Tigerisms

All-State Basketball

(1-denotes first team; 2-denotes second team; 3-denotes third team)

All-State Football — Early Era (1939–1965)

From 1917–46 only one West Virginia all-state team from 230 high schools was chosen and was dominated by players from large high schools. One player made first team from 1917–27 but the specific player and year has yet to be determined.

All-State Football — Middle Era (1966–1981)

All-State Football — Later Era (1982–1992)

All-State Baseball

Baseball all-state teams generally were a single team, not divided into classes.

Multi-Sport All-State Standouts

First Team All-State in Two Sports

Three-Time First Team All-State

Two-Time First Team All-State

State & National Individual Awards

Richard Summers — Game-By-Game 1977–78

Season Average: 38.2 — Highest average in W.Va. in past 61 years

Mike Carson — Game-By-Game 1968–69

Season Average: 29.96 | Jr. Season Average: 31.0 | Only consensus All-American in SHS history

C.R. Howdyshell — Game-By-Game 1978

Set numerous state and OV rushing records at time. School record at time.

Jeff Swisher — Game-By-Game 1986

Won Kennedy Award. Nine-game season; missed all but three plays of one game with injury.

Joel Wilson — Game-By-Game 1984

Won Kennedy Award.

SHS Girls All-Time Track Records

Compiled by Gene & Steve Hadley

SHS Boys All-Time Track Records

Compiled by Gene & Steve Hadley

Best & Worst Seasons

Unbeaten Football Seasons

Most Points — Basketball Player

74

Points in a Game

Richard Summers vs. Wirt County, 1978

803

Points in a Season

Richard Summers, 1977–78

38.2

Scoring Average

Richard Summers, 1977–78 — highest in W.Va. in past 60 years

Football Scoring Records

Jeff Swisher — Single Game Records

In a single game against Frontier in 1986, Jeff Swisher put together one of the most extraordinary individual performances in Sistersville football history:

Season Records: Most Rushing Yards, Season: 2,325 yards (256 carries) — Jeff Swisher, 1986. Nine-game season; missed all but three plays of one game with injury. Runner-up: 2,315 yards — C.R. Howdyshell, 1978 (389 carries). Most Points, Season: 225 points — Jeff Swisher, 1986.

Most Times Named First Team All-State, Football: 3 times — Brian Swisher, 1979-81. The most times any Sistersville football player has been named First Team All-State, Brian Swisher earned this distinction three consecutive years from 1979 through 1981.

The Case for the Best Athletic Class

Here’s the case they can make:

All-State Honors

The Class of ’54 produced an extraordinary number of all-state honorees across football and basketball.

Big Ten Recruits: Mikes & Wable

The 1953 Football Season Record

Class B State Championship

CLASS B CHAMPIONSHIPS — Sistersville 27, Romney 1

The Tigers capped a dominant season with a come-from-behind victory over Romney in the Class B state championship game. Kenny Mikes and Bob Wable each scored two touchdowns to seal the title.

Football: Key Victories

The football team posted dominant wins throughout the season, including decisive victories over several regional rivals:

Basketball: LKC Champions

The basketball team finished with a 22-2 record and the LKC championship. The only losses came to Parkersburg (the state’s largest high school) and Chester in overtime in the regional finals. The Tigers defeated:

Baseball: Sectional Champions

The baseball team won the sectional championship, defeating St. Marys 2-0 as Kenny Mikes pitched a two-hit shutout. The Tigers were eliminated in the regional tournament by Parkersburg 14-5. Mikes was chosen third team all-state in baseball.

Members of the team included: Bob Wable, Jim Sutton, Kenny Mikes, Paul Herbold, Allen Hendricks, Paul Plumb, Don Stokes.

A Legacy Unmatched

The combined senior class record of 32-2-1 was the best in school history.

If there’s one class among all those that graduated from Sistersville High School capable of making a legitimate argument to being the best athletically, it’s the Class of 1954.

The Story Behind the Story

By Alan Robinson

A little background here just to let you know how stories are written sometimes.

In March 1993, I had one hour — literally, one hour — before I needed to attend a meeting and I was trying to think of something to write. Then it came to me: Why not write about The Gym closing?

I was straying from my turf; I’d been the Associated Press sports editor in Pittsburgh for 11 years, and West Virginia wasn’t in my territory. But the sports editor there graciously gave me permission to cross state lines and write about the closing of the junior high/high school gym in Sistersville.

All of us who attended school there spent countless hours in a gym that never really had a name. Everybody referred to it the high school gym but, technically, it was located in the junior high. So I referred to it simply by the name we all called it: The Gym.

