LONE TREE

Jonathan Chaney, a first-year boys basketball coach at Lone Tree High School, is respectully aware of the 1985 championship banner that stares down on the Lions home court every day. He looks up at the banner every day.

It’s an “intimidating motivator,” he says.

The Lions won all 25 games that year and captured its first state title in an overtime game played in Des Moines.

The town emptied itself that historic day and filled the seats at Veterans Memorial Auditorium.

Last week, most of the players of that championship team, plus one of the 1985 cheerleaders, assembled on the court to be recognized between the girls and boys basketball games between Lone Tree and Highland. One by one, as the public-address announcer recited their names, they waved to a large crowd applauding from the bleachers in the same building that those ’85 Lions played and never lost a game.

The current Lone Tree team joined the ’85 Lions for photos and handshakes.

Then, the alums retreated to the lobby of the high school for a reunion chat in which tales of a cherished season rattled around the room.

“It’s fun to see the guys. It’s fun to see everyone again,” said Dan Bontrager, a guard on the ’85 team who now runs an accounting firm out of Kalona and Iowa City.

“It was an amazing season, hard to believe that it’s been 40 years,” said Philip Forbes, a junior guard on the team who is the younger brother of Lone Tree alum and current Wake Forest men’s basketball coach Steve Forbes. “There are times it feels like it was just yesterday. It’s always great to see the guys.”

The reunion was the idea of Chaney, a Columbus native who coached at Columbus High School before taking on the Lone Tree job this season. A note on Facebook turned into a grand reunion 40 years after the Lions won the Class A state championship in overtime against Dayton.

The night sparked memories in itself. The Lions swept a girls-boys doubleheader against Highland, a Southeast Iowa Super Conference rival located about 10 miles away. In 1985, a battle between the Lions and Huskies included Allen Rath, who would become a baseball star at the University of Iowa. Both teams made it to the postseason that year.

The place is the same.

But the place is different.

The uniqueness of Lone Tree’s home court still includes seating on just one side of the court, rising up two floors above the court.

The giant wall on the other side of the court includes a new scoreboard that was donated by Steve Forbes and his family.

Shot clocks sit above the baskets at both ends, a change from the day when no shot clock existed in Iowa basketball.

And just outside the gym, in the lobby, the 1985 state trophy sits in a display case.

“It’s cool to come in and kind of look and see how some things are the same, but a lot of things are different,” said Tim Stebral, a guard who came off the bench in 1985 and now lives in Shueyville. “Brings back a lot of memories.”

The team back then was a virtual all-star squad.

Andy Pechous, a 6-foot-7 senior center, was named captain of the All-Tournament Team and played NCAA DI basketball at Western Illinois. Todd Krueger, a 6-8 senior, played at Southern Illinois. Bruce Kout, a 6-foot senior, played at Cornell College and Stebral, a 5-10 junior, played at Coe College.

Phil Forbes, a 5-10 junior, played football at Northern Iowa. He is now a research support administrator at the University of Iowa’s College of Pharmacy.

Other members of the team joining the celebration ceremony were Neil Forbes and Gary Feldman, along with cheerleader Cindy (Musser) Shaw.

After they were introduced, members of the current Lions team joined them on the court.

Rewind the clock almost 40 years, and you’ll discover Lone Tree’s road to its own March Madness. The Lions pounded Little Rock by 15 points in the Class A quarterfinals and Palmer by 25 points in the semifinals. But the title game against Dayton was a classic.

Steve Forbes, a 1983 Lone Tree grad, slipped on some headphones to help with the KCII broadcast.

Doug Hoffmeister, Lone Tree’s well-loved head coach, was all dressed up for the occasion. When the game ended, Hoffmeister rushed onto the court for a group hug with his Lions.

Pechous, an Iowa High School Athletic Association Hall of Famer, hit a free throw for his 34th point of the game in the final seconds of a 65-60 victory.

A moment for the ages.

And a moment to be remembered 40 years later.

News columnist Paul Bowker can be reached at bowkerpaul1@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @bowkerpaul