1946…A SEASON WITH VARIOUS NOTES…PART 2

The season ending highlight was the story on the A.P. All-State team which was released on November 29.  Not much in the way of individual statistics except ages, height and weights and a few bits about notable players performance…” Great tackler, fast runner etc.” Few statistics other than scoring totals were often kept at this time.  As colleges began, in the 1920’s and 30’s it took a while for high schools in Wisconsin to start tracking individual player rushing, passing and receiving game and season stats.  Sometimes the stats that were reported were estimates.

The1946 A.P. All-State Team and some Player Information

From the Wisconsin State Journal, November 29, 1946

About several of the players on the squad: 

Tom McCormick of Madison Edgewood was All-State in 1945 as a junior and repeated in 1946, the first player to do so.  On the 1945 team there were two others that were ex-servicemen who were juniors as they returned to school.  But, because of their age, 20-years old, they were ineligible to play in 1946.  Milwaukee Washington, coached by Lisle Blackbourn, had three players on the team and five schools had two members.  A team with two players was South Milwaukee.  End Gene Clark and back Harry Hugasian were two of the three juniors on the 1946 squad.

There were a series of three weekly ballots submitted to the A.P. by coaches and sportswriters stating in week seven, dwindling the list down to 38 players.

As mentioned in my blog about Boscobel, running back Jerry Schafer led the state in scoring.  Jerry scored 162 points on 25 touchdowns and 12 extra points.  He scored a SWL Conference record 143 points in seven league games.

I also mentioned in a Clintonville story that Gladwin “Bobby” Born scored 11 touchdowns in 1947.  I found, thanks to A.P. stories and then research in the Appleton Post-Crescent that as a junior in 1946 he scored 17 touchdowns for a total of 102 points.  Here are some from a team that collected stats: In the New London game, he carried 19 times for 209 yards and two long scores.  Against Wabeno he scored twice and gained 219 of the teams 239 yards and followed up with six scores in a 60-0 win over Marion.  He made the final list but was not named to the 1946 All-State team, but the pollsters made up for it by naming him to the 1947 squad.

 For several seasons Bob Petruska of Lake Mills was considered one of the top players in the state.   In 1946 he led the state in rushing with 1,461 yards on only 94 carries for a 14.3 average.  He scored 15 times during the season, had a four-conference game punting average for a 52.0 per kick and six touchdown passes.  He was playing in ’46 with an injured right hand and completed 6-6 for 112-yards and twoscores.  In 1945 he tossed 14 touchdowns and ran for 12.

Then there’s Tom Curry of Tomah

One of the great stories of 1946 was about the Tomah Indians and their “little” left halfback, Tom Curry.  He was the “talk” of the state in 1946.  The team started a 33-game unbeaten streak in 1942 and in 1946 they went 8-0-0.  As a junior in 1945, Curry played quarterback scoring seven touchdowns and 12 extra-point kicks as well as passing eight touchdowns.  Against La Crosse Aquinas he had a 58-yard punt and against Westby Curry threw three touchdowns.  In basketball he scored 283 points.  In baseball he played shortstop and hit .414.  In track he broad jumped 19 ft., 6-inches.  In boxing he won three bouts.

Curry was now 16-years old in 1946, and he moved to the left halfback position.  The 5’4, 120-pound back was explosive.  Scoring 17 touchdowns and kicked 18 extra-points for a total of 120 points Tom had long touchdown runs of 72, 70, 66, 44, 41, 30, 29, 26, 24 and 20.  He threw three option scores. Curry had scoring games of 22, 21, 20, 20, 18 and 14.  Curry was listed in various papers as weighing 119, 120, 121, 138 or, in the case of the A.P. All-State Prep squad listed as weighing 128-pounds.  He is the smallest player ever to make first team All-State and he aslo, as previously mentioned, stared in other sports.  Besides being the class president Curry earned four letters in football and basketball, three in baseball and boxing and two in track.  That’s 16 varsity letters.  In basketball he played both guard and forward (At 5’4)!!

