My father was born and spent his childhood between Wakpala, on the Standing Rock, and at White Swan, on Yankton. He used to tell me about the great basketball players at Wakpala, including my Dekshi Wilfred Cadotte. But the greatest of them all, according to my father, was Jimmy Distribute.
Jimmy set the San Francisco Cow Palace record for the longest shot in history. A basketball shoot that can never be beaten.
Jimmy had an unusual way of shotting, straight from his chest. My father said when Jimmy would shot the ball straight from his chest to the hoop with tremendous power. When it hit the hoop it made a noise as it went back and forth in the hoop before it fell.
Why it could never be beaten, is because Jimmy shot the ball, as he stepped out of bounds, straight to the hoop, from his chest. The ball went straight, hit the hoop just right, made. Jimmy's unique sound and then dropped through the hoop. My dad used to laugh and say, " Well son, that may, on a very good day, be able to tie Jimmy, but could never be beaten." Then my father would always ask, "Well son, what do you think about that?"
With a score of 66-16, there must be some of Jimmy's relatives around! But then again, in Jimmy's time, everyone in Wakpala developed their athletic capacity. Mobridge, across the Singing Bridge, did not stand a chance when Wakpala! And as I witnessed as a boy, on lower Main Street, in Mobridge, we were not bad with our fists, as well, if needed.
I tried to copy that myself, but after a while, with enough black eyes, cut lips, bruised and hurting hands and stitches in your head, I realized that this was not a wise path, at all, and had no future as well.
I am thankfully stopped, if I hadn't I would probably end up in a cane or wheelchair fight or fighting via Twitter. LOL! Crazy Stuff!
