(EDITOR’S NOTE: Since May of 1999, the Times News Sports Department has featured an On This Date practically every day, highlighting an event that happened in the past. With the coronavirus putting a halt to sports locally and nationally, the On This Dates have been expanded to the stories that actually ran in the newspaper. Today’s On This Date story is from an event that started on March 26, 1965 and concluded the following day. The story ran in the March 29 edition of the Lasford Evening Record).

A newspaper article about the marathon basketball record set by a group of youths in Gadsen, Ala., prompted 12 Summit Hill sophomore boys to shoot for a new mark last week in the Ginter gym, Summit Hill.

The boys began their grueling grind at 7 a.m. Friday and when they completed action 28 hours later at 11 a.m. Saturday they had bettered the old record by one hour and 25 minutes. There were about 100 fans in the gym when the action ended.

Through sheer determination and stamina, they established the marathon mark Saturday morning. They never once spoke of quitting - their minds were made up when play started.

After the first six hours, the youngsters realized that the tempo was too fast and action was slowed down. In fact, action came to a crawl during the early morning hours as the boys sat down or knelt and rolled the ball, rather than passing it. This was during a brief humorous streak of the marathon. However, at the crack of dawn, they seemed to get a second wind and the tempo picked up again for some steady basketball.

As the word spread around the area, curious residents filed into the small gym. There were never more than approximately 80 persons in attendance at one time until the climax Saturday morning, according to official scorekeeper, Gary Mantz, who became sleepy during the early morning hours and sought fresh air. He was relieved by Joe Williams and Bob McElmoyle.

George Heffelfinger, who was in charge from start to finish, said the boys came up with the idea Wednesday, but the school board, of which he is a member, refused to sanction it until parents signed permission blanks to assume all responsibility for the boys.

According to the players, scoring became second nature after the first five or six hours. In fact, one participant said the shooting became incredible as time went on. Shooting became red-hot in the final hours, when the boys hit for 60 percent. There were no officials, thus all the scoring was from the field.

The final score was White Shirts 2,272 to 1,920 for the Red Shirts. The scoring was not intense as that of the Gadsden youths, who had a 2,749-2,682 count.

Mayor on Hand

Summit Hill Mayor Louis Lisella was in the gym to congratulate the boys at the end of the grind. He spoke to the youths at midcourt after the game.

The winners were some 30 points behind going into the final three hours of action when Ken Vermillion, a member of last season’s Panther Valley junior varsity squad, drove in for six consecutive field goals to the astonishment of everyone in the gym. His burst of speed after such a long period of playing was simply tremendous, according to witnesses. Vermillion would end up with a fantastic 574 points at the game’s end.

Bob Anderson, who may have accumulated about 800 points, departed from the scene, fell asleep, and never returned to the battle. He pulled home second with 570 points. Tom Demarecki, who performed with the PV JV’s last season, was next with 568 tallies. Other members of the winners and their points were Frank Stone (522), and Bob Maholick (500).

Several of the players were forced to switch sides to spell opposing players. John Gormley scored 192 points for the winning team and 32 for the losers; John Novak had 160 points while playing with the winners and 100 for the losing Red team, and Randy Harakel was 196 for the White and had eight with the losers.

Len Alabovitz struck for 224 points for the losers and Tom Lisella hit for 146 points for the winners. Billy Gibson had 170 markers when he was sidelined because of a blister.

The players, who brought extra sneakers and socks, took a two-minute break every hour and five minutes every four hours.

The players took turns sleeping on cots in a nearby hallway. However, they were dog-tired Saturday morning and headed home to soft beds.

Residents of Summit Hill joined forces to support the record-breakers. The American Legion post delivered coffee and chewing gum. Parents and friends of the boys brought lunch and soft drinks and a passing milkman dropped off several quarts of milk for the heroes.