Talking Sports: Sidney's title in 1945 was welcomed distraction

In the winter of 1945, there were more important things going on in the world than the Sidney High School basketball team's drive for a state championship. Perhaps that's what made the '45 Maroons such a perfect diversion for a distracted community.

While La Verne Couch was leading the Sidney High team to its first state championship in front of large and boisterous crowds all season, the bloodiest war in human history still raged across Europe and Asia. Despite the madness of a world at war, it was comforting to La Verne's brother, Clarence, to receive continuious newspaper clippings from hom...