PHOTO BY JOHN FRYMAN/ THE VILLAGE REPORTER
RELIVING GLORY DAYS … Members of the 2025-26 Edgerton Lady Bulldogs basketball team kneel in front of former players and coaches from 1975–86, who were honored for their contributions to the girls’ basketball program prior to the non-conference contest between Edgerton and North Central in their annual ‘throwback’ game at the Village of Edgerton Court on Saturday, February 7.
By: John Fryman
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
john@thevillagereporter.com
EDGERTON – For the past several years, Edgerton High School has annually hosted a ‘throwback’ basketball game at the renamed “Village of Edgerton Court,” which previously served as the Bulldogs’ homecourt for their boys and girls basketball teams for five decades.
On Saturday night, when the Edgerton Bulldogs hosted the North Central Eagles with Edgerton prevailing 41-30, they also honored those players who had played under the tutelage of head coach Ric Flecker, who guided Edgerton through one of the most successful decades in program history from 1975 through 1986.
Flecker, along with his longtime assistant coach Kathe Stotz, who is currently the assistant treasurer with Edgerton Local Schools, and many of his former players and managers were recognized in pre-game festivities.
“This is such a special night,” said Flecker, who is 81 years old and currently resides in Brown County, Indiana.
“Because I have such fond memories of my 12 years here in Edgerton and I got to coach for 11 years. The girls responded extremely well to a guy that didn’t always know what he was doing early on because I had never played basketball.
“We just got better over the years. I think we were certainly one of the better programs in Northwest Ohio.”
Stotz, who also served as the junior varsity coach at Edgerton compiling a successful 132-67 overall record, began coaching with Flecker beginning with the 1978-79 season.
“As being really knowledgeable about basketball other than liking it, I wasn’t an X’s and O’s person,” she admitted. “It was nice to have a woman on the staff because you’re coaching girls and they can become different.
“My job was to try to develop the girls into the players that he (Flecker) wanted to have. I was kind of the go-to between coach (Flecker) and the girls.”
Despite a sub-par 4-7 record in his first season in 1975-76, Flecker and the Bulldogs then reached new heights, averaging 18 wins per season.
Four of his squads won 20 or more games, 23-2 (1980-81), 23-1 (1981-82), 20-3 (1983-84), and 23-1 (1984-85).
Twice during his successful coaching tenure, the Bulldogs posted unbeaten regular seasons going 20-0 in 1982-83 and 1984-85.
During his tenure, the Bulldogs were tough to beat, especially in the Green Meadows Conference and the Buckeye Border Conference where they simply dominated the conference competition.
“The girls I can only say positive things about them because they responded all the time,” said Flecker, whose overall career coaching record was 188-49 at Edgerton for an impressive winning percentage of 79 percent.
His teams captured five GMC titles in 1978, 1981, 1983, 1984, and 1985, along with five BBC titles in 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983, and 1984.
Besides winning ten conference titles, his squads also captured nine Class A sectional championships, including eight in a row from 1979-86.
At the district level, the Bulldogs finished as district runner-up in 1980, 1983, 1984, and 1985.
When reminiscing about his coaching days in Edgerton, Flecker pointed out the highlight of his coaching tenure occurred in the 1980-81 campaign when the Bulldogs became just the third Green Meadows Conference team at the time to reach the “Big Show” at the Class A Girls Basketball State Tournament at St. John’s Arena in Columbus.
Getting to the “Big Show” was a challenging obstacle for Flecker and his squad, especially on the tournament trail.
After losing to Archbold in the fourth game of the 1980-81 regular season, the Bulldogs believed in themselves and finally won a Class A district title after beating Holgate in the semifinals and then narrowly edging out Tinora by one point in the district final at Wauseon.
Getting past the district level was one major accomplishment, but the regional tournament at Findlay College proved to become a “Mount Rushmore” to climb over with perennial powerhouse and two-time defending Class AA state champion Delphos St. Johns looming ahead for Edgerton in the semifinals.
Facing the Blue Jays was the ultimate task for the Bulldogs, and it took a strong second half effort lifting Edgerton to a thrilling 60-53 victory.
“Most of our kids believed that beating Delphos St. Johns was the highlight in any years,” said Flecker.
“Our kids just responded so well to that. That was a game that was so close in the first quarter, there were 14 different lead changes in the first quarter and how many times you would see something like that.”
After knocking off the highly touted Blue Jays, Edgerton then faced Ada for a berth in the state tournament, and they easily handled the Bulldogs, 50-37, for the regional title and a trip to Columbus.
“I was happy the girls got to Columbus because I wasn’t really confident about getting past Delphos St. Johns,” said Stotz. “Once we did and I knew the next game, the girls would be going to take it.”
Getting to Columbus was an adventure for Flecker and his Lady Bulldogs as they faced defending Class A state runner-up Old Washington Buckeye Trail in a Thursday morning state semifinal game.
The Bulldogs saw their fantastic season come to an end in a 71-58 loss to Buckeye Trail, thus finishing with a 23-2 record.
Cathy Taylor led a trio of Edgerton players in double figures with 21 points. Laura Herman added 16 and Gidget Pettit tallied 12 points in that game.
“We played the first game on a Thursday morning, so the girls walked into the locker room, got dressed and played basketball,” said Stotz.
“I wish we would have had the opportunity to get to St. Johns Arena, walk through it, sat and watch a game so they can get that out of their system. I think it would have been different.”
Flecker was blessed to have four 1,000-point scorers in his coaching career including Jenni Heisler who had 1,548 points (1975-79), Jodi Witte with 1,291 points (1982-85), Taylor 1,226 points (1977-81), and Herman 1,103 points (1979-82).
Heisler, Taylor, and Herman were among the many former players who were in attendance. Those three players mentioned above along with Witte had earned All-Ohio honors during their playing careers.
“I was fortunate enough to be able to coach the girls at Edgerton,” said Flecker. “I’m glad that I lived long enough to experience this and they were good kids. I would have hated to miss something like this and see so many quality people that I got to associate with over the years.”
Stotz helped organize this special event which included a get-together luncheon held earlier in the day.
“The main thing we wanted to do with this is not just honor those teams that did very well. We had a program,” said Stotz. “Even the girls that didn’t have success or undefeated seasons, it was a program.
“We were a respected program, and that’s all because of Ric Flecker for what he did and building the program.”