“Name that Year” is designed to put your knowledge of Tracy and its newsmakers of the past to the test. Each week, we will publish a news item that ran in a past edition — maybe it was a major event, or a story about a Tracy resident — it’s up to you to determine in what year that particular news item hit the pages of the paper:
• “WOW,” WAS ALL T-M COACH SHORTY ENGEL COULD SAY on a March day of this year when he first stepped to the podium at the Panthers’ welcome home celebration in the THS gym. “We didn’t expect all of this.” The gym was packed with about 2,000 well-wishers, all basking in the glow of Tracy-Milroy’s Class A girls’ basketball championship. In defeating Storden-Jeffers 47-35 Saturday night at the Met Sports Center, the Panthers become the first prep team in state basketball history to defeat three undefeated teams en route to a state championship.
The first victim was Esko (25-0) then New London-Spicer (25-0), before the Chiefs (26-0) were finally vanquished by the Panthers. The scene Sunday was one of mirthful jubilation. The team bus, already escorted by a convoy of cars from Milroy, was met by four Tracy fire trucks and more cars and fans along Hwy. 14. For the next 20 minutes, with truck sirens blaring and players leaning out of open bus windows, the convoy snaked its way through Tracy toward the high school.
“Was it worth the wait?” boomed Master of Ceremonies Con Rettmer, as he introduced the team to the overflowing crowd.
He didn’t have to wait long for an answer, as the crowd’s cheers reverberated around the gymnasium. A visibly moved Engel thanked the fans.
• Last week’s answer: Prices for unleaded regular gasoline in Tracy rose to $1.65 a gallon in the year 2000.
