When it was time for me to share my thoughts in this column back in January, I took the opportunity to dig up names of area residents who grew up in the Carbon-Schuylkill County region playing basketball in the District 5 Catholic Youth Organization leagues.

While I always believed resurrecting names of individuals in days of past was a neat thing to do, never did I realize so many people would be excited to recall the days of the 1960s when the Panther Valley League was going strong. After that column, I heard from plenty of people, either in person or via email, who shared a common thought about those days — that they were special.

And they were.

The long and dreary weeks from December through February, typically when snow hits the ground, days are short and cold weather persists, were “survivable” because of the weekly schedules of kids playing in area gyms and parents and grandparents making sure they were there to see them.

While sadly that doesn’t seem to exist in these days with the near-demise of CYO basketball, we were urged by some to once again remember the boys who raced up and down the courts. After all, the baby boomers who made up the post-World War II population surge now range in their 60s and 70s and are likely to have worn the uniforms of teams like the Hornets, Squires, Jerries, Crusaders and other nicknamed parochial school squads.

So, we hope you remember some them as reported in those decades by the Times News:

1967 — Leo O’Donnell, Tommy Hiller and Jimmy Straubinger led the Immaculate Conception Squires to a 58-45 win over the SS. Cyril and Methodius Royals of Coaldale. O’Donnell took scoring honors with 19, Hiller had 15 and Straubinger netted 12. For the Royals, Flyzik and Hutta hit doubles with 17 and 14, respectively.

1968 — Mike Makara tallied 17 points to lead St. Joe’s Hornets of Summit Hill to a 34-31 win over the St. Joe’s Hammers of Jim Thorpe. Bob Crampsie added 7 points for the winners. The Jim Thorpe squad was paced by Danny Albeck with 13, while Terry McElmoyle added 7.

1969 — St. Michael’s of Lansford defeated SS. Peter and Paul’s of Tamaqua, 52-23. Danny Bench had 20 points for the winners, followed by Dave Labosky with 13. High for SS. Peter and Paul’s was Ray Weicker with 7 points.

1970 — St. Ann’s of Lansford remained undefeated at 6-0 with a 64-54 win over St. Jerome’s of Tamaqua. The winners got 20 points from Bobby Miller, 19 from Dave Bales and 16 from Phil Delpero. Jim Welsh and Den Yelito led the Jerries with 22 and 15, respectively.

1971 — In a cross-town rivalry game, St. Joe’s of Summit Hill defeated St. Stan’s by a 43-41 margin. Joey Kozuch, Art Castagnola, Dave Miller and Dave O’Gurek led the winners with 13, 10, 8 and 8, respectively, while St. Stan’s got 15 from Lee Zellin and 14 from Kerry Lesniak.

1972 — Mike Sabol, Gene Bickelman and Bill Bonnenberger led St. Jerome’s to a 62-53 win over St. Joe’s of Summit Hill. Sabol tallied 18 points, Bickelman, 17, and Bonnenberger, 15. Ron Halenar and Charlie Nihen paced St. Joe’s with 18 and 18, respectively.

1973 — St. Jerome’s defeated cross-town rival, SS. Peter and Paul’s, by a score of 70-48. The winners netted 14 points from Dan Yelito, 10 from Steve Dietrich and 9 from Jim Ryan. Ed Pajakinas and Jack Quinn paced SS. Peter and Paul’s with 22 and 13, respectively.

1974 — St. Ann’s of Lansford recorded a 38-34 win over the Hammers of St. Joe’s of Jim Thorpe. Mike Shubeck tallied 20 to pace the winners. Hrinda and Snisky paced St. Joe’s with 11 and 10, respectively.

1975 — St. Ann’s won a 48-46 thriller over St. Jerome’s. Emmett McCall and Jim McCullian paced the winners with 11 and 10, in that order, while Rich Balogach took scoring honors with 28 Jerry points. He was backed by Jim Kristoff with 10.

1976 — Jim Dennis netted 26 points in Immaculate Conception’s 60-42 win over SS. Peter and Paul’s of Lansford. Thamarus backed him with 11. For SS. Peter and Paul’s, Cas Kosciolek was high with 18 points.