It's Not Quite Livestreaming, But it is BHS Basketball from 1968-69

Did you ever wonder if films still exist of that great bunch of basketball players in the Class of '69?  You will recall that those players won the ESD Conference two years in a row, 1968 and 1969.  Runners-up at the Class A state tournament in 1969, they won it all as state champions in 1968.  Good times!  Four of those players ended up in the BHS Athletic Hall of Fame in recent years.

Due to the diligence of the great Johnny I, this blog's owner and caretaker, some of those 16mm films were rescued several years ago, just seconds before becoming dumpster debris.  (Thank you, John!)  John even took on the task of getting those films digitized and onto DVDs for the viewing pleasure of team members and coaches.
 
Now you, interested members of the Class of '69 and anyone else, can check out those same film segments on YouTube.  Several weeks ago, John suggested that I publish those videos, four in all, on YouTube.  If others could publish cat cuties and baby burps, I could certainly learn to publish basketball game footage, right?  After all, YouTube wants people like you and me to contribute content for free, so that YouTube (and its parent, Google) can rake in the dollars on advertising.  More videos, more viewers.  It's all about capturing eyeballs, folks.  So the publishing process is indeed smooth and understandable.
 
Some things to remember:
 
1)  The process of converting 16mm film to a digital format introduces a slow-motion effect in the resulting videos.  Perhaps now, a half century later, we old-codger guys would move at the speed of the videos, but back then, we were fast up and down the floor, and quick underneath the baskets.  Remember us as the young bucks  --uh, Bobcats--  that we were then. 

2)  16mm film was expensive.  The cameraman was instructed to film only action on offense and defense; very few free throws are shown, for example.  If you are conditioned to expect today's livestreaming of athletic events, end-to-end with no interruptions, these videos will look disjointed.

3)  16mm film was expensive.  (Is there an echo in here?)  Color film was most expensive of all,  so black-and-white film served to record athletic events.
 
4)  The first three videos have 10-second gaps (approximately) between the segments.  John Iverson included an excellent 1960's soundtrack on the DVD, but copyright laws being what they are, these YouTube videos have no sound associated with them.
 
5)  All four videos are home games.  As is still done to this day in Jostad Gym, the recording camera faced south, toward the student body seating section.  
Look for classmates ... try to find yourself.

"Trying to find yourself" ... was probably what you were doing half a century ago, too!  

  Select a clip ... make it full screen, maybe ... and enjoy.

 

Revisiting The Nature Park

Last summer, one phase of our reunion activities was held at the Nature Park south of Brookings.  While there, a man was fly-fishing for trout at one of the nearby ponds.  Obviously, there were trout to be caught.  Catching trout is somewhat of a rarity in this part of the state.  Most natural waters get too warm for them to survive for any length of time.  However, last week some of us ventured out to those same ponds, and found at that there were trout galore.  We were catching them like we used to catch bullheads at some of the local fishing spots.  Most of them were thrown back, but a few of the larger ones we kept for some rather nice culinary delights later in the week.  A number of local schoolboys also plied their angling skills, catching them even faster than we did.  Will continue to visit these local waters to see how long this extravaganza will last. 

She Experienced A Century Of History

Another of our esteemed elders passed away recently.  The mother mother of Karen (Thysell) Borsay passed to her eternal reward on April 11, 2017, at the age of 101.  What seems amazing is the history that she experienced during her lifetime, and the accompanying changes that occurred during that span.  Her marriage of 62 years is also a tribute to her faith and belief in the sanctity of marriage.  Not only is she survived by her children Anne, Karen, and Joseph, but she is also survived by her twin sister.  Her husband, who passed away in 2009, was, I believe, an entomologist at the Insect Lab just north of Brookings.  While never working directly with him, I became somewhat acquainted with him while working there during college.  It seems that Alan Leibel's brother Jay worked rather closely with Dr. Thysell, if memory serves correctly.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to Karen and her family at this time.