Glens Falls will always be the heart, soul of state tournament

Long-time coach Pete Puricelli remembered with a moment of silence

This is the last year for the state basketball tournament in Glens Falls.

That statement has an ominous finality to it, because for the first time I'm just not sure it will come back.

For the second time in the past decade a state bureaucrat named Robert Zayas overrode the recommendation of the state basketball committee and moved the tournament to Binghamton. Maybe there are greater forces at work.

People are angry in Glens Falls.

Zayas seems intent on "The Road to Glens Falls" ending somewhere else, perhaps permanently. Maybe he imagines major corporate sponsors contributing barrels of money in big cities like Buffalo, Syracuse and Albany to enhance the coffers of the public high school athletic association and believes a big-city experience will enhance the tournament for the high school athletes.

He is wrong.

Glens Falls is the perfect location.

I know that sounds egotistical, but as I walked around the friendly confines of downtown this weekend, I concluded there is no better place.

After viewing the state tournament for the past 36 years, what Zayas - and maybe others - do not realize is that the state tourney is the property of the small towns, the villages all across the state where kids grow up, get married and more often than not grow old there.

Stillwater won its second state championship Friday evening.

 For example, the little town of Stillwater in southern Saratoga county is a perfect example where traditions and families go back generations.

Squeezed between the Saratoga battlefield to the north and Mechanicville to the south, this little town by the Hudson River is one of those places where things mostly remain the same, where families are regenerated over decades and the names of players repeat again and again.

In this case, Stillwater could be renamed Lilac-ville.

Mike Lilac coached at Stillwater for 35 years and won 450 games before being named to the state coaches hall of fame. Twice he made it to the state tournament and won in 1988 behind a big center named Jon Mueller. Lilac was a big part of the Section 2 Boys Basketball Committee for 20 years a proponent of keeping the tournament in Glens Falls.

Mike's son Pat is now coach of the Glens Falls football team and his grandson Oscar is the point guard for the Glens Falls basketball team. You could find Mike seated in the front row of the balcony at all Glens Falls' home games this year.

Mike's nephew Bruce is the coach of the Stillwater team in this year's state tournament and Bruce's son Lukas is a starting guard on this year's title team. And finally, Stillwater's  starting center, Jackson Mueller, is the son of Mike's starting center from 1988, Jon Mueller.

Both Stillwater and Glens Falls won state titles this weekend. There must have been one heck of a party in the Lilac household.

Ultimately, you find the heart and soul of the state basketball tournament in small towns like Stillwater, Fort Edward, Argyle, Chestertown and Moriah.

Those of us who have observed the tournament for years have seen entire towns flock to Glens Falls to bear witness to the final stop with a religious zeal.

More often than not, it was those small towns that captured our hearts.

For years, our local teams in Glens Falls came up empty like some sort of hometown jinx.

Then, one magical night in 2015, long-time Class D power Argyle won the state title for its long-time coach Jack Sherwin. An hour or so later, Lake George did it as well when Joel Wincowski hit a last-second 27-foot bomb for the state title.

There are so many other memories.

At the heart of it is the story of Glens Falls High and its five trips to the state tournament, so it was fitting for Glens Falls to return this weekend for one final appearance. It last appeared five years ago when it won its first state title. Frankly, we still feel a little cheated because that appearance was in Binghamton. Thankfully, that Joe Girard-led team came back the next weekend to win the Federation state tournament for the hometown crowd.

Despite the early start Friday morning, the line of Glens Falls fans went all the way up to the Burger King parking lot.

It was not surprising that 45 minutes before tipoff Saturday morning, the line stretched out the Civic Center doors, through the plaza and up Glen Street as far as the eye could see. The start of the game was pushed back 10 minutes to make sure everyone could get it.

If this was the final chapter for the state tournament here, it was going to be a good one.

For years as sports editor at The Post-Star, I'd often start my welcome column to the state basketball tournament with David Halberstam's words about the 1954 Hoosiers miracle when little Milan High School (163 students and no player over 6-2) went on to beat Muncie Central for the Indiana state title.

"In a thousand hamlets in an essentially rural state, the dream is that a tiny school with a handful of boys will go to the state finals and fulfill the ultimate fantasy."

It is the dream here too, especially in all those rural corners of the state. Because, at its heart, New York basketball is mostly about the those teams from Stillwater, Argyle and Moriah than the powers from Syracuse or Long Island.

