GREAT SUPERIOR TEAMS…PART 3

1952 SUPERIOR CATHEDRAL…PART 1 OF A 2-PART SERIES ON SUPERIOR CATHEDRAL 

COVERING SOME GREAT HIGH SCHOOL TEAMS FROM 1930 THROUGH THE MID-1960’S ON SEVERAL CITY OF SUPERIOR FOOTBALL TEAMS

For many years Superior Central dominated the city, often beating the other two high schools in town, Superior East and Cathedra, often by big scores.  Central had more consistently winning teams like the 1918-20 squads under coach Irl Tubbs and then under Harry Conley.  East would have some middle of the road teams.  Central had twice as many students as East and often the better athletes in football seemed to attend that school though a number of students from East went on to play college ball.

Superior Cathedral was an even smaller school than East with only 225-300 students, usually in the 1950’s having around 250.  In the early years they played both of the two public schools but later it was just the East Orientals that they met each season.  The Cathedral Panthers would join the Michigan-Wisconsin Conference later in the 1950’s but would play an independent schedule in 1952.  In truth, in my research it seems that Cathedral was more of a powerhouse in basketball. 

Upon returning from military service during World War II Steve Bachand took the dual duties of coaching football and basketball.  He would later become the school’s athletic director as well.  Bachand had been a star in basketball and baseball at Cathedral.  He had been a starter on the basketball team before the war and led the team in scoring three years running.  He returned to Cathedral after college to teach and coach basketball before his draft number called him up.  But here he was, in 1946, as the new head football coach and it wasn’t a good start.  Going 1-6-0 that year.  1947 brought a 2-4-0 record followed by a 3-3-0 posting in 1948.  1949 was a 4-2-1 season.  Now things looked a bit better in 1950 as the Panthers went 4-3-0. Nearly the same record as 1950 but with a lot of younger players anxious to do better.  Then 1951 rolled in and his team went 6-1-0, the best season record that the school had ever produced.  Then magical 1952 year rolled around.

Blessed with good talent from the previous two season’s the team played only a six-game schedule.  The previous three seasons the team had played seven games, which for many schools seven or eight games were normal.  Looking over the yearbook and the Superior Evening Telegram, I couldn’t find a reason but I have an idea as to why they played at least a seventh game.  Several teams around Wisconsin had to cancel or had games cancelled on their schedule due to the polio outbreak of 1950-53.  Like Covid-19, at least at first there wasn’t a prevention for the disease.  It wasn’t always easy for schools in the 1950’s to cancel a game and pick up a new opponent.

The team started their season on September 6, and this was an unusually early start for all the Superior area teams. It was a week or two earlier than past seasons.  Expectations were high after 1951 and the Panthers didn’t disappoint.  They took to the road for the season opener 55-miles northwest to Floodwood, MN.  The town in 1950 had only 667 residents, 90 high school students.  This was a school that was outsized and outplayed by Cathedral and yet the Panthers didn’t blow them away.  Dave Tucker, the star end for the Panthers, had a great game catching two touchdowns (30 and 11-yards).  Jerry Fabbro threw the td’s and did his job to get the team moving a bit.  Fabbro had been a fullback in 1951 but was switched to the quarterback spot.  He would stay there for most of the season and direct the attack. He would on occasion, when needed, revert to his old position of fullback. The rushing game was sluggish and that held the final score down.  Halfback Ray Birch did return a punt 33-yards for a touchdown and kicked an extra point but he and the other halfback, Jack Nault just couldn’t get the ball moving.  Coach Bachand felt that it a mix of early season jitters that caused the team to not score as often as he expected.

From the 1953 Superior Cathedral Memories yearbook (The photo took both pages of the yearbook. The fold blots out the faces of three players).

