General Memories: 1965-66, Don Nikkel

Thanks to Don Nikkel for these thoughts on the trying 1965-66 season. Check out his account of the 1964-65 season here.

In social psychology there is a concept called the “fundamental attribution error” that I’m tempted to apply to the Generals’ 65-66 season. That concept points out how that when we explain other people’s shortcomings we attribute it to their personal qualities; while when we explain our own shortcomings we attribute it to our circumstances. When my neighbor doesn’t mow his lawn it’s because he’s lazy; when I don’t mow mine it’s because I’m busy.

There are plenty of shortcomings to explain a 2-20 season, and I’ll start with those circumstances other than the fact that perhaps we just weren’t very good basketball players. First, from the previous year’s league champions we lost four starting seniors, including our two top scorers Mark Larson and Walt Loewen. Then, just a few games into the season we lost two of our best players due to a serious violation of team rules. Coach Hampton was a man of principles and I’m sure he knew when he let these two players go it would seal our fate for the season, but he made the right decision. We were left with a team of two seniors, six juniors, and three sophomores, with just one of us with any varsity playing experience. Then there was the size issue. Three of us were over 6’0” but on the starting five there was only one six-footer, and our center, Mark Franz, was about 5’10”. While size wasn’t as big an issue back then as it is today, it did make a difference and all season long we struggled to keep the rebounding stats as even as we could. My most painful memories of the season were the blocking-out and rebounding drills Coach Hampton has us do every practice to compensate for our lack of height. It turned out that Mark Franz was the perfect choice for center because once he was set in the key, he was unmovable. And I found out more than once in practice that he had very sharp elbows.

What we lacked in skill we tried to make up for in dedication and persistence. Six of us were from the Mennonite Brethren Church, so hard work and sacrifice were values we heard about not just five days a week but on Sunday as well. Coach Hampton had extremely well-organized practices; at the beginning of each session we could check his clipboard and see how every minute of the two-hour practice was scheduled for a specific drill based on what we needed to work on. We always ended with a 20-minute circle run followed by free throws. One drill I recall was when he would set up scrimmages of uneven teams, 3-against- 2, 5-against-4, and so on. His explanation was a good one – “you’ll never get better playing against an opponent at the same skill level – you’ll only get better by playing someone better than you are.” It turned out that we had plenty of experience in that as the season unfolded.

By the end of the Bakersfield College Christmas tournament, we were 2-7, with our only victories over much smaller schools. Little did we know that a winless SSL season was up ahead. We came very close to league wins against Garces and Taft but in the end we were out-manned and out-sized. Coach Hampton never criticized our losing, just the times we didn’t perform up to what we could do. Often he said “we might be out-played, but we’ll never be out-conditioned” and that pretty much came true. So many games we were hustling and scrapping up to the final buzzer, but our lack of skill and experience eventually did us in.

The Valley finals were held at Mt. Whitney High School that year. Steve Penner, our starting point guard, perimeter shooter, and free-throw ace, and I traveled up as spectators. As we sat there in the top row, we looked at each other and said “we can be here next year – we can do this.” Coach Hampton had us practice all spring, and in the summer he arranged some pick-up games with Bakersfield High and East Bakersfield High. I believe in one of those games we battled East High’s Freddie Boyd, who later went on to star at Oregon State and play eight years in the NBA. We played against opponents much better than us. We figured out what skill level we needed to reach. We knew we weren’t there yet, but somehow we thought we could get there.

One thing you can say about a 2-20 season is that it is character-building. Coach Hampton taught that by sticking with team rules even when it dropped our skill level. We learned character every Monday with two weekend losses behind us and four tough practice sessions up ahead of us. And somehow we ended up optimistic and eager for the next season, even though when I look back we had no demonstrable reason to be so. We knew 65-66 was a season of disappointment; we hoped that 66-67 would be a season of redemption.