Back home again in Indiana

Aaron Williams fondly recalls his time as a Patriot.

He was a sectional champion as a junior. A year later he was on the court in what is considered one  of the greatest games of program history: an upset of top-ranked Richmond.

One of the most prolific Patriots spoke about the time he watched Steve Alford work out, and it instilled a work ethic that allowed him to play collegiately at Grace College.

His recollection also brought up his most sentimental memory — after Williams learned his father had an inoperable brain tumor and a slim chance at survival, then Jay County High School basketball coach Mike Lederman invited him into his office and offered to pray for him.

“It meant so much to me at that time,” Williams said three decades later.

Williams now coaches the Black Raiders of John I. Burton High School in Norton, Virginia. With his wife, three children and boys basketball team in tow, Williams will return to Jay County to play the Patriots on Saturday for the second of two games in the Hoosier state.

“For me it is going to be surreal,” said Williams, a 1988 JCHS graduate. “For (my team) I am going to try to make it about basketball, just go play the game and try to get better.

“Every game we want to take it as an opportunity to get better. We’re playing a couple teams that will hopefully get us better. They don’t know what’s coming.”

The Black Raiders (2-0) meet the Monroe Central Golden Bears (2-2) on Friday at Hoosier Gym in Knightstown before driving north on Saturday to take on his alma mater.

The idea for his reunion tour began nearly two years ago when Aaron’s older brother Arnie, a 1980 graduate, visited for Memorial Day and told him they could schedule a game at the gym made famous by the 1986 film “Hoosiers.”

Williams got in contact with people he knew in the area, and Monroe Central was willing to schedule a game. Then he got in touch with JCHS athletics director Steve Boozier about playing his former team.

So for the first time since beginning his coaching career at Winchester for the 1995-96 season — his only year as a coach in Indiana — Williams is coming back home.

Norton, located on the western part of the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a mountainous community of roughly 4,000. Burton is part of the Norton City School district and has an enrollment of about 250.

“For our kids, I’m in football country,” the 48-year-old Williams said. “They love football. They just don’t realize how great basketball can be. We’ve had some good runs. We’ve had some good teams.”

This Black Raider team is familiar with the famous basketball movie. Williams, who was once the school’s principal until this year and is in his 10th season coaching the team, showed it to his players last season. 

In a sense, his Burton squad will be like the Hoosier team on Saturday. It is undersized — the starting center is 5-feet, 11-inches tall, the height of Jay County’s shortest listed player, Xavier Ninde — and has good senior leadership, including his son Caleb.

Williams said because his team doesn’t have much size, he tries to play quick in transition to get easy baskets but at the same time be smart with its decision making. While he calls perimeter shooting “fool’s gold,” he likes 3-pointers but doesn’t want to rely on them.

Although Williams has a job to do this weekend, it will be more than just basketball for him.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing people from my hometown and people that meant a lot to me in my life,” the former Pennville Bulldog said. “My dad used to have a saying, a lot of people say this, ‘You don’t ever get past your raising.’ I never have. 

“I always felt really blessed my whole life to come from Jay County. To learn work ethic, to learn that you can achieve things that you can put your mind to. I always thought Jay County basketball was instrumental in my life. “