Powhattan 1942 Team
The 1942 Powhattan team is very unique and special in PHS basketball history for several reasons.
1. It is the only graduating class that experienced going to the State in all their school years that include 1939, 40, 41 and 42.
2. The 1942 team was most successful in State tournament play finishing in third place by defeating Scranton 49 to 34, and Macksville 31 to 18 before losing to Halstead 24 - 22 who won the State Finals. Powhattan defeated Ingalls in the consolation game 38 - 26 to gain 3rd place.
3. Three players were placed on the All State Honor Roll: 1. Guard - Phillip Cadue, 2. Center - Jack Owens, 3. Forward - Richard Pfister Source - Hutchison News, March 22, 1942.
The team played 31 games winning 28 and losing 3.
4. As shown in the Hiawatha Daily World of April 28, 1942, Powhattan is the only class B school in Kansas to win the state regional basketball tour name for four consecutive years.
The 1942 Powhattan team is very unique and special in PHS basketball history for several reasons.
1. It is the only graduating class that experienced going to the State in all their school years that include 1939, 40, 41 and 42.
2. The 1942 team was most successful in State tournament play finishing in third place by defeating Scranton 49 to 34, and Macksville 31 to 18 before losing to Halstead 24 - 22 who won the State Finals. Powhattan defeated Ingalls in the consolation game 38 - 26 to gain 3rd place.
3. Three players were placed on the All State Honor Roll: 1. Guard - Phillip Cadue, 2. Center - Jack Owens, 3. Forward - Richard Pfister Source - Hutchison News, March 22, 1942.
The team played 31 games winning 28 and losing 3.
4. As shown in the Hiawatha Daily World of April 28, 1942, Powhattan is the only class B school in Kansas to win the state regional basketball tour name for four consecutive years.
Kansas Prep Basketball History Part 6 Revised July 16, 2012 2012
Kansas High School Basketball History
Part Six: Kansas CLASS AA, A & B Tournaments 1941-1951
Once again, over 500 small schools fought it out in district and regional play to gain one of the sixteen spots for the Class B bracket at Hutchinson. Scranton, Appanoose (township school) and Utica made their first and only trips to a state tourney and were dispatched in the first round. 25 The more familiar names - Halstead and Powhattan - were on a collision course. Powhattan brought their most experienced team - all five starters were seniors. Their popular coach Johnny Corrigan possessed a genuine star player in Richard Pfister. 26 Gus Haury was the coach of the Halstead squad in tournament play. He stepped into the job after Coach David
The quarter-final between Halstead and Cedar Vale was the most entertaining of the many bitterly fought contests at Convention Hall. The Dragons were forced to comeback in the final two minutes of regulation to tie the score with Cedar Vale. In the first overtime, Halstead missed two setups and Cedar Vale was unable to penetrate the defense. Halstead's Errol Johnson hit a shot from the corner in the second overtime period to end the game in a sudden death manner. 28 Powhattan rolled their first two opponents and seemed ready to do the same to the Dragons as they built a 14-4 halftime lead. Coach Haury switched offensive tactics in the 2nd half and Halstead reduced the lead to 4 by the end of the 3rd quarter. They continued to shoot well and gained a slim lead late in the game. Then, with Halstead ahead 23-22, the Powhattan Captain called a timeout to plan a last minute strategy, but officials assessed a technical foul on Powhattan because they had already used all of their timeouts. Jack Schultz connected on the free throw and Halstead won the game 24-22. 29
Kansas High School Basketball History
Part Six: Kansas CLASS AA, A & B Tournaments 1941-1951
Once again, over 500 small schools fought it out in district and regional play to gain one of the sixteen spots for the Class B bracket at Hutchinson. Scranton, Appanoose (township school) and Utica made their first and only trips to a state tourney and were dispatched in the first round. 25 The more familiar names - Halstead and Powhattan - were on a collision course. Powhattan brought their most experienced team - all five starters were seniors. Their popular coach Johnny Corrigan possessed a genuine star player in Richard Pfister. 26 Gus Haury was the coach of the Halstead squad in tournament play. He stepped into the job after Coach David
The quarter-final between Halstead and Cedar Vale was the most entertaining of the many bitterly fought contests at Convention Hall. The Dragons were forced to comeback in the final two minutes of regulation to tie the score with Cedar Vale. In the first overtime, Halstead missed two setups and Cedar Vale was unable to penetrate the defense. Halstead's Errol Johnson hit a shot from the corner in the second overtime period to end the game in a sudden death manner. 28 Powhattan rolled their first two opponents and seemed ready to do the same to the Dragons as they built a 14-4 halftime lead. Coach Haury switched offensive tactics in the 2nd half and Halstead reduced the lead to 4 by the end of the 3rd quarter. They continued to shoot well and gained a slim lead late in the game. Then, with Halstead ahead 23-22, the Powhattan Captain called a timeout to plan a last minute strategy, but officials assessed a technical foul on Powhattan because they had already used all of their timeouts. Jack Schultz connected on the free throw and Halstead won the game 24-22. 29
The combined Won - Lost record for the four years was 114 Wins and 16 Lost
A record to be very proud of.
