The final inductees won it all

There have been three teams in the outstanding history of Columbia basketball -- the 1959 team was crushed by Wampum and the Allen Brothers and the 1986 girls' team fell to a hot shooting Linesville team.
A year later, after being left for dead during the regular season and finishing fourth in the District 3 playoffs, not much expected when the Columbia boys' basketball team entered the state playoffs.
Well, those expectations became dreams when on a late March afternoon inside old Hersheypark Arena, the Tide shocked the basketball world and won a state Class AA title with a 49-43 win over Windber, touching off a celebration that stretched from Hershey to Columbia and into the wees hours of the morning.
The state champs will be the lone team inducted into the Columbia High School Athletic Hall of Fame on Friday, Sept. 17.
The team that won it all includes Mike Wisler, Brian Smith, Albert Ellis, Andy Fahringer, Keary Smith, Michael Burke, Chris Phiel, John Sheetz and Matt Phillips.
The coaches were Gary Sutton, "Flip" Rhoades, Kan Haverstick and Jeff Morral.
Their story will be chronicled toward the induction ceremony.