November 29, 1946, Wisconsin State Journal

Other Prep Notes on the Season:

Besides the A.P. stories, The Wisconsin State Journal reporter Joe Dommershauen was given a byline entitled “Prep Notes”.  Besides covering various Friday and Saturday games, Joe took information from many state-wide news reports.

He reported that John Lilly of Muscoda and Bud Carrington of Merrill both were credited with 100-yard touchdown runs.  With the ball on the 1-inch line, Lilly ran a fake punt play to score.  Carrington went from the opponent's goal line to his end zone with an interception.  I may have to update the record book with these two efforts.

Getting back to Boscobel’s Jerry Schaefer.  When he reported for fall practice the school only had 26 players showed up and 12 were freshmen.  Eight of the 26 weighed 120-pouns or less.  Boscobel finished in third place in the SWAL and a 6-2 record.

Fullback Warren Lay of Jefferson averaged 10.5 yards per carry.   His top game was against Delafield St. John’s Military Academy when he carried the ball 17 times for a 11.1 average. He also didn't make the final cut for the All-State team.

Ashland not only ended Wausau’s 46-game win streak, and they only lost one game, a 7-6 defeat to Superior Central.  The Oredockers won the Wisconsin-Michigan Conference title, and they scored their first win over Ironwood in 25-years.

St. Patrick's High School in Eau Claire (Now known as Regis) had to cancel two games due to outbreaks of polio.   As recounted in my book, this disease was the scurge of the nation that hit a high point in the early 1950’s before a cure was available.  St. Patrick's lost out on playing “bookend” games, the first was to be the season opener against Rochester (MN) Lourdes and their next to final game against Medford.  Shawano also had to halt play for 10-days in early October as two players contracted polio.

On October 26 Dick Hartman of Milwaukee Washington kicked a, then, state record 60-yard field goal.  That same day, Dick Tracy of Milwaukee Boy’s Tech duplicated the feat but becaues there were 12 Tech players on the field it was nullified. 

Despite earning weekly A.P. notice six times during the season, Allen Bostad of Stevens Point failed to make the A. P. All-State team.

Algoma quarterback, Bob Zastrow, in a 38-6 win over Sturgeon Bay on November 2 threw four touchdowns, ran six-yards for a touchdown, ran 80-yards for a score of an interception.

In early November the WIAA voted to modify the 19-year-old age for participation in sports.  The current rule was amended so that if a player in a current sport turned 19, he could continue to play in that sport but not any later sports. As an example, if at the start of the fall season a 19-year-old would not be eligible but if he turned 19 during that season, he could continue playing that sport.

Finally, Manitowoc ran into defeats on two sucessive weekends.  Leading 6-0 against Green Bay East, fullback Eddie Wagner dropped back to punt, but center Bill McElliott snapped the ball over Wagners head.  East recovered and two plays later they scored, kicked the extra point and won.  The next week tied 7-7 against Sheboygan Central, Wagner again dropped back to punt.  McElliott again snapped the ball over Wagners head.  Wagner picked the ball up and attempted torun with the ball and was buried by Sheboygan’s defenders.  Central scored the deciding score and won 14-7.

1946 was a very good year for the press to communicate better prep information.

1946…A SEASON WITH VARIOUS NOTES…PART 1

World War II finally ended in September 1945 with the signing of the Japanese surrender.  The 1945 season went on as usual with many returning veterans taking up their former or new coaching positions.

This is about 1946, a year that saw long win streaks end, begin or continue.  Many interesting stories…here, they will be brief…about those streaks, players and coaches.

In 1945 the Associated Press, through the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association, presented the first “official” All-State football team.  The A.P. also filed recaps to all the newspapers that handled their services.  Each Saturday or Sunday many papers around the state published the A.P. recap of the top games of Friday.  A person reading the recaps could learn a lot about the top teams and players.  Besides the All-State teams many people didn’t get info outside of their local area until this time.  In 1945 the A.P. also started another storyline by keeping track of the undefeated teams starting in week five.  It was mainly just a list with very little additional info.  In 1946 things changed as the A.P. began including additional information about some of the undefeated teams.  The A. P. posted their undefeated list on Tuesdays and a recap of what was entitled “The Weekly Prep Honor Roll” highlighted the top efforts from the previous weekend that included an additional Honor Roll list of those nominated by the team coach or sportswriters from their area.

