Some history could be made this weekend in Casper as two Class 3A basketball teams enter their respective state tournaments undefeated.

The Douglas girls, at 24-0, and the Powell boys, at 23-0, will try to join the ranks of Wyoming’s undefeated state basketball champions. In all, 20 boys teams and 23 girls teams have accomplished this feat in state history.

Another 49 teams — 25 boys, 24 girls — have entered the state tournament undefeated but lost in the final weekend of the season.

When I looked at undefeated teams three years ago, I could only look at teams from 1990 forward, the only time when full records were available. However, with some more digging, we’ve been able to uncover quite a bit in that time, mostly thanks to “Stat Rat” Jim Craig and his research into year-by-year game results, published on wyoming-basketball.com.

And although we’re still a little short on records for every team participating in the state tournament for every season, particularly on the girls’ side, I can say with a fairly high degree of certainty that the lists below represent every team that has ever entered the state tournament undefeated. (That said, if you see something missing, let me know!)

Here they are: The teams that didn’t lose a game for a whole season, and the teams that only lost on the final weekend of play.

Boys undefeated teams (20)
1A: Snake River 2012, 28-0
2A: Big Horn 2011, 28-0
3A: Thermopolis 2004, 25-0
4A: Campbell County 1993, 23-0
4A: Cheyenne Central 1991, 23-0
2A: Wyoming Indian 1985, 22-0
2A: Wyoming Indian 1984, 22-0
3A: Torrington 1987, 23-0
1A: Big Horn 1986, 21-0
B: Southeast 1981, 22-0
A: Glenrock 1978, 23-0
B: Mountain View 1977, 24-0
A: Lusk 1969, 23-0
C: Goshen Hole 1967, 23-0
AA: Cheyenne Central 1962, 27-0
B: University Prep 1961, 26-0
B: St. Stephens 1960, 28-0
A: Cheyenne Central 1947, 26-0
One: Laramie 1934, 24-0
One: Evanston 1919, 27-0

Another 25 boys teams have entered the state tournament undefeated but did not finish the job. Those teams, and their final record for the season, include:

1A: Saratoga 2023, 23-1 (lost in semis)
2A: Pine Bluffs 2017, 26-2 (lost in semis/3rd)
1A: Burlington 2013, 26-1 (lost in semis)
4A: Campbell County 2010, 26-1 (lost in championship)
2A: Southeast 2010, 26-1 (lost in championship)
2A: Wind River 2008, 29-1 (lost in semis)
2A: Lusk 2001, 22-1 (lost in championship)
1A: Arvada-Clearmont 2001, 23-1 (lost in semis)
2A: Tongue River 1999, 22-1 (lost in semis)
2A: Wyoming Indian 1994, 22-1 (lost in championship)
2A: Upton 1994, 22-1 (lost in quarters)
3A: Star Valley 1993, 23-1 (lost in quarters)
3A: Torrington 1991, 22-2 (lost in quarters/conso final)
AA: Natrona 1982, 22-1 (lost in semis)
B: Wyoming Indian 1982, 20-2 (lost in quarters/conso final)
B: Lyman 1980, 20-1 (lost in semis)
C: Burlington 1979, 19-1 (lost in semis)
AA: Rock Springs 1977, 22-1 (lost in championship)
B: Byron 1965, 24-1 (lost in championship)
B: University Prep 1960, 25-1 (lost in championship)
B: University Prep 1958, 23-1 (lost in championship)
C: Dayton 1956, 19-1 (lost in quarters)
C: Dayton 1955, 21-2 (lost in quarters/conso semis)
C: Big Horn 1952, 18-1 (lost in semis)
B: Rozet 1942, 29-1 (lost in championship)

Girls undefeated teams (23)
4A: Cody 2023, 25-0
4A: Cheyenne East 2022, 28-0
3A: Douglas 2021, 24-0
3A: Douglas 2018, 27-0
2A: Tongue River 2013, 28-0
1A: Snake River 2012, 28-0
3A: Douglas 2005, 26-0
2A: Tongue River 2005, 23-0
2A: Big Horn 2001, 26-0
3A: Mountain View 1998, 25-0
1A: Burlington 1998, 24-0
2A: Tongue River 1997, 22-0
3A: Lyman 1995, 23-0
4A: Campbell County 1991, 23-0
2A: Lusk 1991, 22-0
2A: Lusk 1990, 21-0
1A: Cokeville 1990, 21-0
2A: Greybull 1989, 21-0
4A: Riverton 1984, 23-0
B: Saratoga 1981, 22-0
AA: Rock Springs 1980, 24-0
AA: Lander 1978, 24-0
C: Snake River 1977, record unknown but finished undefeated

Another 24 girls teams (at least) have entered the state tournament undefeated but did not finish the job. Those teams, and their final record for the season, include:

4A: Cody 2022, 24-1 (lost in championship)
2A: Southeast 2015, 24-1 (lost in championship)
3A: Douglas 2013, 28-1 (lost in championship)
4A: Natrona 2012, 25-1 (lost in championship)
2A: Big Horn 2010, 28-1 (lost in championship)
1A: Guernsey 2006, 26-1 (lost in semis)
2A: Pine Bluffs 2004, 22-1 (lost in semis)
3A: Star Valley 2001, 25-1 (lost in semis)
2A: Wright 1999, 21-2 (lost in quarters/conso semis)
3A: Mountain View 1997, 23-1 (lost in championship)
4A: Green River 1996, 23-1 (lost in championship)
2A: Tongue River 1996, 24-1 (lost in semis)
2A: Tongue River 1994, 22-1 (lost in championship)
4A: Sheridan 1992, 22-1 (lost in semis)
2A: Saratoga 1992, 22-1 (lost in championship)
B: Tongue River 1987, 20-1 (lost in quarters)
B: Tongue River 1986, 20-1 (lost in semis)
1A: Kaycee 1984, 20-1 (lost in championship)
B: Shoshoni 1982, 19-2 (lost in semis/3rd)
A: Newcastle 1981, 20-1 (lost in championship)
AA: Lander 1979, 23-1 (lost in semis)
AA: Lander 1977, 21-2 (lost in semis/3rd)
A: Torrington 1976, 18-1 (lost in championship)
C: Snake River 1976, record unknown (lost in semis)

All boys championship team records have been accounted for. Girls championship team records are missing for 1978 Class B (Pine Bluffs, not undefeated), 1977 Class C (Snake River) and 1979 Class C (Byron, not undefeated).