I whipped out the story in my self-imposed one-hour deadline and then passed it on to the AP national assistant sports editor in New York, Ron Sirak, for his perusal. He was a great editor (and a Pirates fan, by the way) and he agreed to ship it out on the national wire. However, he considered it a bit local, so he didn’t include it among the package of headline sports feature stories AP sent out every weekend. It moved on the national wire only one time; the featured stories always moved multiple times to make sure editors didn’t miss them.

So, to my surprise, I began hearing the story was being used rather extensively. The front sports page of the large-circulation Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The Houston Chronicle. The state capital Harrisburg Patriot-News. Multiple papers in New York City. And most of the AP papers in West Virginia, among dozens nationally that printed it.

I referred to it as a 450-seat gym because that was the capacity at the time. (The balconies had been torn down, leaving only the downstairs seating area.) It’s always been my understanding the capacity for most of its lifetime was around 850 (250 downstairs, 600 upstairs), with additional seating on the stage when required. (Such as when Jerry West played in the Tri-State Tournament in 1960.)

And, as far as Jerry West is concerned, I’ve always said this: I’ve covered almost every major sports event possible (Olympics, Super Bowls, World Series, Final Four, Ryder Cup, U.S. Open golf tournaments). But the biggest thrill I ever had as a spectator was when Jerry West — THE JERRY WEST, THE NBA LOGO, MR. CLUTCH — played four games in three days in The Gym.

He played in Sistersville one year after he led WVU to the NCAA championship game. The same year he was a consensus All-American for the third straight year, the same year he and Oscar Robertson were co-captains of the United States’ gold medal-winning Olympic basketball team in Rome. The same year he was the No. 2 pick in the NBA draft by the Lakers.

Did you know Jerry West honeymooned in Sistersville? He was married in Morgantown on a Sunday, then played in Sistersville from Wednesday through Saturday. And the lovely Mrs. West (his first wife) signed as many autographs that week as he did!

And, by the way, Jerry West was one of FOUR future NBA all-stars or college All-Americans who played in the Tri-State (later Lions Club) tournament from 1960–64. All in our little gym. God bless her heart.

— Alan Robinson

Sistersville Will Close ‘The Gym’

By Alan Robinson · AP Sports Writer

SISTERSVILLE, W.Va. — They’re going to close down The Gym in a few weeks. Regrettably, it’s two years past retirement age and decades past its prime.

The red-brick bandbox of a 450-seat gym doesn’t have a name, but it does have a ton of character, a ton of class and the kind of history new gyms will never know.

A Temple Without a Name

Oh, out-of-town fans erroneously referred to her as the Sistersville High School Gym, though for most of her 67 years it actually was located in the junior high. Now, the high school in this Ohio River community of 1,700 is closing, and its athletes will play 10 miles away for a consolidated school that some citizens fought for 30 years.

The Gym doesn’t bear the name of a noted town figure or ex-mayor (or, even like the adjoining football field, that of a former school custodian). To the home boys of Sistersville, it was simply The Gym.

Where you goin’? Gonna shoot hoops at The Gym. Where’s the game tomorrow? The Gym. Where’s practice? In The Gym.

The new consolidated school’s court, no matter how 1990s they design it, will never have the charisma, the idiosyncratic charm, the feel or the emotion of this grand old temple of West Virginia high school basketball.

Wrigley Field vs. Veterans Stadium

The Atmosphere Inside

Thankfully, the playing floor remained barely 60 feet long and, over the decades, has worn as many layers of varnish as Michael Jackson does layers of makeup. For decades, Sistersville students stood in the balcony and faithfully sang the alma mater before every game. Hundreds more fans than permitted under fire laws crowded every nook and cranny — some barely able to see more than half the playing floor — to watch the big games of the day.

Of course, Sistersville fire chief Big Daddy Lipscomb wasn’t about to enforce any such rule. He was in there watching the games, too.

Jerry West Comes to The Gym

Jerry West played there, a few weeks after ending his West Virginia University career. He was recruited to play in the Tri-State Invitational, an independent tournament that began in 1926 and is still played today under the banner of the local Jaycees.

Amazingly, the West-led team, composed mostly of the West Virginia Mountaineers who had lost the NCAA championship game by one point to California the year before, lost in the finals by 10 points. Turk Sine had Jerry West, but local hardware dealer Harry Meidel recruited a Pittsburgh playground legend named Delton Heard for his team, and Heard burned West’s team for 44 points.

Gus Johnson, the later-to-be NBA star, played there a year later, and virtually every big-name college player from the region did over the years, until NBA teams began risking their futures for pocket change.

Legends Who Walked The Gym’s Floor

Ben Schwartzwalder, once Sistersville’s all-sports coach, coached in The Gym years before his Syracuse University football team won the 1950 national championship.

The Greatest Shot Ever in The Gym

And so did Roger Cline, who will be remembered forever for The Greatest Shot Ever in The Gym.

