This COVID-19 pandemic that continues to hang around and disrupt all of our lives in some manner or another, caused many events to be canceled since it first arrived in the United States in 2020.

Among those events in Clinton County was the cancellation last year of one of the longest continuously scheduled happenings, the annual Basketball Booster Club Radio Auction.

With restrictions on public gatherings now at a much lower level, the Booster Club members are once again planning on putting on its fundraising Radio Auction, and this Friday night, February 18, is when the fun gets under way.

The annual Clinton County High School Basketball Booster Club / WANY Radio Auction, which had been an annual fundraising event for more than three decades now, is set for its return run this Friday night.

The auction will fill the airwaves of local radio station WANY from 5:00 p.m. until all items have been sold, which in past years usually sees the event running until the station’s normal time to go off the air, 10:00 p.m.

As had been the case for several years during its run, the auction will be headquartered at the Clinton County High School cafeteria, where the items to be auctioned will be on display.

Although the lineup of players, parents and volunteers who work to solicit and collect the items and services that will be auctioned change as players graduate and move on, little else about the program will change from previous years.

Returning to the long-standing tradition with the auction, callers making bids over the telephone bank will be talking with active Lady Bulldog and Bulldog players from this 2021-22 season.

One of the most successful fundraising events ever organized here, the auction will again feature a varied lineup of items and services that will be sold, all of which have been donated by businesses and services in Albany, Clinton County and the immediate region.

As has long been the case, the Radio Auction found its permanent date and time slot as the Friday evening following the final regular season basketball game, just before the action moves into the district tournament play.

This year, as the case has been for several decades, that falls on the night following the traditional last regular season game, the matchup against Barren County, which this year will be this Thursday night.

Next week, action moves into the 16th District Tournament, which will be hosted this year by Clinton County, and is slated to be played Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

Clinton County’s boys’ varsity basketball team, the Bulldogs, are slated to hit the tournament trail on Monday night, February 21, in a 7:30 p.m. game against Russell County.

The Lady Bulldogs will hit the 16th District Tournament trail on Tuesday night, February 22, going up against Cumberland County in a contest with a 6:00 p.m. tip-off.

A separate article appears this week with details surrounding next week’s 16th District Tournament.

For Friday night’s Radio Auction, long-time hosts Al Gibson and Jack Flowers are again set to provide the on-the-air descriptions of the items being sold during the auction, while volunteers, mostly parents of players, will be working the auction on the sidelines, handling the constant changing lineup of items being auctioned.

Most items being sold will be featured in segments that are approximately three minutes long, with bids being allowed from both audience members who are listening to the program over the WANY airwaves, as well as from those who are actually attending the auction “live” from the high school cafeteria site.

Listeners to the program can tune into the WANY frequency of 100.9 FM, and subscribers to the Mediacom cable television service in Clinton County can also tune to Channel 16, the local access channel, where WANY’s programming is simulcast.

Listeners who find an interest in one or more of the items being sold in each segment can place bids by calling (606) 387-5569.

The case for the past several years, the auction utilizes the “roll-over” system at the high school, which allows the use of only one phone number now, with calls automatically being routed to the next available phone worker.

Also a long time tradition of the auction, in order to be fair to those who were bidding from their homes and listening to the program via the radio, the final 30 seconds of each segment allows bids to be taken over the phones only.

“Attending the auction live, inside the high school cafeteria, can be as entertaining just to watch as the bidding process itself,” Gibson said this week. “Bid challenges take place between friends and that often drives the price of an item up.”

He also noted that with the advent of the cellular telephone, even those attending the auction inside the cafeteria are now able to get in on the bidding process during those final 30 seconds, which can make the process even more fun and entertaining for everyone as well.

The auction’s bidding process has been refined over the years, and the format on auction night will remain the same as it has for many years.

The basic premise of the auction is unchanged from years past, with a group of three or more items or services being described over the air and listed on a large bulletin board at the cafeteria for segments that usually last for just three minutes.