–patrick

Editor’s note: This post was written by “Stat Rat” Jim Craig, formerly of Lusk and now of Cheyenne, who has provided significant help to the research on Wyoming sports history.

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The time span of 1929 through 1939—the aptly coined “Dirty Thirties”—was a decade of hardship for the entire United States as the country was rocked by The Great Depression, triggered by a collapse of the stock market in October of 1929. Unemployment during that time rose to a staggering high of 24.7% in 1933 and remained above 14% from 1931 to 1940. Those raised during that era—that Tom Brokaw labeled “The Greatest Generation”—experienced challenges that toughened their resolve, encouraged economy as well as thrift and fostered a “can-do” approach to facing serious issues of day-to-day living. My father, for one, graduated high school in 1928 and took six years to complete his civil engineering degree, attending for a year of schooling then working menial jobs for a semester to save up enough for another year of college, repeating that process until he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1934.

The Great Depression didn’t spare Wyoming, and school systems felt the economic crunch along with the rest of the country. Athletic seasons were suspended due to the economy; for example, Lusk’s 1932 football season was suspended. The Lusk citizenry volunteered to help with the situation by offering car pools and coaching help, but the true problem was lack of money to outfit the team and alas, the season was cancelled. A common occurrence I’ve found in my research were gatherings called “Hard Times” dances, proof that the state’s population shouldered the hardships with good humor and Cowboy State spirit.

Those listed on the chart below were some of the luckier citizens as their coaching records are proof of employment during a time when many had no jobs. However, coaching back then was quite the chore. To coach in the 1930s meant you were a coach for all sports—most likely the school’s only coach—meaning football, basketball and track seasons. A quick check in Patrick Schmiedt’s superb tome on all things Wyoming prep football, “A Century of Fridays,” shows that 20 of the 21 listed below coached football during that time—the exception being no football program in Pine Bluffs. Coaching was a young man’s endeavor, as the time invested in practice, home games, and road games (many coaches drove their own cars—filled with players—to and from opposing courts) would be time spent away from home for a family man. Yet, due likely to the scarcity of jobs during the 30s, more coaches taught/coached in Wyoming for all ten years of the 1930s than the combined total of the 1940s and 1950s decade-long coaching stints.

Top 1930s Basketball Coaching Records by Wins
CoachSchool(s)SeasonsWinsWin%Q-FactorMedalChamp
*Okie BlanchardRock Springs; Natrona102330.883100%70%4
John PowellCheyenne Central102090.73990%20%1
Floyd ForemanLaramie101940.75590%70%2
Wendell PoulsonByron; Lovell91710.78489%11%0
Glen RogersWheatland91390.59133%11%1
Cliff WilsonKemmerer; St. Michael’s81150.67363%13%0
Ken NoddingsSundance; Powell101140.54550%10%0
Lou NeelyEvanston71030.67843%14%0
*Joe BushThermopolis61020.73950%0%0
Fred ChezSheridan7980.62871%0%0
Alva StrawNatrona6910.62683%0%0
Henry HartwellMidwest10870.4080%0%0
Eldon BoydCokeville10860.50310%0%0
John EngstromRawlins8810.56363%0%0
Wallace RollinsCowley5780.74380%20%0
Victor ReavesCampbell County4720.67975%0%0
Melvin LarsonPine Bluffs7710.47714%0%0
Loyd NelsonUpton8680.4690%0%0
LaVerne JungWorland5680.60760%0%0
James JiacolettiManderson; Superior; Kemmerer8630.460%0%0
Walter DowlerUniv. Prep; Basin; Rock Springs4590.6750%25%1

Q-Factor=percentage of times qualified for the state tourney

Medal=percentage of times finishing 1st, 2nd, or 3rd

*Wyoming Coaches Association Hall of Fame member

(Two notes about the chart’s data: 1. There was only one classification back then. What should total 10 state championships for the decade is actually nine. No state tourney was held in 1936 due to a scarlet fever epidemic. 2. The 29-30 State Tourney was open to all teams. Teams were sorted into Classes A, B, C, and D according to the male school enrollments. Champions in each division would play for the state title. Rather than count all 54 teams eligible, to count a team as a qualifier, I took the last four teams remaining in each division. Having played three or four days of double elimination would count as the qualifying portion of the tourney and winnowed the 54 down to 16—four in each class).

As he did in the 1940s and 1950s, Okie Blanchard dominated the decade, leading in wins, win percentage, Q-factor, and championships as well as tying with Laramie’s Floyd Foreman for medal finishes. Cheyenne’s coach John Powell, Big Horn Basin coach Wendell Poulson and the aforementioned Foreman notched up nifty numbers with winning percentages topping 75%.

Hall of Fame?  This decade’s group is almost totally ignored by the Wyoming Coaches Hall of Fame, but it’s understandable, given that the group began bestowing that honor in the mid-1980s, almost a half century since most of the above paced the sidelines. That’s unfortunate as the numbers above show several deserving candidates. In a few months I’ll have the 1960s chart completed as my work on the 1967-68 season is almost completed and I’m only missing data from the 1968-69 campaign.

Editor’s note: This post was written by “Stat Rat” Jim Craig, formerly of Lusk and now of Cheyenne, who has provided significant help to the research on Wyoming sports history.

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Even though this writer was born in the early 1950s, it’s tough for me to recall all that much about that particular decade, save for my Davy Crockett coonskin cap and my oft-busted Zorro sword with the chalk tip that made nifty Zs on my mom’s kitchen cupboards, much to her chagrin. (We Baby Boomers were the initial slaves to corporate Disney decades before the rest of you!) But I’ll digress from that nostalgic traipse down memory lane and focus on memories created by Wyoming high school coaches during that decade of Eisenhower and Elvis, while word-processing from underneath my atomic bomb-proof school desk, safe and sound!

First, a chart which will covers games played from December of 1949 to March of 1959:

(The chart data shows that coaching careers lengthened during this decade—compared to the 1940s—and the number of those who coached all ten years of the decade increased from three to five—the three in the chart as well as Harvey Crowe (Sundance and Buffalo) and Vern Jensen (Lyman and Laramie). Nine year coaches increased from one to 10 (those listed below and Tead Weaver –Sundance and Upton). Granted, WWII shortened many careers in the 1940s, but don’t forget the Korean War did likewise for the initial years of the 1950s. An average coaching term was 3.74 years, more than double the 1940s average.)

