1978 Boys Outdoor Track Team
Eric Bilhuber ’78 and Ali Basakinci ’78 first met at football practice. Little did they know, they would soon lead the Peddie varsity boys outdoor track team as co-captains to a state championship in 1978.
“After football, I had no winter sport,” Bilhuber said. “I tried out for hockey, and I couldn’t skate for anything. I was big, and I could plow people down, but after seeing my skating ability, whoever the coach was at the time asked if I wanted to be the equipment manager. And I realized that sport was not for me. Then I went to the indoor gym, saw someone pole vaulting, and said maybe I’ll try out for track. I asked them if I could try that. I cleared the same height as them. That’s when coach ‘Bullet’ Bob [Lawson] came over and grabbed me by the collar and said, ‘You’re coming out for the track team.'”
Bilhuber started as a pole vaulter and then went on to hurdles, sprints, long jump, triple jump and high jump.
“(I did) pretty much everything, except the mile, which I had to do by force,” he said. “Javelin, shotput and discus. I was a decathlete in the spring and a pentathlete in the winter.”
Basakinci did the 110 hurdles, 100, 200, long jump, triple jump, shot put, high jump and very rarely the 400 and the relays, he said.
“Bullet was an easygoing guy, and he just motivated you by being there,” said Basakinci. “Discipline was also very important.”
At every meet, Bilhuber and Basakinci participated in around six to seven events each.
“Everybody on the team was good,” Bilhuber said. “Everybody performed. There were no slackers.”
Ed Dippold ’81 was a freshman during the state championship year.
“The key was, Bilhuber and Basakinci were strong in multiple events, and when you go to states, you can really rack up the points if you place pretty high in a few events,” Dippold said. “I think that’s what really did it.”
Joe Maressa ’78 lived with teammates Bobby Jarrett ’78 and Mike Doyle ’78. “They dragged me out to the field one day with Bullet, and I started throwing the javelin and then the shot put,” he said.
Everybody played a key role in a special season.
“The seniors, the other distance guys, generally might win the race or finish second or third, so there were always points from Larry Blomberg ’78, Mike DeLang ’78 and Jack Fonss ’80,” Dippold said.
“They seemed like the three that always got points in the 800, mile and two-mile, and then they would all run the relay sometimes, too.”
Irene Watts ’79 was the first girl to get a varsity letter for being on the boys outdoor track team or a boys team; there was no girls track team at the time. She placed third in the state for cross country for their division.
“I loved my running, and I loved Coach Lawson,” she said. “I was so proud to be on that team.”
Bonds were formed by teammates along the way.
“On occasion, Ali [Basakinci] and I would be lined up next to each other for the hurdles,” Bilhuber said. “The starter would say, ‘Take your marks, set.’ Right about then, I would lean over and whisper to Ali to play ‘Foggy Mountain.’ I’d get a good two-to-three stride lead because he would be cracking up.”
“I don’t know where it came from, but it became a thing,” Basakinci said.
For such a talented team, winning a state championship was not on their radar.
“I didn’t know we won states until we got on the bus and we were told we won the states,” Basakinci said.
The team arrived home, running into the year-end awards ceremony, still in uniform, to thunderous applause.