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Show h Competition, recreation, and fitness Tuesday' , 241985 Dec. New Davis coach to follow winning tradition T LVNN AVERETT Review correspondent r KAYSVILLE For years the name 6f Mike Gardner was synonymous with Davis High basketball. But as this years basketball wars began, the Darts were under the direction of a new guiding light. Although not new to the school, John Robison is the man Davis players look to. don't want it to be known as the John Robison era just because hes (Gardner) gone. We both have the same ideas, and I want to carry on the tradition thats been set before me at Davis, Said Robison. He attended the University of Utah where he saw playing time for the Utes basketball squad. And hes no stranger to Region Four action. Prior to accepting a position with the Darts, Robison was an assistant basketball coach at Woods Cross and Bountiful High Schools. He also served as head coach at Bountiful for three 1 i years. Eight years ago Robison decid- , o j nents in every game. The Darts start five seniors and Robison is excited about how well theyre playing and shooting as a team. Starting at the guards are Chris Card and Brent Meier. Chris is our point guard and our playmaker. He makes things happen on the court, and hes an excellent defensive player, said Robison. Meier, the other guard, is one fj w-i- of K$f) r the better shooters on the squad and is leading the team in defen- u o (Fry sive rebounds. He (Meier) is a heck of a jumper, and he gets underneath and mixes it up with the bigger players," said the coach. Davis front line isnt what you would call tall timber, but with the way theyre playing, it doesnt matter. The forewards are 62 Greg Willard and 61 Mike Taylor. Willard is a jumper and works hard on rebounding and is also a good offensive player. Taylor is a good shooter and plays well inside, said Robison. ed to take an assistant position under Gardner. Taylor has been averaging 10 to He (Gardner) was th&tbest teacher anyone could have. He 15 free throws a game, meaning knows the game, the kids, the ins hes able to draw the foul while and outs of any situation, and he working hard on the boards. deserves the credit for the success Starting at center is 62 Jon of Davis basketball program, ' Rees, who may be the quickest said Robison. center in Region Four. Rees is a The Darts arent playing too strong rebounder, despite his size, badly for the new coach either. So and is the teams second leading far,' theyre undefeated in presea-so- n scorer. and look to be a contender Before the season started, I for the region crown. was worried about our teams Tpi quite surprised that weve started as well as we have. We size, or the lack of it, but it hasnt hurt us, and weve only had three days of practice teams who were bigger, said before, our first game because the Robison. football season went so long, said the Davis mentor. But the Our players want to have a team is working hard and were goo year- because-fo- r mfiny it's shootihftheball well,' he fciddecf their last Tear at Davis. And I Davis is indeed playing well want and will maintain the tradiright now. Although their tallest tion which has been part of the the Darts school and community for years, player is only said Robison. have their oppo f i'V ikf. y ip-- r 4 i a- - iftV Tv a" 1 a TV ) 7 1 e ; i y t4 i out-play- - P' Vi'5 62, Undefeated in preseason, the Davis Darts will Photo by Mathew Brown be a main contender in Region Four. Retired coach roasted, honored watch discovers Davis' Gardner mangled clipboard replaces gold The pure pleasure of surrounding himself with former players (33 or so, with at least one cap- GARY HATCH Review sports editor deliver was sometimes in question. r He tised to say some of the darnedest things, Draayer said. Hed try to make a point with some saying, and hed get it screwed up. Id come up to him later and ask him if he realized what he had said. Then Id tell him and hed say, Naw, I didnt either say that, said I personally heard him say 85 percent of everything Ive got written down. I took them down on napkins, toilet paper, anything that was handy at the time, Draayer said. Following is a part of Draayers collection of Gardnerisms he offered at Gardners roast: Id give my right teeth to play tonight. We've got two tough games, face to face. The sun wont shine on the same dogs back twice. (I have no idea what that means. He either won a game or lost a game and was trying to make a point with it Draayer.) All athletes must have good woodwork. (Im sure he meant footwork, but he said woodwork Draayer.) Were all clogs in the same There was no gold watch for Mike Gardner when he retired af- tain from every year but one) ter 19 years of coaching Davis some of whom he hadnt seen in more than a decade, rendered the High basketball. of the game more than nine Dec. outcome on 12, Instead, nearly months after he announced his meaningless. He calmly sat back, with one retirement from the hardwood, he was ceremoniously presented a leg casually hung over the other and an elbow resting on the row gift of greater impact and meanof bleachers behind, and joked