The State Tournament records and season Win-Loss records for the 39, 40 and 41 teams are shown below:
1939 Class B Hutchinson,
Convention Hall
1) Nickerson 41, Bison 35 (Championship)
1st) Nickerson 49 Powhattan 40
Season Record - W 28 L 6
The 5 Powhattan players who have played the most on the1939 first team this year only 1 will be lost by graduation— Jack Kneisel. The other 4, Gerald McCrerey, Bruce Holman, Floyd Skulley, Aloysius Volz will be back for another year. In addition to these players, Musick. Sutley, Pfister, Schuetz. Wenger, Owens, Williams, Barrand, Knelsel, Couch, several other boys will do much to make a good team.
1940 Class B Hutchinson,
Convention Hall
1) Buhler 24, Menlo 22 (Championship)
SF) Buhler 33 Powhattan 31
QF) Powhattan 53, Almena 38
1st) Powhattan 23, Mulvane 15
Season Record - W 32 L 4
In winning 32 out of 36 games against strong opposition the 1939..1940 boy's basketball team won more games than any other high school team in Kansas. This team was defeated 33 to 31 in the semi-finals of the State Tournament at Hutchinson, Kansas, by Buhler, the winner of the tournament. Powhattan led the Champions in the fourth quarter by a 6 point margin but several long shots and a couple of free throws in the waning moments of the game changed what looked like victory into defeat; however it was anyones ball game until the very last. The Hutchinson paper stated that for thrills, clever shooting, and fight, there was never a basketball game played in Hutchinson which excelled this one -- they included in this statement the A.A.U. games which were formerly played in Hutchinson.
1941 Class B Hutchinson,
Convention Hall
1) Sublette 46, Olivet 23 (Championship)
QF) Nickerson 24, Powhattan 23
1st) Powhattan 52 Fontana 20
Season Record W 26, L 3
The 1941 team lost to Nickerson in the State Quarter Finals. The first team was composed of the same players as the 1922 team.
It should be noted that Bruce Holman played on the first two years, 1939 and 1940. Bruce Holman was without a doubt the best and most famous basketball player to graduate from Powhattan. Bruce played at K-State for several years and was recruited to be a coach for K-State. Instead he opted to go to Dental School but then he was still very close to Jack Gardiner and Tex Winters and rendered support when asked. The starting lineup in 1939 reportedly was very strong and included 4 juniors and 1 senior.
Notice in the picture below of the 1940 team. The people on the 1942 team include Jack Owens in the front row normally indicating that he would have been in the top seven players, Richard Williams on the second row and Richard Pfister and Phillip Cadue are on thee third row.
MY BASKETBALL CAREER (A LOT OF BRAGGING)
By Richard Pfizer - Richard played on all four years 1939 - 1942 - Here is his story.
I first touched a basketball when I was in the 7th grade in the Powhattan Grade School. The principal, Paul Boatwright, was our coach. He had been a good high school player in a nearby small high school. I soon got swept up by the game. It was a completely new game to me in the fall of 1936.
