My idol did not wear his letterman’s

[mouakter13]

There were echo-like “bangs” or “bongs” when balls hit their mark, but the metal rims and chain nets make a perfect shrill “clink” when Fred Angerman shot and the ball would freeze dead in the center and slowly fall out.

jacket or college colors that day and very few would know me at that age. I remember nothing else. Just the skiff ride home, my stomach in knots, the waves soothing my nervous energies.

The 1972-73 scorebooks came out. Nov. 16 at Petersburg – PHS 84, WHS 72. Ohmer (a senior) 35. WHS Harry Rinehart 18, Chet Maleski 16, Rob Luce 12, Rob Daly 9, sophomore Fred Angerman 7. Nov.17 – WHS 88, PHS 69. Ohmer 26 points. WHS’ Luce 23, Rinehart 20, Angerman 12. Jan. 26 at Wrangell – PHS 75, WHS 67. Ohmer 26. Angerman 21. Jan. 27 – PHS 79, WHS 78. Ohmer 34, Angerman 23.

“He was fearless,” Ohmer said. “They call him Fast Freddy but he was Fearless Freddy to me. He was confident, shot from anywhere… He was stocky, strong, played like a big guard…We Petersburg country wise email marketing list guys hated all the Wrangell guys we played against but we liked Freddy.”

Fast forward to my freshman season. I am a starting guard for Petersburg and coach Steve Eberly, God bless his basketball heart, makes me guard senior Fred Angerman Jr every game we face them that 1974-75 season. The season Angerman leads the Wolves to the Region V championship against Sitka, Juneau, Ketchikan, Haines, Mt. Edgecumbe and us — plus the top B schools of that time along the way. The season Fred Angerman Jr makes the All-State Tournament team against Anchorage and Fairbanks competitors. I am destroyed each night but with each handshake after he would add something he liked about my effort.

Basketball official Fred Angerman Jr listens during a pregame captains meeting during a homecoming game between Wrangell and Petersburg in 2008. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)
Basketball official Fred Angerman Jr listens during a pregame captains meeting during a homecoming game between Wrangell and Petersburg in 2008. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)

When “Fast Freddy” passed last month, the day after his son Cody coached the Wolves from the regional tournament into the state, all those remembrances swirled slowly in my mind, much like the perfect backspin of a weathered ball floating in the winds of Wrangell and settling in the center of rusting metal or broken threads…I see his elbows tucked in before release, his running motion down court after the make, his hair somewhere between the look of the ‘70s and the cuts of our fathers, his teammates’ screens…He meant a lot to so many. Their memories are as important as mine.

“Dad definitely had a deep reach,” Cody Angerman said. “He was always the most reliable person, but kept his distance when it came to opinions. He was never a helicopter parent and never critiqued how I played or how I coached.”