Top Ten 1950s Coaching Records by Wins
CoachSchool(s)SeasonsWinsWin%Q-FactorMedalChamp
*Okie BlanchardCheyenne Central92040.8131.0000.8894
Mack PeytonRock Springs91870.7221.0000.6671
Jacque SchmiedtHuntley; Wheatland101590.6240.6000.0000
George CollinsThermopolis; Natrona81530.7251.0000.3752
*Carl RollinsSheridan91520.6260.8890.2221
George DorringtonHanna; Campbell Co91510.590.7780.2222
Roger YoutzAlbin; Veteran; Greybull; Worland101470.6390.5000.4002
Reese GaskellSaratoga; Rawlins91370.5710.2220.0000
*Jim WisemanLingle; Torrington91260.5550.6670.1110
Archie JurichJackson91240.5460.4440.2220
*Swede EricksonMidwest; Natrona71220.6130.8570.2861
Richard GruberDayton61180.8370.8330.3330
Jack KingLander71170.6220.7140.0000
Ed RichPine Bluffs91170.5390.3330.1110
Dennis RaganMoorcroft; Albin; Saratoga91170.520.4440.1111
Tony KatanaSuperior; Green River101170.4680.5000.0000
Floyd HartLusk51150.7371.0000.0000
*Keith BloomEvanston; Powell81150.5610.5000.1250
*Wilford MowerByron; Lovell81110.5930.5000.2501
Norval ‘Bud’ JohnsonGlenrock; Evanston81110.4930.6250.0000

Q-Factor=percentage of times qualified for the state tourney
Medal=percentage of times finishing 1st, 2nd, or 3rd
*Wyoming Coaches Association Hall of Fame member

As he did during the 1930s and 1940s, Okie Blanchard is heads and tails above the rest, even when he spots everyone else a year of wins by retiring before the 1958-59 season. Coach Blanchard leads the list in wins and win percentage, medals (1st, 2nd, or 3rd) in all but one state tourney during the time period, takes double the state championships of the runners-up, and qualifies nine out of nine times for the state tourney. The city of Cheyenne honors all sorts of historic events and history makers with bronze statues in and about the downtown area. A street corner should be saved for a statue of Coach Okie, Wyoming’s first great coach.

Two for the Hall of Fame? The Wyoming Coaches Hall of Fame was established in 1984, a quarter century after the 1950s ended and a generation after many of the above finished their stints on the sidelines. Are there any on the list that should be considered, possibly forgotten by time? Certainly Mack Peyton’s record is impressive, and while his numbers don’t quite match Okie’s for this arbitrary time span, they’re still excellent. The 20 years of coaching requirement—80% within Wyoming— keeps Peyton from serious consideration, as sadly he only coached nine years in the state, from what I’ve found. Wheatland’s Jacque Schmiedt is one who just misses the 20 year mark. I have him totaling 19 seasons, 6 in Huntley (where he also founded the Cardinal football program) and 13 seasons in Wheatland. A factor working against Coach Schmiedt was geography— those 13 years as a Bulldog mentor had Wheatland playing against Cheyenne Central (enrollment @300 vs @2500), Laramie and Torrington pre-1962 and against University Prep’s championship program after that date. This limited the Bulldogs’ chances at state tourney qualifying somewhat. However, both coaches have Hall of Fame worthy numbers, in my estimation, and as the chart for the 1950s demonstrates.

Others? George Collins established a nifty record, coaching at Thermopolis and Casper Natrona, notching two championships in seven years with the Bobcats. His Mustang teams were less fortunate, medaling only twice in six years. However, in all his 13 years as a coach, Collins’ teams qualified each year for the state tourney. George Dorrington won state championships with small school Hanna and also larger school Campbell County. The latter win was quite the surprise as the Camels were unranked entering the state AA-A tourney and Gillette wasn’t all that big of a school at the time, with around 260+ students. Dorrington only coached 10 years of hoops in Wyoming, which works against him, somewhat. Roger Youtz coached mainly during the 1950s and stepped away from the sidelines in the 1963-64 season, totaling 16 years in Wyoming, a career that began in 1948-49. His two state championships were with small school Veteran. His teams made the trip to the Gem City for the state tourney eight times. All three coaches fall short of the requisite 20 years, but still should merit some consideration for the Hall of Fames, I believe.

Editor’s note: This post was written by “Stat Rat” Jim Craig, formerly of Lusk and now of Cheyenne, who has provided significant help to the research on Wyoming sports history.

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In amassing and compiling data about Wyoming prep basketball from the early 1930s to the late 1960s, it’s sometimes fun to answer obscure questions. Information for this article centers within the decade of the 1940s and coaching. To wit: Which hoops coaches were the most successful during the 1940s? I’ll be using research from the 1939-40 basketball season up to and including the 1948-49 campaign, 10 seasons total.

This was a tough decade to coach in, made more difficult by the four years that World War II lasted. Coaches, generally being younger men, found themselves to be prime candidates for the military. Many volunteered right after the Pearl Harbor attack in December 1941 and several Wyoming schools had to scramble to find replacement coaches mid-season. Often, older school superintendents—many were ex-coaches— stepped in as coaches pro tem. The average tenure for a coach at any one school was only 1.75 years for the entire decade. Longest tenures of the decade at any one school totaled eight years by Clarence Birch at Cokeville and Lincoln Gardner at Star Valley. Only three coaches coached every season of the 1940s: Coach Birch (also Encampment), Carl Murphy (Lingle and Riverton) and Charlie Roberts (Burlington, Lovell and Worland).