 Now, on with the stories.

First, the streaks. 

The great Wausau 46-game winning streak, coached by Win Brockmeyer, was snapped in game two by a good Ashland team, 13-7.  The Lumberjacks ended the year with a 5-1-2 record.  Their conference winning streak of 70-games would continue until a 13-6 loss to Stevens Point in game three of the 1949 season.

Gale Quandt was guiding his Tomah Indians to an undefeated 8-0-0 season and was in the midst of a 33-game unbeaten streak.  The streak began with a 6-6 tie to Westby at the end of 1942 and would conclude in game two in the 1947 season with a 13-0 loss to Reedsburg. Tomah won four consecutive West Central Conference championships under Quandt.

Cedarburg, under the tutelage of Vince Cibik, lost their season opener 8-0 to West Bend but the next week there was a 6-6 tie against Port Washington.  That game started a 30-game undefeated streak of 27-0-3 that ended in the 1949 season finale vs. Greendale, 14-13.

The other big streak was done by Two Rivers (As recounted in my stories “A Tale of Two Rivers”.) a team that finished 1946 with a 9-0-0 record and 29-game win streak.  Coached by Ed Hall in 1942 and continued by Harry O’Mealy from 1943-46.  O’Mealy left Two Rivers after the 1946-47 school year and while the Raiders posted a 6-2 record in 1947, they lost the season opener to Manitowoc39-12 to end the win streak.  The 1946 Two Rivers team scored the second most points by any other state high school team with 260.

The Team that scored the most points was Madison Edgewood which put up 287 in an 8-0-0 regular season.  The Crusaders elected to play a “Charity Game” against Chicago Mt. Carmel.  On Sunday November 17, after all other state high school’s season had concluded.  Coach Earl Wilke had his team leading 14-7 before they collapsed, losing 30-14 as Mt. Carmel’s star back, Patsy Rocco scored four times in the fourth quarter.  He ended with all five Mt. Carmel’s touchdowns.  The loss ended the Edgewood 24-game streak.

After going 6-0-1 in 1945, the Oconomowoc Cooney’s (Now more politically correct…the Racoons) was 8-0-0 in 1946 and the streak would eventually reach 20-games, ending in mid-season, 1947.  The 1946 team was coach Vince Licht’s third undefeated team since he took over the program in 1936. 

The Undefeated List:

At a time when the Associated Press introduced the first official All-State teams in 1945 the Press also released seasonal lists of the top teams in the state.  Their lists were of unbeaten teams for the year.  Each season from 1945-1954 the lists included both public and private schools and included those teams that had ties.  The A.P. not only released the lists but included information about team winning streaks.  They released the lists starting about the fifth or sixth week of the season, concluding with the final tally in early November. The lists covered teams starting at having a 5-0-0 record to those that would finish with a 9-0-0.  This information helped lead me write stories on a number of schools in my book or in my blogs including Two Rivers, Cedarburg, Milwaukee Messmer, Ladysmith, Racine St. Catherine, Milwaukee Marquette, Wausau and Green Bay West.

There were also several interesting facts.  One, or actually in several seasons in the Milwaukee City Conference there were multiple undefeated teams as the schools were playing round-robin schedules each year.  At one point the City Conference had as many as 12-14 teams with each playing seven league games and maybe a non-conference opponent. In 1945 Milwaukee Washington had an 8-0-0 record followed by Custer and North with 7-0-0 years. 1950 saw Milwaukee East (Riverside) and Milwaukee Pulaski share the conference title with 8-0-0 records.  1952 three teams were undefeated.  Boy’s Tech (Bradley Tech today) won the title by going 8-0-0 but Washington and Rufus King were close for second place with 7-0-1 records.  Almost 11,000 fans watched Washington and King play in a season ending game as they played to a 13-13 tie.

The 1949 list showed 22 schools with records waring from three schools, Ladysmith, La Crosse Aquinas and Lake Mills with 9-0-0 records to Sturgeon Bay which posted a 6-0-2 season total.

