School sports playing days this past week. Bob Pedrett, who now lives in Houston, called to ask me for my mailing address. He said that he was thinking about me and our days of playing Legion baseball way back there in the early 1950’s. He asked me if I had watched this year’s World Series and gotten into that much, and I had to confess that I really hadn’t got that involved in it. Well, he, living in Houston, had, of course, and he was still on a high. He wanted to surprise me, and he did, by sending me an official Houston World Series cap. It is beautiful, and I treasure it, but even more so, I treasure him thinking of me and our sports days together. Bob went on from Kimball High, after graduating in 1954, to play on the Chadron State College undefeated football teams. He was a good one...and still is!