By Rick Palsgrove
Southeast Editor
Cruiser alumni players Carmearl Thomas (left) and Tyler Sims go up for a rebound during Groveport Madison Cruisers alumni basketball game held during last year’s Red and Black Night at Groveport Madison High School. Red and Black Night spotlights the Groveport Madison High School Cruiser basketball program.
Cruiser basketball players of the past and present will be highlighted at the annual Red and Black Night.
“We have made great strides over the last seve years, building on the success and traditions of the Groveport Madison basketball program,” said Groveport Madison head basketball coach Ryan Grashel. “In building on those traditions, we are going to continue with our third annual Cruiser Alumni Basketball Game on Nov. 17 and it will be part of our Red and Black Night.”
The event will be held in the gym of the new high school, located at 4475 S. Hamilton Road in Groveport.
“Red and Black Night has become a community event, bringing past, present and future Cruisers together highlighting our rich tradition and bright future,” said Grashel. “Last year was unique because of the closing of the old building, allowing our alumni one final game in the old gym. We are extremely excited to show off Cruiser Arena and kick off the 2018-19 season. The new gym will be bittersweet for many of our alumni. The old gym provided a loud, intense atmosphere that will be hard to replicate.”
Red and Black Night kicks off with the girls basketball introductions and scrimmage at 5 p.m. That will be followed with a Cruiserettes dance routine, cheerleader introductions and performance, a 3-point shooting contest, boys basketball introduction and scrimmage, with the alumni basketball game starting at approximately 6:30 p.m. There will also be a split-the-pot raffle and sale of old jerseys.
To play in the alumni game, players must have varsity lettered in their senior year and register by emailing the following information to Grashel at ryan.grashel@gocruisers.org by Nov. 1: name, graduation year, and if you want to play or coach. Current college athletes are not eligible for the alumni game.
“If you are a college athlete, or physically can’t play or don’t want to play, but would like to attend and be recognized please let me know. We could make you a coach of a team,” said Grashel. “My hope is that this tradition of Red and Black Night will only continue to grow.”
Cruiser boys basketball history
Grashel said that he and researchers have have accumulated all the Cruiser boys basketball box scores dating back to the 1918-19 season.
“We now have an all-time scoring list.,” said Grashel. “We also have information on things like themost 3-pointers in a game, season, career, player points per season, conference standings, season records, and so on. The all-time scorers list includes over 500 players.”
Some Cruiser boys basketball history highlights include:
•League championships: 1933, 1935, 1938, 1939, 1945, 1964, 1975, 1976, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1992, 1993, 2005;
•District titles: 1935, 1985;
•Most wins in a season: 1937-38, 21-1;
•Team average points per game: 1989-90, 71.5;
•Team single game scoring – 103-53 win over Walnut Ridge Nov. 30, 2004;
•Most points in a season, individual: Scott Jones 1987-88, 472;
•Career high scoring: Clarence Royal 1989-93, 1,081;
•Single game scoring – individual: Kevin Moody 45, Feb. 2, 1990;
•3-point field goal makes- career: Larry Drake, 111, 1995-99;
•3-point field goal makes – season: Dan Hillerich, 61, 1995-96;
•3-point field goal makes – game:Curtis Jacobs, 10, vs. Franklin Heights during the 2016-17 season.
