Buchanan Boys Varsity Basketball Won State Championship Twice In A Decade

by Garrick Stubblefield, Writer

The Buchanan Bucks were a great team in the decade of 1970-1980. They won multiple district, regional and finals. But, in 76 & 78 they had won the state championship. Their star for those two years was Gerald Busby. It wasn’t just him, it was a team effort that got them there. In the 76 season championship they happened to go undefeated that year.

They compiled a 100 point game and a couple of 90 point games and a few 80 point games. The Bucks came back two years later and won the championship again followed by Gerald Busby. Gerald has many Buck records that still hold in the basketball records.

Images on March 2023 page in the Buchanan District Library “Remembering Buchanan” 2023 Calendar, Photos from Buchanan Community Schools Records, Buchanan District Library

“Buchanan Basketball Playoff Victories, March 12 and March 17, 1977
Photographs from Buchanan Community Schools Records, Buchanan District Library

Buchanan High School’s basketball team was a powerhouse in the mid-1970’s and it brought home the goods, earning the Bucks first State Basketball Championship … and then their second. The team’s consistently strong performance in 1976, 1977, and 1978 wasn’t simply due to good coaching-in fact there was a different coach each season–but was founded on the perfected talent of stars like Busby, Garrett, Frazier, Williams, Vanderbush, and Kyles. Many of the individual and team records set in those years still stand today. Buchanan earned State Class-C Championships in 1976 and 1978, but with these photos we re giving a little love to the middle-child, the 1977 team which upset Kalamazoo-Hackett in the regionals on March 12th, bested Shelby in the quarter-finals on March 17th (Buchanan’ fourteenth consecutive tournament victory but painfully lost to Redford-St. Mary’s in the semi-finals two days later. These photos help us experience happier moments of the ’77 season as Buchanan made its way through the playoffs and celebrated the 57-52 victory over Hackett (on the right) and the 74-61 win over Shelby (on the left). Not every year can be a championship year; but there was a time in the mid-1970 s When it seemed like consecutive championships were a real possibility.” – (Text as provided below images on March 2023 calendar page)

March 2023 in the Buchanan District Library “Remembering Buchanan” 2023 Calendar, Photo of calendar by Jen Garry

The Buchanan Chronicle had the honor of sponsoring the month of March in the Buchanan District Library “Remembering Buchanan” 2023 Calendar. We wanted to bring you some of the backstory for the associated photos and story on the March 2023 page.