Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 13, 1995 TAG: 9501130069
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV11 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
``They'd never ask, `Did you win?''' Shawsville High boys' basketball player Corey Dow said. ``It was always, `How much did ya'll lose by?'''
Shawnees basketball players were forced to assume that the queries were just thoughtless attempts at conversation, not cold-hearted and vicious insults.
The questioners were, after all, their classmates. It was their school, too. Their school that was losing game after game, stacking up basketball defeats like cordwood into a pile that would grow 42 losses tall.
Well, some of the players assumed their classmates had innocent intent. Others made no such assumptions .
For some, the solution was to quit.
Pack it in.
Hand over the orange and powder blue uniform.
Walk off into oblivion.
``I guess they couldn't take it,'' Dow said. They couldn't take the losses, the headlines, the behind-the-back snickers and giggles.
Quitting was one way to do it.
Another avenue was to cause so much trouble that they were asked to vacate their spot on the roster.
This havoc-raising took a number of forms. A pathetically meager effort in the classroom. Or blatant misbehavior on the team bus. Or any of a myriad other offenses.
Shawsville coach Eric Altizer, who took over the Shawnees from Tracy Poff with 11 games to go last year, summed up the defections with typical bluntness.
``They didn't have the character to stick around.''
Those who remained had the character to meet defeat with dignity - but never to accept it.
Dow was one of them. So were starting center Tommy Jones and reserve Andy Smith. All three had been called up from the junior varsity when a round of suspensions and resignations gutted the team. All three stuck with it when the Shawnees finished the last half of the season with six players.
They persevered through a winless 1993-94.
They came back for more this year.
But the early results were the same. The team came close, but the losing streak grew like mildew in a damp closet.
Dow, Jones & Smith are the sorts you would expect to stick with it.
Dow, a 135-pound glutton for punishment, also hung in there with a losing football team. This year he caught more than 40 passes and was named second-team all-state. Smith is the top golfer in the school. Both Jones and Smith are straight-A students.
So you had to feel for them when Shawsville blew an eight-point third-quarter lead and lost to Roanoke Valley Christian in December. Or when they fell by two at home to James River. You had to mourn along with them when they sliced a 16-point deficit to two in the other game against RVC, only to lose again.
And when the streak finally came to a close last weekend with a 61-57 victory over Radford, you had to rejoice along with them.
(Not that we can't also feel some pain for Radford, which has also gone through it's share of basketball woes lately.)
``It was one of the best feelings that you could have,'' said Dow, now 1-36 as the starting point guard. ``It was like all that hard work had finally paid off. People were running on the court. Some of them were crying. To us, it was like winning the state championship.''
The joy was short-lived.
Monday, the Shawnees lost again to James River, ending the winning streak at one.
``It's not about whether you win or lose,'' Dow said. ``It's about showing some pride. It's about showing up.''
Ray Cox is a Roanoke Times & World-News sportswriter.
by CNB