How green I was at first! I remember during my first intra-squad scrimmage, an opponent was fouled and lined up on the foul line to shoot. When he got the ball, I yelled to my teammates: “Don’t let him shoot!”
Paul Boatwright was a really good coach for a grade school. He taught a lot of basic things like always pivoting to the outside of the court and playing unselfishly: always pass if a teammate has a better shot.
My brother started playing basketball as a freshman in high school while I was in the seventh grade. We were both interested enough to put up a goal in the hayloft in our barn. We had to take the goal down during haying season and could not put it up again until we had fed the livestock enough hay to clear the floor at the end of the hayloft. The court was not very good—too many braces in the way. Practicing free throws was a problem because of the braces that we had to shoot between. Despite such obstacles, I would practice for hours. I did not limit my practice to daytime, when not doing chores or other farm work, but I frequently went out to practice after supper. There was a light in the hayloft that was enough to allow nighttime shooting practice. I practiced shooting from all spots, shooting with both hands and with one hand -- both right and left hand. We bought rather cheap basketballs which wore out after a few months of use in the hayloft. Occasionally someone else would come to visit and we would play an improvised half-court game. All the practicing enabled me to become a pretty good shooter, a reputation that began when I was in the eighth grade. My recollection is that I continued to practice shooting in the hayloft into my senior year in high school
The high school coach was Johnnie Corrigan. We always called him Coach rather than Mr. Corrigan apparently because he preferred that. He was a strict disciplinarian and coached much as did Bobby Knight except that he did not swear. He stressed ball control and passing the ball around until someone got a good shot--a lay up if possible. He really got onto anyone who made a bad pass.
During my freshman and sophomore years, I played on the B team. The class two years ahead of me had some pretty good athletes, including Bruce Holman. The five starters on the A team were all from that class. My brother, Don, was a starter. He did not score much but was pretty big and was supposed to rebound and defend (they played a zone defense all the time). The three back court players were all over six feet tall and pretty solidly built. Jack Owens was the sixth man and I was the seventh. Jack was a good rebounder and could sub for one of the back court players. My game was much like Bruce Holman’s, who was so good that Coach rarely took him out. Against most teams, we had a B-team game before the A-team game. Jack and I would play in the B games, and then sit on the bench as potential subs during the A games. Our B team won most of our games easily. I was improving and generally led the B team in scoring. When I was a sophomore the county high schools had a tournament for both the A and B teams. After one of our games, one of the other coaches came up to me to and said, “You played a good game. I think you are going to be another Holman.”
I was 5 feet 8 inches at the start of my sophomore year but grew to nearly 6 feet by the start of my junior year. In my junior year, the three of us who had played together in grade school (Jack Owens, Pete Williams, and I) were starters. We were joined by Philip Cadue, a Kickapoo Indian, and Warren Barrand, a senior. Philip was a good athlete, not much of a scorer, but a solid addition to our grade school threesome. He was a sophomore but was three years older than us juniors. His first thought on getting the ball in a game was to try to get it to me. He was a good passer and good on defense. He could score if the defense ignored him.
Most observers thought Powhattan would not be very good in my junior year as all five starters on the A team graduated the previous year. We quickly jelled, however, and became a very good team. All our starters were fairly quick so we always played man to man defense whereas the previous team that [my brother] Don was on always played zone defense. We hated to play games in the small gym at Powhattan. We much preferred to play games away from home because all other schools had bigger gyms. Because we were a quick team, we liked the larger gyms that gave us more room to maneuver. Most teams we played used zones defenses which were a lot more effective in a small gym.
We lost our second game by two points (later avenged by a 22-point margin) and then won 24 in a row. We won 26 games and lost just 3. During a few of our early games, I made some mistakes and Coach really got onto me. By midseason I felt that I could read Coach’s mind and knew exactly what he wanted done at any time during a game. I did not realize it at the time but I was really the team leader.
I nearly always led the team in scoring. When we played against weaker teams, the scoring was spread around more evenly. Against better teams, I was almost always by far the leading scorer even though opposing teams knew I was the leading scorer on our team and paid more attention to guarding me than the others on our team. No one kept team statistics like is done today. The score books showed only goals and free throws made. Coach never made the scoring public, but when we played in a town with a newspaper it usually printed the box score.