Top Ten 1940s Coaching Records by Wins
CoachSchool(s)SeasonsWinsWin%Q-FactorMedalChamp
*Okie BlanchardCentral, Natrona81870.8421.0000.8756
Charlie RobertsBurlington, Lovell, Worland101450.5820.6000.1001
Carl DirManville, Shoshoni, Worland, Rawlins91390.6120.3330.1110
Lincoln GardnerStar Valley81230.7450.5000.0000
Joe SchwartzSaratoga, Rawlins, Natrona61200.7220.6670.3331
Chester ChristiansenLovell, Evanston61140.7130.6670.6670
Silas LymanBuffalo, Ranchester71090.6090.7140.0000
William EngstromSuperior, Rock Springs61020.6181.0000.1670
Clarence BirchCokeville, Encampment10990.5690.4000.2001
Archie ConnChugwater, Torrington7910.6070.7140.0000
Darrell HathawayNatrona4870.7311.0000.5000
Norman MikkelsonSuperior, Glenrock6830.610.5000.0000
Nerbert CrossmanRozet6820.6670.5000.1670
Joseph WellerAlbin5810.7570.2000.0000
Walter DowlerRock Springs, Central3790.841.0001.0002
Floyd ForemanLaramie4760.6971.0000.7500
*Wilford MowerByron4740.7471.0000.5002
John BaysMidwest4740.6921.0000.0000
Henry HartwellMidwest4740.7051.0000.0000
Frank MathewClearmont, Powell4730.640.7500.0000
Floyd HartLusk5730.5530.4000.0000

Q-Factor=percentage of times qualified for the state tourney; Medal=percentage of times finishing 1st, 2nd, or 3rd; *Wyoming Coaches Association Hall of Fame member

The chart above answers most questions about the decade, showing that C. H. ‘Okie’ Blanchard is by far and away the best hoops coach of the 1940s. (The same thing occurs for the 1930s and 1950s by the way, articles for a different day, maybe.) Okie leads in total wins by 42 games, win percentage, qualified all of his teams for the state tourney, medaled (first, second or third) seven of eight times, and won six of 10 big-school state championships. And he spotted two years of the 1940s to his prep hoops coaching brethren by stepping away from prep sports to coach and work at the University of Wyoming.

Best of the rest? Because he only coached three years in the 1940s, Walter Dowler doesn’t make the top 10 win list, but still rings up an impressive total of 79. Coach Dowler succeeded Okie at Rock Springs as head coach and won the 1937-38 state championship—too early to count on this arbitrary time span—won it again for the Tigers in 1940-41 and the next year in Cheyenne in 1941-42. Coach Dowler might’ve won another state title the following year but the Uncle Sam had different plans for him. Coach Blanchard was named his replacement and took the 1942-43 state title. After his stint in the Navy, Dowler turned his energies toward school administration and Okie continued to post a string of championships for the Indians. (Dowler’s lowest 1940s finish was second place in the 1939-40 season to—you might’ve guessed it— Coach Okie’s NCHS Mustangs.)

Three to consider—Byron’s Wilford Mower took home two 1940s state championships, coaching the final four years of that decade. He posted 74 wins, added another state title in 1950 and 111 1950s wins to his Hall of Fame total. Laramie’s Floyd Foreman ended his stellar coaching career in the 1940s with 76 wins in the four years he coached during the decade, qualifying the Plainsmen for tourney play each year and medaling three times. Just missing the top ten was Natrona County’s Darrell Hathaway with 87 wins during a four-year span of the 1940s. His Mustangs qualified each time for the state tourney and medaled twice. That average of over 21 wins a year is enviable.

Halls of Fame are a rather recent phenomena, and Wyoming started theirs in 1984. Have any 1940s coaches been omitted by the Wyoming Coaches Hall of Fame? The biggest stumbling block is the 20-year requirement of coaching with at least 80% of that occurring in Wyoming. As mentioned before, WWII disrupted many coaching careers during this decade and as a result, most fall short of the required two decades. Coaches then coached ALL sports all year long: football in the fall, basketball during the winter and track in the spring. Such investments in time tended to shorten coaching careers. The same can be said for coaches during the 1930s, where the Great Depression affected school budgets, cancelled or reduced seasons and caused all teachers uncertain employment circumstances.

Personally I’d like to see Floyd Foreman added to the Hall of Fame list, even if he’s a few years short of 20. My records go back to the 1930-31 season and I believe Coach Foreman started in Laramie the year before in the 1929-30 school year. My records—minus the 1929-30 campaign—show an amazing career. Coach Foreman qualified the Plainsmen for all the state tourneys except one, and that was the state tourney cancelled by the scarlet fever in 1935-36. His teams medaled 10 times: two state championships, five runners-up and three third place finishes. Minus that first year, he totaled 257 wins and a .754 win percentage. Pretty impressive accomplishments, even if his 14 years served are shy of 20, and certainly worthy of recognition in the Wyoming Coaches Hall of Fame.

The NCAA basketball tournament — “March Madness” — is the best sporting event in America. This is simply a fact, not a debate.

That experience is only one small step from being replicated at the high school level in Wyoming.

With only 67 boys teams and 66 girls teams playing high school basketball in Wyoming in 2023, the conditions are almost perfect for what could be the state’s greatest sporting event: a one-classification, single-elimination, all-teams-invited state basketball tournament.

The scheduling for such an event isn’t as crazy as it seems. Over one week, Wyoming’s own version of March Madness could take place across four basketball courts, likely in Casper; between boys and girls, it would be 126 games, plus five “pigtail” games, something that could be accomplished in six days. I broke it down, and the logistics are possible.

And let’s face it: The tournament would be awesome.

Seeding the teams

Each team in the state would be seeded either 1-67 (boys) or 1-66 based on a ranking system, to be determined. For now, we’ll use last season’s Maxpreps ratings for boys and girls, which have their own problems but will suffice as an example of what’s possible.

Scheduling logistics

The first-round games would be Monday and Tuesday, with boys games one day and girls games the other, rotating every other year. With 32 games to be played, eight games apiece could be played at the Ford Wyoming Center, Casper College, Natrona County and Kelly Walsh using a schedule similar to the first-day schedule already in use by the WHSAA — 9 a.m., 10:30 a.m., noon, 1:30 p.m., 3 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. (The last four games are an hour earlier than the current schedule, just to keep things rolling.)

Pigtail games, or “first four” games, could be played on Monday/Tuesday morning in nearby gyms, such as Glenrock or Midwest, or at one of the middle-school gyms in Casper such as Centennial, Dean Morgan or CY, which are all capable of hosting a small high-school game. The schedule would be set so that pigtail winners would play in the late time slots on Monday/Tuesday night.

The second-round games would come on Wednesday, with another 32 games (16 boys, 16 girls) to be played at the four main sites, with sites rotating every year between boys and girls.

Thursday brings third-round games, or the Sweet 16 round. With only 16 games to be played, eight games apiece could be staged at the Ford Wyoming Center and Casper College, with boys and girls rotating sites annually.

Friday is the fourth round, the Elite Eight, with four games apiece between boys and girls to be played that afternoon and evening at the FWC and CC.

Saturday brings us the Final Four and championship rounds, all at the FWC, with semifinal games at 10:30 a.m., noon, 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. … and championships at 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

Just like the NCAA Tournament, there would be no consolation rounds. When you lose, you’re done.

