PHOTO COURTESEY OF SHERRY ALLISON The 1976-77 Pahrump Valley High School state 1-A championship volleyball team had Pam Blosser as coach, with the core of the team including Steffi Angell, Johnna Mitchell, Stacy Angell, Merlin Turner, Becky Couch, Cindy Frank, Kelly Costley, Shari Longdon and Debbie Bierman. Advertisement

Pahrump Valley's volleyball team, because of the presence of so many girls off the Nevada state Class A championship basketball squad, gave Trojan fans high expectations in the 1976-77 season.

The team had Pam Blosser as coach, with the core of the team including Steffi Angell, Johnna Mitchell, Stacy Angell, Merlin Turner, Becky Couch, Cindy Frank, Kelly Costley, Shari Longdon and Debbie Bierman.

Longden and Costley were the acknowledged leaders of the basketball team that went 19-0 and defeated Carlin 49-43 in the state title game in Las Vegas in November.

Now, they had a chance to give PVHS, in just its fourth year of existence, its second state team title of the school year. And the Lady Trojans succeeded.

After winning 10 of 12 matches in the regular season, the Trojans went to the state tournament -- played on the University of Nevada campus in Reno -- in the role of favorites. And they lived up to the hype.

The PV girls trounced Fernley 15-12, 15-5 in the first round, then dazzled Coleville, Calif., 15-5, 15-7 in the semifinals.

Zephyr Cove Whittell, which was then, and still is, one of the major volleyball powers in Nevada, was the opposition in the championship match.

Whittell won Game One, 16-14, but led by Longden, Costley and Co., Pahrump Valley claimed the state championship with 15-10 and 15-3 wins.

With 400 miles of separation between the team and most of its fans, there was little excitement generated in Pahrump over that success. Still, a four-year-old high school having produced two state championship teams was an exceptional accomplishment.

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Let us backtrack to what happened in the 1976 segment of the school year ...

The Pahrump Valley boys' basketball team had some major fun at the start of the 1975-76 season.

With coach Joe Peterson moving over from the girls' team to direct the boys, the Trojans won six of their first eight games, romping past Beatty with a then school record 102-49 victory. A few nights later, the Trojans overpowered Death Valley's Scorpions 108-35.

The Trojans finished the season 14-6, with 70-68 and 73-56 losses to Lincoln County dropping them into a tie for second place in the Southern League title chase, as well as into a lower seed in the regional playoffs. In that tournament, the Trojans lost 68-61 to Virgin Valley.

Ron Allison paced the Trojans with a 19.4 points per game average; right behind him at 19.1 was Roger Kendall, who was a first-team all-league selection. Allison was on the second team and relegated to honorable mention status as were Jathan Ward (14 ppg) and Bob Hodges (11 ppg).

And debuting as a freshman was a future PVHS star, Randy Gordon, who scored about three ppg in his rookie season.

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In May 1976, Nye County voters approved a $1.6 million school bond issue, 1,075 to 700. The margin was 378-110 in Pahrump, 323-248 in Tonopah, 95-75 in Beatty and 115-56 in Lathrop Wells.

Gabbs voters said no, 125-76 and other negative results came in Currant (12-7), Manhattan (10-9), Sunnyside (4-0), Round Mountain (34-31) and Ione (12-9). Duckwater said yes 18-8 and Mercury agreed 14-6.

The results meant Pahrump Valley would get a middle school and other major projects would be completed in Beatty, Tonopah, Lathrop Wells and the Amargosa Valley.

It should be noted that in spring 1976, there were 11.33 million acres in Nye County under federal control. That's 98 percent. That year, it was decided that Nye County would receive $250,000 in payments in lieu of taxes.

A couple literary items ... On Sept.17, 1976, the monthly West Nevada Pahrump Valley Times became the weekly Pahrump Valley Times.

Sherry Thrailkill, a Pahrump Valley High School student, had a poem published in Scholastic Voice, a national magazine. Today, you would ask Sherry Allison about that experience.

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In spring 1976, Al Giannotti, an assistant to the deposed Richard Travis, was elevated to the head football coach's job at PVHS, effective with the 1976 season. Joel Sanders was named assistant coach.

The 1976 team finished 3-4, allowing just 77 points, a team record at that point in PVHS football history. Previous teams had allowed 348, 307 and 231 in losing 24 of 26 games.

In the third game of the season, Pahrump Valley edged Virgin Valley 14-13, the first 1-A league victory in football ever achieved by the Trojans.

The 1976 PVHS baseball team, which played its games at Community Park, was 5-9, 5-5 (and in third place) in the 1-A league. Butch Neth hit .455, with Pat Fielder at .394. Ron Allison was 5-4, with an earned run average of 2.32 for the Trojans.

