It was 50 years ago and fans were lining-up halfway up Market St., towards the old Boardman Library, to buy tickets for Boardman High School basketball games, then played in the gymnasium at Glenwood Middle School. So many fans wanted tickets to Spartans games that Boardman High School athletic director Darl Dolan had to set-up stations to buy the ducats in what is now the Center Middle School Auditorium. A dozen homes games saw the Spartans gym filled to capacity with close to 2000 fans for every contest.
      “I can still recall coming to the school about 7:30 a.m. one day and a fan came up to me, proud he was first in line to get a ticket, as he slept the previous night in a camper in the parking lot of the school,” Dick Selby, head coach of that 1964-65 Spartan basketball team, recalled this week.
      Selby led his team to 24 straight wins before falling, 62-53, to Akron Central in the regional finals played at Kent State.
      “We came into that game after defeating Canton South to open regional play,” Selby, now 83-years-old, said this week. “Jim Geller was our leading scorer and rebounder and he got into foul trouble early in the game against Akron, and that really hurt us.”
      It was Geller who was hit hard at the opening of that regional game against Akron and he let the hit get the best of him, retaliating against the Akron defense, and picking-up two quick, first quarter fouls. Only once in the game did Boardman gain the lead, and that was early in the final period when substitute Bobby James notched a two-pointer to give the Spartans a one point lead, 45-44.
      The Spartans opened their 1964-65 season coming off a 19-3 season the year before, including a double overtime loss to Warren Harding in the district finals.
      “We started against Woodrow Wilson and beat them 100-53 on their home court,” Selby recalled. Geller finished the game with 42 points.
      In six games that season (against Rayen, Warren Harding, Campbell Memorial, Hubbard, South and Niles McKinley), the Spartans reeled-off 90 points or more and they ended the season averaging 77 points a game, while holding their opponents to 55 points a contest.
      Throughout the campaign, the Spartans were rated in Associated Press polls as one of the top prep hoop teams in Ohio, finishing the final poll of the season rated #5 (at a time when there were only two divisions in the state).
      Some of the Spartans hardest-fought wins that season were slow down games.
      After defeating Brookfield, 73-68, at Brookfield, the Warriors came to Boardman’s gym and played real slow. Nevertheless, the Spartans walked away with a 39-25 win.
      Another slow-down game was the opening round of tournament play against the Liberty Leopards. Again the Spartans prevailed, 53-49, on the strength of a full court press in the second half.
      “I remember our point guard Billy Eckert got into foul trouble against Liberty, and that hurt us. But we had Tom Crago coming in off the bench and he played a key role in the victory,” Selby recalls.
      Boardman’s 1964-65 basketball team featured four seniors and a junior, Canton native Larry Tracy, whose family moved to Boardman when he was a freshman.
      “Except for Tracy, our starters had played together since junior high school,” Selby said this week.
      Those seniors were Geller, Rick Mac-Auley, Eckert and Jim Soller, all of whom earned All Steel Valley Conference laurels at the end of the season.
      The Spartans of that 1964-65 team were a well-rounded bunch.
      Geller finished the season pouring-in 477 points and grabbing 405 rebounds.
      MacAuley, at the center post, had 366 points, and 403 rebounds.
      Soller finished with 355 points, 147 assists and 99 steals while his partner in the front court, Eckert, finished with 300 points, 300 assists and 161 steals.
      Tracy finished a stellar junior season with 280 points, but was snubbed for All-SVC honors. (As a senior he was a unanimous choice for All-SVC). Most of Tracy’s buckets were from downtown, far behind what today is the three-point arc.
      In addition to Crago, juniors James and Jim Armbrecht also aided the Spartans 1964-65 cage team.
      50 years later, Selby recalls he was fortunate to lead such a group onto the hardwoods.
      “They came to every practice and every game to play. Their work ethic was second to none, that’s just the way they did it,” Selby said.
      The former mentor also recalled his assistant coach, Alan Burns, who was a Boardman HS alumni and finished his prep career as one of the most prolific scorers in school history.
      “Burns was a great coach,” Selby said, noting that Burns succeeded him at the helm of Spartan hardwood fortunes, and led Boardman to a state Final Four appearance in the 1970s.
      “Burns is the greatest basketball coach that Boardman ever had,” Selby recalled this week. He also cited junior high school coaches Paul Luke and Ed Sullivan, and freshman coach Ed Strauss as playing roles on the success of the 1964-65 Spartan cage team.
      “Our team was very intelligent, always prepared to play and had a special togetherness,” Selby said.
      “Not only did we have great kids, great coaching and the support of our community, we also had great parents. All of our kids came from great homes” Selby said.
      “With that kind of talent and support, we had a great run,” he added.