[OSUBasketballJunkie]

DDN

3/22/06

Dunbar, Trotwood go way back

Players, coaches tied together in many ways over many years

By Mark Gokavi
Dayton Daily News

Before they hope to do some damage in Columbus, the Dunbar and Trotwood-Madison boys basketball teams will take on a buffet. Together. Tonight.

"We're going to get together and break bread," Trotwood coach Ike Thornton said of an idea by Dunbar coach Peter Pullen. "After we played (a 71-64 Dunbar win Jan. 29), he was walking to his bus and I was walking to my bus and he said, 'Let's both go up this year,' and it happened."

Trotwood-Madison plays Lancaster at 8:30 p.m. Friday in the Division I high school basketball state semifinals at Ohio State's Schottenstein Center. At 2 p.m., Dunbar plays Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary in a D-II semifinal.

Many of the coaches and players know each other.

"The kids grew up together and played together," Pullen said. "It's rare that two schools pretty much from the same area of town make it. It's great for the city of Dayton. We wanted to show our support."

Pullen used to coach girls at Dunbar, while Thornton coached junior varsity boys for the Wolverines for two seasons. Pullen got the boys job two years ago. Thornton left four years ago for Trotwood, just missing his shot to coach one exceptional group of athletes. Instead, he got another.

"I used to watch (Dunbar's seniors) play in middle school," Thornton said. "I was looking forward to coaching them, but this opportunity opened up and I couldn't let it go by."

Pullen's son, Jarrod Givens, was a top reserve on the Rams' freshman team. Thornton won't get to coach Givens either, since the Trotwood coach is moving to San Antonio after the school year.

While some talk about the Wolverines' win earlier this season is inevitable this evening, Trotwood senior Matthew Lakes said it will go back farther than that.

"It's probably going to be Parkside and Dayton Airmen, taking it way back — back in the days when basketball was just something to do," Lakes said.

"It's still fun, but it was less competitive back then."

Trotwood junior Chris Wright said he met Dunbar junior Aaron Pogue when both were in fourth grade. They competed and talked then. Nothing has changed.

"If we were (both) to win it, Dayton would go crazy," Wright said. "Off the court, we're really cool. Some schools want to be your enemies, but we're at another level. It's almost like we're all a big family, but we just go to different schools."

Contact Mark Gokavi at 225-6951.

DUNBAR-TROTWOOD connections

• Trotwood-Madison coach Ike Thornton won a state title in 1981 as a player at Roth. His coach there was Mike Haley, who guided Dunbar to the 1987 AAA title. Dunbar is the last Dayton-area team to win the big-school title.
• Dunbar coach Peter Pullen lives in Trotwood. His son, Jarrod Givens, was a top reserve on the Rams' freshman team. Thornton's father, Ike, played at Dunbar.
• Thornton coached JV at Dunbar for two years before taking the Trotwood job four years ago. When Thornton left, Albert Powell joined then-coach Mitch Waterman's staff. Thornton said he remembers Powell from his days at Roth. Trotwood volunteer assistant Todd Higgins played at Dunbar.
• Several members of both teams played for or against the Parkside basketball team as far back as third grade. Powell started an AAU team that competed against a Trotwood team. There were a few rumors of current players transferring one way or the other.
• Dunbar guard Norris Cole and Trotwood reserve center Nate Cole are part of the heralded Cole family that attended Dunbar.