East Liverpool boys basketball coach Kade Reynolds holds up decades old Converse Chuck Taylors he found buried in an old closest in the boys basketball locker room on Monday. The shoes are believed to have been marked up by former equipment manager “Potter Pete” Coplin. (Photo by Kade Reynolds)

EAST LIVERPOOL — East Liverpool’s boys basketball team has a little mystery on its hands.

A pair of worn out old Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star shoes was recently found inside a closet in the boys basketball locker room.

Written on them in red marker on one side was “Potter Pete 8th Grade” and on the other side “8th Grade City Champs 1929”. On the sole there appears to be “1929 Champs” written again. Also the initials that appear to be “WM” are also on the shoe.

East Liverpool basketball coach Kade Reynolds confirmed that the writing on the shoe matched that of Arthur “Potter Pete” Coplin, a well-regarded supporter of East Liverpool athletics who was born in 1929 and died in 2013. Coplin operated the scoreboard at Patterson Field from 1952 to 2004 and the press box there is named after him. According to a story in the Review shortly after his death, it is said that he became involved in Potter basketball at least as far back as 1968. For many years he was the equipment manager for the high school team.

Reynolds said someone researching the matter said that the William McKinley school won the 8th grade basketball city championship in 1929 according to an old newspaper article.

“William McKinley won the city championship in 1929 which is WM which is written on the shoe,” Reynolds said.

The shoes do not date to 1929, however, the outer logo is consistent with shoes made in the 1950s through 1990s. The inside of the shoe no longer has any markings or labels, so specifically dating it is difficult. The heel tag on the back is white.

“I don’t know if (Pete) made these for someone who played on the team or someone he met,” Reynolds said. “Maybe he wanted to give them to someone and never did or had a project in mind. They were shoved in the back closet in the back of our locker room and I found them (on Monday).”

Reynolds said that’s not the last of the old objects found back there.

“There’s an old ice skate I haven’t messed with yet,” Reynolds said. “There’s a bunch of old stuff back there. Nonetheless the hard part is we will never get to ask him why he wrote it on there.”