Virginia City Mighty Mites learn the fundamentals of basketball

By Karen Woodmansee

Appeal Staff Writer

VIRGINIACITY - Virginia City High School has had unparalleled success in Nevada basketball over the years, with the most state championships, 18, the most consecutive titles, 6 and the most consecutive victories, 93.

Why the small school excels so much in hoops could be traced to a small team - the Mighty Mites.

The Mighty Mites are a team of third through fifth graders who get intensive instruction in the fundamentals of basketball once a week for five weeks.

During that time their Saturday mornings are not spent watching cartoons, but learning the sport from one of the champions of the past - Storey County Commissioner Greg "Bum" Hess, who played on championship teams in the 1980s.

Hess and local businessman Scott Burrell team up to teach the youngsters, who they hope will go on to succeed with the Comstockers of the middle school and later the Muckers at Virginia City High School. They also say it's a good way to give some of the kids a chance to go to college.

"We hope it will bring championships in later years and get them into college," he said. "We've sent more kids on to college than some of the bigger schools (through basketball)."

One downside, though, is that sometimes players don't stay in Virginia City throughout their schooling, he said.

"What happens is a lot of the time, once we train them in Mighty Mites and through our program, then they go to some other high school," he said.

Since many of the students involved in the high school basketball program also play football, Hess said having a football team should help keep some of the high school kids here.

At Mighty Mites practice, for the first hour of the 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. session the focus is on teaching the youngsters - boys and girls - offensive and defensive drills, conditioning drills, shooting, dribbling, passing, rebounding and learning to play as a team.

For the second hour, the kids divide into teams and play a game, with some difficulty since to them the basket probably looks like it's a mile away.

Carson Barnes, 9, a small but strong boy was one of the standouts on Hess's team. He said he prefers playing point guard.

"You get to handle the ball most of the time," he said.

Carson has been playing basketball for three years, the first two in Oregon, often against boys much bigger than he is, those in fifth and sixth grades. Basketball isn't the only sport he loves; he was the water boy for the Muckers football team this year and hopes to play football in the future too.

"He loves it," said his mother, Theresa. "He has a lot of energy, so it's good they have this."

He and Hess's son, Colt, were the standouts when the clinic went from drills to the game, and his team won, 24-18.

Andy Gong, a third grader, managed a few baskets and worked hard on the drills. His mom, Linda, said this basketball was the only organized sport for the little ones.

"So far, with little kids, that's the only game they can play," she said, adding that some kids play soccer in Dayton, but she can't take her son because she has to work. The Gong family owns the Mandarin Garden Restaurant in Virginia City.

"This is the future," said Hugh Fonzo, who has two sons in the program. "It's amazing what they teach these kids. I hated basketball until this. Then I learned there is a lot to it."

Hess was one of the original coaches of the Mighty Mites, beginning in 1986. Now sometimes he brings his oldest son, Clint, a seventh-grader, along to help out.

"I think it gets them interacting in basketball and shows them ways to become a better player that they may not be aware of," he said. "Not all parents play basketball."