Churchville-Chili graduate and retired newspaper sports editor and writer, Ron Johnston, has recently released his debut book, One-Game Wonder: A Hoops Memory and Compilation. In this work of non-fiction, Ron tells the story of his role in a record-breaking basketball game and shares memories of the school and community in the 1960s.
On Friday night, January 8, 1965, the 5-1 Churchville-Chili boys basketball team hosted Greece Arcadia in the Saints gym. It was the first game of the new year and would turn out to be school record-breaking as C-C won 101-55. All 14 Saints on the roster played and scored. Ron, a junior non-starter, became a one-game wonder when he scored a game-high 16 points in almost two quarters of action on the hardwood. He couldn’t miss, draining seven straight perimeter shots in the “pre-3-pointer era.”
Ron says he “never had a C-C varsity game quite like that again.”
His accomplishment was even more remarkable considering he has a condition known as bronchiectasis that he never revealed publicly until the writing of this book. Only his parents, immediate family, and doctors knew about it. The lung disease, which he has had all his life, did not in any way hinder Ron’s participation in athletics at both the prep and collegiate level. In fact, competing in sports, running, and walking have benefitted him.
“But the book is so much more than a memoir and one game,” Ron says. “It’s a love story back in the time of teenage innocence. It’s about teammates, cheerleaders, classmates, coaches, teachers, soldiers and good people.”
One reviewer of the book said, “Ron has written a great tribute to the people, school, and town where he grew up showing how we are all made of a mosaic of memories – athletics to sicknesses to sledding. Good read!”
One-Game Wonder is available for purchase at Lift Bridge Book Shop in Brockport. Copies of the book are also available for borrowing at the Newman Riga Library in Churchville and the Chili Public Library.
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