The 1970 Loogootee Final Four team will join in a 50th anniversary celebration Friday.(Photo: Courtesy Brian Bruner)

LOOGOOTEE Brian Canada and Jim Trout grew up down the street from each other, two grades apart in the tiny hamlet of Crane, Indiana, attending separate schools in Loogootee, 17 miles away, in Martin County.

But when St. Johns was destroyed by afire, Trout and other students from the parochial school joined counterparts at nearby Loogootee High School.

"It burned down and at the last minute they decided to consolidate," said Canada, then a sophomore. "We had a few guys coming back and we pulled Jim and a couple of other guys from St. John's."

After playing pickup basketball together for years, now they were teammates. Once they joined forces, Loogootee was nearly unstoppable. The Lions knocked off No. 7 Memorial and No. 2 Seymour in the 1970 Evansville Semistate at Roberts Stadium.

"No doubt, we were the heavy underdog," Canada said. "Jim was 6-foot-7 and RexSager was 6-5 and we had Tony Smith playing guard."

Trout said he was more like 6-6 and 160 pounds.

"I was a stick," said Trout, who averaged a double-double, along with Sager.

Loogootee finally fell to Mr. Basketball Dave Shepherd and Carmel 71-62 in the states Final Four at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. East Chicago Roosevelt then ousted Carmel 76-62 in the state championship game. All teams of all sizes were in the same tournament --there was no class format until 1997-98.

"Back then, we didn't give it a thought about the size of a school," Canada said. "They had five guys on their team and we had five guys on our team. We laced 'em up and got out there and played the game."

Canada, who now lives in St. Augustine, Florida, and Trout, who lives in Franklin, Kentucky, will return to Loogootee on Friday to take part in the 50th anniversary celebration of the 1970 Final Four team as the current edition of the Lions host Wood Memorial at Jack Butcher Arena. A reception, to which the general public is invited,will begin at 4 p.m. CST. The 1970 Lions will be honored between the junior varsity and varsity games against Wood Memorial; the varsity game is scheduled to begin at 7 CST. Afterwards, those age 21 and older are invited to the Loogootee VFW.

"We are also asking everyone to wear white for the game that evening," said event organizer Wayne Flick. "One of the 'memories'from the tourney run is that the cheer block would all wear white tops for the games.We want to have a 'whiteout'honoring our 1970 heroes and also let the current team know we support them."

Trout said the media billed Loogootee vs. Carmel as "David vs. Goliath."

"Loogootee had an enrollment of about 400," said Trout, who won the Trester Award, which celebrates mental attitude and scholastic achievement. "It wasn't quite the Milan story."

Jim Trout receives Trester Award.(Photo: Courtesy Jim Trout)

However, Trout and Canada did their part, scoring 19 and 18 points to lead the Lions against Carmel. Five years later, the Lions almost pulled off a "Hoosiers," reaching the single-class state championship game, losing to Marion 58-46 the first year the finals moved to Market Square Arena.

Entering historic Hinkle in '70, Canada said it "looked very large. It was pretty exciting. it was a privilege and it was exciting to be there. They had Dave Shepherd, butwe felt we could beat them. At one time, we had a nine-point lead, but we lost by nine."

Before consolidatingwith St. John's,Loogootee had never won a regional title.

"It was Jack Butcher's 13th season -- lucky 13," Trout said.

Coming over from St. John's, Trout had heard all the horror stories about the legendary coach, but didn't see it.

"I saw an individual who was a stern disciplinarian -- that's the way people coached back then," he said. "You couldn't pull the wool over his eyes. He was a smart man."

Loogootee celebrates winning the 1970 Evansville Semistate title.(Photo: Courtesy Jim Trout)

After all these years, Trout recalled the "Go, Fight, Win" cheer in the Evansville Semistate. Rooting for Loogootee, Milltown fans chanted "go," then Memorial fans chanted "fight" and Loogootee fans chanted "win" as they implored the Lionsto stun Seymour -- whichthey did.

"It's like three-quarters of the gym were rooting for Loogotee, Trout said. "It was like surround sound, all around the arena."

Butcher, who retired in 2002as the states all-time winningest coach with 806 victories, was finally surpassed by Bloomington Souths J.R. Holmes last February.

Canada described Butcher as strict andstructured, but fair.

"If you would miss a free throw (in practice), you'd run," Canada said. "We would run 'suicides' to get in shape. But he was very fair. He was an excellent coach. He was a tough coach, very disciplined and no-nonsense. I would say I loved the man. He was very helpful to me."

Canada is surprised and humbled to remainLoogootee's career scoring leader with 1,496 points. Both Trout and Canada played collegiately for Indiana State. Canada underwent knee surgery midway through his freshman year and wasnever the same. He married his high school sweetheart, Diana, a former Loogootee cheerleader, his junior year at ISU. Theycelebrated their 45th anniversary lastMarch.

Canada, 65, retired last Feb. 1 after working in safety management for a paper manufacturing company in Cumming, Georgia, and moved to St. Augustine. Trout, 67, worked many years for Caterpillar in Kentucky. Heearned the nickname of "Scuffer" when he lived with a few friends in Florida after graduating from ISU, where he played baseball as well as basketball.

"Someone said I scuffed around in the morning," said Trout, a standout pitcher whoearned a tryout with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

"It was the spring after Roberto Clemente was killed (in 1972)," Trout said.

Both Canada and Trouthave tons of stories about that magical 1970 run. Canada remembers the caravan of vehicles to Indy -- some had wooden Lions mounted atop of their cars.

"It's a great time to go back," Canada said. "Unfortunately a lot of folks, a lot of our fans, are no longer with us."

He noted that Steve Beasley and Paul Bruner, members of the '70 team, have passed away. But their memory lives on inLoogootee, a town with a population of 2,714.

"You run into people -- and good Lord -- it's like it happened yesterday," Trout said.

Contact Gordon Engelhardt at gordon.engelhardt@courierpress.com or on Twitter @EngGordon

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