In July 1968, Washington Court House City Schools announced that a new basketball coach had been employed; 24-year-old Gary Shaffer, of Wellsburg, W.Va., replaced Jim Wilson, who retired. Shaffer had played three years of varsity basketball at West Virginia University and had coached one year at Easton, Md., where his team won the class B state championship, with a 23- 0 record. He was married and had a 14 month-old son.