In 1964, Newton County Comprehensive High School won the school's first and only state basketball championship. The next year, the Rams were bounced out of the state tournament in the first round. Some say that was the best team legendary coach Ron Bradley ever put on the floor. But something else happened in 1965 that was nearly as significant.

R.L. Cousins High School went all the way to the championship game only to lose a heartbreaker and finish as the state runner-up.

In the years since, much has changed. R.L. Cousins was closed forever and Newton County went through the slow process of integration. The memories of the '65 Wolverines and the other great teams that ran up and down the floor at Washington Street were locked away in a gym that was left to deteriorate.

Recently those memories have reemerged, and in many cases been shared for the first time. Wolverine Gym was renovated and reopened and the team has been celebrated several times since.

Newton High School raised a banner Tuesday to commemorate the 1965 state runners-up. Finally, the Wolverines have been enshrined. Fittingly, their banner will hang alongside the one that honors the 1964 Rams. More importantly, it will hang there forever.