Page 37 - The Peorian Vol 3 Issue 1 Winter

37
thePeorian.com The Present
RAM TOUGH
On a rare day off during our
three-week, 16-hour days visit
to the Atlanta games, I managed
to sneak out and do a story with
Manual alum Carla McGhee,
a member of the 1996 USA
women’s basketball team. Carla
played for Dennis Brown’s 1986
state title team.
The Peoria native won two
NCAA titles at Tennessee and
then survived a near-fatal car
crash to win a gold medal at the
’96 games.
“I just try to go out and give
what I am and never let anyone
steal my joy,” McGhee said. “I
might not score 16 or 18 points
a game but I’m gonna get it
done in the ABL next season and
whatever it takes to get a gold
medal. That’s gonna be my joy.”
COOL CAT
Morton’s Ron Bontemps won
Olympic gold before my time.
Bontemps played for Caterpillar’s
Peoria Cats back in 1952. The
Cats beat Phog Allen’s Kansas
University squad at Madison
Square Garden earning Cats
coach Warren Womble the
Olympic head coaching job
(Allen was an assistant).
Womble took Bontemps and
four other Cats players with him
to Helsinki in 1952, beating the
Russians by 10 points in the gold
medal game.
Bontemps said points were
hard to come by in that game.
“There was no rule that you
had to pass the ball and move
along, so they held the ball, held
the ball. It got kind of humorous.
They were sitting on the floor,”
he said.
ONCE A BRAVE…
Hersey Hawkins’ trip to the
Olympics did not result in a
golden finish. John Thompson’s
team lost to the Soviets in the
semi-finals in Seoul, then beat
Australia to earn the bronze
medal with a 7-1 record.
Hersey was limited to four
games by a strained right knee,
but shot incredibly well (11-20
FG, 5-8 from 3-point range, 8-8
FT). He was left to wonder what
might have been when he spoke
to the LA Times after the Games.
“I possibly could have made
a difference,” said Hawkins,
who was chosen sixth overall
in the draft by the Los Angeles
Clippers and then traded to the
Philadelphia 76ers. “I know I
could have helped.
“It was basically (Thompson’s)
decision for me to not play,” he
said. “We met with the doctors
and they said that I could
play, but there was the risk of
reinjuring it. Of course I wanted
to play, but I had to think about
my future, my career in the long
run.”
Turns out that skier isn’t the
only one who knows about the
agony of defeat.
Those losses are as much a part
of the story as the gold medals.
We’ll be watching them all closely
come February.