Coach Jim Cinnamon pushed his reading glasses toward the end of his nose so he could read, for perhaps the two hundredth time, the brass plate on the large trophy sitting on the end of his credenza:
1963–64 Class 4-A Region 4 Champions
Citrus City Edgewater High School
Jim Cinnamon, Coach
He could still barely believe it. They had beaten Cocoa 51–49 in a wild back-and-forth battle that had seen three of his starters foul out, including Stiggs and Randleman. But Cassidy had hit seven for nine from the floor and Stewart’s two free throws at the end had clinched the game.
The state semifinal in Kernsville had been just as wild, but this time without a happy ending, and the bus ride back to South Florida had been long and quiet. With all but one of the starters returning next year, though, the sportswriters were already talking about next season. Not bad work for someone in just his fifth year of varsity coaching.
Cinnamon shook his head clear and got back to work. He was writing out in longhand some formations he wanted to give the players to study over the summer.
Pressing hard with his ballpoint pen to cut the stencil, he wrote:
Diamond I Zone Press
This press is not designed to steal the ball every time, but to constantly harass a team and force it into mistakes. In this particular defense it is possible for us to overplay our opponents for the interception and still have them covered in case they break the press.
Each player must always be alert and on his toes in order to cut off an attempt to pass to his man—this pass must never be completed. The inbound pass must be a long one, at least to the back of the foul circle. Several steals, interceptions, or turnovers of any type will break down the morale of any team.
His big men had good hands and decent speed down the court. It would shock everyone in the conference next year if they came out in a full-court press. It was counter to all traditional wisdom of the game. Big teams were supposed to hang around the rim and take utmost advantage of their height. Small teams were supposed to keep you from getting the ball upcourt without a battle. They nipped at you like little terriers, biting at your ankles, trying to provoke mistakes by sheer obnoxiousness.
Cinnamon used a ruler and compass to draw several court diagrams on the page, crosshatching the areas of responsibility for each man, identified as X1 through X5. Thirty minutes later he wrote the concluding paragraph:
After we have scored, X5 must turn and run down the floor as hard and as fast as he can. He must get back in order to release X1. If this release of X1 is too slow, it gives the opposition time to find an open man.
The primary objective of this defense is to pick off the first pass, and if everyone carries out his assignment, this objective will be accomplished.
He went back over the four pages, making sure he had not left anything out. He paper-clipped the pages together, along with a note to the mimeo clerk about the number of copies he needed and when he needed them, along with a little pretend begging to get them earlier, if possible.
He was just finishing up when Dewey Stoddard stuck his large flattopped head in the door.
“Hey, Dew, what’s up?” said Cinnamon.
“Denise says you have a call on line one. Someone named Doug DeAngelis from Miami Senior.”
“Okeydoke. Probably wants to schedule us. Hey, if you’re going that way anyway, can you drop these off at the mimeo room?”
* * *
The article on the front page of the Citrus City Sentinel Star read:
CINNAMON SIGNS ON WITH STINGAREES
By Al Whitmarsh
Sentinel Sports Staff
Jim Cinnamon, who led the Edgewater Eagles to the state semifinals this year, is heading south.
The Metro Conference Coach of the Year has been hired to lead one of the oldest and most consistently dominant basketball powerhouses in the state, Miami Senior High School, said Stingaree athletic director Douglas DeAngelis at a press conference in Miami yesterday.
“Coach Cinnamon has shown the kind of innovative and inspirational leadership in his career that we have always prized at Miami Senior, and now that Al Blanchard is stepping down after 22 years and seven state championships . . .”
Stunned, Cassidy sped through the paragraphs of boilerplate coach-speak. It was all blah blah “He’ll have some pretty big shoes to fill . . .” (DeAngelis) and blah blah “Hate to leave such an outstanding group of young men . . .” (Cinnamon) and “I can’t think of a better man to take over . . .” (Blanchard) and “Just too great an opportunity to pass up . . .” (Cinnamon again).
Finally, in the last paragraph, he found what he was looking for:
Edgewater principal Howard Fleming announced at the same press conference that Bob Bickerstaff, who was an all-conference guard in his college playing days at Eastern Kentucky, will take over the top hoops job. Bickerstaff is currently Edgewater’s track and field coach. Fleming said that Dennis Kamrad, the current crew coach, will now assume the track and field duties as well.
Cassidy, still in a daze, went to the phone on the kitchen wall and, with the greatest of difficulty, after three tries managed to successfully dial a number he had known almost his whole life.
“Stiggs?” he said. “What is . . . I mean . . . Stiggs . . . what the hell?”