The Saline Reporter
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See you on the hardwood
Saline-Bedford game for 'bragging rights' between lifelong friends
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: February 22, 2007
Three years ago, Saline basketball player Aaron Ziegler was playing on the Hornet freshman team as it took on Bedford. As he took his place along the lane during a Hornet free throw, he saw something that caught him completely off guard.
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"I did a double-take," he said, "and then I just kind of froze for a second."
What he saw was that his childhood friend David Strouse, playing for Bedford, had lined up directly across from him. The two had been close friends growing up in Toledo until Ziegler's family had moved to Saline and Strouse's to Temperance.
Ziegler said that the two of them had not been in touch for a number of years. That is, until they ended up battling for the same rebound under the same basket.
"It was funny," Ziegler said of the reunion, adding with a grin that he "probably" got the rebound.
That kind of competitive spirit has made each meeting between Strouse's Mules and Ziegler's Hornets in the three years since just that much more important. The two forwards meet up before and after games to catch up, but it's all business once the whistle blows.
"It doesn't matter. There's bragging rights on the line," said Strouse, who is also a senior. "I do guess I look at the scoreboard a little more."
"We look forward to it. He told me I'd better drop some points on them to keep up," Ziegler said with a laugh. "It's fun like that. It's exciting."
The final Bedford-Saline meeting of Ziegler's and Strouse's career is scheduled for Tuesday in Temperance. When it's over, another chapter will have closed in a friendship that has remained intact almost literally since birth.
The two teens were born a day apart in the same Toledo-area hospital in 1988 –– Ziegler to parents John and Jacque on Aug. 19 and Strouse to Kevin and Gaylene on Aug. 20. Jacque and Gaylene were even assigned to the same hospital room, where they found they lived only a few blocks apart and would be sending their sons to the same elementary school.
Sure enough, Ziegler and Strouse became good friends, getting together often to play baseball and basketball, and joining the same Cub Scout troop.
"He was one of my best friends in Toledo," Ziegler said.
Despite that, the pair lost touch when the families moved to Michigan. Ziegler said he was aware that Strouse had moved to the Temperance area, but didn't know he would be lining up against him on the basketball court until he did.
"He said that he'd seen me, but I didn't know he was on the team," Ziegler said. "I thought he would just play baseball. I didn't even think I'd have the opportunity to play against him."
"It was kind of weird," Strouse said. "I was like, 'Wow, there he is.'"
Since their re-acquaintance, however, the friends have stayed in consistent contact and meet at least twice a year when their teams collide in Southeastern Conference play.
While both said they plan to stay in touch and Ziegler said both are considering attending Michigan State University, this Tuesday's meeting is their last as varsity basketball players makes it all the more important.
"It's special," Strouse said. "It's the last game we'll play against each other and my last home game, so it's going to be a pretty big day. I'm excited."
"It's bittersweet," Ziegler said. "I'm going to be sad it's over."
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