The Graves County Boys: A Tale of Kentucky Basketball, Perseverance, and the Unlikely Championship of the Cuba Cubs

5. A Vision and an Oath

5 a vision and an oath First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do. —epictetus lexington, Kentucky—March 1951. it was near midnight when the bus returned the Cubs and their classmates to the Phoenix hotel after the closing ceremony ended the 1951 tournament. a gusty wintry wind, whipping around the street corner, stung their faces as they stepped from the bus. “Man, it’s cold as a well-digger’s tail,” one of them exclaimed as they rushed into the lobby. instead of following the others, dispirited doodle and howie, with their jacket collars up around their ears and their hands thrust into their pockets , turned and ambled down to the street corner, then stopped under a lamppost. as they stood there slightly shivering and pondering what to do next, doodle pulled a tiny silver basketball from a pocket in his jeans. it was one he had received at the closing ceremony when each Cub had been given a tiny sterling silver basketball engraved with “runners-up 1951.” To doodle, that gift was only a a vision and an oath 33 bitter reminder of the great golden trophy that they had lost. he stared at it for a second as it gleamed in the palm of his hand under the glare of the streetlamp. Then he angrily closed his fist, leaned back, lifted his arm up behind his head, and hurled the tiny ball into the black sky with all his might. as he watched it be swallowed up by the darkness and the whirling snow, he muttered something to himself. Then he turned his head to the side, puckered his lips, and propelled a long, dark-brown ribbon of tobacco juice onto the curb. looking on with disdain, howie said that it was time to go back to the hotel. even at that late hour, the lobby was noisy and crowded with people. Confetti was stuck to hats and coats; green and gold balloons were floating high above heads. a few people were blowing toy horns, laughing, and talking loudly. Many others were somber, quietly bunched together in serious conversations. Bellhops carrying luggage wove hurriedly through the crowd, stopping now and then to answer questions politely. Two or three dozen small children , wearing jelly-bean-colored school jackets, chased each other about the room, laughing as they played with long ribbons of green and gold crepe paper. some waved little green triangular pennants stamped with Cuba Cubs in gold letters, while others waved little red flags stamped with Clark County in white letters. howie and doodle paused in the hotel entrance, grateful that no one noticed them. They were too tired to talk. in three days, they had played nearly every minute of four tense tournament basketball games, and they were drained emotionally and physically. nevertheless , to avoid the crowd waiting to board the elevators, they decided to head to the staircase. Walking up flights of stairs to their room would be better than listening to someone say for the umpteenth time how great they had played and what wonderful sportsmanship they had demonstrated. Then there would probably be some wise guy asking them yet again what it was like to live in Cuba, Ken- 34 The Graves County Boys tucky. and now this profound sadness after losing what they had expected to win. They managed to slip past the lobby crowd without being noticed and made their way to the staircase. it was vacant and cold. a hazy streetlamp pouring light in through a narrow window made the marbled walls and granite steps look bluish-gray. silently and slowly, they began to limp up the stairs. each boy was weighed down with thoughts of the recent events: the excitement of their allday journey to lexington in their coach’s car; the marvel of visiting a big city; the Coliseum itself, like nothing they had ever seen; the strangeness of sleeping in hotel rooms and eating unfamiliar foods; the awkwardness of having to talk to people they had never seen before; the embarrassment of having attention called to their western Kentucky accents and the odd name of their home place. on top of all those things was the indescribable thrill of playing in the state tournament—something they had dreamed about doing since they were eighth graders—and the sheer joy of hearing a gymnasium filled with thousands...