a mangled clipboard. ing and laughed as his team disjoint-edl-y More about that later. fell behind and eventually He also got a roast, or rather got roasted by some of the people lost to the smaller, spryer varsity, now coached by protege John who knew him best at a nighttime gathering at Davis High to Robison. No more the fiercely competihonor him. The whole idea of a man being tive bulldog of a coach, pacing roasted smacks of cannibalism the sidelines, but a man suradand speakers good naturedly rounded by good friends gnawed a bit around the edges, mirers. From the moment successor while thanking Gardner for bringRobison knew of Gardners John 19 of them gritty, years ing teams, including decision to step down, Robison one state championship, at least began planning a weekend to reone second place finish and al- member for his intense predecesways teams that played to their sor. Like a lot of coaches, Gardner ability. The next night he even got one often used clever little sayings to last chance to guide his Darts, al- back up the points he was trying beit alums, on to one more victor- to make out on the court. His coaching was effective, no yThe alums lost ugly and Garddoubt, as may be witenssed by ner didnt care. In fact, he his record, but fellow Davis coach Kent Draayer said the method of couldn't have been happier. tooth-and-na- il wheel. Youve got to grit your upper lip. Go out and break a butt. Guys, weve got to get down to brass action. Keep your ear to the grindstone. I can't say that, it would open a can of beans. I havent seen a word of him today. Its just water over the bridge. A dime late and a dollar short. Were going to Leave no stone uncovered. The Horse fell down and went top over bottom. We're in unmolested first place. club) Okay (To the guys, were going to go by Robert's rules of etiquette, and nominations are now in order. Anyone wanting to make a move, go ahead. When they made Dee Robins, they threw away the key. The favorite recollection of Gardners first assistant coach Mike Duckworth involves a trip to Tooele, when Gardners cousin Gary Gardner, now at Ricks college, was coaching there: The two teams were in the same 3A region and neither team ever had much success at the others gym. They had some fierce competi- - Mike Gardner converses with an official in his final basketball coaching role during the varsity-alumgame. ni tions and Mike hated to lose to Gary. It was the same with Gary, too, Duckworth said. ting the kids attention, especially if he felt they weren't playing to their potential. It was Duckworth who presented Gardner with the mangled clipboard, symbolic of one Gardner similarly rendered useless at Tooele. One of the things he did to get their attention was to fling his clipboard and let it bounce off lockers and walls. He had a pretty good wrist action with the Mike was pretty good at things, get- - Duckworth said. , 'Bowl hysteria' overtakes fans, tube in holiday season coffee table or kitchen table that is edible. Sounds bad doesn't it? It gets worse. It isnt bad enough that a mem- BRYON SAXTON Review Stall ' Over this holiday season 1,346 hours (okay, so thats a slight exaggeration) of televised football will come into our homes, making this another year of bowl hysteria". For those that have become familiar with these words of doom, warn the others. And those that have never heard of this mad craze that sweeps the nation, take note. . i . Sports commentary Bowl hysteria's definition comes from the words that make up its roots. Bowl, meaning too much of football bowl games on television at this time of year, and hyste ria, anything that will fit on the A , ber of your family could experience bowl hysteria, but once youve made contact with a carrier of the dreaded brain wave transition, chances are you to could be overwhelmed by the pulling sensation of rooting for the underdog in the next game. The first question asked by many once they have witnessed bowl hysteria in action, is, How do we prevent vent it from happening to us? One way is to never answer the telephone. If the telephony rings, leave it alone. Because 6ti the other end of that line it could be a friend of yours that has caught the dreaded virus. Because he cant shake it, hell offer you beer and peanuts to share it with him. Warning signs to look for in clude: someone frantically going through TV Guide marking Xs and Os on all sports programbeming that is to take place tween now and the day after New Years. Another sign is a sudden appetite for junk foods. Important note: dont confuse this sign for daily diet or hunger. Bowl hysteria people usally wear socks that don't match and pants that haven't been washed for weeks. However, if .this prob 'V AC,. 1 lem persists after the bowl games you could be married to a slob. Bowl hysteria people are easy to spot in a crowd at Christmas time as well. They either carry portable radios and hold them tightly to their ear, or they stand in the audio section of the store acting like theyre intrestcd in purchasing a television set. To aviod bowl hysteria, tell all local people and relatives that you have left town and won't be back until Jan. 2. |