1979 state champs reflect after 25 years
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But the Lady Pioneers made sure they went out with a bang.
It’s been a quarter of a century since the girls basketball team from Warren County Senior High School stood atop the rest of the state, having downed Riverdale 45-30 for the TSSAA championship.
But although time has passed, and the game itself has changed, nothing can erase the memories of 1979’s queens of the court.
During the 1970’s, the Lady Pioneers had established a winning tradition, reaching either the state tournament or the Substate for six times in eight years.
But the 1978-79 campaign didn’t exactly begin on the right foot, when the Lady Pioneers suffered a 61-45 loss to Grundy County — the team’s first season-opening loss in a decade.
“We lost our first game (which was history-making), and we were sort of blasted in the paper by losing to Grundy County,” said Sherri Hillis Jacobs, a junior guard on the ’79 squad. “We also split with Lebanon and lost in a three-overtime game during a Christmas tourney.
“But I feel it helped us to lose during the season, as it made us realize our vulnerability.”
Stephanie Hillis Dunlap recalls head coach Bobby Haile using the team’s early losses as a wake-up call.
“Coach Haile brought us down to reality rather quickly,” she said. “We worked hard as a team during the season, and when we made it to the state tournament it was all coming together — and come together it did.”
Despite a loss to Shelbyville in the region finals, the Lady Pioneers went on undeterred as they traveled to McMinn County, where they took a 58-40 victory and earned a trip to MTSU for the state tournament.
“The year before we were undefeated until the region finals, and then were beaten in the Substate, so as a junior it was just ‘normal’ for us to advance in the postseason,” Jacobs said.
Reaching the state’s final eight squads was the culmination of the hard work the squad had put forth during the season, as well as a real-life “dream come true” for some.
“One thing that really stands out to me was a time, right before the Substate, when we had been high in the rankings for some time,” recalls Kelly Madison Eckenrod, a sophomore forward at the time. “We were in the locker room after practice, ‘dreaming’ about going to and winning the state. Several girls then said ‘Oh, stop dreaming, why should we think little Warren County could win out of all those teams?’
“That’s when Lisa Dalton replied, ‘Why not us? If it can be anybody, why not us?’ From that point on, we believed we could do it.”
Lisha Hillis Majors, a senior and starting guard for the ’79 team, recalls the support of Warren County fans as they made their trip to battle with the rest of the state’s elite teams.
“I can remember looking out the bus windows and seeing all the fans follow behind,” she said. “It seemed like the cars made a line a mile long. As we pulled into the school parking lot, the fans were there to welcome us.”
A win over Fayette-Ware in the opening round of the state tourney landed the Lady Pioneers squarely in front of their most bitter rivals at the time, the Lebanon Blue Devilettes.
Lebanon and WCSH had split their regular season meetings, with Warren County winning 56-55 at home and Lebanon taking a 45-39 decision on its home court.
The state semifinal game was one for the ages, but in the end the hometown girls were the ones doing the celebrating, as they came out on the winning end of a 37-36 final.
But while the Lady Pioneers were at the height of celebration, the tournament was also marked by sadness. The day before the semifinal win coach Haile suffered a personal tragedy, with the passing of his father, Malcolm Patterson Haile.
“It was an emotional game for us,” Haile told the Standard’s Mike Pirtle after the Riverdale win, “but anyone who knew my father can understand that I was where he would want me to be tonight.”
Gripped by emotion, but determined more than ever to persevere, only one more challenge stood between the Lady Pioneers and the state championship.
But what a challenge it was.
The Riverdale Lady Warriors came into the finals riding a 31-game winning streak, and looking for one more victory to cap a perfect season. But Warren County’s girls had come too far to stop so close to the title.
“The girls thought they could beat Riverdale, and openly expressed it,” assistant coach T.E. McGee told the Standard’s Sherry Vaughn.
The championship game more than lived up to its expectations for the Lady Pioneer and Lady Warrior fans who packed the gym at MTSU that evening.
“We were the underdogs coming into the game against Murfreesboro Riverdale, and I remember the anxious feeling running out and around the court,” Dunlap said. “Looking up into the crowd, there was not a seat to be found.”
Tied 35-35 with 1:30 to play, Riverdale’s Rhonda Malone missed a free throw which would have put her team ahead. Sherry Hillis hauled in the rebound, and Lisa Dalton drove for the game-winning basket with 44 seconds to play.
The Lady Warriors failed to score in the game’s closing seconds, while Martin added three free throws to give her team a 40-35 victory, and the memory of a lifetime.
“I played in the championship game, and played like I had never played before,” Dunlap said. “We were never told that we were not going to win. When the final buzzer rang, it was sheer joy and excitement.
“To this day, there is nothing better than a good game of basketball — and I can still get the ball away from you!”
Coming home to McMinnville, the Lady Pioneers’ championship was celebrated not just by the girls from the team, but by the entire Warren County community, which rewarded its returning heroes with all the adulation one would expect from such an event, and also with a team trip to Florida.
“The county was behind us 100 percent — the fans, the school and the booster club,” remembers Donna Bryan Bartlett. “We had a police escort back to the school that night, and they sent the team to Florida. Hudson Womack made a sign, Robert Turner gave us shirts — everyone was just great. It’s something I will never forget.”
“They were very proud of the whole team,” adds Jane Martin Bales. “I received many compliments about my performance that night. It was very exciting because it was such an accomplishment to reach that goal.”
Jane Ann Eaton Pryor recalls the recognition the team members received from political figures of the day, as well.
“Each player was recognized by a personal letter from Shelby Rhinehart,” she said. “We also received three resolutions of congratulations: From the Senate of the 91st General Assembly, the Board of Commissioners from Warren County and the Board of Mayor and Alderman of the City of McMinnville.”
The game was historic not only because of the Lady Pioneers’ championship, but also because it was the end of the six-on-six era of girls high school basketball in the state. The following season, state officials opted to go to the five-on-five system still in use today.
“I was part of a team which had made history,” Pryor remembers. “We had been the underdogs the whole season, and we were also the last team to win the state championship with six-on-six play.”
While the basketball careers of several members of the Lady Pioneer team ended with their high school days, the members of the ’79 squad accomplished a goal that thousands upon thousands of young athletes can only dream of.
And along the way, the members of that history-making team learned life lessons they still cling to today.
“I believe you can achieve anything you desire through hard work and dedication,” Dunlap added. “I learned that in 1979 in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and I have carried that with me all of my life.”