At Beatty, Mike Mueck struck out 23 batters and hurled a five-inning no-hitter as he defeated Indian Springs 14-1, 4-1 in a Southern 1-A twin bill.

In track, the Trojans still did not have a formal team, but they had several athletes excited about having the chance to compete.

In 1976, Lacie Ward won the state mile in 5:44.9 and was second in the 880 in 2:37.3. Roger Kendall ran the 880 in 2:02.

Pard Galvin of Tonopah won the 100-yard dash in 10 seconds flat and the 220 in 0:22.5. He cleared 21 feet, 1 inch in the long jump and Tonopah ran the 4x100 relay in 0:45.8.

Youth baseball debuted in Pahrump, with 70 players competing in that first summer.

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One more item from 1976 ... On Dec. 31, it was announced that the $53,500 Nevada 200, an endurance race for horses, would be contested in April 1977. The event, worth $12,000 to the winner, was a five-day race from Pahrump to Ash Meadows to Shoshone to Hidden Hills Ranch to Tecopa Hot Springs to Pahrump . The mileage was 34.9 miles to Ash Meadows, 46 miles to Shoshone, 51 to Hidden Hills, 31 to Tecopa and 37 to Pahrump . Part of the old Spanish Trail was included along that route.

Pahrump rodeo teams, which competed regularly in the Community Center Arena, included high school students Shauna McCullough, Bryan King, Debbie Bierman, Herb Barris, Duane Barris, Jody Woner, Frank Kennedy, Cliff Lynch, John Stevens and Lee Mathis. Anna Barris was the team advisor.

Rodeo events were a regular feature throughout the year, either in the Pahrump arena, or other towns and cities in Nevada.

Golf was getting ready to emerge, with work continuing on the construction of the Calvada Valley Golf & Country Club, across the street from the Pahrump Valley High School campus.

In July 1977, plans for a 16-lane bowling alley was proposed, with the building to include a restaurant and cocktail lounge, as well as youth-oriented game rooms.

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Pahrump Valley's 1977 baseball team won 13 of 18 games, going 8-2 and finishing second in the league. Coach Rod Poteete's team scored 212 runs and batted .387, with 10 homers and 174 runs batted in.

James Long batted .564 with 31 RBI. Lee Roy Turner hit .465, John Dodge .464 and Robin Ruud .417 for the Trojans. Pete Sevilla was 5-3 to lead the PV pitching staff.

Fast-pitch softball, incidentally, was not added to the PVHS athletics programs until 1981.

In the only noteworthy success in PVHS track, Brian King cleared 6 feet, 2 inches in the high jump at the 1-A regionals.

The 1977 Pahrump Valley football team finished 3-5, including a 20-8 win against Virgin Valley and 20-6 and 28-0 victories against Nye County rival Tonopah. Winky Neth was the Trojans' quarterback, with Tim Worden the main threat at halfback.

There were 509 students in Pahrump Valley schools at the start of the 1977-78 school year, including 187 in grades 9-12, which meant the Trojans' teams would continue to compete in 1-A.

Pahrump Valley's girls' basketball team extended its winning streak over three seasons to 26 games before bowing 45-40 to Lincoln County. The team, in a rebuilding mode, won the regional title again, beating Tonopah 51-21 and Moapa Valley 30-29, but the Trojans were not a factor at state, bowing 57-41 to Whittell at Sparks High School.

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A go-kart track was being developed on the Saddle West property in early 1978 ... Seven holes on the Calvada Valley golf course were scheduled for "casual play" Dec. 1, but that plan was delayed . The course did have a pro, however; he was Paul Bullock, out of Red Bluff, Calif. ... There were 94 cowboys and cowgirls in a high school rodeo hosted by PVHS in March ... At Beatty, 6-foot-6 Joe Pilette and 6-5 Dave Siedentopf helped coach John Lesle compete as a 1-A basketball power at Beatty .

With the passage of the $1.6 million school levy, Pahrump Valley High School was able to add music, and it did, with William Pratt teaching choral and instrumental music. ... A Martin 404 landed on the Calvada strip, with Ohio home builder extraordinaire Charles Huber a passenger on the 'three bedroom-two bathroom' airplane .

Wild Bill Landolfi, in 1977, was a holder of badge No. 75, one of just 300 issued by the United States Auto Club, the primary sanctioning body for the Indianapolis 500 for many decades after World War II. In the mid-1970s, Landolfi and his wife Mary moved to the Pahrump Valley, buying 2 1/2- acres in the Country Place subdivision. Bill started his racing career in midgets and jalopy cars in 1938 at Oswego, N.Y. Landolfi was an official on the technical committee for the 500 when he moved to Pahrump. He was a mechanic for A.J. Foyt in 1962, when the fiesty Texan won the Motor Trend 500. Landolfi was the technical adviser on the Mickey Rooney film, 'Big Wheel' and 'The Winner,' starring Paul Newman.