Cobden Appleknockers

We've now gone 12 miles, averaging about 8 minutes/mile. Fortunately, we'll have a decent average built up by the time that I run last.

One of the stops was in Cobden, IL which brought back memories from when I was 12. In 1964 the Cobden Appleknockers, a high school of only 134 students, went into the title game of the Illinois High School Basketball Game in the days of one-class basketball. Cobden is a town of only 1,100 and basketball was the main sport.

It was like the movie Hoosiers, with the only difference being that the Appleknockers got beat in the title game by Pekin (can you believe that their nickname back then was the Chinks?) 50-45. In those days the semi-final game was played in the morning and the finals in the evening. Cobden played the number one ranked team, Decatur, beating them by six points through an all out full court press from the opening tip. Pekin won their semi-final game by over 20 with the starters sitting on the bench after 2 minutes into the second half. Cobden just ran out of gas.

For a twelve year old it was exciting to watch on TV. For the locals I talked to in Cobden a few minutes ago, it was like it happened yesterday.

Back to the race....we've got some incredible runners on our team. From Georgia we have my sister Mary and her husband Jeff and their friends Deanna and Mark. My brother Bob, who organized our team, drives and keeps us laughing is in remarkable shape. Cousin Dick practices running with 2 pound weights in his hands and Holly is a nephew's girlfriend and a freshman at Indiana. And, every team has to have an anchor to hold them back...which would be me.

There are some very colorful teams in the race as you will hopefully get from the pictures.