Donkey Dominance

The old saying is stubborn as a mule, but after watching the players struggle with their animals at Donkey Basketball Saturday at Noxon, it was clear the idiom could just as easily be stubborn as a donkey.

Once the opening whistle blew at the high school gym, it was obvious who was in charge - the burros.

The players on the three teams competing at the sixth donkey tournament had very little control of where their animal went and were at the mercy of their donkeys.

In donkey basketball, the term “mad dash for the ball” took on a whole new meaning.

When the ball hit the ground, the players had to jump off their donkey and slowly pull their donkey to the ball.

Depending on the strength and stubbornness of the animal, a mad dash for the ball could take anywhere from a couple of seconds to a couple of minutes.

Playing in his first donkey basketball tournament, Spring Creek's Grant Harshbarger said that getting the donkey to do what you wanted was the hardest part about the game.

“I thought it was going to be easy, boy, was I wrong,” said Harshbarger. He said he had no control over the donkey. “I thought they would listen a little better, but they kind of did their own thing,” Harshbarger said.

The one team that struggled the least at controlling their donkeys was the Noxon faculty team.

The Noxon staff started the tournament with a win over the school's seniors and took home their sixth-straight championship and remained undefeated in donkey basketball with a win over Spring Creek.

What's the secret behind the staff's dominance? While some of the staff attribute it to their amazing teamwork, Kelly Moore, Noxon's principal and leading donkey basketball scorer, said it's all in the selection of the donkey. It's not a look in the donkey's eyes, or the strength in the muscles that Moore based his decision.

“It's getting the right input,” said Moore.

Moore said he relies on the donkey handler to tell him which donkey is the Michael Jordan of the bunch. Aaron Shirley, a donkey handler for Donkey Sports, said after taking the donkeys across the western United States for 200 games this winter, he knows how to pick the standouts from the 40 donkeys the Entiat, Wash., company uses for basketball.

“Some are way more athletic than others,” said Shirley.

Shirley didn't just help the staff in picking out the donkeys.

Red Devil senior Kimmy Moore said Shirley gave her one of the fastest donkey because she was an experienced rider. She said that Shirley's pick definitely was fast.

“It bucked a couple of times,” Moore said. She said another plus for Shirley's pick was that it was smaller than most of the other donkeys and a little easier to get on.

“Getting on and holding on,” Moore said was the toughest thing to do in donkey basketball.

Greg Misner, the Noxon football coach playing in his second donkey basketball tournament, also said getting back on the donkey was the toughest thing about the sport.

The Trout Creek teacher said that he had so much trouble getting back on his burro that he took a spill underneath the basket.

“I think I broke my hip,” Misner said.

Broken hips aside, Kelly Moore said that the donkey basketball tournament was a success.

He said about 250 people packed into the gym to watch the pack animals. He said the money raised from the tournament will be used to buy uniforms for the school's teams.