The first list, 1945, showed that 21 state schools had undefeated seasons.  Three of those schools had ties including one with two even matches. 

With the 1946 season drawing to a close, by October 29, there were 21 teams still undefeated.  The list had been trimmed from 39 in week five to 30 and 26 at the end of the next two weeks.  In the final weekend the list had dropped to only 12 undefeated squads.

Below is the 1946 final A. P. listing.  It should be noted that only one Wisconsin school, Madison Edgewood, had one more game to play.  

Eau Claire Leader-Telegram   November 14, 1946

As stated before, Edgewood lost to Chicago Mt. Carmel so, in the end there were only 11 undefeated 11-player teams in 1946.

In 1946 some of the schools played 8-player and some played 6-player ball.  Several of the top non-11-player teams were Cameron, DeForest and Mazomanie.  Cameron, playing 8-player ball breezed through an 8-0-0 year and scored 355 points. Like Edgewood DeForest, 7-1-0 in 1946 dropped their final game to Mazomanie after the 6-player poll was released. DeForest started with 6-player football in 1938, coached by Chet Carlson.  They were the 1946 Suburban Six-Conference champs.  Over nine seasons they had posted a 47-10 record.  Mazomanie started 6-player in 1941 and at the end of the 1946 season they had posted a 30-4 record.

Next time I will cover the 1946 A. P. All-State Team and brief stories about players and odds and ends on the year.

HILLTOPPERS VS CRUSADERS…1980’S… PART 2

Moving on from last time.

1986

The two teams met up for two very outstanding games in 1986.  The conference season opener was played at Waukesha South Stadium.  The week before the two met, each played interesting opponents.  Marquette went to Marshfield in a matchup of two of the decade’s best teams.  Columbus was the WISAA champion in 1980 and the game was billed as a matchup of two 1980’s powerhouses.  Fans attending were not disappointed as Marshfield won in overtime 27-24 in a game that saw the lead change hands several times.  Waukesha faced a good Mukwonago team that shot itself in the foot by fumbling six times, losing four as well as tossing two interceptions as Memorial pulled out a 28-20 victory

Game one between Marquette and Memorial was another matchup of a team having a lead only to lose it and then comeback to seal the victory.  Marquette scored on a 36-yard interception return and a 2-yard run for a 13-0 halftime lead.  Then, Memorial scored twice on a 1-yard run and an 80-yard interception touchdown return by Chip Wall (With 1:55 left in the game).  A two-point conversion gave the Crusaders the 14-13 lead.  Following the Memorial interception score, a Hilltopper 31-yard kickoff return followed by a 46-yard drive on eight plays ended with a 13-yard touchdown pass and a Marquette 20-14 victory with just 21-seconds remaining.

Six games later, they met again.  Marquette was the Metro champion and Memorial had placed second.  Both had been 1-1 when they first met and now Marquette was 8-1 and Memorial was 7-2.  The two schools were then facing each other in the first round of the playoffs on the Hilltoppers home field, Hart Park in Wauwatosa.  Both coaches thought their team had improved.  Marquette was playing better defense, and their passing game had improved.  It was the same for Memorial as they had changed starting quarterbacks, and the defense had been “shored up”.  As it turned out, the Crusaders defense was better, as they turned back the Hilltoppers, 10-7.  A first quarter 1-yard run and a fourth quarter 35-yard field goal gave Memorial a 10-0 lead but an 80-yard punt return put Marquette on the board but that was it for them as the game ended 10-7.  Memorial would win the next week 21-7 against Fond du Lac St. Mary’s Springs.  However, their season would end in the WISAA finals with a 13-3 loss to Stevens Point Pacelli.

