BOLTON — All stories have an ending; this one was a happy one.
It marked the last time the Bolton boys’ basketball team would be together as it was celebrated one final time at a ring ceremony in the gymnasium at Bolton Central School on Tuesday.
“I was talking to the boys on their senior trip this past week, and I said, ‘It’s great that we get to honor you guys, but now it’s starting to become a reality that you’re going to be gone next year,’” head coach Cody Kober said.
“The last six years have been great, but now it’s like turning a page into the next chapter. It’s definitely surreal.
“This is a great way to honor them, and I couldn’t be more proud of these young men.”
Tuesday night was a celebration of a season in which the Eagles became the second Section VII school, and first in the MVAC, to win a NYSPHSAA Class D state championship.
Bolton (26-1) defeated Sackets Harbor, 65-49, March 22 to complete an objective many of the players set years prior.
“When these boys were in sixth grade, I started coaching them in youth basketball … Just the way the cookies crumbled, I guess, I wound up being the modified soccer coach,” Kober said in March. “I was the varsity basketball coach, and I helped out with baseball.
“So I think there was a span of 13 months right after COVID where I was with these guys, whether soccer, basketball or baseball, and we built up great, great relationships.
“This group of seven truly means the world to me. They say we’re like family, but they truly are my family. I love these guys.”
The players agreed about the journey being complete, with Jace Hubert saying it was a “full-circle moment.”
“They say, you know, dreaming about manifesting it for so long that actually seeing (the ring) here in my hand, it is surreal. And it hasn’t sunk in yet,” Hubert said.
Liam Foy, who reached 1,000 points in the championship game, joked he was still in shock. It hadn’t quite sunk in for him yet either.
“It’s so hard to get your head wrapped around,” Foy said. “Like, I went through baseball still, like, saying, ‘I’m a state champion,’ but walking to school every day, I saw the banner up on the wall saying, ‘I’m a state champion.’
“My head’s almost wrapped around it, but not yet, though. But it’s still hard to believe that it all happened.”
THE CEREMONY
Families, friends and Eagles fans filled the gymnasium Tuesday.
The team ran out from the locker room, as they’ve done multiple times before, in the uniforms they wore when they won the state title.
Foy couldn’t believe he got another chance to put it on.
“I mean, I put it on and had to go take a picture of myself because it feels amazing to be back in it,” he said.
“Ever since state, I miss wearing this jersey … I love baseball, but I miss putting this basketball jersey on.
“Putting it on one last time, like, it meant a lot.”
There was a video showing the road to the championship, displaying pictures from throughout the season.
After the video, New York’s all-time leading scorer Joe Girard III spoke, congratulating the team.
Girard scored 4,763 points during his time at Glens Falls. He went on to play collegiately at Syracuse and Clemson before going overseas to play professionally.
“These guys will remember this for a very long time,” Girard said. “Not just them, but the community itself.
“The brotherhood they built together is truly special — that transcends the game itself. It was truly an honor to keep track of them over the past season.”
Girard spoke of the team’s accomplishments from back-to-back Section VII Class D championships, undefeated regular seasons and individual accomplishments of players like Jaxon Egloff, who was named New York Player of the Year in Class D.
“But it’s not an individual sport,” Girard said. “It takes a team to accomplish the goals you set for yourselves. You completed that together.”
Hubert said Girard was someone he couldn’t wait to meet personally after the ceremony.
“He’s one of my favorite players, and he’s from the area … I watched him at Syracuse and Clemson, and I always kind of looked up to him as a player,” Hubert said.
“I watched this high school tape when he won a state championship. That video they played on the board. I’ve watched that video about, I don’t know, 10 times, probably. And you know, he’s a great role model. Super cool to have him here.”
State Sen. Dan Stec and Assemblymember Matt Simpson also spoke at the ceremony.
They met with the team April 23 to present legislation for them winning the state title. On Tuesday, they also presented official legislative resolutions to five Bolton players that reached 1,000 points over the season — Jaxon Egloff, Foy, Hubert, Maillie Kelley and Jadynn Egloff.
But the main attraction was the ring itself.
THE RING
One-by-one, each player and coach was announced and went through a line of officials before receiving their ring.
Players joked about peeking into the box, but the plan was for them to open them together to see what the ring looked like.
Kober said the team was asked to pick the style, but the administration ultimately chose the design.
When the players approached Kober about their pick, it happened to be the same one the administration went with.
“Yeah, these are amazing,” Hubert said. “I’ve been dreaming of these since I’ve seen other teams do it since I was a little kid. I told the guys, ‘It’s not only a state championship, but we get custom rings, too.’
“I can’t be happier to see so many community members here — parents, loved ones, all here supporting us. It feels amazing.”
After everyone got their ring, a countdown began in the crowd for the unveiling, led by Superintendent Chad Shippee.
The players took the ring out, and smiles instantly crossed their faces. They all looked amazed as they showed their rings to each other.
“I mean, I saw NBA guys walk around with it,” Foy said. “I saw they were giant. They looked sick, and I was like, ‘I’ve always wanted one of those.’
“Just now, coming here and being presented with it, it feels amazing.”
‘A COMMUNITY FEEL’
Everyone spoke of how the community has been part of the journey. After the ceremony itself, players took time to sign team pictures for people to take with them.
Kober said it simply amazes him how many people followed their journey.
“The team, in general, means the world, you know. And it’s not just Bolton, it’s the surrounding communities down here,” he said.
“I was actually at a celebration of life for a friend of mine who’s in his 30s and passed away, and I had people there coming up to me saying, ‘Hey, congrats, we followed you all season. We’re so excited to see a local team doing it again.’
“People were shaking my head, and I’m thinking to myself, ‘Oh my goodness.’ Like, you know, all the way down to Glens Falls and, you know, up to Chestertown, even up to North Creek.
“People, anytime I see them, they’re shaking my hand, saying thanks for bringing it back to this area. So the team, in general, means the world to the community, but it’s like a beacon of hope, I guess, for the surrounding communities. Maybe they can do it, too.”
The team themselves get reminders almost daily about what they did.
“We’re the first basketball team to ever win a state championship in Bolton,” Foy said. “All the little kids look up to us, like, the whole community hasn’t stopped talking about it.
“I went to Rogers (Memorial Park) to play pickup basketball with all the younger kids, and I had a mom walk by saying, ‘That’s a state championship champion.’ From hearing that to seeing the banners up on the wall, it’s just surreal.”
In the end, it was the closing of a chapter of the Bolton boys’ basketball season, a season that ended the way players told Kober years before they wanted to accomplish.
“I’m looking at the crowd right now,” Kober said. “How many people showed up here? The guest speakers that we have around the state, it’s really surreal.
“It’s something that I started to dream about when these guys made it seem like it was a reality, but getting the rings, presenting before everyone here and everyone sharing a clap one last time for these guys, I couldn’t think of any better way to send them off.”