All right.
This is the moment we've been waiting for.
The ball is put in play in the fourth quarter.
The Gals in.
Light, Mediapolis underneath Debbie Coates.
Debbie Coats
makes it two to nothing in favor of Mediapolis.
My name's Heather.
Heddens, I'm I was a senior on the 1973
Mediapolis Bullette Championship Team.
I'm Dianne (Tucker) Powers, and I was a senior forward.
I'm Coral (Schwerin) Pilling.
I was a senior guard.
Coach McClaren kind of kept this thing building
and went to state like, what, 15,
16 times in a row.
It's just something I wanted to be.
I wanted to be play ball. I wanted to be a
Mediapolis Bullette and be like those women.
My mom made me a little orange basketball outfit.
I had my high tops and I had a basketball
and I was carrying a pennant that said Future Mediapolis
Bullette 1969 to 73, we hope.
And so it was just what I wanted to do and what,
you know, you just admired those those girls that played.
We knew we were going to make it.
We played hard.
Coach was amazing.
Coach, you know, we knew that if we would follow his leading,
he would get us there because he was so brilliant
at by my God, we were.
All every day that Darrell and Tiger drill
and I mean, you know, you would think you wouldn't
with that many seniors
on it, on your team, that you wouldn't
still be working on fundamentals.
But you we were
that was
what made us who we are as basketball players.
You know, we were fundamentally sound.
I think
that was always apparent when we played some other teams.
We were well known for for not letting the other team
have many points.
We were very good defensively
and getting the ball off the court
and giving it off to the people who would score.
Tucker Underneath Coates again
and for straight field goals for amazing Debbie Coates.
I think people think of the 1973 Mediapolis team it everybody
kind of mentions Deb Coates was our sophomore phenom
and people got so they had to decide
they had to guard her and not us.
And Diane and I started looking at Deb through this.
Here's Deb and three people standing like this around her.
Yet we would get her the ball and she'd score 72 points.
She had the perfect turnaround jump shot.
It just it was unstoppable and it was fun.
It was just fun.
You know, we didn't we didn't mind
not scoring the basket when you have somebody
that's going to score 72 points. So
a lot of the teams
that we played had very small gyms
A couple of them we played up on a stage
and that was where the basketball gym floor was.
You're focused on, you know, the other people on your team
and the coach and you you turn everybody else out.
So, you know, it was exciting to be
there as a bigger, bigger court than we were used to.
But we all worked together
and we continue to do what we were supposed to.
Do because it would get a little
and that's back in the day that there was every seat
was always taken during the six and six tournaments.
It once it was a sellout.
Mediapolis on its way to the state championship.
And as a little icing on the cake,
a final jump shot there by Karen Peterson puts it through
and the final score is
Mediapolis 68.
Adel 51
Euphoria.Yes, we did it pretty elated.
You know, this great.
And that's when you notice the crowd.
I mean, you know, we had a great,
great community following. And
you purposely tried to shut all of that out
so that you could stay focused and do your best.
But at the point the buzzer went off at the end of the game,
that's when you notice
everybody from town is there and cheering you on.
And it was just the greatest feeling.
One of the highlights to me of the game
was when Coach got his red coat.
That was something that I really I was proud of.
I was, too.
What was neat was when you went away
to college or whatever and you'd say you were from best
for Mediapolis oh, did you play basketball?
And it was always it was a nice way
to break the ice
wherever you were going, because for years afterwards,
people would remember Mediapolis. And
it was a big thing.
You learned how to be a part of a team.
You rely on your teammates and they rely on you.
And you all work together to accomplish something.
I think that's a good recipe for being success in life.
We learned the fundamentals and the skills, but
it's the teamwork and the ethics and how to work together.
It was an invaluable, invaluable experience.
Playing for Mediapolis Bullettes.