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Show Performers otf tfhe pas discuss Uinttah-Union games When the subject of fierce rivalries is discussed sports fans mention the Army-Navy, University of Utah-Uiigluun Utah-Uiigluun Young University, Michigan-Ohio Michigan-Ohio State, UCUV-Southern California clashes, but one of the most heart pounding, nail-biting and feet stomping rivalries of all time is the Uintah-Union battle. Uintah will face Union Saturday in Vernal. The games have featured slaughters by each team at one time or another, but usually the contests are close encounters en-counters of the one point or overtime kind. One year that supports the closeness theme of the Uintah-Union rivalry was 1971 as both games were decided in overtime. Two key plavers in the 1971 contests were Tim Hadlock of Uintah and Ray Natani of Union. "When I was a senior at liintnh ninh School we won two games in overtime with Union High School in 1971," stated Tim Hadlock. " I scored the game tying basket in the first battle in January of 1971 in Vernal. The clock was fouled up, but we were told that we had five seconds left in the game. We passed the ball to a player near the mid court line and he hit me near the basket and I put it in. We won by three points in overtime." Ray Natani, a member of the Union team, remarked, "I think we got gypped. It was a real tense game. We thought we won by one point, but they called us back and gave Uintah five seconds. I hit one free throw, but missed the second one and they made the basket to tie up the game. It went into overtime and they won by three points. They reset the clock twice. I thought we won the game, but they gave Uintah a chance twice and they finally won it. We lost the second game in Roosevelt, 83 to 80 in overtime. It was pretty close all the way." A portion of the story about the first Uintah-Union battle follows as it was printed in the Vernal Express on January 28, 1971. A fever-pitched basketball game which went into overtime play pitted Uintah against - Union Friday evening on the Utes' home boards. The rival schools battled "tooth and toenail" in a close game, with Uintah emerging the victors gaining three points over Union, 72, to . 69. Uintah's star point man was Tim Hadlock with 23 points to his credit. Other Utes scoring in the close matched game were Ed Jones, 12; Greg Gilroy, 11; Charlie Walker, 9; Lowell Aycock, 8; Corbin Bennion, 6 and Bobby Caldwell, 3. However, the Uintah Basin Standard's Stan-dard's version of the game was a little different and the story follows as it was " printed in the Roosevelt newspaper on January' 28, 1971. At Vernal, it was a barn burner all the way. At the end of the first quarter Uintah was ahead, at halftime it was Union, and the third quarter saw Uintah ahead again. With one second show ing on the clock. Union held a two-point two-point lead, and had a man at the free throw line with one more toss. Because of a discrepancy in the "official" time and the time showing on the clock it was determined that there were five seconds still left to play. Under great pressure at the line Kay Natani missed the second shot, and Uintah grabbed the rebound, the ball moved down the court, changed hands three times and as the final buzzer sounded was arched toward the basket. During the resulting overtime Uintah came out on the long end of a 72-69 score. The top scorers for Union in the ' game were Michael Harrision, 24 and Hay Natani, 14. Union had a one point lead with four seconds left in the second game against the Uintah Utes in February of 1971 and had a man on the foul line. However, the hoopster missed the second of a one and one situation and the Utes marched down the court and fired in a game tvin0 fiplH ain tl-io K,...nM ti:..u 'J "'to wfc nit uutiCl . Ulliuiil won the game by three points in overtime. The Uintah-Union game is a mystery to the fans in the Uintah Basin because the outcome can never be predicted. The 1939 State Champions, Uintah High School, bombed the Rough Riders of Roosevelt in the first game, 44-12, but Roosevelt ambushed Vernal in Roosevelt, 35 to 26. LeGrande Hadlock a member of Uintah's team in 1939, stated, "Both schools were really keyed up for the games and played excellent ball when they battled. We beat them pretty easy in Vernal, but they outplayed us in Roosevelt. They beat us, 35-26, in league play at Roosevelt during the year we took state in 1939. Roosevelt had a good passing and shooting team." The high scorers in the game for Roosevelt were Johnson, 10 and Wilkins, 8. The win by Roosevelt put Uintah and Roosevelt in a first place tie in region, but Uintah won the round robin battle with Roosevelt, 34 to 19, and went on to nab first place in the state meet. LeGrande Hadlock, who scored 32 points in the series, put in 16 points in the victory over Roosevelt. Ken Sowards of Uintah was the top scorer in the series with 35 points. When asked to comment on the Uintah-Union battles of the past, a former eager and now the head football coach at Uintah High school, Curg Belcher, remarked, "They were all close games. Union had Gordon Jennings, Jen-nings, Glen Gardner, Sixkiller, Kent Denver and Mardin Spencer on their teams in the early 60's. and Uintah had such players as Curg Belcher, Roy Caldwell, Tommy Murray, Fred Weeks and Howard Busch. We beat Union over there three years, 61-63, and they beat us over here all three years." Quite often after the region action was over one more game was needed to break a first place tie between Vernal and Roosevelt. One such playoff took place in 1951 in Rangely, Colorado. "I was the manager a couple of years on Uintah High School's team. Our senior year we played Roosevelt in Rangely to go to the state tourney and Roosevelt won it by one point. It was a heart-throhbing game." stated Marlin Stagg. ' '.- " 1 I - j I S 1 , j rr"" ?.'V'S, - ' Ah tr?---: w i' : I - r J i - - - -- ' r J i i -..'-A l v- .. .. ." :'-t 3 f ' ' . V i I t:-;;.rrr t ' : ' ' . ; X UNTAH'S JOE GARDINER leaps toward the basket and gets ready to stuff it through the hoop. Scott Nickell of Roosevelt remarked, "The year I was a junior in 1951 we beat Vernal for the regional champioaship in a playoff by one point. The game was 'nip and tuck' all the way. I only scored three points but it seemed like my shot put us ahead or tied the game." A Uintah High School cheerleader in 1955, Sherry Hatch, stated, "They were all exciting. Union and Uintah had a playoff in Rangely in 1955 and the Utes won by one point at the very end." Arvel Tassainer, a Ute eager in 1961, said, "The year I was a senior Union beat us over there and we bent them in Vernal by ten points. We beat them in a preseason game by about 21 points. There was a lot of screaming and hollaring in those games and the place was packed." Union and Uinlah have always had a flair for knocking each other off the number one pedestal and such was the casein vm and 1970. Union was ranked number one by the Salt Lake Tribune in 19, but Uintah shattered the Cougars' dreams with a R6-G0 win in Roosevelt. "We (Union) beat Uintah in both games in 1968 and they beat us in 1969, but my 1909 team was stronger than the 1968 squad," stated former Union High School hoop coach, Gordon Eldredge. "Both teams lost a lot of guys due to fouls. The two schools finished the final 3 or 4 minutes with new teams. We scored 100 points in five of our ten preseason games. We set a new school record with 122 points against Manila." The next year, 1970, Uintah arrived in Rory-nvnii p ; Km number one ranked team by the Salt Lake Tribune and the Cougars behind 24 points by Brad Monks shocked the Utes with a 72-65 win. "When I was a junior Union beat us over there, and we won in Vernal, 82-64, to force a playoff game for the region title, which we won 75 to 61," said Tim Hadlock. "It was a good game. The gym was packed, every seat was taken and there was no-standing room." Union nabbed the state title in 1953, Gordon Eldredge, remarked," We won both games with Uintah, but one game was played in the old Uintah School. The gym was also the auditorium. One of our players was going after a loose ball. He saved the ball, but wound up in the orchestra pit." |