1987

It was the sixth game of the season for Marquette, and it was Memorials fifth game and each was undefeated. On October 3 they met at Waukesha South Stadium and like in 1986, it ended as a heartbreaker for the Crusaders.  Offensively, the two teams were fairly equal in yards gained but it was the turnovers committed by Memorial that did them in, tossing three interceptions and losing a fumble while Marquette who did fumble twice but they recovered each of them.  Catholic Memorial scored in the first quarter for a 7-0 lead.  The Fighting Hilltoppers scored a touchdown and an extra point in each of the second and third quarters to take a 14-7 lead.  With 7:20 left in the game the Crusaders pulled even after a 51-yard drive on an 11-yard keeper by quarterback Chris Fox and a kick by Mark Pollnow.  Fox had a bad game in the air, 4-13-3-39 but was the team leader on the ground, with 94 yards on 16 attempts.  Following the Memorial score each teams traded the ball and then Marquette mounted a 10-play, 70-yard drive that took just 1:59 to set up an Andy DiPiazza 25-yard field goal and the 17-14 win.

Six weeks later the two met in the second round of the WISAA playoffs and this time it was in the friendly confines, for Marquette, at Wauwatosa Hart Park.  This was the eighth time in 1987 that the Fighting Hilltoppers played at their “home field”.  Memorial finished second in the Metro Conference as Marquette was still undefeated and the conference champs.  Last season Memorial stunned Marquette in the quarterfinals 10-7. After their earlier season loss, the Crusaders were geared to beat their conference foe.  In their past 13 meetings neither team had been able to score more than 21 points except for the 27-0 1985 win by Marquette.  Dick Basham felt that he was expecting a typical tight game for each while Bill young thought this might be the game things would be more of a wide-open affair.  As it turned out it was Marquette’s bigger offensive/defensive lines that wore Memorials defense down as they outgained the Crusaders 265 -178 yards.  It was two drives that were capped by running back Kevin Reilly scoring on runs of 1 and 2 yards in the second quarter leading to a narrow 14-0 win. The shutout was only the third time in the Bill Young era that his team had been shutout.  Memorial’s season ended with a 10-2 record while Marquette would play Chippewa Falls McDonell for the WISAA title, winning 26-21 and earning am undefeated 12-0 record. I ranked Marquette as the #3 team of the decade in my story on the 1980’s.

1988

It was another shutout for Marquette over Catholic Memorial (The fourth in the Bill Young era) as the Crusaders fumbled four times, losing all of them and passing for only 39 yards on 6-15-1 stats.  The Fighting Hilltoppers fumbled six times but recovered all six. They outgained Memorial on the ground, 139-70.  It was the passing of quarterback Jeff Jarecki, the Metro Conference Co-Offensive Player-of-the Year who was 8-16-1-156-2 and led the Hilltoppers.  The two teams had very good punting in the game.  Memorial had five punts for a 41.8 average.  But Marquette’s Brian Kelly was better, kicking three times for a 46.7 average.  Outgaining the Crusaders 295-109, Marquette scored early and won the battle.

Six weeks later on November 8th the two again met in the WISSA semi-finals at Hart Park.  Memorial was 7-3 at the time and Marquette, with an opening season 28-21 loss to De Pere Abbott Pennings was 10-1.  The matchup would be the highest scoring affair of the decade.  Marquette’s offense showed up and even though Memorials, didn’t, the Crusaders made the most of things.  Led again by Jeff Jarecki who was 12-16-1-134-2 passing and 46 yards rushing with a 27-yard scamper for a score.  The Fighting Hilltoppers led 34-6 at halftime and then coasted to a 42-22 victory.  Defensive back Todd Belardi contributed with an 86-yard interception touchdown in the second quarter.  Memorial only had 42-yards rushing and 114-yards passing for a total of 156 yards.  They didn’t fumble but threw three interceptions.  Conversely, besides Jarecki’s 134 passing yards the ground game came up with 213 yards. Bill Young said that the team just fell apart in the first half and couldn’t come back.  Dick Basham was, for the most part, satisfied with the win.  The 42 points was the second most that Catholic Memorial had allowed in the school’s history, behind a 49-0 loss to Marquette Academy in 1958.  The 64 total points was the highest total in the Marquette-Catholic Memorial series that dated back to 1952.

Marquette would finish the season 12-1 four days later in Oshkosh as they defeated La Crosse Aquinas 7-0 for their fourth WISAA title in the decade.