The Superior Evening Telegram didn’t carry very much in the way of player stats.  It seems Bachand and the other area head coaches were more interested in the scoring stats, which was typical of the era.  Looking at the Cathedral schedule they played, for the most part, comparable size schools, except to Floodwood and Ashland DePadua Catholic.  Superior East had more than twice as many students as did Duluth East, Proctor and Two Harbors had just a few more students than Cathedral. 

Getting ready for Two Harbors Coaches Steve Bathard and Bill Meyers talk things over with captains Don Bedis and Dave Tucker…Cathedral yearbook

In game two against Two Harbors Birch had two touchdowns and placed three extra points.  Fabbro tossed a td pass to Birch for one of his touchdowns, ran for a short score and intercepted a crucial pass that might have led to a score.  The ground game was starting to go.  But they had to overcome penalties.  Tackle Don Bedis, linebacker/center Jack Connelly and Dave Tucker stared as well.

Ashland DePadua was a team that had fewer students but a bigger squad.  From tackle to tackle, on the offensive line, the Bruins averaged 200-pounds.  Huge at this time in the sport.  The Panthers cut their penalties in half, down to 55-yards.  Birch and Nault had big gains to get the team into scoring position but those few penalties again cut the scoring to a minimum.  After three games they were now really ready to roll and against bigger schools.

The next game, against Superior East, was a showdown matching two city rivals.  The Orientals were suffering through a season marred by injuries and their final 2-5 season record.  Several major starters were out of the contest.  The Panthers took advantage and cruised to a 35-0 win.  Down 13-0 just before halftime, Easts starting quarterback, Roger Lowery was carried off the field and sent to the hospital.  It had been close up to then, but it was downhill for East after that.  In fact, three more starters for East would be forced out of the game in the second half.  Coach Bachand substituted his backfield freely as six running backs and two quarterbacks saw action.

Jack Nault catches a 10-yard touchdown vs. Superior East...Cathedral Yearbook

Proctor was next.  They weren’t having a great year but they felt that they could make a good showing.  They were outmatched.  Three minutes into the game and Cathedral started the rout with their first score.  The smothering Panther defense continuously stuffed the Rails run game to the extent that Proctor didn’t make it into Cathedral territory until the final play of the game when they end on the 48-yard line.  Ray Birch and Jack Nault each scored twice and by the middle of the second quarter Bachand played his reserves the rest of the way.

Ray Birch scoring vs. Proctor. The only usable newspaper picture.

The season closed on October 17 with a 39-0 victory over the Duluth East Greyhounds and it was a true defensive showcase for the second straight week.  Intercepting four passes and recovering two fumbles the Panthers showed that they were a team for the ages.  Dave Tucker, the star end, showed that he was a very valuable kicker by booming kick-offs deep and punts far.  One punt went 63-yards before it was tapped down but he had several others over 40-yards vs. Duluth East.  Ray Birch scored two touchdowns, intercepted two passes and kicked three extra points.  He would make the UPI weekly honorable mention for state player of the week for the second time that season.  Burch was the leading scorer on the team with nine touchdowns and 18 extra points (Kicks and runs) for 72 points.

The season ended on October 17, seven-17 days before most other high schools around the state so there was at least one hole in the schedule.   But the success at Cathedral didn’t end then.  Tackle Don Bedis was named to the AP All-State third team, in an era when each team was made up of 11-players.

 In early November the UPI released their final listing of the states undefeated teams.  The teams record shone throughout the state in newspaper after newspaper.

My list, retyped because the newspaper stories I found were grainy and left a few final scores out.

This isn’t the official UPI list as the what was released was before the three Milwaukee schools played their final game. I tracked down the scores to the three Milwaukee teams final battles.  All three were undefeated before the final game.  In the 12-team City Conference that year neither King or Washington played Tech.  The two squads played to a 13-13 tie and Tech won their first ever City title with a 28-0 win over Lincoln.

It would be a few years before any other team, Chilton in 1969, would perform the same undefeated, untied and unscored upon year.

Next time is PART 2 of the Superior Cathedral story.