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Show Son and ekaucjhtfer cagers follow "father's tfoovstfeps By Aldon Rachele, Vernal Fxnress Grant Drollinger was a senior on the Uintah High School basketball team in 1958 and 25 years later his son, Jeff Drollinger, Droll-inger, is a senior on the Uintah boys' varsity var-sity basketball team and his daughter, Kim Drollinger, is a sophomore on the Uintah girls' varsity basketball team. "Our Uintah team in 1958 was more of a fastbreak team. We averaged in the 6()'s. We used the Stan Watts, former BYU coach, style of play. You really moved up and down the floor. If you didn't get a layup or a close shot you would set it up and go into a web or screen man to man offense," said Drollinger. Droll-inger. "Bart Johnson was our coach at Uintah High School. He played at Utah State University before he came to Uintah. Uin-tah. He was a 6'6" forward-center. He was extremely strong in teaching defense. That was one of his strong points. We spent a large percent of our time working on defense. He would tell us over and over again if your man scores more points than you do, what good are you. He used to always stress that most people think offense wins the game, but if you don't have a good defense you won't win many games." Drollinger is 6'0' and he played center for the 1958 Uintah Utes. "We had John Gardiner at 6'1" and he was our tallest player. He was a forward on our team. Other starters on the Ute team were: Larry Lee, forward; Gary Sutton, guard and Billy Adams, guard." The 1958 Uintah Ute team captured the region title and placed sixth at the Class B State Tournament. "We beat Judge Memorial, 37 to 36, the first night at the state tournament. We led most of the way in the game and it was close all the way," said Drollinger. "We played Cedar City the next day and beat them 68 to 58. We were really fastbreaking on them. I scored 28 points in the game. We played Parowan and they beat us by 5 or 6 points. We were sick cause we lost. We played North Sanpete and they beat us by eight points." Gardiner and Drollinger averaged 20 points during the season and both players were named to the all-state team. Gardiner Gar-diner hurt his knee in the last region game and wasn't at full strength in the state meet. Uintah jumped out to a 13-10 lead in the first quarter and owned an 18-17 lead after two quarters. Judge grabbed a 27-25 lead in the third quarter, but Uintah won the game by the score of 37-36. Drollinger led the Utes with 14 points and Sutton scored nine points. Also scoring for Uintah were Lee, 5; Gardiner, Gar-diner, 3; Adams, 2 and Campbell, 2. Drollinger led the Uintah Utes in scoring scor-ing 28 points in the win over Cedar City and Sutton added 18 points. Dixie beat Parowan for the Class B title and North Sanpete placed third. Cedar City placed fourth and Pleasant Grove nabbed fifth. Uintah placed sixth and Milford pocketed seventh. Judge Memorial netted eighth place. "Gardiner averaged 20 points for the 1958 season and played ball at Utah State ; , - ....-.! i. " , . ".'-- r . f . I - V7 ' . ' l I vv - I J- S 'J " 1 r ' y - vt ' I , !,; - - . V 7 V . - . x 1 s '. , I - , 7x - UTE VARSITY eager Jeff Drollinger, right, dribbles the basketball basket-ball down the court. Jeff's father, Grant Drollinger, was a member of the Uintah varsity basketball team in 1958. University as a freshman. Larry Lee was 5'11" and he was a good passer. Sutton, 5'9" guard, was our playmaker and he scored well from outside and passed the ball into the middle. Adams, a 5'9" guard, was an excellent passer and he would set up the offense," stated Drollinger. Droll-inger. Drollinger played basketball as a freshman at Utah State University and played one year at College of Eastern Utah in Price. Drollinger added, "My jump shot or a hook shot were the shots I used most of the time. I played against the tall centers because I could jump well." 6'2" forward Jeff Drollinger has been a member of the Uintah High School varsity var-sity basketball team for three years. "Our coach, Gary Weight, stresses patience pa-tience and good ball movement to get the good shot. We like to fastbreak if it's there. Our coach believes in a man to man defense and pressure on the ball at all times," said Drollinger. The Uintah Utes knocked off number two ranked Mountain View in the second to last game of the season and Drollinger remarked, "We lost the game before to American Fork by one point that put us pretty much out of a chance to go to state. Mountain View and Provo would be our last two games of the season and they were at home so we wanted to finish off right. Just wish we could have that game with American Fork back." Uintah Uin-tah defeated Mountain View and was behind by four points after three quarters before losing by 14 to Provo. 6'2" Jeff Drollinger had the job of jumping jum-ping center against 7'2" Carl Pollard of Mountain View in the game between the Utes and the Bruins. "I look forward to jumping against him and I psyched myself in getting up for it. I figured that I was going to beat him to the ball and I had to get up quicker than Pollard. I would time it just right as the ball was tossed. It worked once or twice and then the referee started throwing the ball too high," commented Drollinger. When asked to comment on his favorite shots, Drollinger remarked, "We played against a lot of zones and I played a wing position. I got shots from the 15 to 20 foot range, but I always look to drive first." Drollinger is a forward, but he has been handling the Ute job of jumping center. Starters for the Uintah Utes in most of the games in the 1982-83 season were: Brian McNamara, Drollinger, forwards; Kevin Montague, center; Cary Hamilton and Doug Bowen, guards. Mike Weldon saw a lot of action at center and Mark Wilkinson was a senior guard, who