Windham author George Belden has written his second book of tales of the greatest athletic teams and events in Windham High School history. The book is being published by Amazon, and will be available on the Amazon website September 1. The cost is $14.99.
The Windham Bombers, Volume Two has 350 pages filled with stories of Bomber heroes, as they battled teams in Portage County and in state tournaments. Every single high school that has existed in the county since 1917 has played against the Bombers, and names of stars from other teams fill the pages.
The book opens with the 1917 birth of Windham football, followed by the creation of the Portage County Conference in 1922. These articles complement Belden’s first book, The Windham Bombers, which covered the first half-century of Windham High School sports, and is still available on Amazon.
Succeeding chapters spotlight the 1965 basketball team that starred Greg McDivitt, who later was drafted by the NBA, the first year of Marty Hill’s epic coaching career as Bomber basketball coach, the 1978 basketball team that was ranked #1 in the entire state, and the career of Ron Kamada, the coach before Marty Hill, whose phenomenal record from 1971-1974 has to be seen to be believed.
Football dominated the first volume of Belden’s histories, but it is not neglected in this book. The 1986 team which won the Portage County League crown before falling to Hawken, led by NFL superstar OJ McDuffie, is chronicled in all its glory.
The baseball teams of Coach Jerry Kiser, who went to the Final Four in the state of Ohio two consecutive seasons in 2001 and 2002, are perhaps the greatest teams to come from Portage County, and those seasons are profiled in exciting detail.
And the girls teams are not ignored. In a lengthy chapter, Belden considers the 1981 Bombers girls team to be the Greatest of All Time of Windham hoopsters.
Windham High School’s Hall of Fame is now almost thirty years old, and in a large back section, Belden provides the induction biography of every single member of that illustrious group.
No other northern Ohio school outside of Massillon Washington has produced two volumes of sports history, making tiny Windham High School unique in the area. Any fan of local sports will love these memories.
Starting September 1, the book can be purchased on Amazon by typing “Windham Bombers” into the search box. All royalties from this volume as well as the first volume are donated to the Windham athletic program.
Belden also plans an in-person table at which he will autograph books, with double the royalties that night going to the athletic program. Tentatively, this is scheduled for the September 15 home football game.