1989

The Fighting Hilltoppers opened the season with three shutout victories against non-conference opponents.  The Crusaders were 1-1 in non-conference play as the two teams were lining up on September 16 at Hart Park.  Led by first team all-conference linebacker who was also a second team all-conference fullback, 6-4, 240 Greg Mc Thomas, Marquette was on a role.  But Bill Young almost got what he wanted, which was a victory.  However, Dick Basham’s team denied Young with a 13-10 win.  The game was quite even with Marquette leading at halftime 6-0.  Memorials Rick Ritter put his team on the board in the third period with a 35-yard field goal but a fourth quarter 1-yard touchdown run by Mc Thomas kept the Highlanders ahead, 13-3.  Memorial marched 76 yards in three minutes, despite two penalties on one play.  One was a 15-yarder on a clipping penalty and a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct call on the same play made things interesting.  On a third-and-32 Chris Chudzik hauled in a 33-yard pass to set up what eventually was the team’s second score.  After the extra point conversion, the Crusaders failed to convert on an onside kick with 1:35 left on the clock and Marquette ran out the clock for the 13-10 victory.

The two met again on November 11 in the WISAA semifinals.  Marquette was undefeated, 11-0, and Memorial was 8-3.  It was another showdown at Hart Park. For the fifth time in the past five years the two schools were meeting in the playoffs.  Marquette had come out on top in three of the four previous battles.  At stake was a trip to play for the state title.  Running back Doug Inda, a 1,000+ yard rusher had been injured in the opening round of the playoffs and had to sit out that game so his teammates had to do their best without him.   The Crusaders had to rally from 20-points down to pull out a 21-20 win.  It was an upset, or was it?  When these two schools play each-other anything can happen.  Looking at the stats it would seem that Marquette should have dominated.  They did, in the first half.  The final stats showed Marquette with a 23-14 advantage in first downs, 242-135 advantage on the ground, a 184-115 lead in passing and an overall 426-250 total yards.  The key to the loss was, despite a team passing statistical efficiency of 13-19 was the two interceptions that were thrown. A lost fumble also proved to be the difference maker.  Memorial only had one turnover, an interception.  Mc Thomas led Marquette with an 18-yard option pass for the first score and then scored on runs of 28 and 53-yards.  It was on this last score that the extra point was blocked.  Up 20-0 at halftime, the Crusaders were able to put some drives together in the second half, scoring three touchdowns and all three of the extra-point kicks and that was the difference.  They did it without Inda who was doubtful for the state finals against Fond du Lac St. Mary’s Springs.

Marquette ended as the Metro Conference Champions and a 11-1 record.  As it turned out Doug Inda would return to the field four days later at Camp Randall to rush for 157-yards on 20 carries and three touchdowns on runs of 2, 56 and 23.  The Crusaders won 28-6 over Springs (9-4 season record) and they, Memorial, ended with a 9-3 record of their own.

Hopefully you will agree that these games between conference rivals were the best of the decade.  There might have been a game or two, played by other schools but compared to the 16-games Milwaukee Marquette Academy and Waukesha Catholic Memorial played this was the best series.

The 1980’s Top Coaches:

I searched for the best records by a coach during the 1980’s and I found 11 that made my list.  Both Dick Basham and Bill Young easily made the list.  Like Basham and Young, the other nine coaches have been honored by the WFCA as Hall of Fame.  The ranking is based first on the number of state titles won and not overall wins.  At the bottom of the list, I include the two coaches for De Soto who, as a team combined for the second most wins (93) of the 1980’s.

As a note, Bob Schulz had coached De Soto for 16 seasons (1971-86), posting an outstanding 141-24-1.  His teams won the first WIAA Class C title in 1976.  He followed this with Division 6 titles in 1983 and 1984.  De Soto won 12 conference championships under his leadership.  All this before taking a head coaching position at Menasha in 1987.  Things didn’t go as well there as Menasha was the smallest school in their conference, but he still earned a place in the WFCA Coaches Hall of Fame. 

So, I think, for a while, this concludes my stories on the 1980’s.