Here’s what the 2023 brackets would look like for boys and girls using the Maxpreps rankings at the end of the season, boys first:

Then girls:

Benefits

With a one-class, single-elimination tournament, the need for regional tournaments is eliminated. Without a need to qualify for state, the qualifying tournament can go away.

The “time out of school” argument also loses a bit of sway here, too. With regional tournaments, every team in the state — more or less — is already missing two days of class, and those who qualify for state are missing two more. In the proposed all-comers state tournament, since more than half the teams leave after the first round/pigtails, most teams would only need one day out of class to participate. Additionally, teams that play in the Monday round could potentially return to school and have class on Tuesday, and then return to the tournament for continued play on Wednesday. Three-quarters of teams would be back in class by Thursday morning.

Also, with classifications eliminated for state, regular-season scheduling could take on a whole new dynamic. Teams would no longer be required to schedule certain conference teams and could instead focus on a regionalized schedule that reduces travel or a more challenging schedule with more challenging teams to prepare for the rigors of the state tournament — or to boost that power ranking for a better seed.

And upsets! The potential for upsets and Cinderella runs is heightened in a single-elimination, all-class affair.

Are you serious?

I’m only half-joking when I suggest this. Wyoming’s setup now is absolutely fine and in line with what other states do to crown state basketball champions.

But there’s something inside me that thinks it’d be a lot of fun to watch every team battle it out across a week in Casper.

Forget the NCAAs. This would easily replace it as the must-watch sporting event of the year.

–patrick

A couple weekends ago, both the Class 1A girls and Class 2A boys championship games produced something interesting — the same two teams who reached those games in 2022 also made it in 2023.

In the case of the 1A girls, Upton avenged last year’s loss to Southeast and won its first girls basketball championship. In 2A boys, Pine Bluffs won its second straight, beating Big Horn for the second year in a row (both times by exactly 11 points, oddly enough).

Those games got me thinking about all the times we’ve seen the same two schools go against each other in back-to-back years in a state championship game, no matter the sport.

Across the WHSAA team game sports (basketball, soccer, volleyball, football and softball), the same two teams have played each other in consecutive years in the championship game 116 times. The defending champ has won 66 of those, or 57%.

  • In basketball, the defending champ has won 21 times in 41 matchups.
  • In soccer, the defending champ has won 13 times in 22 matchups.
  • In volleyball, the defending champ has won 14 times in 25 matchups.
  • And in football, the defending champ has won 18 times in 28 matchups.

Four times, two teams have played each other in their respective championship games four years in a row. It’s happened twice in volleyball: From 1996-99, Cokeville beat Burlington four straight times in the Class 1A volleyball championship, and from 2003-06, Star Valley and Wheatland played four times in the Class 3A volleyball championship, with Star Valley winning three and Wheatland one.

It also happened once in football and once in boys soccer. From 1953-56, Worland defeated Torrington four consecutive times in the Class A football championship; from 2008-11, Cody and Buffalo played four times in the Class 3A boys soccer championship, with Cody taking three of those four.

Another eight times have produced three-peat championship matchups: University Prep and St. Stephens in Class B boys basketball from 1959-61; Lovell and Wyoming Indian in 2A boys basketball from 1984-86; Natrona and Campbell County in 4A girls basketball from 1999-2001; Douglas and Lyman in 3A girls basketball from 2019-22 (no tournament in 2020); Laramie and Campbell County in 4A girls soccer from 2009-11; Natrona and East in 4A girls soccer from 1987-89; Natrona and Sheridan in 4A football from 1936-38 and again from 2016-18.

Here is a list of all the times we’ve seen repeat championship game pairings:

Basketball (21 repeats, 20 changes)
4A boys (2 repeats, 5 changes)
2003: Sheridan 62, Campbell County 61
2002: Campbell County 76, Sheridan 49

1993: Campbell County 72, East 69, OT
1992: Campbell County 57, East 56 OT

1973: Rock Springs 57, Central 54
1972: Rock Springs 89, Central 80

1960: Rock Springs 59, Sheridan 47
1959: Sheridan 52, Rock Springs 46

1956: Central 48, Natrona 46
1955: Natrona 67, Central 45

1946: Natrona 47, Central 32
1945: Central 45, Natrona 39

1928: Rock Springs 35, Central 30
1927: Central 21, Rock Springs 9

3A boys (1 repeat, 2 changes)
2004: Thermopolis 70, Kemmerer 61, OT
2003: Thermopolis 66, Kemmerer 60

2002: Douglas 43, Star Valley 41
2001: Star Valley 69, Douglas 63

1972: Buffalo 66, Green River 57
1971: Green River 74, Buffalo 67

2A boys (5 repeats, 2 changes)
2023: Pine Bluffs 49, Big Horn 38
2022: Pine Bluffs 52, Big Horn 41

2003: Lovell 63, Lusk 50
2002: Lovell 78, Lusk 71, OT

1986: Lovell 66, Wyoming Indian 54
1985: Wyoming Indian 74, Lovell 67
1984: Wyoming Indian 90, Lovell 64

1961: University Prep 48, St. Stephens 18
1960: St. Stephens 71, University Prep 55
1959: St. Stephens 56, University Prep 50

1950: Byron 31, Cowley 27
1949: Byron 32, Cowley 24

1A boys (2 repeats, 1 change)
2007: St. Stephens 52, Burlington 46
2006: Burlington 49, St. Stephens 47

1960: LaGrange 54, Carpenter 48
1959: LaGrange 57, Carpenter 56

1956: Veteran 68, LaGrange 45
1955: Veteran 68, LaGrange 50

4A girls (5 repeats, 2 changes)
2022: East 51, Cody 41
2021: East 52, Cody 37

2018: Campbell County 65, East 41
2017: East 53, Campbell County 50

2001: Campbell County 63, Natrona 57
2000: Natrona 87, Campbell County 84, 2OT
1999: Natrona 76, Campbell County 61

1997: Campbell County 88, Green River 68
1996: Campbell County 76, Green River 53

1986: Sheridan 29, Rawlins 26
1985: Sheridan 33, Rawlins 28

1980: Rock Springs 48, Sheridan 46
1979: Rock Springs 59, Sheridan 51

3A girls (5 repeats, 3 changes)
2022: Douglas 45, Lyman 37
2021: Douglas 51, Lyman 11
(no tournament 2020)
2019: Douglas 56, Lyman 41

