Although old age often makes the details tougher to remember.

So it is helpful to have documentation or other forms of information.

Some memories are fond, others are painful.

The stories of our lives have chapters that we can neither erase nor relive.

Memories that take us back to when things were both more important and carefree, both good or bad.

In my world, something for me that always takes me back is a good book.

Especially anything concerning the history of high school basketball.

The pages are like a time machine.

The written word is a paint brush filled with a thousand different colors, all in my mind.

For a few hours, or days, I can lose myself in those memories.

You can put your world on hold.

If you are fortunate to pick up a book about someone's life who lived during a time when you were there, those memories hit your brain like a technicolor tidal wave.

As a reader I can relive those precious moments.

Remembering where I was and what was going on in my world.

As time passes by any number of things can trigger a thought.

A song, a smell, a taste, a touch; all can send your mind back to a different place in your past.

Or even a name.

Jay Shidler is a name that takes many people, including myself, back in time to a great era of sports.

The 1970's was an awesome time to be a fan of athletics.

As a long time high school basketball fanatic any mention of the game gets my heart pounding, even now after covering games for over 30-years.

If it has anything to do with the history of this sport, I can't get enough of it.

From the time I was about 10 years old, I can remember reading anything and everything I could get my hands on about high school basketball.

Any newspaper, newsletter, book or magazine I would read cover to cover, page after page.

There have been many books about the great players and great teams in IHSA history and I have read most of them.

However most were just about the team, the kids and the games and it was usually written by a third party; meaning an biographer or story teller.

Some of these books were outstanding because of a different perspective on events.

But when it comes from the “horse's mouth” it always has more meaning.

During my sixth grade year in school, the IHSA made a major change in the way that the marque sport of the state handled it's state tournament.

The Illinois High School Association changed from a single class system to a two-class set up for the state tournament.

Many were skeptical that this was good for the game, thinking that one state champion was the better way to go.

Nevertheless the first season came along, which gave us two outstanding state champions in the first year and set fourth the best 35 consecutive years of the state tournament history.

For this to work and last, there needed to be great squads in both Class A and Class AA.

The first great program that took advantage of the split was Lawrenceville.

Coach Ron Felling built the best Class A program in the state and he eventually became the first coach to win four state championships.

He needed great players to accomplish this feat.

Which leads me to the one who was the best of the bunch and whose book I just recently finished.

One of the words I have always hated when it came to sports is the term “legendary.”

To me, you're either a legend or not. There isn't a gray area.

Legendary sounds like “he was sort of a legend.”

In my eyes, and in the eyes of basketball fans all over this state, Jay Shidler is a legend.

He was the best pure jump shooter I ever saw. I can still remember watching him play and thinking there is no way teams could stop him.

Much has been written about Shidler and if he had played with a 3-point line.

I'm sure that would have added to his totals.

When you hear people talk about his offensive game most talk about his long range shooting.

Shidler was much more than that. He didn't just stand outside and “jack up” shots.

The footage of his games in high school, which there isn't a lot of, told a different story.

He would beat opponents off of the dribble, he would get to the basket, he would knock down free throws.

Shidler was double and sometimes triple teamed.

None of it mattered, Jay was a scorer.

But the other overlooked part of his game was his ability to play defense and rebound.

I remember watching him hustle after a loose ball on the floor, or dive into his own bench to save one from going out of bounds.

There was never a lack of effort. He led by example, which is the only way to do it.

At 6-feet-1, he played against bigger, stronger players and also battled with smaller, quick players.

His offensive prowess overshadowed what he brought to the floor defensively but not by much if you were paying attention.

Jay Shidler had it all.

Rock star good looks and was a “stud” multi-sport athlete in which basketball might have been his second best sport.

The girls loved him, the boys envied him.

His opponents didn't like him much, either.

However all who saw him play or played against Lawrenceville respected him.

The first time I saw him play on TV was in the library my eighth grade year at Woodlawn.

It was Friday, March 15, 1974 when the Indians rallied from a 10-point deficit to defeat Cerro Gordo in double-overtime to advance to the semifinals.

Shidler was the only non-senior who started.

Lawrenceville topped Chicago Christian with all-stater and future DePaul University star Bob Klaas in the semifinals the following afternoon before facing Ottawa Marquette in the title game.

With just a few seconds left, Lawrenceville survived a heart-stopping last second shot by Crusaders' senior guard Marty Brown.

His shot from near the top of the circle missed as the horn sounded on the Indians' second state championship in three seasons, 54-53.

History could've changed in an instant had that shot found the mark.

But it didn't.

His 1974-75 team was bumped up to Class AA because of enrollment and they weren't able to defend their championship and they lost in the regional.

That Indians' edition his junior year might have been the better than his senior squad a year later.

Shidler carried Lawrenceville back to Champaign as a senior, finishing third after a tough semifinal loss to Oneida ROVA.

I was a sophomore and I skipped school on the Friday so I could watch Lawrenceville play Aurora Marmion Academy in the quarterfinals.

They topped Marmion and advanced to the semifinals.

The state title dream for Shidler and his teammates ended with a 77-70 loss to ROVA.

If you're looking for another example of how good of an athlete and defender he was, Shidler was called for goal tending on a ROVA shot where he went up for a block in the paint.

Jay Shidler scored 93-points on Saturday in the semifinals (48) and third place game (45).

He would have easily scored over 50 in the third place game against Buda Western except that the Rams decided to start double and triple teaming Shidler in the fourth quarter with the game tight.

Coach Felling decided to hold the ball out and force Western to come out to guard them, burning a couple of minutes off of the clock.

When the dust had settled on his high school career he had 2,183 career points, 1,013 his senior year (32.6 p.p.g.) and had won a state championship.

However there is much more to Jay and this book.

On the long since canceled ABC's “Wide World Of Sports” at the beginning of each show, host Jim McKay would say the words “The thrill of victory … and the agony of defeat.”

In Jay Shidler's life, both on and off the court, he felt both.

The victories in high school were many, as were the accolades that came with it.

And his beginning at the University of Kentucky was a dream come true as he looked primed to be a college star as he was in high school.

Things didn't go completely as planned as he explained in the book.

Jay Shidler got to live a life that most young athletes can only imagine.

But there were also a lot of bitter times that went with the sweet.

There were troubles, actually many, and Jay tells it all.

In his book “The Blonde Bomber: A Ride With Shide” he tells a his story in his way.

With the help of long-time friend Paul Corio, Jay put together a story of his life and he didn't hold anything back.

He opened up and told his tale in his own words.

It's the tale of a young man who went from what was perceived as a perfect life to the reality of how painful and unfair the world really can be.

"I've just had so many people over the last 40 plus years suggest I should tell my story," said Shidler. "A lot of people knew some things, some people knew a lot of things. I just felt people needed to know the whole real story."

I won't spoil your reading by giving away too much of the information stored in the 300 pages.

I will say it is a must read if you are like me in that high school basketball was the best sport in the state and arguably still is.

Jay Shidler tells his story and it is worth reading.

If you're a sports junkie like myself, picking this book up will be much easier than putting it down.

This is a story that needed to be told.

Below is a link to how you can purchase the book. I'm glad I bought mine.

Click Here To Purchase The Blonde Bomber: A Ride With Shide