Community embraces Shelby Whippets
The community rallied together on Sunday at Shelby High School to honor Shelby Whippets boys basketball team members for their momentous journey to the state high school boys basketball tournament’s Final Four at the University of Dayton.
This gathering in the Shelby High School gymnasium was a powerful demonstration of the community’s unity and support, celebrating not just a season of basketball but a collective achievement.
Shelby High School Principal John Gies opened the event by acknowledging the team’s historic achievements.
“This team has accomplished a feat that no other boys’ basketball team in school history has equaled,” Gies said of the Final Four appearance. “In doing so, the ‘23 -’24 team set a new standard for the Shelby basketball program.”
The Shelby Whippets concluded their season with an impressive 25-3 record, capturing the Mid-ohio Athletic Conference title with an undefeated league record along with regional, district, and sectional championships.
Gies shared plans to showcase the district and regional championship trophies within the school to inspire current and future students with the team’s legacy. That’s in addition to a Final Four banner that will be added to the gym wall.
The team entered the gym to loud cheers.
In speaking to the crowd, Shelby varsity basketball coach Greg Gallaway said that “the one thing that really resonates with us is just being thankful.”
“It’s our last core value,” he said. “It’s something that we talk about all the time” and one he described as one that applies to this past week, “this whole post-season run, this whole season.”
Gallaway emphasized the collective effort behind their success.
“None of us are self-made,” he said. “Someone along the line had to help us get to this point.”
He extended gratitude to the community, the school district, families, Friday’s school district-wide pep rally, the school’s student support at games, cheerleaders, coaching staff and others who include the players themselves.
Ahead of the trip, Gallaway and the team
talked about going to Dayton and just “enjoying every single experience as far as the traveling, the assembly, everything, the practices.”
“It wasn’t something that went too fast. We took it every single day, and that’s something that we were never going to worry about,” he said. “We just let the moment go by. We took in every single day.”