Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Staff Report – Local author Charles C. Y. Peters has teamed up with Michael Wilson, a coach at T.A. Dugger, who attended Unaka High School, to put together 75 Years of Unaka Boys Basketball.  Although the Rangers began basketball in the 1930’s many records could not be found and for a few years during World War II, basketball was stopped for many area schools.
“I stopped by Eagles Co-Op one day and was talking with Charles(C.Y.) about some of the books he had written. He had recently been posting photos of some of the Unaka High School sports teams of the past on social media”, stated Wilson. “Both of us are former basketball players at Unaka and we began discussing the possibility of doing a book on the history of Unaka basketball. After thinking it over for a couple of weeks, we decided to do it, and now the book is almost a reality,” said Wilson.
This will be the fourth book for Peters, who wrote his first book a few years ago on the 1960 Hampton State Championship team.  Two legend books about Carter County players and coaches, along with a few fans, make up the other two books.  Peters said, “this book has been on my mind since the state title in 2004.  It flared up a few years ago when Joyce Milam Smith, who has lived in Michigan for the past 60 plus years, sparked my interest with some old Ranger photos.”  When Michael volunteered to help with all the work, it was on, Peters said.
Hundreds of hours later and many late nights and early mornings of composing stories and reading articles, 75 Years of Unaka Rangers is only a few weeks from being published.
“We began doing our research,” Wilson said, “with the first school yearbook of 1945. So we decided to make the boys basketball history from 1945 to 2020,  75 years.”
“First of all, we wanted to have the team roster for each year and also a team photo.  We have talked to people in the community and asked if they had a certain yearbook or if they knew someone that did. It’s fascinating to look at a yearbook that is 25 years prior to when I was in school and see some of my teachers in there,” Wilson added. “ It’s also really neat to see some of my former teammates’ fathers picture on a team 20 or 30 years earlier.”The book is scheduled for release on November 15th, near the beginning of basketball season and will have hundreds of photos, stories from former players, game scores, and most of Unaka’s basketball records.  Books will sell for $19.95, but pre-order books are on sale now for $15.00 by emailing C.Y. at peters5@charter.net or  Michael at Michael.wilson451@gmail.com or both have Facebook pages.  The book will be a limited print issue, so pre-orders are essential to make sure you get a copy of the History of Unaka Boys Basketball.