During my junior year, Dad started keeping track of the scoring for Powhattan—not the official scoring but just for his own interest. Mom was embarrassed by this: she said people will think that Dad just wants to know how much I had scored. We generally did not discuss my scoring at home, but one morning after I had an exceptional shooting night (see next paragraph), Dad asked me if I knew how many points I had scored. I did remember -- it was 25 -- and Dad said “I don’t see how you can keep track of all the points you scored.” Usually I could remember my point total after each game.
We won the district tournament rather handily in the town of Everest. The regional tournament was held in Holton. Our first game was our toughest. I was especially hot that night. The opposition (Maple Hill) had a weak player guarding me in the first half. I could get around him at will. I scored 19 points in the first half including a couple of left handed shots from just inside the free throw line. That caused a lot of people to think I was left handed, but most of my goals came from my right hand. The only shot I missed in the game came just before the end of the first half. In the second half, I was guarded by their best player who was a pretty good guard. I made just seven points in the second half but my teammates were able to score more in that half. We won 41-35. We won the second game in the tournament by 23-15. The championship game was against Silver Lake (near Topeka). They had some pretty big players who were not very quick. I was again really hot in the first half, not missing any shots and scoring 14 points. For the first and only time in my basketball career, I was given fairly loud round of applause—not by Powhattan folks but by other fans. I think many of them had seen me play all three games and I scored really well in all three. I can recall only one or two misses in all the shots I took during the tournament.
Years later (probably 1951 or 1952) I was in Topeka using the State Library for some research I was doing for the KU Business Research Center. I was eating lunch in a popular cafeteria when I looked up and saw Paul Boatwright across the room. He was eating alone and invited me to join him. He was the State Superintendent for several years after he left Powhattan. He was a popular referee and was one of the referees at the Holton tournament. He did not referee any of our games but we noticed he always watched our games. He had coached three of us in the seventh and eighth grades so followed our high school careers closely. He told me during our lunch in the cafeteria that in the Holton tournament I had put on the greatest shooting exhibition he had ever seen by a high school player.
After winning the regional tournament, it was on to the sixteen-team state tournament in Hutchinson. Our fist game in 1941 was against Fontana—we won 52-20. I scored 21 points (the box score was printed in the Hutchinson paper). One of the goals I made was, I think, the most spectacular of any I ever made. Warren Barrand had tried to intercept a pass as the other team was bringing the ball down the court. He did not get the interception but did as Coach had told us and stayed down under our basket. Warren’s man started dribbling fast down the court. I drifted over from my man and easily picked off his dribble. I took one bounce and heaved the ball down to Warren. He turned to shoot thinking he was under the basket but he was actually ten or twelve feet in front of the basket. The ball hit the back of the rim and bounced straight out in front. I had followed the play after passing the ball to Warren. When the ball bounced high in front of the goal, I was on the dead run and leaped high to take the ball with my right hand from a defender in front of me. I quickly pulled the ball over to my left hand and laid the ball in with a soft layup before hitting the floor. Bruce Holman had hitchhiked from Manhattan where he was a college freshman to watch this game. He was manning our score book and when I made this basket he gave out a loud whistle which could be heard all over the gym.
Our second tournament game was against a good team from Nickerson. Their coach had watched our first game and assigned their best defender to guard me. He was a very good guard. He was taller and quite a bit heavier than I was. He also trash talked while guarding me. I worked my tail off and managed only eight points. We did not have any plays for screening a good guard like this guy was, so I really had to work hard to get just a few shots. We lost the game 23-24.
In my senior year we were not sure than Philip Cadue would be able to play because of his age. High school students over 21 were not allowed to compete in sports. There was some uncertainty as to how old Philip was. Coach Corrigan did a lot of digging in records and came up with convincing information that Philip would be just 20 years old in my senior year. Coach called the basketball team together in the spring of 1941 after our season was over to tell us that the relevant state organization had certified that Philip could play one more year. We were all excited to have him back for another year.
