Loyer basketball tree planted first in Marion County
COLUMBUS ― The Loyer basketball tree will be flowering this weekend in Columbus, but it first took root in northeastern Marion County more than 70 years ago.
Gale Loyer, the basketball patriarch, will be watching as his grandson Fletcher Loyer competes for No. 1 seed Purdue in the first round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament tonight at 6:50 p.m. at Nationwide Arena.
"I’m 88 years old, and I can’t get around," Loyer said, so he will be tuned in like always to his television set, watching the game on TNT. "It’s very exciting, but sometimes I get let down, so I try not to get too excited over it."
The love of basketball first sprouted at Martel High School, when as a freshman, Gale first started contributing to the varsity team in that 1949-50 season. As a sophomore, he averaged eight points with a high game of 17.
His junior season was the team's most successful at Martel, going 4-11 overall and 3-7 in the old Marion County League as Loyer again averaged nearly eight points with a high of 16.
"It was sort of like barn ball, Loyer recalled. "The coaches had a teaching job, and they didn’t work with you very much. My junior year was my best year, but most of the first team graduated, so my senior year wasn’t too good."
Indeed, Martel struggled in his senior year of 1952-53, going winless and giving up more than 100 points in four games. Still, Loyer proved to be one of the top scorers in Marion County. He averaged 17.1 points, which was third-best in the MCL, and he reached double figures in every game played that season.
"Yeah, we were shooting jump shots," Loyer said. "I scored some, but basketball is a lot different now than it was then."
On Dec. 12, 1952, Martel lost 101-52, but Loyer put up 29 points against Green Camp, the fourth most in Martel history before it consolidated with Caledonia in 1960 and then became part of River Valley two years later.
"At Green Camp, you dressed over at the school and then you had to go outdoors to go to the gym. That wasn’t too good in the winter time," he said.
The brief walk didn't cool him off that night or any others. He scored 23 points at Pleasant, 22 at Meeker and 18 each against LaRue and Claridon. His 29 at Green Camp tied for the fifth most points scored in a game in Marion County that season.
"The fans would sit right around what was the floor, and they were screaming at you and hollering at you and all that kind of stuff. It was serious back then, but it’s nothing like it is nowadays," Loyer said.
Next Generation
The next generation took what he did and amplified it.
Gale's son John became the greatest basketball player in the history of Northmor basketball that dates to 60 years this season.
John is the school's all-time leading scorer by more than 350 points with his 1,479 career tally, reaching 1,000 late in his junior season.
Like his dad, John had some big scoring nights, putting up 36 against Canal Winchester and 35 against Crestview, averaging 22.7 points as a junior and 21.7 points as a senior. He averaged 17.6 points across his four high school seasons.
Besides being a first-team All-Ohioan as a senior in 1983, the guard also led the Golden Knights to the best season to that time, finishing as Mid Ohio Conference runners-up at 11-3, winning 19 games and going to the Class A district tournament at the Ohio State Fairgrounds Coliseum.
"He was very good. I worked him out when he was wee little," Gale said of his son. "The first thing I taught him was to not look at the ball when you dribble. Look ahead. I had him dribbling through chairs and all the kind of stuff. He was very good at that kind of thing."
John went on to play four years at Akron where he was a 6-foot-4 guard who averaged five points per game, playing his final two years for Bob Huggins. As a junior who shot 57 percent from the floor for the season, he was starting in the backcourt on an NCAA Tournament qualifying squad that fell in the opening round to No. 2 seed Michigan 70-64.
After college, he remained at Akron as an assistant under Huggins and then followed him to Cincinnati.
In 2000, John transitioned to the NBA and became the video coordinator and later an advance scout and assistant coach for the Portland Trailblazers. He also served as an assistant for the Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Nets and Detroit Pistons before becoming an interim head coach for the Pistons in the 2014 season.
He now serves as a scout for the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Grandsons
John has two sons, who took what grandpa and their father before did before them and went even further on the basketball court.
Oldest son Foster Loyer was a role player for three seasons at Michigan State before transferring to Davidson where he ended his college career last week. While Davidson finished 16-16 overall and 8-10 in the Atlantic 10, the 6-foot senior guard had a big season.
He dropped 38 points with 11 rebounds and nine assists against Wright State, and four times eclipsed 30 points. He averaged 16.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.3 assists, while shooting 92 percent from the foul line, 34 percent from the arc and 39 percent overall.
"He dislocated his shooting thumb on his right hand and it affected him quite a bit," Gale said.
Nevertheless, Foster was named second-team and all-academic in the A-10.
Younger brother Fletcher was Indiana's Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior in high school in Fort Wayne, and he's made a seamless transition into the Boilermaker starting lineup as a 6-4 freshman guard. He averages 10.9 points and 2.5 assists, while shooting 32 percent on 3-pointers, 37 percent overall and 79 percent from the foul line, good enough for honorable mention All-Big Ten honors.
Fletcher was also a Big Ten Player of the Week after scoring 27 points and a freshman school record six 3-pointers against Nebraska.
The brothers squared off in a December game in Indianapolis with Purdue winning 69-61. Neither brother shot it well, but Foster scored 11 points with 10 assists, while Fletcher had 14 points and went 9 of 10 from the foul line.
"I just listened to it," Gale said, adding that he couldn't catch the matchup on TV.
That won't be a problem going forward. The Big Ten champion Boilermakers (29-5, 15-5) are one of the favorites to compete for a Final Four appearance as a top seed, so they will be playing in prime time tonight.
"The coach is a very good coach," Gale said of Matt Painter, "but what makes their team is that (Zach) Edey. He’s 7-foot-4. As long as the referees — I don’t want to say favor him ― but don’t call fouls on him, they should be okay. He doesn’t jump that well, but you don’t have to when you’re 7-foot-4."
While he won't be courtside, Gale will be watching from home, pulling for his grandson.
"I watch most of it. It’s fun as long as he’s doing good," he said
rmccurdy@gannett.com
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Andrew Ebbeskotte and his CrawfordCountyBasketball.com website contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Loyer basketball tree planted first in Marion County