2017: Star Valley 44, Worland 43
2016: Worland 44, Star Valley 35

2010: Jackson 49, Powell 42, 2OT
2009: Jackson 43, Powell 29

2003: Thermopolis 48, Star Valley 42
2002: Thermopolis 46, Star Valley 43

1998: Mountain View 48, Douglas 46
1997: Douglas 68, Mountain View 51

1989: Star Valley 50, Powell 43
1988: Star Valley 46, Powell 45

1984: Douglas 61, Wheatland 51
1983: Wheatland 56, Douglas 51

2A girls (1 repeat, 1 change)
2008: Big Horn 47, Tongue River 32
2007: Tongue River 49, Big Horn 43, OT

2006: Tongue River 55, Lovell 51
2005: Tongue River 64, Lovell 39

1A girls (0 repeats, 4 changes)
2023: Upton 59, Southeast 54
2022: Southeast 58, Upton 53, OT

2014: Lingle 60, Cokeville 48
2013: Cokeville 59, Lingle 55

1983: Manderson 54, Snake River 51
1982: Snake River 62, Manderson 50

1979: Byron 60, Snake River 57
1978: Snake River 51, Byron 32

Soccer (13 repeats, 9 changes)
4A boys (4 repeats, 2 changes)
2021: Jackson 2, Thunder Basin 1, OT
(no tournament 2020)
2019: Jackson 1, Thunder Basin 0

2014: Laramie 2, Campbell County 0
2013: Laramie 2, Campbell County 1

2011: Sheridan 2, Laramie 1
2010: Laramie 2, Sheridan 0

2003: Kelly Walsh 1, East 0
2002: Kelly Walsh 1, East 0

1999: Central 1, Kelly Walsh 0
1998: Kelly Walsh 2, Central 0

1989: East 1, Natrona 0 (SO)
1988: East 1, Natrona 0

3A boys (2 repeats, 2 changes)
2021: Worland 1, Powell 0
(no tournament 2020)
2019: Worland 2, Powell 0

2011: Cody 2, Buffalo 1
2010: Buffalo 1, Cody 0
2009: Cody 5, Buffalo 1
2008: Cody 2, Buffalo 1

4A girls (5 repeats, 5 changes)
2022: Thunder Basin 2, Rock Springs 0
2021: Rock Springs 2, Thunder Basin 0

2019: Thunder Basin 2, Central 1 (SO)
2018: Central 2, Thunder Basin 0

2017: Campbell County 4, Laramie 1
2016: Laramie 4, Campbell County 2

2015: East 1, Sheridan 0
2014: East 6, Sheridan 1

2011: Campbell County 2, Laramie 1 (SO)
2010: Laramie 2, Campbell County 0
2009: Laramie 1, Campbell County 0

2002: East 2, Campbell County 1 (SO)
2001: East 2, Campbell County 0

1991: Natrona 2, Sheridan 0
1990: Natrona 4, Sheridan 1

1989: Natrona 2, East 0
1988: East 3, Natrona 0
1987: East 5, Natrona 2

3A girls (2 repeats, 0 changes)
2018: Cody 2, Worland 0
2017: Cody 2, Worland 1

2010: Jackson 1, Buffalo 0 (SO)
2009: Jackson 2, Buffalo 0

Volleyball (14 repeats, 11 changes)
4A girls (3 repeats, 3 changes)
2021: Laramie 3, Kelly Walsh 0
2020: Laramie 3, Kelly Walsh 1

2017: Kelly Walsh 3, East 1
2016: East 3, Kelly Walsh 0

2008: Kelly Walsh 3, Natrona 1
2007: Natrona 3, Kelly Walsh 1

2004: East 3, Kelly Walsh 1
2003: East 3, Kelly Walsh 1

2002: Kelly Walsh 2, Riverton 0
2001: Kelly Walsh 2, Riverton 1

1976: Natrona 2, East 0
1975: East 2, Natrona 1

3A girls (2 repeats, 3 changes)
2022: Mountain View 3, Lyman 2
2021: Lyman 3, Mountain View 2

2006: Wheatland 3, Star Valley 0
2005: Star Valley 3, Wheatland 0
2004: Star Valley 3, Wheatland 1
2003: Star Valley 3, Wheatland 1

1981: Wheatland 2, Star Valley 0
1980: Star Valley 2, Wheatland 1

2A girls (2 repeats, 1 change)
2017: Sundance 3, Wright 0
2016: Wright 3, Sundance 0

2008: Big Horn 3, Mountain View 0
2007: Big Horn 3, Mountain View 0

1981: Pine Bluffs 2, Saratoga 0
1980: Pine Bluffs 2, Saratoga 1

1A girls (7 repeats, 4 changes)
2013: Cokeville 3, Lingle 2
2012: Cokeville 3, Lingle 0

2011: Cokeville 3, Kaycee 0
2010: Kaycee 3, Cokeville 2

2009: Burlington 3, Cokeville 2
2008: Cokeville 3, Burlington 1

2003: Snake River 3, Burlington 1
2002: Burlington 2, Snake River 1

2001: Cokeville 2, Snake River 1
2000: Cokeville 2, Snake River 1

1999: Cokeville 2, Burlington 1
1998: Cokeville 2, Burlington 0
1997: Cokeville 2, Burlington 1
1996: Cokeville 2, Burlington 1

1994: Burlington 2, Cokeville 0
1993: Cokeville 2, Burlington 0

1992: Cokeville 2, Pine Bluffs 1
1991: Cokeville 2, Pine Bluffs 0

1987: Cokeville 2, Ten Sleep 0
1986: Cokeville 2, Ten Sleep 0

Football (18 repeats, 10 changes)
4A (5 repeats, 4 changes)
2018: Natrona 28, Sheridan 14
2017: Sheridan 28, Natrona 14
2016: Sheridan 56, Natrona 28

2002: Rock Springs 36, Campbell County 14
2001: Rock Springs 22, Campbell County 19

1992: Sheridan 27, Campbell County 9
1991: Sheridan 27, Campbell County 8

1981: Kelly Walsh 35, Rock Springs 0
1980: Kelly Walsh 20, Rock Springs 7

1969: Laramie 22, Worland 14
1968: Laramie 48, Worland 0

1938: Sheridan 6, Natrona 0
1937: Natrona 19, Sheridan 0
1936: Sheridan 14, Natrona 0

