In this April 2024 file photo, Jim McElrath Sr. sits for an interview at the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame. P-J photo by Scott Kindberg

Jim McElrath Sr. sat in a chair at the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame one day last spring, a microphone clipped to his red-fleece pullover, as he was interviewed by local sports historian Greg Peterson.

I sat in, listening intently.

The fascinating question-and-answer session ended up lasting almost an hour, covering nearly every aspect of “Mr. Mac’s” life, from his growing-up years in Mercer, Pennsylvania, to his time at Westminster College and Grove City College, and ultimately to his professional career as a teacher and administrator.

At 89, his memory was sharper than someone half his age, particularly when he talked about basketball and especially when discussing his eight-year tenure as the head hoops coach at Panama Central School.

From the late 1950s through the mid-1960s, McElrath posted a 115-31 record, and the Panthers won four Section VI championships and advanced to the sectional semifinals twice and to the sectional finals once. But in those days, there was no state playoff system, much to the chagrin of McElrath, who had experienced that playoff trail during his playing days at Mercer High in the 1950s.

With that in mind and with his beloved Panthers returning from Binghamton on Saturday with a New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class D championship, I couldn’t wait to connect with the Chautauqua Sports Hall-of-Famer to get his reaction to the school’s first-ever hoops crown.

As expected, McElrath didn’t disappoint.

“Congratulations to Coach Ed Nelson and also the players,” he said on Sunday afternoon. “They’ve been after this for a long time. The community deserves congratulations, too.”

If you get the idea that McElrath still has a soft spot in his heart for the folks in Panama, you’d be spot on.

“I can’t be more pleased,” he said. “It’s more for the community than anything. I’m just so excited for them. It’s just wonderful. They’re a small-town community, like in (the movie) ‘Hoosiers.’

“I feel that way because ‘Hoosiers’ was a (story of a) team that came out of nowhere … and they won their championship. Panama’s fans were so into the basketball program and loved the program, just like (the fans) in ‘Hoosiers.'”

Before McElrath arrived in Panama Central during the 1956-57 season, the Panthers had never won a title game, but that all changed with him calling the shots.

Don Wood, who played for McElrath on the 1963 Section VI championship team, offered the following assessment of his high school coach in a story that appears on the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame website: “Coach McElrath had taught us not only to be winners playing his beloved game of basketball, but lessons that would be with us our whole lives.”

The players on the 2025 team are big-time winners, too.

“It’s been a wonderful year for that school,” McElrath said. “They’re the best.”