The Night That Donny Yoder of Hiland High School Was “In A Zone”

Dear Readers,  

Donny Yoder was in a zone that night. Hiland High School was playing at Riverview High School back in 1971. Donny had a night to remember.

It was a cold, snowy night outside, but inside that Riverview gym Donny was hot. Donny was not a ball hog by any means, but he was draining long range jumpers one after another. (Note: This was long before Ohio high school basketball had the 3-pointer.) He had over 40 points, a school record at that time. Everyone marveled at the feat. He simply said, “I was in a zone.”

What does being “in a zone” mean. Donny was a steady double figure scorer, but why did he never score that many points before that night, and why not after that night?

Why do people sometimes get “in a zone”? My wife is a writer and she states that sometimes she gets to the point where words and ideas just flow from her mind to the page. She in a sense is in a writing “zone”.

Inventors try unsuccessfully hundreds of times to develop a product. Then one day they hit on something that’s successful. They become almost obsessed until they perfect their product, hoping that it will change the lives of people. You might say they are in an inventor’s “zone”.

We can come up with many other examples of people, like musicians, professionals, computer geeks, etc. who get “in a zone” until they produce wonderful music, business deals, and technological advances.

Jesus, in Acts 1:8 talked about people getting in a “zone”, if you will. It was a spiritual “zone” that would enable His followers to spread the news about His saving power around the world.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere…” Acts 1:8 (NLT)
 
I'm not sure if Donny is still in the Hiland High School record books. I hope he is, because I got to see someone in person that cold, snowy night that was "in a zone"!

See you next time,
Arlen