1935: Rock Springs 19, Sheridan 0
1934: Sheridan 26, Rock Springs 6

3A (6 repeats, 0 changes)
2021: Cody 41, Jackson 24
2020: Cody 34, Jackson 13

2002: Worland 17, Star Valley 14, OT
2001: Worland 6, Star Valley 0

1998: Riverton 9, Star Valley 7
1997: Riverton 23, Star Valley 20

1956: Worland 46, Torrington 12
1955: Worland 16, Torrington 14, OT
1954: Worland 32, Torrington 7
1953: Worland 13, Torrington 7

2A (3 repeats, 4 changes)
2019: Mountain View 24, Buffalo 14
2018: Buffalo 43, Mountain View 18

2014: Mountain View 28, Big Horn 19
2013: Big Horn 47, Mountain View 22

2012: Lyman 22, Lovell 20
2011: Lovell 21, Lyman 13

2008: Glenrock 18, Kemmerer 0
2007: Kemmerer 22, Glenrock 0

2001: Big Piney 24, Mountain View 14
2000: Big Piney 44, Mountain View 28

1991: Thermopolis 6, Lovell 0
1990: Thermopolis 21, Lovell 20, OT

1957: Byron 20, Kemmerer 0
1956: Byron 19, Kemmerer 7

1A (all levels) (4 repeats, 2 changes)
2019: Big Horn 55, Cokeville 7
2018: Big Horn 56, Cokeville 3

2014: Cokeville 26, Lusk 6
2013: Cokeville 13, Lusk 12

2003: Big Horn 29, Lusk 8
2002: Lusk 31, Big Horn 0

1984: Cokeville 12, Midwest 8
1983: Cokeville 20, Midwest 6

2017: Kaycee 55, Farson 30
2016: Kaycee 41, Farson 30

2012: Dubois 54, Snake River 30
2011: Snake River 54, Dubois 33

–patrick

The Burns’ girls recent Class 2A championship, accomplished in a season in which the Broncs finished under .500 with a 14-15 overall record, raised a good question in the Wyoming high school sports trivia circles: How many basketball teams have ever won state with a losing record?

The answer, it appears to be, is two.

The Burns girls join the St. Stephens boys of 2004, who won the Class 1A championship despite an overall record of 11-17, as the only teams to win state with a losing record.

However, this comes with a caveat — the records of four girls championship teams and one boys championship team since 1931 are not yet available.

Those five champions with missing records are:

  • 1967 University Prep boys, Class A champions
  • 1977 Snake River girls, Class C champions
  • 1978 Pine Bluffs girls, Class B champions
  • 1978 Snake River girls, Class C champions
  • 1979 Byron girls, Class C champions

Records prior to 1931 are a bit spotty, as well, as tournaments prior to that year were not yet organized by the Wyoming High School Activities Association, which didn’t come into existence until then.

As always, if you can help me out, please do! Leave a comment on this post or email pschmiedt@yahoo.com.

Of note in this discussion is the Pine Bluffs girls of 1994, who finished 14-7 on their way to a title. A faulty state tournament preview story inadvertently put their record at 10-12 at a couple places on this site. That record was inaccurate. A big thanks to friend of the site “Stat Rat” Jim Craig for double-checking the Hornets’ final record that season.

–patrick

Note: This is the seventh and final in a series of stories about some of Wyoming’s biggest high school sports underdogs.

Kemmerer’s boys basketball came into the 1977 Class A West Regional tournament after an 8-10 regular season that was beset with injury and inconsistency.

Somehow, the Rangers won three straight at regionals and carried that momentum to win three straight at state, a six-game run that no one expected, least of all the Rangers.

The Rangers played well against good teams but struggled against not-so-good teams, said John Scott, who was a senior on the team and now is the head football coach at Lander.

“We rode the tides,” Scott said. “When things were up, we looked great, but when they were down we looked terrible.”

The team was also adjusting to new coach Glenn Murray, who came to Kemmerer straight after college after growing up in Potsdam, New York. Previously, the Rangers had been coached by Vince Guinta and Todd Dayton, two hall-of-fame coaches in their own right who were in many ways opposites in their approaches — Guinta in-your-face, Dayton composed.

Murray fused the talent and the coaching styles to get the most from his players in Kemmerer. However, that fusion didn’t come until the postseason.

Entering the regional tournament, the Rangers knew they could play well, but Scott said “it wasn’t like we said, ‘Hey, this is our last chance,’ any of those ‘Hoosier’-type stories.”

Instead, the Rangers didn’t over-think, and Murray didn’t over-coach. Kemmerer won three straight, beating a two-loss Lovell team in the semifinals and then handing defending Class A champion Star Valley its first loss to a Wyoming team that season in the championship.

“And then we’re the regional champs, regional champs at 11-10,” Scott said. “I think it was the first time all year we were over .500.”

Even after winning the West Regional, Kemmerer was still an underdog.

Glenrock entered the tournament at 19-1 and was, along with defending champion Star Valley, the pre-tournament favorite.

Kemmerer drew Buffalo in the first round, playing a game that started at 10 p.m. in the university’s Fieldhouse in Laramie. The Rangers started slow and trailed by eight midway through the third quarter. Then Kemmerer kicked into gear, using a full-court press to rally and win 65-60.

The Rangers played Lovell, again at 10 p.m., in the semis, a rematch of the regional semifinal. Lovell was a tough draw, as the Bulldogs were the only team to beat Glenrock during the regular season and were keen on some revenge after losing to the Rangers the previous week. And it showed, as — much like what happened the night before against Buffalo — Lovell built a 10-point lead during the late stages of the third quarter.

Again, Kemmerer rallied, pressing the Bulldogs into defensive oblivion and winning 72-65.

Clearly, the Rangers were peaking at the right time. But the biggest challenge was yet to come; Glenrock, as expected, awaited in the championship.

Scott said he recalled stepping onto the court at the UW Fieldhouse for that title game with a decided lack of certainty.

“They’re warming up and they’re really sleek-looking,” he said. ” … They all wore a boutonniere on their warmup and they just looked really confident.”

But that uncertainty quickly turned into motivation. After seeing the Herders on the other side of half-court, “I think we just kind of felt we had nothing to lose,” Scott said.

The championship game, another 10 p.m. Fieldhouse start, was the opposite of the first two games, with Kemmerer jumping out early and Glenrock rallying in the third quarter. The Herders crept within three, but Kemmerer continued its trend of playing its best when it mattered most. Thanks to clutch foul shooting and a stalwart defensive effort, the Rangers held off the Herders, 70-59.

