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The last time Falkirk held the crown of top team in Scottish basketball, it was a fresh-faced young coach called Kevin Cadle who was the inspirator in chief, bringing the domestic Cup to the town in successive years at the peak of the sport's boom-time during the eighties.
The American, as we know, went on to bigger and brighter stages, while Falkirk, like the professional game, went largely into cold storage until the advent of the Edinburgh Rocks. While public attention has been focused on the tribulations at Meadowbank this season, Falkirk's new incarnation has however bloomed once more in the Scottish League, Friday nights at the Mariner Centre the setting for a remarkable revivalist movement.
For Cadle, now read John Bunyan, the progress of his youthful pilgrims such that his team sit atop the standings with eleven wins in as many starts. Falkirk, or as they are officially known Clark Eriksson Fury, are now the side to beat, a tribute, their talisman attests, to the crop of former teenage talents who have matured in tandem with the club.
"Troon, Dunfermline, St. Mirren and ourselves were almost forced into the senior league when it had been eroded down to only six clubs," Bunyan recalls. "It was controversial and because the bulk of our team were still only around 19, it was early for them to be at that level. But all of those teams have steadily improved, St. Mirren won it last year, and this year we've come through as well."
To those capable to dewey-eyed reminiscence of eras past, there is at least one familiar face among the Fury's roster. Steve Hoffman, now approaching 40, plays on, a stamp of experience to ballast against the post-pubescent tide, a bridge between Cadle's side and the present one.
"Hoffman was around in the days when Team Solrite were on the national stage and he was an outstanding shooter then," states Bunyan. "While I felt we had quality young players, we were short of experience and that's what he brings to the team. He makes a contribution. He's a reasonably quiet person but when we makes a point, people listen and it's valuable.
Falkirk's renaissance is admirably homegrown with only a sprinkling of outside blood to bolster their squad. While Bunyan's son Keith has graduated via the Rocks to the BBL, additional help has come through a pyramid which reaches out within Stirlingshire to bring those with promise into the fold.
Most exciting of all perhaps is 17 year old Kieran Achara, a raw recruit first spotted by Bunyan's assistant George Connell. On Thursday night, the Stirling-born starlet racked up an incredulous 60 points in a contest against Troon and at 6 feet 7 inches and growing, his stock is rising every time he steps on court.
"Kieran's not only a big inside player but he has the ability to race up and down the court," is Bunyan's analysis. "He can run the fast break, he can dunk on the run which not many big players can do … and he has such long arms which allows him to dispossess smaller players. You think you've got past him and suddenly, out they stretch and the ball is whipped away.
"He went to the Five Star Camp, the biggest camp in America, and was named as the Most Valuable Player in their All-Star Game which is an indication of his potential. He's possibly the best shot blocker I've ever seen and certainly, he's potentially the best player ever to come out of Scotland.
Yet Bunyan believes that the present system often does not act in the interests of future heroes like Achara, unable to provide the finance nor the contacts to advance their careers with the kind of schooling which can only be provided across the Atlantic.
"We had a go at getting him to high school in the States last year and certainly there were some offers after Five Star. But there were financial implications and the right situation didn’t crop up. The Scottish League is a good standard right now and I don’t think he's been hurt by staying on here an extra year. But now we have to take it a stage further.
"I have tried to progress this with the Scottish Basketball Association but I have been disappointed with their attitude to elite players. I'll have to look to Ireland or England to help find a route for Kieran to get over there. They already have excellent systems in place and the longer we wait, as a body, to match that, then the more than players with Kieran's ability will suffer."
The good times are back in Falkirk. And even if their bright new star flies the nest, others will surely ensure that basketball in the town, this time, will continue to thrive.
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