You weren't there, so you don't really don't have a basis of opinion on what we were playing.
Theater of the Mind does not preclude the use of graph paper map sketches and lead minis (yes, they were LEAD back in my day). Theater of the Mind means that you describe your actions and movement thought the use of words, not by counting squares and moving your pawn. We didn't do map-based actions/movement. AD&D groups back then would just place our lead avatars on the table with descriptions like "Well, you are over here [marks on the paper] and Fy-Tor is about 20 feet away over here... and the monster [places lego mini-fig] is standing about here near this stalagmite... [draws on paper]..."
The minis and drawings were to provide illustrative clarity, not tactical play.