We were, I think, somewhat better in my senior year than in the previous year. We won 28 and lost 3. One of our losses was a one-points upset in the finals of the Brown County tournament by a team that we had beaten twice during the regular season by 20 points once and 9 points the other time. We recovered from that loss and won both the district and regional tournaments to get to the state tournament for the fourth year in a row.
I had a very bad cold the week of the regional tournament. Mom took me to the doctor on Wednesday morning—our first game was on Thursday. The doctor said if I felt better on Friday I could play some. I stayed home from school on Thursday and rested. Coach had a rule that a player could not play if he did not attend school that day. I was desperate to play on Friday if the team could win on Thursday. I could not sleep on Thursday night until dad got home from the game to tell me the team won the first game without me. I went to school on Friday (even though I still did not feel very good) so I could play Friday night. I did play and scored well against a pretty good team. By the end of the game, I was really pooped from the heavy cold that had weakened me. Coach finally took me out (I thought he was never going to do that) late in the game and explained that he took me out as soon as he thought it was safe to do so. I felt better on Saturday night for the tournament final and played the entire game which we won handily.
In the state tournament, we won our first two games by double digits and I scored pretty well in both games. In the semi finals against Halstead I scored 18 of our 22 points, but we lost 24-22. Halstead made a sloppy basket to go up by one. We still had a chance with only a few seconds left but Dick Williams called a time out when we had already used all our time outs. That got us a technical foul (one shot then)—Halstead made the free throw and got the ball after the free throw. So we did not have a chance to go for a last basket. I told the referees right away that we did not want the time out and that we were ready to go, but they said sorry and assessed the technical. I was the team captain and was supposed to do the talking to the referees, but I guess any team member could call time out. That was a very disappointing loss for us. As we went to the shower room, the Halstead coach sought me out to shake my hand and congratulate me on playing a great game. We won the third place game by double digits again.
Note: See Alumni Page for Richard Pfister's choosing of a college and his play at Kansas University.
By Richard Pfizer - Richard played on all four years 1939 - 1942 - Here is his story.
I first touched a basketball when I was in the 7th grade in the Powhattan Grade School. The principal, Paul Boatwright, was our coach. He had been a good high school player in a nearby small high school. I soon got swept up by the game. It was a completely new game to me in the fall of 1936.
How green I was at first! I remember during my first intra-squad scrimmage, an opponent was fouled and lined up on the foul line to shoot. When he got the ball, I yelled to my teammates: “Don’t let him shoot!”
Paul Boatwright was a really good coach for a grade school. He taught a lot of basic things like always pivoting to the outside of the court and playing unselfishly: always pass if a teammate has a better shot.
My brother started playing basketball as a freshman in high school while I was in the seventh grade. We were both interested enough to put up a goal in the hayloft in our barn. We had to take the goal down during haying season and could not put it up again until we had fed the livestock enough hay to clear the floor at the end of the hayloft. The court was not very good—too many braces in the way. Practicing free throws was a problem because of the braces that we had to shoot between. Despite such obstacles, I would practice for hours. I did not limit my practice to daytime, when not doing chores or other farm work, but I frequently went out to practice after supper. There was a light in the hayloft that was enough to allow nighttime shooting practice. I practiced shooting from all spots, shooting with both hands and with one hand -- both right and left hand. We bought rather cheap basketballs which wore out after a few months of use in the hayloft. Occasionally someone else would come to visit and we would play an improvised half-court game. All the practicing enabled me to become a pretty good shooter, a reputation that began when I was in the eighth grade. My recollection is that I continued to practice shooting in the hayloft into my senior year in high school
The high school coach was Johnnie Corrigan. We always called him Coach rather than Mr. Corrigan apparently because he preferred that. He was a strict disciplinarian and coached much as did Bobby Knight except that he did not swear. He stressed ball control and passing the ball around until someone got a good shot--a lay up if possible. He really got onto anyone who made a bad pass.
