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Johnnie Corrigan’s Win-Loss Record in Basketball
Submitted by Ronald Pfister (Class of ’58)
Research on Johnnie Corrigan’s win-loss record in boys’ basketball, while he was at Powhattan High School, began early in 2016. Steven Farney, author of several books about high school basketball in the state of Kansas, began a project to write a book about small town schools in Brown county that ceased to exist after consolidation. He chose two teams from each of several schools to write about that made it to state basketball tournaments. The two years selected from Powhattan were the 1942 and the 1952 teams.
A question Steven Farney asked concerned the number of wins Johnnie Corrigan had in boys’ basketball while at Powhattan High School. Jerry Draney and I began the early research into trying to answer this question, using old newspaper articles found on the website, Newpapers.com. One of the best sources of information was the Atchison Daily Globe, a paper that provided a thorough coverage of Powhattan scores, particularly in the ‘30s and ‘40s.
The Morrill Library in Hiawatha, was valuable in obtaining scores from The Hiawatha Daily World through the website, http://morrill.advantage-preservation.com/. The Hiawatha paper didn’t consistently cover the smaller schools in Brown county, perhaps because the schools didn’t report scores. The coverage was better during tournament times in February and March. The Hiawatha paper had numerous favorable articles about Johnnie Corrigan’s Powhattan Red Devils.
The Mary Cotton Library in Sabetha was a source of some scores found in the Sabetha Herald, through the website, http://marycotton.advantage-preservation.com/.
The Fairview Enterprise newspapers can now be found on http://newspapers.com/.
The next level of research involved identifying and contacting individuals who had old yearbooks, school newsletters, pictures, and newspaper articles. I found old Fairview yearbooks at the community building in Fairview. A variety of old yearbooks were located at the Morrill Library in Hiawatha, the Brown County Historical Society, the Horton library, and Wetmore High School.
In one day, Anita and I visited Hiawatha, Horton, Wetmore, Seneca, and Sabetha. In Winchester, we visited with Raymond Riley (brother of Lois Corrigan) and his wife. My brother, David Pfister, and I discovered some scores in old Everest Enterprise newspapers one morning at the Everest library. The Horton Headlight newspaper published a news article that explained the search for Powhattan basketball scores when Johnnie Corrigan was coach. The article requested that anyone with information to please contact us. Anita and I spent two days at the Kansas Museum of History in Topeka, searching through old archived newspapers.
The more we got into the search, the game results became fewer and farther between. We followed up on countless tips, trying to add to the total wins. Occasionally, we would find another score, which renewed our motivation to keep searching. I can’t possibly list or thank all the people who contributed information.
A special thank you goes to Betty (Wenger) Barnes for donating considerable time, for old school newsletters, and for making many contacts on behalf of this project. Thank you all!
We have looked for the old scorebooks, which would have made this project a lot easier. We have followed up on many rumors as to where the scorebooks may be located. No one has come forth with the definitive answer. If anyone knows, they are keeping the secret very well. Perhaps, we will never know.
The total wins and losses identified so far are 670 wins versus 246 losses (a 73% winning percent). Apparently, the record for most wins in the state of Kansas is held by John Locke, long time Natoma coach, with a total of 731. Can we find more wins? The Appendix contains tables that show some games that are known to have been played, but have missing scores and/or missing winners.
Submitted by Ronald Pfister (Class of ’58)
Research on Johnnie Corrigan’s win-loss record in boys’ basketball, while he was at Powhattan High School, began early in 2016. Steven Farney, author of several books about high school basketball in the state of Kansas, began a project to write a book about small town schools in Brown county that ceased to exist after consolidation. He chose two teams from each of several schools to write about that made it to state basketball tournaments. The two years selected from Powhattan were the 1942 and the 1952 teams.
A question Steven Farney asked concerned the number of wins Johnnie Corrigan had in boys’ basketball while at Powhattan High School. Jerry Draney and I began the early research into trying to answer this question, using old newspaper articles found on the website, Newpapers.com. One of the best sources of information was the Atchison Daily Globe, a paper that provided a thorough coverage of Powhattan scores, particularly in the ‘30s and ‘40s.
The Morrill Library in Hiawatha, was valuable in obtaining scores from The Hiawatha Daily World through the website, http://morrill.advantage-preservation.com/. The Hiawatha paper didn’t consistently cover the smaller schools in Brown county, perhaps because the schools didn’t report scores. The coverage was better during tournament times in February and March. The Hiawatha paper had numerous favorable articles about Johnnie Corrigan’s Powhattan Red Devils.
The Mary Cotton Library in Sabetha was a source of some scores found in the Sabetha Herald, through the website, http://marycotton.advantage-preservation.com/.
The Fairview Enterprise newspapers can now be found on http://newspapers.com/.
The next level of research involved identifying and contacting individuals who had old yearbooks, school newsletters, pictures, and newspaper articles. I found old Fairview yearbooks at the community building in Fairview. A variety of old yearbooks were located at the Morrill Library in Hiawatha, the Brown County Historical Society, the Horton library, and Wetmore High School.
In one day, Anita and I visited Hiawatha, Horton, Wetmore, Seneca, and Sabetha. In Winchester, we visited with Raymond Riley (brother of Lois Corrigan) and his wife. My brother, David Pfister, and I discovered some scores in old Everest Enterprise newspapers one morning at the Everest library. The Horton Headlight newspaper published a news article that explained the search for Powhattan basketball scores when Johnnie Corrigan was coach. The article requested that anyone with information to please contact us. Anita and I spent two days at the Kansas Museum of History in Topeka, searching through old archived newspapers.
The more we got into the search, the game results became fewer and farther between. We followed up on countless tips, trying to add to the total wins. Occasionally, we would find another score, which renewed our motivation to keep searching. I can’t possibly list or thank all the people who contributed information.
A special thank you goes to Betty (Wenger) Barnes for donating considerable time, for old school newsletters, and for making many contacts on behalf of this project. Thank you all!
We have looked for the old scorebooks, which would have made this project a lot easier. We have followed up on many rumors as to where the scorebooks may be located. No one has come forth with the definitive answer. If anyone knows, they are keeping the secret very well. Perhaps, we will never know.
The total wins and losses identified so far are 670 wins versus 246 losses (a 73% winning percent). Apparently, the record for most wins in the state of Kansas is held by John Locke, long time Natoma coach, with a total of 731. Can we find more wins? The Appendix contains tables that show some games that are known to have been played, but have missing scores and/or missing winners.
