by Coach Stanley Simpson
Berrien High School (as printed in the December 7, 1961, Nashville Herald. At the time of writing, the Rebelettes were 1-2 and the Rebs 0-3)

The basketball season has just gotten underway at Berrien High and as all of you know, our start has been short of fantastic to say the least. Through this article I would like to share with you my feelings on this situation.

First of all, I would like to express my sincere appreciation for the support we have received during our first three games even though we have been on the losing end of all but one. Our boys and girls have practically the same problems. We have very little experience to speak of, and this is something that only time can take care of. An inexperienced ball player will make countless mistakes and at times will act as if they know not what to do. I hope to give each player the right kind of experience.

Probably our major weakness and one of the most important is a knowledge of fundamentals. When fall practice began, I fully realized that this was to be our major job. I feel as if we have made good progress in learning the fundamentals of shooting, pivoting, etc., but this will also take time.

Practically every team we will face this season will have a definite height advantage on us, but this is something we will have to accept as is and try to play the style of ball suited to the short player.

Another problem that has not only faced us this season but has been a problem for some time is that of a home school gym. this has cut down on valuable practice time and we have been minus the home court advantage. this problem is fast becoming one of the past, in that we have hopes of being in our new gym in January. When completed it will be one of the finest facilities of its type in the state. While on the subject, I would like to express appreciation for myself and the players to the elementary schools of the county for permitting us the use of their gyms.

So far I have mentioned only some of the problems that face us, but now I would like to bring out a few bright spots which I am most happy to state. I could never have found a better group of boys and girls to work with than we have on our basketball teams at Berrien High. Every single one of them wants to play basketball and all want to do their best. This could easily be the most important thing we have going for us.

One of the brighest spots we have is that of our "B" teams. This is our main source of player supply for varsity teams. We have some very impressive looking "B" teamers, both boys and girls. Coach Kent Llewellyn is doing a splendid job with both "B" teams in not only teaching the style of play I want to use on our varsity in the future, but also instilling in each of them the type of attitude I feel is necessary for a successful basketball team.

I would like to mention a few of my ideas on coaching, since I feel like a coach must know the people and the people should know the coach. First of all, I am a teacher. I feel the most important part of a child's school life is in the classroom. I truly believe you can over-emphasize basketball, but you can never over-emphasize English, science, and math. It is mandatory for my players to keep up their school work. I fully realize that winning isn't everything, but it beats whatever comes second by a long way with me.

To have a good basketball team, I feel it takes hard work on the part of everyone concerned. My players work hard, but I try to make playing basketball as much fun as possible to them.

I tell my players to put three things ahead of basketball (1) religion (2) parents (3) school work.

I cannot give you a prediction on how many games we will win this year because with inexperienced players playing the schedule we play you just can't say. I can promise you one thing: we will be giving it our best at all times. You can expect nothing less from the wonderful boys and girls we have on our teams.

What sports fans of Berrien County need is winning teams. We are working toward that goal. I ask you to give the basketball teams your support.

Note on Simpson's mention of academics: As evidenced by the back of a scorebook, Simpson would not allow academically ineligible players to continue after the first semester. The GHSA did not force the same until the 1980s.