played a good deal. "I had a good experience this year. I have learned a lot playing under Coach Gary Weight my past two years and I've had a lot of fun playing with the other six seniors. We played the toughest teams in: the state. Even though we aren't going to state we still have a good team," said Drollinger. Kim Drollinger is a 5'7" postwoman, who spent most of her playing time on the junior varsity team, but saw a good deal of action on this year's varsity team. She started for the Utes in the varsity game against American Fork. "Both coaches, LoaKay Bowthorpe and Jim Abegglen stress defense and we work on it a great deal in practice. prac-tice. We try to fastbreak and if that doesn't work we hold the ball and work it into position and go for the layup. If the outside shot is open we take it. We try to work the ball into the inside people," said Drollinger. The tallest girl Drollinger faced in junior high was Roosevelt Junior High's Suzanne Nielsen at 5'11", but she found out that the tall girls were nothing new in high school ball. "I wasn't used to having real tall people peo-ple around me and Suzanne Nielsen was very tall. We tried to concentrate on her so she wouldn't get the ball and then they would hit the outside shot," stated Drollinger. Droll-inger. "I came to high school and most of the schools have two or three big girls and you have to adjust your offense and defense. We work more on getting position posi-tion for the rebound and work for the offensive of-fensive position on the inside shot. Good defense keeps them from getting inside. We get good position and intimidate them so they don't get the ball inside for the good shot." Jeff, Kim and father, Grant Drollinger compete in pick up games outdoors under the basket. "Jeff and dad were the ones that taught me how to play and be aggressive because I was the shortest," said Kim Drollinger. "As soon as I could hold a ball I was out there playing. It used us-ed to be Jeff and I against dad and now it's dad and I against Jeff." "I would beat him, Jeff, at a game of 21 and now he beats me. It has been fun to teach and work with them," stated Grant Drollinger. Playing Union High School was always a big game for Uintah and Grant Drollinger, Droll-inger, but it meant even more in 1957 for Drollinger during his junior year at Alta-mont Alta-mont High School. "We beat Union three times when I was a junior at Altamont. The third time was a playoff for the state meet. We beat Union home and lost to Duchesne. We played Union in Vernal and beat them. Uintah placed first in region and Altamont Alta-mont nabbed second. We played two games at the state meet and lost both of them. It was the first time that Altamont had gone to state in 19 years. Beating Union three times was the highlight of the season in 1957. Other starters on the Altamont team were Larry Hansen, Alan Iorg, Pete Nyberg and David Hislop. Uintah beat Union, twice, in 1958," said Drollinger. Drollinger also played for Altamont as a sophomore. Uintah defeated Union in two games in the 1982-83 season. "We beat Union at the Basin Tournament and at our place, it was the first game of the season for us. Union got a quick lead and then we got into our offense game plan and won the game," remarked Jeff Drollinger. "Union slowed it down in the second game as they tried to stop the offense from working. We got the lead and made them come after us." Watching son Jeff at 6'2" jumping center against Mountain View's 7'2" Carl Pollard reminded 6'0" Grant Drollinger of back in 1959 when he was a freshman on the Utah State University basketball team. "Billy McGill was a 6'11" center for the University of Utah and when our center fouled out our coach put me against him. Coach told me take center. McGill was averaging 30 points and we held Billy "The Hill" McGill to 18 points," stated Drollinger. - y,-,,, trmmmmmmmm- i-rtf- , . .. V .T " j ' - f . ! r l V i r ' - 5 I ) 14 h t - v, , 7 V i. ' 14 - - - V 'Ml" 3X i';WT- n I . V - r ... M V h . . i -i rA':- tl LIKE FATHER, like son or like father, like daughter is the slogan for two present-day hoopsters, Jeff Drollinger and Kim Drollinger, Droll-inger, right, as well as Uintah hoopster of the past, Grant Drollinger, Droll-inger, center. Grant Drollinger was a member of the Uintah High School basketball team in 1958 and 25 years later his son Jeff and daughter, Kim, are members of basketball teams at Uintah High School. When asked to comment on having a son and daughter playing high school basketball, Grant Drollinger said, You look forward to the day your son or daughter plays basketball. It s a thrill to so to the games and especially if they do well You get excited and nervous. I believe after a ball game I'm as tired as Jeff or Kim." Drollinger added, "The real differences dif-ferences between the high school players of yesterday and today are ,t players now are taller and hi. kidinthel950'swasconsiSer and now a player at that he' quickness and agility iike t I played you got the reboE'; headed down the floor for ((,!, ' as hard as you could. Now i r ' more deliberate and they B 7 patterns where they work to , ' good shot. " r . : ' , r - - ; r - . " 1 f ' 7 I , j ! . v . w- ' .--7- - ' 'r-'" ',7 TWO UTES, Kim Drollinger, left and Sheila Nelson, right, crash into Ford from American Fork, center. I " . - ... ?- ; ar ? tl - : ai- v : - . . ' ! 7X" t ? S :'' i 4y s - . .7 - -4 - HI ' 1 l ! ' i !ii A SHOT at the basket is taken by Uintah Ute basketballer,Je Drollinger, during a recent Uintah basketball game. T s .... r - i ct I xA V r l J 1 ' . t . 4 crj: x xxNV''" ' " i " x J " f XXX.SW,... .' . .1 . X- , , , . L x - 1 "" 1 ,. "" ; ; v - . -..M;,m i in JftJia . .i x ' 1 ' UTE JV and varsity eager on the Uintah girls' basketball tj, Kim Drollinger, left, soars to the hoop and hopes to conne a field goal try. |