That's why Glens Falls should be its host.

  More often than not since leaving sports, I plunk myself down close to the court in Section N during the state basketball tournament.

There is no special reason for that spot. It's on the opposite side of the arena from the entrance so it's a farther walk, but there are usually fewer fans and it's even with one of the baskets.

It's become my spot.

I was sitting in my spot Friday evening still smiling from Glens Falls' easy victory that morning, when a friendly Moriah fan with a big red sweatshirt asked if the seats next to me were available.

He was about my age and made some small talk before telling me this was the last year for Moriah's long-time coach Brian Cross. I told him when I was a young sportswriter in Plattsburgh I covered Cross as a running back in Joe Gilbo's three yards and a cloud of dust offense.

That was a long time ago.

He recognized my name, but I suspect it was because I covered Moriah's trip to the state basketball tournament in 2016. I told him about seeing a dunk from this 6-foot, 5-inch kid named "Slattery" that I would never forget.

The fan said something about losing the next game, but I did not catch the rest. He told me his daughters played in the state tourney in high school as well. In the middle of the first quarter, his daughters took a seat in front of us with what could have been their husbands.

One of the men had a beard and had to be at least 6-5.

The tall, bearded man sat next to me and asked if I thought we were going to see a good game.

I told him it was too early to tell.

At halftime, the father turned and and asked "Taylor" a question.

Something clicked.

I called up my column from the Moriah game in 2016.

It was a good column. It was a better game.

"Taylor Slattery, the lithe 6-5 senior with a whiff of whiskers on his chin, sailed through the air at the Glens Falls Civic Center Friday morning, palmed the ball in his right hand and delivered a concussion of a dunk that enveloped the arena in equal parts pandemonium and confusion," I wrote that day eight years ago. "There is no way of knowing if Slattery has ever jumped higher, or farther, but there is no doubt that Taylor Slattery, his teammates and the thousands of followers in the stands, had just witnessed a transcendent moment."

Moriah went on to win the game.

I interviewed Taylor Slattery after the game.

"When I slammed it, that was one of the greatest moments of my life,” Slattery said.

Of course he was a teenager at the time.

I watched him the rest of the game and wondered if this 6-5 Taylor from Moriah was the same 6-5 Taylor from Moriah with the slam dunk.

I didn't see him cheer or comment during the game even though Moriah gave a good account of itself and was in it until the end. Maybe he was just there to honor his old coach.

Or maybe, after that dunk eight years ago, after being the center of that transformative moment of joy in a packed arena at the state tournament, well, nothing ever could compare to that again, especially if you are from a small town.

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The Cool Insuring Arena was packed with Glens Falls fans for Saturday’s state championship game.

Hometown support

The state basketball tournament went out with a bang with four Capital District teams winning state championships this weekend.

Stillwater and Glens Falls won state championships on Friday and Saturday, respectively followed by North Warren and Green Tech (Albany) on Sunday.

The attendance was heading toward 17,000 going into Sunday's play.

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Puricelli passes

Pete Puricelli, who took Fort Edward to the state tournament in consecutive years in the 1990s, passed away Saturday evening.

His death was announced before the beginning of play on Sunday at the Cool Insuring Arena. There was a moment of silence to honor his memory.

Puricelli was an extraordinary coach, state tourney volunteer and all-around great guy.

In 2021, I found out that Pete was a big baseball fan as well and I wrote a column about his goal of attending every Major League ballpark.

It is not surprising at all that Pete accomplished that goal, too.

His kind don't come our way very often.

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Political criticism

After Friday's update on Republican congressional candidate Jill Lochner, I was surprised to see several readers criticize her for voting for Donald Trump in 2016.

Lochner's campaign against Elise Stefanik has few resources and has little chance of succeeding, but her heart is in the right place as she tries to restore integrity to our congressional district.

Lochner is not the enemy. She is a far better alternative than Stefanik.

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Chapman talk

Maureen Folk, the curator at the Chapman Museum in Glens Falls, will be discussing the museum's latest exhibit "Hometown Teams" on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

"Hometown Teams" celebrates professional baseball and hockey in Glens Falls as well as the Greenjackets' semi-professional football team.

The program is free but the Chapman asks you to reserve a spot in advance at (518) 798-2826.

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Readers

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