The underdog Tigers, tied in a 1963 game against arch-rival Paden City, took the ball out of bounds from under their own basket with two seconds remaining. Cline took two dribbles, then let fly with an even-then-outdated set shot from a step outside his own foul line. Even on The Gym’s tiny floor, this was a long-distance prayer.

Kiss off the glass and swish. Tie game. Pandemonium. And, after Spike Berkeheimer’s winning basket in overtime, an unforgettable victory that some locals like to recall even 30 years later.

Soon to Be Forgotten

Now, The Gym will soon be forgotten, just a footnote to a small state’s high school sports history. Its future plans are undecided right now, but, so bittersweet as it sounds, it might soon face the wrecking ball.

That would be tragic, kind of like the Red Sox knocking down Fenway Park to build a Two-Tier Bell.

Because, for all of its failings, for all of its faults, The Gym was a one-of-a-kind marvel.

The Ohio Valley’s Closest Thing to Superwoman

At first glance, Betsy Patterson doesn’t look at all like the second coming of Superwoman. Her petite frame and friendly manner seem more suited for a career in modeling or travel. But then she disappears into the nearest locker room and emerges in her Sistersville track uniform, prepared for any challenge.

Sans cape, Patterson is the closest thing the Ohio Valley has to the comic-book heroine. She runs, she jumps, she throws heavy objects — all with a great deal of success. In the world of track, Patterson is outstanding in her field. Her field, naturally, consists of track’s blue-collar section: the shot put, the discus, the high jump, and the long jump. All hard work, but all seem to come easy for Patterson.

During this year’s Tri-County League at Paden City — a six-team meet which runs for five weeks — Patterson competed in 20 field events and won 18, not a bad percentage in any league.

Strength, Spring & Versatility

Betsy’s Best: A Real Shot at the State Sweep

This spring, Patterson has a very real chance to qualify for the state meet in all four field events.

Family Roots & Field Devotion

Patterson credits her family as a source of motivation. Both of her brothers, Bill and Bob, were starters in football for Sistersville during the 1970s and were followed religiously by their father, Gene. When Betsy started playing volleyball, her mother predicted Gene would never get excited — but he did.

“I’m not lazy. I like to practice these things...but not running. Not exactly.”— Betsy Patterson

Betsy Patterson — Shot Put

Betsy Patterson — Discus

Quite the all-star coaching staff in 1975

(From L to R) Bill Stewart, in his first season as an assistant coach, would later replace Rich Rodriguez as West Virginia University’s coach. He was elevated from interim coach after a stunning Fiesta Bowl win over an Oklahoma team many thought should be playing for the national title.

Ray Barnhart, the only Sistersville basketball coach to enjoy three seasons of 20 or more wins and the only to coach two state tournament teams; future head coach at nationally ranked Division II Salem and an assistant coach at U. of Louisville.

Head coach Tom Swisher, who led an 8-2 season in 1974.

Mick Price, who would coach Sistersville basketball for one 12-9 season but go on to win state championships at Ravenswood, where he became the second winningest coach in state history.

Bill Hanlin & Eddie Johnston

Jake Hunt & Clay Rustemeyer

Jake Hunt

Began coaching at Sistersville junior high while still a high school senior — then returned to the school after graduating from college. Later coached at Harrisville High and Winfield High, which he took to the W.Va. Class AA championship game against Northfork in 1977. Long-time insurance executive in the Charleston area.

Clay Rustemeyer

Among the numerous Sistersville athletes who ventured into the deep South to coach, Rustemeyer served as a high school football coach at Gibbs High in St. Petersburg, Fla. from 1989–90, going 7-13 in two seasons.

Bucky Stewart & Randy Rutherford

Bucky Stewart

A long-time coach in the Parkersburg area, Stewart spent two seasons as Sistersville High’s football and basketball coach from 1969–71, succeeding Tom Cuppett, and posted a 10-8-1 football record. He later coached at Parkersburg Catholic (8-10-1 from 1972–73), Woodford County, Ky. (32-26 from 1994–98), and Calhoun County (19-21 from 2000–03).

Randy Rutherford

A Sistersville High running back in 1968–69, Rutherford later played at Fairmont State before transitioning to coaching. He spent six seasons as the head football coach at Nicholas County High in Summersville, compiling a 33-27 record.

Jon Bolen & Lewis “Spike” Berkhimer

Bryan Sterns & John Stewart

Erik and Casey Soliday

The Solidays are one of only two sets of brothers to win Georgia high school football championships as head coaches — a remarkable family legacy rooted in Sistersville.

Beallsville through Musselman

38 opponents · 268 games

New Cumberland through Woodsfield

35 opponents · 472 games

Ritchie County and Wheeling

2 opponents · 8 games

Tigers Basketball Rosters by Season

Early Decades

The Strager & McGinnis Years

The Cuppett & Barnhart Eras

The Shuman & King Years