During my freshman and sophomore years, I played on the B team. The class two years ahead of me had some pretty good athletes, including Bruce Holman. The five starters on the A team were all from that class. My brother, Don, was a starter. He did not score much but was pretty big and was supposed to rebound and defend (they played a zone defense all the time). The three back court players were all over six feet tall and pretty solidly built. Jack Owens was the sixth man and I was the seventh. Jack was a good rebounder and could sub for one of the back court players. My game was much like Bruce Holman’s, who was so good that Coach rarely took him out. Against most teams, we had a B-team game before the A-team game. Jack and I would play in the B games, and then sit on the bench as potential subs during the A games. Our B team won most of our games easily. I was improving and generally led the B team in scoring. When I was a sophomore the county high schools had a tournament for both the A and B teams. After one of our games, one of the other coaches came up to me to and said, “You played a good game. I think you are going to be another Holman.”
I was 5 feet 8 inches at the start of my sophomore year but grew to nearly 6 feet by the start of my junior year. In my junior year, the three of us who had played together in grade school (Jack Owens, Pete Williams, and I) were starters. We were joined by Philip Cadue, a Kickapoo Indian, and Warren Barrand, a senior. Philip was a good athlete, not much of a scorer, but a solid addition to our grade school threesome. He was a sophomore but was three years older than us juniors. His first thought on getting the ball in a game was to try to get it to me. He was a good passer and good on defense. He could score if the defense ignored him.
Most observers thought Powhattan would not be very good in my junior year as all five starters on the A team graduated the previous year. We quickly jelled, however, and became a very good team. All our starters were fairly quick so we always played man to man defense whereas the previous team that [my brother] Don was on always played zone defense. We hated to play games in the small gym at Powhattan. We much preferred to play games away from home because all other schools had bigger gyms. Because we were a quick team, we liked the larger gyms that gave us more room to maneuver. Most teams we played used zones defenses which were a lot more effective in a small gym.
We lost our second game by two points (later avenged by a 22-point margin) and then won 24 in a row. We won 26 games and lost just 3. During a few of our early games, I made some mistakes and Coach really got onto me. By midseason I felt that I could read Coach’s mind and knew exactly what he wanted done at any time during a game. I did not realize it at the time but I was really the team leader.
I nearly always led the team in scoring. When we played against weaker teams, the scoring was spread around more evenly. Against better teams, I was almost always by far the leading scorer even though opposing teams knew I was the leading scorer on our team and paid more attention to guarding me than the others on our team. No one kept team statistics like is done today. The score books showed only goals and free throws made. Coach never made the scoring public, but when we played in a town with a newspaper it usually printed the box score.
During my junior year, Dad started keeping track of the scoring for Powhattan—not the official scoring but just for his own interest. Mom was embarrassed by this: she said people will think that Dad just wants to know how much I had scored. We generally did not discuss my scoring at home, but one morning after I had an exceptional shooting night (see next paragraph), Dad asked me if I knew how many points I had scored. I did remember -- it was 25 -- and Dad said “I don’t see how you can keep track of all the points you scored.” Usually I could remember my point total after each game.
We won the district tournament rather handily in the town of Everest. The regional tournament was held in Holton. Our first game was our toughest. I was especially hot that night. The opposition (Maple Hill) had a weak player guarding me in the first half. I could get around him at will. I scored 19 points in the first half including a couple of left handed shots from just inside the free throw line. That caused a lot of people to think I was left handed, but most of my goals came from my right hand. The only shot I missed in the game came just before the end of the first half. In the second half, I was guarded by their best player who was a pretty good guard. I made just seven points in the second half but my teammates were able to score more in that half. We won 41-35. We won the second game in the tournament by 23-15. The championship game was against Silver Lake (near Topeka). They had some pretty big players who were not very quick. I was again really hot in the first half, not missing any shots and scoring 14 points. For the first and only time in my basketball career, I was given fairly loud round of applause—not by Powhattan folks but by other fans. I think many of them had seen me play all three games and I scored really well in all three. I can recall only one or two misses in all the shots I took during the tournament.
Years later (probably 1951 or 1952) I was in Topeka using the State Library for some research I was doing for the KU Business Research Center. I was eating lunch in a popular cafeteria when I looked up and saw Paul Boatwright across the room. He was eating alone and invited me to join him. He was the State Superintendent for several years after he left Powhattan. He was a popular referee and was one of the referees at the Holton tournament. He did not referee any of our games but we noticed he always watched our games. He had coached three of us in the seventh and eighth grades so followed our high school careers closely. He told me during our lunch in the cafeteria that in the Holton tournament I had put on the greatest shooting exhibition he had ever seen by a high school player.
