1972 KC boys basketball team joining HOF
This is the first in a series of articles profiling the 2020 Butler County Sports Hall of Fame inductees.KARNS CITY — Playoffs were a regularity.Taking a run at a state championship? Different story.That's what set the 1972 Karns City boys basketball team apart — and is landing the squad in the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame.The team will be inducted as part of the BCSHOF's annual banquet at 6 p.m. April 25 at the Butler Days Inn.“This will be quite an honor for them,” said Denny Barger, an assistant coach of that 1972 team. “I haven't seen a lot of those guys for a long time. We've been talking about trying to bring the team back together.“This will be a great opportunity to do that.”The Gremlins finished 26-2 in 1972. Their lone regular season loss was a three-point game to A-C Valley, “which was as good a team as we played that year,” Barger recalled.“Our two regular season games with A-C Valley, people started lining up outside the door at 4:30 or 5 p.m. when the doors didn't open until 6. We televised the game at our place in our cafeteria so more people could see it.“That was quite a rivalry,” he added.Wayne Grazier was head coach of Karns City and was in his second year with the team. Both 1961 KC graduates, Grazier and Barger played basketball together with the Gremlins and became good friends.“Wayne got the head coaching job and asked me to help him,” Barger said. “I was already coaching football at the time.“Our basketball teams won two or three district titles around that time. We were always in the playoffs.”That 1972 team went on a postseason run.Playing at the Class C level, the Gremlins drew a bye in the first round of the PIAA tournament. They defeated Mapletown 63-55 and Juniata Valley 64-45 to reach the state semifinals.A 52-47 triumph over Laurel Valley put KC in the Class C title game, where it dropped a 58-47 decision to Mount Penn.“We had to play the last game Friday night (semifinals) and our kids were so excited we won and got to go to the title game,” Barger said. “Then that championship game was the first game Saturday morning.“I don't know how much sleep our kids got. Mount Penn played earlier in the day that Friday. Their school was 45 miles from Hershey, so they went home and came back.“I think it made a difference. We had no legs Saturday morning. We were out of gas,” Barger added.Bill Hipple, a 6-foot-3 forward, was the Gremlins' leading scorer at about 21 points per game. Ernie Molchany averaged between 18 and 20 per contest.“Hipple was 6-3 with arms hanging down to his knees,” Barger said. “we always joked that he was rebounding at 6-6.”Point guard Tom Kusick, Joel Bell and Kirk DuBois were the other starters. Duane Fair was the first player off the bench.Hipple scored a then-school record 41 points against Worthington. Karns City scored 115 points that night, believed to be a school record to this day.Hipple was Clarion County League MVP. DuBois, Kusick and Molchany joined him as CCL all-star selections.Other players on the team were Bill Kusick, Bob McElroy, Kevin Callihan, Dave Schrecengost, Don Black, Ed Price, Mike Smith, Dave Miller, Dennis Ellis, Jeff Baker and Ken Knox.“We had good practices with that group,” Barger said. “Those kids were so coachable and there was no whining. No one ever complained about who was playing how many minutes.“Everyone was just glad to be part of the team.”Grazier is a caretaker in Bluffton, S.C., now “and I'm not sure if he'll make it back,” Barger said of the banquet. “I know how badly he wants to be here.“I expect a lot of the players will make it. That will be a fun reunion.”Tickets for the Hall of Fame banquet are $30 in advance, $35 at the door. Tables of eight are $200. Tickets are available at Parker's Appliance in Chicora, Moses Jewelers at the Clearview Mall, The Butler Radio Network in Butler and Saxonburg Drug.
