MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — As basketball state tournament action heats up in Charleston, 87-year-old Betty Cross recalls her tiny school’s improbable run to the state title 70 years ago.
In 1945, Normantown High, a small school of only 100 students in Gilmer County, enjoyed a Cinderella season en route to the all-class state championship. Cross, whose maiden name was Betty Jean Whitesel, was one of only two cheerleaders at the school.
She fondly recalls how one of the players, who happened to be her neighbor, made a wild prediction before the season.
“He said to me, ‘Betty Jean, we’re going to win this tournament,'” she recalled this week.
Much like Hickory High in the famous movie “Hoosiers.” Normantown beat several larger schools on its way to the championship game, which at that time was played in Morgantown. Cross remembers how packs of fans drove in to watch the final eight teams compete, despite a premium on gasoline at the time.
“The gymnasium was filled to overflowing in Glenville when they played the sectional. The same thing in Clarksburg when they played WI in the regional,” Cross said. “And I think they had more people in the fieldhouse in Morgantown at that time for the tournament than there had ever been before.”
The Vikings (24-1) won three high-pressure games in Morgantown, including two on the same day. The championship victory was a 50-49 thriller over a Logan squad that had won its first 26 games.
Cross holds fond memories of Normantown’s magical season, which was her junior year. In fact nine of the 11 players, the team manager, and the other cheerleader, Jean Robert Pitts, were all juniors.
How was such a tiny school able to pull off a run to the title? Cross said Normantown was known for its slow, deliberate style of play and cool demeanor.
“They were very stable in their play—they never went wild or anything, they just contained,” she said. “They played that slow, controlled type of basketball. And I can’t remember a time where they were flustered.”