Minot Magicians And The Sleight-Of-Hand Wolves

• Last week, we wrote about the unique geographical matchups between Poplar and both Libby and Harlowton for two state football championships in the 1930’s. Indeed, northeast Montana has a history of rare clashes in sports history. And they continue to this day as area teams play unfamiliar foes in many sports.

• One of the most interesting matchups in Wolf Point High School history came on December 22nd, 1961 in Sidney. Jim Haugen, the coach of the Class A Eagles invited the Class B Wolves to their holiday tournament — and a chance to help dedicate their new gymnasium. Wolf Point played Minot High School in the first game. The Magicians were the defending Class A champions of North Dakota. In 1961, Class A in North Dakota was composed of the largest schools in the state. Sidney and Class A rival, Glendive, were scheduled for the night cap.

• Wolf Point was the defending Class B champions of Montana. The Wolves had lost several contributors from the 1961 team, including Gene Nelson who went on to play for the MSU Bobcats. Wolf Point also lost Dean Thompson to graduation. Dean’s mother, Edith, was from Oswego and a Bearskin – she was a sister to the great Victor Bearskin of Wolf Point and Montana State rodeo fame.

• But Bob Lowry’s 19611962 team was still replete with talent as it included junior Bob Parsley, who would star for Northern Montana College for several years, as well as senior Bruce Peterson, who would earn a scholarship to MSU. Other key contributors were the high scoring sophomore Bill Smith, senior LeRoy Delger, senior Greg Loendorf, junior Merle Lucas, junior Dick Pipe, junior Cliff Page, junior Jack Hagen, junior Dean Beauchman, and Bob’s brother Dave Parsley — just a sophomore.

• Minot graduated 441 students in 1962. They had more seniors than Wolf Point had in grades 9-12 total. To give the reader a sense of the size discrepancy in schools — today Minot plays AAA football.

• The Wolves entered the contest without one of their top players, the sixfoot, two-inch Leroy Delger — who would be the eventual MVP of the state championship Wolves a few months later.

• But Wolf Point stunned the maroon and gold Minot Magicians, 5554, with Bill Smith scoring 24 points. Sidney dropped arch rival Glendive 43-39 in the final night game. The next evening, Sidney defeated Wolf Point, 6963, for the championship. Minot topped Glendive for third.

• Jim Haugen’s Eagles later went on to win the Class A title topping Lewistown, 64-52. Wolf Point won the B crown again with a 67-45 win over Roundup. The Wolves only loss for the season was to Sidney.

• Whenaskedwho was the best opponent the Eagles faced during the year, Haugen said it was Wolf Point — upsetting many of the class A fans. Wrote Don Zupan of The Billings Gazette after the Eagles won the class A title, “Haugen ... feels his team played one of its best games when the Eagles beat Wolf Point, 69-63.” Haugen continued, “That Wolf Point has quite a team.”

• One 1961-62 unique matchup for Wolf Point was a game with the now defunct Havre Central 49ers. Central was a Roman Catholic high school founded in 1949. The green and white 49ers almost defeated Lowry’s vaunted outfit. The Havre Daily News wrote, “Saturday night the 49ers entertained the tall and clever defending State Class B champion Wolf Point and Central came out on the short end of a close 46-44 game.”

Travel Kaleidoscope and Cornucopia

• One of the reasons Minot traveled to Montana for two non-conference games was the lack of larger schools in North Dakota to play. The Magicians also sought diversity in competition by playing both Sidney and Wolf Point. Historically, this shortage of worthy opponents has also been a dilemma for the larger schools in Montana. This predicament eventually led to the Big 32 basketball league that lasted from 1963 to 1969.

• But football is different. It’s a sport where the larger schools clearly have an advantage. During Montana’s AA football history, the league was often burdened with just a handful of teams. During the mid-20th century, there were only about six larger schools in AA football. Sometimes they were dubbed the Big 6 by the press. One year, there were only five AA schools and they were called the Big 5. Because of this, the large schools sought outof- state competition. It was not uncommon to see Billings, Butte, Missoula, Great Falls, Kalispell, Anaconda, and Helena schedule Washington, Utah, Idaho, and North Dakota preps in athletics.

• In 1939, the Everett (Washington) Seagulls traveled 800 miles to Memorial Stadium to defeat the Great Falls Bison, 7-0. The next week, Grand Forks Central brought 26 players over 700 miles to Great Falls and lost 19-0, in front of 3500 fans under the lights of Memorial Stadium.

• Class A football schools also suffered from a lack of similar-sized competition. Glasgow, which has a history of being more class A, than B throughout its early years — scheduled Frazer for a six-man game in the fall of 1945. The Bearcubs floored the Highlanders 19-0 on Glasgow’s home field. According to the Glasgow Courier, Frazer’s starters were ends Holtberg and Hentges; center Murdock; halfbacks Turner and Brooks; and quarterback Taylor. The substitutes were Sandvick, Bird, Collins, Archdale, Dilbeck and Berns.

