Dave Teeter, former Worth County head boys basketball coach from 1987 to 1989, came back home last Monday, January 29th to renew old friendships. He had lunch at Snakebite with Rob Dowis, who he played for during Dowis’ coaching days at Worth County during the 1970’s. They were joined by David Parman, who coached the Tigers from 2005 to 2008.
Teeter’s teams won eight games in the 1987-88 season, but showed flashes of potential as they beat highly-touted Albany for their first loss, 61-60. They came from 20 points down in the last six minutes to win the game. They also beat Donnie Edwards and Jefferson that year.
In 1988-89, they continued to improve, getting to 11 wins. They suffered three heartbreaking losses along the way, dropping two last-second losses to Stanberry, which won districts, and another one to state-ranked King City. They beat Stanberry that year and also beat North Nodaway, who they lost to by 30 during the regular season, in districts in Stanberry.
While their improvement was not always reflected in the won-loss column, the payoff came in 1989-90, the year after Teeter left Worth County. That year, they won the GRC, sharing the title with King City and Stanberry with a 6-2 record. Albany would have shared, but lost to Gallatin.
They took the lessons from those earlier losses the right way, as they pulled out two tough games to clinch the conference. Against King City, who they lost to by a bunch in Stanberry, they trailed the whole game, only to come back and win in the fourth quarter 62-57 in King City. The Tigers had to go on the road against Princeton the next game. A win would clinch at least a tie for the title.
Despite having only won 10 games, Princeton was in no mood to hand Worth County the title. The old Princeton gym was bedlam, with a screaming crowd egging the Blue Tigers on. Princeton went ahead 60-50 with 2:30 left and was seemingly in control. But then Les New, now the girls basketball coach at Worth County, knocked down two three-pointers and Jason Parman knocked down two shots from the high post to tie it up. Worth County forced a turnover and Troy Nally drew a foul in the closing seconds and calmly knocked down two free throws to put Worth County in front 62-60. The Tigers held on defense to win their title.
While the coaches get credit for the wins and losses, it is still the players who have to make things work. When asked what he did to bring about Worth County’s comeback, Allen Dukes, who assisted Teeter and took over after he left, said, “I didn’t do anything. They did what they did because they wanted a conference title.”
Teeter served as the PE, health, and driver’s ed instructor at Worth County. He also assisted future Missouri Football Hall of Fame Coach Erle Bennett in football and in track. After he left Worth County, he served as the Housing Director and Assistant Dean of Student Life at Tarkio College, working under Dowis. Then, he served as the High School Counselor at Montgomery County School, located between Columbia and St. Louis in Missouri, for 27 years before retiring last year. From 2011-2012, he served as the State President of the Missouri Counselor Association. He still serves as a substitute teacher when needed.
He said that he was still a Tiger fan and that he was happy for the school teams’ recent run of success. “It’s been a good run,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment