Love, heart for the game united Class of 1993 Lady Vikings

On Saturday April 18, 2026, eleven former Lady Vikings were present to collect certificates and metal coins as they were inducted into the North Posey Hall of Fame. They received recognition for their contributions to the 1993-1994 Sectional Championship teams. Being honored for our sectional victories, we stood on the court that held the memory of many practices, many victories and a few losses. Most of us who played high school sports would never get the opportunity to play college basketball so this invitation to step on the court one more time offered a glimpse back in time that showcased some of the best of our highlight reels as Lady Viking basketball players. The banner in the main gym is a placeholder for the group of girls who dedicated their time and talents to their love of the game, and it represents the essence that makes us a North Posey Lady Viking for life.

Walking into North Posey High School gave me an overwhelming feeling of coming home. My eyes were drawn to the noticeable changes in the lobby area which included the wall of black and white photos that cover the brick wall located near the main gym. A smile crossed my lips when my eyes found the picture of our 1993 Sectional Team celebrating our victory. There we were, that scrappy team who worked very hard to get to that moment, and the smiles on our faces in that picture said it all. We were clinging to the Sectional Trophy and excited to know that when we started that season, we had every hope of finishing it out with a championship that was not based on skill alone but on a team whose heart and love for the game was much bigger than the statistics and the points on the board.

The team of 1993 was not made up of one individual all-star; we were a solid team that knew how to work together and achieve success by communicating with one another and being a team that cheered each other on. Being a forward on defense, my love was in setting a solid pick even though sometimes it took me to the floor and felt like a freight train ran me over. Posting up and using my body to block out my opponent and jumping for the rebound felt powerful but there was nothing better than taking to the floor as we fought for possession of a loose ball. Our man-to-man defense could be intense, and teams would get very frustrated with us. Offense was a beautiful thing to witness and if you lent your ear to the crowd for just a moment, you could hear them chanting and cheering loudly as they supported the Lady Vikings which created quite the distraction for the opponent. The seniors who showed up dressed in Toga outfits brought their love of the game with them as our crowd got bigger and louder as the wins kept coming. I can still hear the crowd when the opponent was dribbling as they would chant and create distraction. To this day I can remember what that gym sounded like and the memory of taking a ride on the fire truck after our Sectional win and witnessing the community support on that cold February night leaving us exhilarated from the excitement.

Memories have faded over the years and have taken the statistics and the final scores of the games with them. What is memorable is the camaraderie of being a Lady Viking under the leadership of Coach Charles Mair. The love and heart for the game bound the 1993 team as Coach Mair spoke often to our team about having a “heart for the game”. That sincere feeling of love was evident in how we performed and the points on the board were just a by-product of the effort that led our team to victory multiple times. In January of 1992, the Lady Vikings played a game against the Castle High School Lady Knights who were going into an undefeated season on their senior night. We walked off the floor that night proud and excited because that game set the precedent for the Sectional Championship in 1992 which would then set the stage for the senior leadership of Maria Terrell #3, Lori Tomes #31, Krista Elpers #32 and Melissa Stockton #33 that led the Lady Vikings to the Sectional victory in 1993.

The echo of Coach Mair’s voice from the sideline giving direction and shouting out his plays…Red..Special..31 are a few that come to mind. We came to know Coach Mair’s play “Special” very well over the years but “Special” came about years before our time and it had 7 options and the key to this play was the box. He would have a player come to him in 1987 who said they needed a new play because the other team knew what they were doing, He took her suggestion into consideration and that afternoon at practice he said let’s go to the play “Red”, but the only thing he changed was the name because he thought that having a new name would be enough to confuse the opponent, problem solved!

As coach stated in his speech during the Hall of Fame induction, he said “One of the single most important skills to have is perseverance. Perseverance is what separates winners from losers. Without it you will quit as soon as things get hard. Perseverance is the unwillingness to quit and take your foot off the gas even when things get hard. It is rooted in mental toughness, and you see things through to the end. You accomplish things when conditions are anything but ideal. Most people fail because things get hard and those being honored tonight have persevered.

If I were to guess, many of us in attendance have had to persevere off the court far more in life than we ever did in the few years we played basketball, but I would like to think our early years were the stepping stones to our future selves and his words to “persevere” remind us of where we started. For many years as an athlete the poem “Don’t Quit” encouraged me when I was challenged by my environment or frustrated with my contribution to the team. Over the years, I have recalled this poem many times. It is good companion for the words Coach Mair spoke to us at the Hall of Fame ceremony about perseverance. When I wanted to “quit” I would remind myself that success is failure turned inside out.

Don’t Quit

When things go wrong as they sometimes will,

When the road you’re trudging seems all up hill,

When the funds are low and the debts are high,

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit,

Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is strange with its twists and turns,

As every one of us sometimes learns,

And many a failure comes about,

When he might have won had he stuck it out,

Don’t give up though the pace seems slow,

You may succeed with another blow.

Success is failure turned inside out,

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,

And you never can tell just how close you are,

It may be near when it seems so far,

So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit-

It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

For all the sad words of tongue or pen,

The saddest of these: “It might have been!”

In my opinion, Coach Mair was more than just a coach or a teacher to many of us. He is a good man who pushed us to be better versions of ourselves. He encouraged leadership and supported his players with wisdom along the way. As the time ticked away on my final moments of the final game of being a Lady Viking, I locked eyes with my teammates because I was sad that my time was over. I started to cry because I was not ready to say goodbye to being a player on the court with this group of girls. Life has taught me that time marches and it does not stand still for no one. As I stood next to Coach Mair 33 years after our final game, I felt grateful that I was given an opportunity to offer a heartfelt thank you and tell him I loved him. Being as I didn’t know if this would be the last opportunity I would be given to speak from my heart. I looked him in the eyes, gave him a big hug and I told him that he would forever live in some of the absolute best memories of my life. Reflecting on my time back at North Posey High School I realized that the number on my jersey was “33” and here I was “33” years later being inducted into the Hall of Fame. It was an experience that will never be taken for granted and will be one that I now speak on with great fondness. It is a bittersweet moment because those few years were brief in the whole scheme of life, but the impact was real and is a nostalgic place in life that I reflect on with a true love in my heart because that time in life rendered victory and kinship and a united team.

You see, being an athlete at North Posey High School is more than being a participant in the sport you love. It is being part of a community of students, parents, teachers and coaches that genuinely care for you and the effort you lay down in the name of high school sports. My time playing sports at North Posey High School allowed me to be in the Posey County Newspaper multiple times. Being featured in the paper was a fun experience and even as the clippings sit in a box that I put away years ago, it is neat to sit down, read them and travel down memory lane from time to time. Fondly I remember being “Athlete of the Week” and as mentioned in that highlight, a lot of what I did on the court as a player did not show up in the box scores. One of the final highlights of my high school basketball career was receiving the Mental Attitude award at our sports banquet in 1993. That plastic trophy held an emotional weight to it because I was just a player who had so much love for the game and Coach Mair saw the potential in me that I didn’t know I possessed. As I left Posey County after the Hall of Fame induction ceremony, I kept thinking about a line in the movie The Wizard of Oz. It may have been 33 years since I played the game of basketball but every single opportunity that I make my way back to Viking Country I am reminded that there is “no place like home.”