• Decades ago, this writer had a conversation with Jerry Collins, a graduate of Frazer High in the 1940s. He talked about their strong football teams during this era of Bearcub history.

• According to Jim Haugen, a 1954 Sidney graduate, “It was common for 11man teams to sometimes schedule six-man teams for non-conference games during this time period.”

Checked Luggage, Sneakers, and Cleats: Airborne Athletics

• Flying has always been a part of the American prep scene, and Montana is no different.

• In 1948, the powerful state A champion Anaconda Copperheads flew to Billings to compete on the hardwood.

• During the 1967-68 basketball season, Great Falls Russell flew to Wolf Point — and then were bussed to Poplar, only to lose to the Wolves, 69-59, in a Big 32 conference matchup. It must be remembered that the Wolves played most of their home games in Poplar during the 1967-68 and 1968-69 school years. Their high school — and Wolf Point’s beautiful 3200-seat gym — burned down in March of 1967.

• After losing to Wolf Point, the Rustlers flew back to Glasgow for a Big 32 Saturday night game and were promptly backhanded by the Scotties 63-50. To make matters worse for the visitors, the Glasgow game was delayed for an hour due to a bomb scare. Ted Ackerman, who played for CMR at the time, remembered the Rustlers flying in a small plane, “with only room for one or two coaches, and a few varsity players.”

• However, Ackerman and the Rustlers would win vengeance in 1969, as they upset the number one ranked Wolves, 5453 in Great Falls during the regular season. CMR then went on to force Wolf Point out of the Big 32 tournament on Saturday morning in Bozeman, 5553. The Rustlers entered every game of the tournament with Kelly-green and old-gold basketballs and warmup suits — a haunting memory for Wolves fans. Wolves coach Ron Harcharik remembered the tournament as a “nightmare.”

• Speaking of flying, at age 11 in 1970, this writer attended a football game on Lowry Field between Billings Central and Wolf Point. I was told by a reliable source that the Rams had flown in for the contest. It must have helped, as the Rams barnstormed to a 42-0 win. Coaching for the Rams was Dennis Erickson, who would later go on to lead the Miami Hurricanes to an NCAA football title. Playing for Wolf Point, was a young sophomore quarterback — Carmen Birdsbill.

The Scobey White-Knuckle Expedition through the Glacier Corridor

• Finally, one of the most memorable — and painful — flying odysseys in Montana sports history involved the powerful Scobey Spartans of the 1990s. During the 1995-96 season, the Scobey boys won state class C football, basketball, and track and field championships.

• As the Scobey-Peerless co-op, they defended their football title in 1996. For the 1996-97 basketball season the undefeated Spartans easily qualified for the state tournament in Billings. But mother nature had other ideas for the 23-0 Scobey team.

• On March 12 and 13, 1997, a blizzard hit northeast Montana and dumped up to 18 inches of snow on an already snow-packed region. Snowdrifts ranged from 6-10 feet high on Montana Highway 13 from Scobey to Wolf Point. Awaiting the Spartans at Lyman Clayton Airport in Wolf Point sat two Cessna 310’s. They were piloted by Poplar’s Dallas O’Connor and Wolf Point’s Larry French.

• If the Spartans could cut their way through the monstrous 50-mile long white citadel, they might have a chance of making the state tournament by Thursday. They had already tried to leave on Wednesday but were denied by the immovable glacier wall.

• On Thursday at 5 a.m., a Scobey convoy led by Montana Department of Transportation snowplows began assaulting the majestic snow wall that blanketed the prairie road. It was a rough go. The snowplows themselves disappeared into the unending snowbank several times, often becoming stuck in the giant white mattress.

• A little after 8:30 a.m., the caravan arrived at the Wolf Point airport. Coach David Selvig and nine players jammed into the two Cessna’s and made it to the Billings airport by 10:30 a.m. Hopefully it would be enough time to prepare for the 2 p.m. contest with the Seeley-Swan Blackhawks. Left behind were three players and the cheer squad.

• But Scobey was stunned 52-51 in overtime by Seeley-Swan. Nevertheless, the spirited Spartans came back through the loser-bracket and captured third — this time defeating Seeley-Swan, 60-50. Scoring for Scobey were Jason Wolfe, 18; Joel Nieskens, 13; Jake Peterson, 13; Spencer Frederick, 11; and Curt Ware, 5. Scobey finished with a 26-1 record.

• Indeed, it was a bitter- sweet end for the 1997 Scobey Spartans.

AND SPORTS FANS DID YOU KNOW?

• That the Ronan Chief fans faithfully chartered a jet for 94 devotees for the state class A football championship in Glasgow in 1974. They also filled two buses, which left on Friday, the day before the epic Saturday afternoon match. The Chiefs won 33-22. Around four thousand fans jammed the Valley County Fairgrounds and it was estimated that at least 500 came from Ronan.