Bidders calling in over the phone or in person can continue to raise the bids on items until the segment ends, winning bidders are announced, and the process starts all over again with a completely new lineup of items.

From time to time, items that have significant value,are deemed to be “big-ticket” items and will be isolated to run for multiple segment lengths.

Those “big ticket” items can range from handmade items to houseboat or pontoon boat rentals or basketball related items such as tickets to college games or even basketballs that have been autographed by the varsity squads and more.

The array of items that will be featured for the bulk of the program will be smaller items that will be as varied and interesting as it has ever been, normally ranging from clothing to health and personal services to furniture and tools.

The radio auction is designed as a way to raise funds to help with expenses associated with the varsity basketball program in Clinton County.

The original premise behind the Booster Club and the fundraising events remains the same today, to give the small high school program a boost in providing materials and opportunities to its student-athletes that might not otherwise be possible on an often strained athletic budget.

While larger schools in larger communities and cities are often able to go the extra mile, smaller programs like the one here often work on shoestring budgets and additional fundraising efforts, such as the one planned for this weekend, are just one attempt at reaching for some status of financial equality with the larger programs.

Items that will be sold Friday night can be picked up during or after the auction at the C.C.H.S. cafeteria for a while following the end of the program, and an additional pick-up day will also be announced throughout the program for those who can’t make it out Friday night.

While most of the items being sold will actually be on hand for pick-up by the winning bidders, other items and services that have been sold will involve gift certificates that can be taken to the vendor.

Bidders using the telephone will be asked to state a bid amount as well as the caller’s name.

If a caller is out-bid by another caller or in-house bidder during a particular segment, then placing a new bid is as simple as making another phone call and placing a new bid on the item.

When bidding has ended on a group of featured items, new items are then presented and described, and the process starts over again.

“We never really know everything that we will have on auction night, until just before the program gets underway and all of the parents have brought their items into the cafeteria,” Gibson said. “We just hope everyone gets in on the fun Friday night – it’s amazing how the community comes together every year to make this fundraising auction a success.”

History of the Basketball Boosters / WANY Radio Auction

The concept of the radio auction fundraiser event for the booster club organization, was an idea floated to the group by long time radio announcer, the late Sid Scott, and Al Gibson, who approached the organization shortly after the club was organized in the mid 1980s.

After several years of co-hosting the program with Gibson, Scott stepped down and Flowers moved in to help out in the role of co-host.

In its early years, the auction was actually based from the broadcasting studios of radio station WANY, but within a few short years, the crowd that was gathering to be close to the base had grown so large that it was moved to the high school cafeteria.

The ever changing lineup of offerings through the years have ranged from homemade cupcakes to even puppies.

“One of the most unique items I ever remember auctioning off was a calf that had been donated by one of the players’ parents – luckily it was a certificate, and not the actual calf that was on hand in the cafeteria,” Gibson said.

He added that in past years, the crowd inside the cafeteria has become so loud and rambunctious, that he and his co-host partner, Jack Flowers, had a hard time keeping control of the program, adding to the entertainment aspect of the event.

“We did have to move our console table out in the hall a few years ago to help us be able to hear each other and see what was going on with the crowd, and that’s been a great help,” Gibson said.

Also, landing on a particular date for the auction to be held has helped with the success of the auction with the public by giving it a slot that people have begun to remember from year to year.

Holding the auction on the Friday night following the last varsity basketball game on Thursday, and just before the start of the post-season tournament play, just seemed to be the most logical place for the event to land.

Gibson remembers that the Auction hop-scotched around for a few years in terms of when it was held during the season, and a couple of times it had to be rescheduled, once due to a heavy snowfall the day before, and another time when a make-up game had to be scheduled and the only available date for both teams was when the auction had been planned.

“The Friday night after the close of regular season play has just been the best scenario for everyone down through the years,” Gibson said.