After winning the regional tournament, it was on to the sixteen-team state tournament in Hutchinson. Our fist game in 1941 was against Fontana—we won 52-20. I scored 21 points (the box score was printed in the Hutchinson paper). One of the goals I made was, I think, the most spectacular of any I ever made. Warren Barrand had tried to intercept a pass as the other team was bringing the ball down the court. He did not get the interception but did as Coach had told us and stayed down under our basket. Warren’s man started dribbling fast down the court. I drifted over from my man and easily picked off his dribble. I took one bounce and heaved the ball down to Warren. He turned to shoot thinking he was under the basket but he was actually ten or twelve feet in front of the basket. The ball hit the back of the rim and bounced straight out in front. I had followed the play after passing the ball to Warren. When the ball bounced high in front of the goal, I was on the dead run and leaped high to take the ball with my right hand from a defender in front of me. I quickly pulled the ball over to my left hand and laid the ball in with a soft layup before hitting the floor. Bruce Holman had hitchhiked from Manhattan where he was a college freshman to watch this game. He was manning our score book and when I made this basket he gave out a loud whistle which could be heard all over the gym.
Our second tournament game was against a good team from Nickerson. Their coach had watched our first game and assigned their best defender to guard me. He was a very good guard. He was taller and quite a bit heavier than I was. He also trash talked while guarding me. I worked my tail off and managed only eight points. We did not have any plays for screening a good guard like this guy was, so I really had to work hard to get just a few shots. We lost the game 23-24.
In my senior year we were not sure than Philip Cadue would be able to play because of his age. High school students over 21 were not allowed to compete in sports. There was some uncertainty as to how old Philip was. Coach Corrigan did a lot of digging in records and came up with convincing information that Philip would be just 20 years old in my senior year. Coach called the basketball team together in the spring of 1941 after our season was over to tell us that the relevant state organization had certified that Philip could play one more year. We were all excited to have him back for another year.
We were, I think, somewhat better in my senior year than in the previous year. We won 28 and lost 3. One of our losses was a one-points upset in the finals of the Brown County tournament by a team that we had beaten twice during the regular season by 20 points once and 9 points the other time. We recovered from that loss and won both the district and regional tournaments to get to the state tournament for the fourth year in a row.
I had a very bad cold the week of the regional tournament. Mom took me to the doctor on Wednesday morning—our first game was on Thursday. The doctor said if I felt better on Friday I could play some. I stayed home from school on Thursday and rested. Coach had a rule that a player could not play if he did not attend school that day. I was desperate to play on Friday if the team could win on Thursday. I could not sleep on Thursday night until dad got home from the game to tell me the team won the first game without me. I went to school on Friday (even though I still did not feel very good) so I could play Friday night. I did play and scored well against a pretty good team. By the end of the game, I was really pooped from the heavy cold that had weakened me. Coach finally took me out (I thought he was never going to do that) late in the game and explained that he took me out as soon as he thought it was safe to do so. I felt better on Saturday night for the tournament final and played the entire game which we won handily.
In the state tournament, we won our first two games by double digits and I scored pretty well in both games. In the semi finals against Halstead I scored 18 of our 22 points, but we lost 24-22. Halstead made a sloppy basket to go up by one. We still had a chance with only a few seconds left but Dick Williams called a time out when we had already used all our time outs. That got us a technical foul (one shot then)—Halstead made the free throw and got the ball after the free throw. So we did not have a chance to go for a last basket. I told the referees right away that we did not want the time out and that we were ready to go, but they said sorry and assessed the technical. I was the team captain and was supposed to do the talking to the referees, but I guess any team member could call time out. That was a very disappointing loss for us. As we went to the shower room, the Halstead coach sought me out to shake my hand and congratulate me on playing a great game. We won the third place game by double digits again.
Note: See Alumni Page for Richard Pfister's choosing of a college and his play at Kansas University.