BLAST FROM THE PAST
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
Following are snippets of Bartlesville area sports news from the past:
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April 1990
Talk about your painful victory.
Bartlesville High School's baseball team had every reason to celebrate -- except one -- after it defeated the state's top-ranked Broken Arrow Tigers, 5-3, in the first game of the doubleheader.
Muting the Bruins' joy was the somber reality of an injury to all-around top-notch player Spence Rigdon.
In the bottom of the seventh inning -- with two outs -- Rigdon and teammate Aaron Bucher collided, while converging on a line drive, in left-center.
The results of the close encounter of the shattering kind included a broken bone, and possible knee injury -- and lengthy rehabilitation -- for Rigdon. Rigdon's loss also deprived the Bruins of one of their top pitchers.
Bruin head coach Jerome Gibson reported to the E-E that Rigdon had suffered a broken bone and possible severe ligament damage.
The luck hardly got better for the Bruins.
In the second game, they were leading 4-1 when it was suspended due to rain in the fifth inning. Despite the instant shock of the injury, Rigdon managed to make the relay to the infield, which prevented a run.
Bucher pitched the second game and gave up one run in 4-plus innings. He also went 2-for-2 at the plate, including a double and an RBI. Jeff Shoaf collected the pitching win in the first contest.
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SEPTEMBER 1995
For the first time in three seasons, Bartlesville football fans could celebrate a victory. Leelend Walker scored on a three-yard plunge to lift the Bruins past Tulsa Washington — in a monumental upset — by a 10-7 score. Bartlesville was on a 25-game losing streak going into this contest, having gone 0-10 in both 1993 and 1994. Jacky Manning kicked both the extra point and a 28-yard field goal for the winning margin. Wes Barnhart rushed for 31 yards on 14 carries. Washington outgained Bartlesville, 298-97, but the Bruins still slogged to the victory. A roughing-the-quarterback penalty had kept the late winning touchdown drive — which had been set up by an interception — alive.
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SEPTEMBER 1995
Jim Fish returned a punt 72 yards to help Nowata upend Chouteau, 36-35, in the district football opener.
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November 2001
The foursome of Chris Madayag, Paul Hodges, Jim Webster and Clint Archer bolted to first place in the boys 200-yard medley relay for Bartlesville High School in a dual meet against Jenks.
In the girls 200 medley relay, Bartlesville’s GloriAnn Ried, Amy Briggs, Lindsey Jones and Emily Staats powered to second place by hundredths of a second.
Other Bartlesville winners included Lindsey Jones (girls 200 I.M.), Paul Hodges (boys 50 free), Briana Leonard (girls one-meter diving), Jacob Webster (boys one-meter diving), GloriAnn Ried (girls 500 free), Jim Webster (boys 500 free),