Genoa celebrates 50 years since historic basketball run

Press Sports Editor
sports@presspublications.com

Genoa has always been known for having great football teams, but 50 years ago, the stars aligned and David Hitchen’s basketball team won the only regional championship in program history and advanced to the Class AA state semifinals in 1974, finishing with a 22-2 record. One year before that, the team advanced to the regional final before losing one game short of the final four.
That team will be honored on Friday at the Genoa-Fostoria game.
The best player on that team was 6-10 center Ron Hammye. Following his time in Genoa, Hammye played at Bowling Green, leaving with 1,208 points, before coaching at Wayne State University in Detroit for 13 years as the head coach. He is in the hall of fame for Wayne State and Genoa High School.
In 1974, the Comets went 22-2 and won the Suburban Lakes League, losing their first game of the year to Toledo DeVilbiss, 74-64, and falling in the state semifinals to Columbus Bishop Hartley, 77-45. Out of the team’s 22 wins, only two were by single digits.
On the way to state, Genoa beat Eastwood, Woodmore, Rossford, Tiffin Calvert, Norwalk and Elyria Catholic to earn a spot in the final four.
Hitchen’s assistant coach was Bob Baird. The players were Hammye, Jim Spurgeon, Andy Sanchez, Alan Nissen, Dave Roecker, Rob Marko, Tim Brooks, Dan Powers, Jim Feckley, John McGuire, Mike Diekman, Harlan Niehaus and Jeff Shaneck. Ed Johnson and Dan Powers were managers.
Four members of the team — Brooks, Roecker, Sanchez and Marko — have passed away.
“We have families representing the four that have left us,” said Hammye. “I think there are six or seven cheerleaders that are joining us. It’s great to get back together.
“It’s a great chance to get back in touch with people that I haven’t seen (in a while). We are making a weekend out of it,” he said.
In a tight-knit, blue-collar community, you can imagine just how excited the village was to support its team.
“The community shut down. On the storefronts it had ‘Go Comets,’ on the windows. They took us out of town with a police and fire truck escort,” said Hammye. “The kids were out along Route 163, waving us on — it was just a community coming together. We got beat pretty good. There were 700 people who greeted us at the high school (after the game). It brought the whole town together and it was just a magical experience.”
Genoa coach Jon Sandwisch talked about the importance of honoring the team.
“It’s awesome. One of the best things about Genoa is our history as a school, but also as a community,” said Sandwisch. “We’ve had recent success, but honoring our greats, especially 50 years later, is special. It teaches our kids that it’s a privilege to put on the Genoa uniform.
“The support is what makes Genoa great –– the community, the businesses. The great thing about this community is they love honoring and paying respect to people that have achieved greatness, and we have greatness in our history. It’s a privilege and an honor (to welcome them back),” he said.
The storied Comet team lineup included three players at least 6-7.
Hitchen, who is in the Genoa Hall of Fame, finished coaching the basketball team in 1977 with a record of 118-59 (.667). His teams won four SLL titles, four sectional championships, two district titles and one regional championship. Following his time as the basketball coach, Hitchen coached the football team until 1982.
Shaneck played baseball at the University of Toledo and Feckley played with Hammye in college.
Hammye coached at Wayne State for six years as an assistant and for 13 years as the head coach. He accumulated a 212-154 (.579) record from 1988-2001 and is the all-time winningest coach.
Hammye was named Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference coach of the year three times and the Great Lakes regional coach of the year twice. His teams went to six GLIAC championships and had a pair of 25-win seasons. In 1993, Wayne State won the Great Lakes regional and advanced to the NCAA Division II Final Four. Stan Heath, who is the current coach at Eastern Michigan, was one of Hammye’s assistants.
Hammye left Wayne State and was the athletic director for 21 years at Franklin High School in Livonia, Michigan before retiring.
“It’s all about relationships with the players and the coaches, and reaching back out to those folks,” he said. “To stay in touch with the coaches and the former players is rewarding.”