Just like that, the team that had stumbled to an 8-10 regular-season record was the Class A champion. The Kemmerer team was one of only a small handful of Wyoming basketball teams to have a losing record in the regular season only to win a state championship.

So what changed?

The first was health.

Mark Dolar was the leading scorer for the Rangers in each of their tournament games, scoring 22 in the title game. He had 21 in the semifinals and 22 in the opening round. Injuries, including to Dolar, dogged the team in the regular season, but by regionals everyone was healthy.

Aside from the health of the team, Scott also said the team’s mentality changed once winning became the priority. When the Rangers won, they did so as a team; when the Rangers lost, they looked at their individual play.

“Those (individual) things kind of always took precedence when we were losing… and (the mentality) was, ‘Well, at least I scored this many,'” he said.

To date, it’s Kemmerer’s only state basketball championship, boys or girls.

Scott, now the head football coach at Lander after a few stops around the state and some time as the head coach at Black Hills State, said the players from that championship team remain close 45 years later.

“As a coach, I think that’s why those championships really do mean so much,” Scott said. “It’s not the on-field stuff. It’s afterward. … We still own that (championship). It’s ours. That’s the aftermath of what you tell a kid and why you (commit)… Whether it’s (a 3A championship) or the Super Bowl.”

–patrick

Note: This is the second in a series of stories about some of Wyoming’s biggest high school sports underdogs.

Team photo of the Lingle girls basketball team from 2006.
Team photo of the Lingle girls basketball team from 2006. Courtesy of the Lingle-Fort Laramie High School yearbook.

The Lingle girls basketball team won the 2006 Class 1A championship by the thinnest of margins — a phrase that can be defined in two different ways.

First, the scores: Lingle won its three state tournament games by a combined five points, which is a state record — no other Wyoming team has won a state basketball title with such a slim combined margin in its three tournament games.

Second, the shot: Lingle’s championship-winning shot in its 32-31 victory against Encampment, a 3-pointer at the buzzer from senior point guard Lindsay Worley, survived on its trajectory only after barely sailing past a defender’s outstretched hand on its way to the hoop.

Together, behind those final scores and that final shot, the Doggers put together one of the more improbable championship runs ever seen at a state basketball tournament.

The fact that Lingle was a noted underdog in each of its three state tournament games, too, makes the run all that more memorable, more than 16 years after it happened.

In what looked like a two-team race between Guernsey and Encampment to the title, the Doggers unexpectedly beat both pre-tournament favorites.

Worley, speaking this summer from her home in Wisconsin, said it felt like the Doggers won two championships that weekend. The first came in the semifinals, when undefeated Guernsey — constantly Lingle’s undoing — fell to the Doggers. The next came in the actual championship game, where Lingle knocked off two-time defending champion Encampment and Worley’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer provided the final margin.

“Nobody was banking on us to win the state championship game,” Worley said, “and that was like, the biggest upset.”

But before the title game came two other close games for Doggers, who came into the 2006 state tournament as the No. 3 seed from the East Regional. Lingle had barely won its third-place game at regionals by eking out a 65-63 victory against Kaycee — a portend of things to come.

In the first round at state, the 16-9 Doggers played 17-5 Farson, which was No. 2 out of the West and had nearly beaten Encampment the week before in the West Regional championship.

Lingle’s state championship run nearly ended there. The Doggers gave away a 14-point fourth-quarter lead, and Farson tied the game late. But Angela Ostrander hit a free throw with 2.6 seconds remaining, the last of her game-high 23 points, and Lingle survived and advanced, 51-50.

Up next? Those pesky, undefeated Vikings from Guernsey. The Vikings entered the game 25-0, rarely challenged and twice victors over Lingle in the regular season, including a 23-point victory against the Doggers just two weeks prior. This was a Guernsey team loaded with talent and athleticism, proven not only by the zero in the loss column but by their 1A volleyball championship — in which they beat Lingle in the title match — that fall.

But the rivalry went deeper than that, Worley said, all the way back to middle school.

“I just remember Guernsey always kicked our butts, every single year,” she said.

But Lingle matched Guernsey’s energy and chemistry, finally overcoming their nemesis neighbors and ending the Vikings’ undefeated season with a 56-53 victory.

“Our energy as a team, we were just not giving up,” Worley said. “It just switched. It was amazing how we all came together in that game.”

After the semifinal victory, the exhausted but elated Lingle team faced yet another challenge: Encampment, which was 21-4 and on the brink of a third consecutive championship, something that had never been accomplished at the 1A girls level in Wyoming.

“We weren’t nervous,” Worley said. “We were just excited, excited we made it to the championship game.”

Encampment’s methodical style was in sharp contrast to Guernsey’s running style the night before. In a pace Worley said was “crawling,” Encampment maintained control early.

“We were struggling as a team because they were defending really tight on our post side,” Worley said “That was our goal — our goal was to beat Encampment in the paint, but they were defending really well on the post.”

Down seven in the third quarter, though, the Doggers finally broke through and found some offensive and defensive consistency. Not much, but enough. So, Lingle rallied. And rallied. And rallied. Eventually, the Doggers pulled within two, at 31-29.

Down by that margin with 8 seconds remaining and 94 feet to go, Worley said the coach’s plan was to feed the post and play for overtime. But 31 minutes and 52 seconds of game play made Worley aware that the plan was tenuous.

“The way that Encampment was defending, they were just all over our post, and it never would have worked,” she said.

So as the huddle broke, and as the ball made its way upcourt in her teammates’ possession, Worley said “something, for me mentally just clicked, and I just needed the ball in my hands.”

She started calling for the ball, then clapping. Loudly. This was going to be her shot to take.

A teammate saw her near the top of the key and gave her the chance she was looking for. No time to think — Worley caught and shot, well beyond the 3-point line but still only millimeters over the outstretched arms of Encampment’s Kally Custis.

“That’s why the arc of the ball was so high. I remember shooting up and over her hand,” Worley said. ” … I just knew it was going in. I knew that was one of my strengths at the time. I was a shooter, and the shooter wants the ball.”

Worley’s 3-pointer beat the buzzer, and Lingle had just won its first modern girls state basketball championship by the thinnest of those two margins — a one-point, 32-31 victory that came on a shot that survived being blocked by less than a fingertip.

The realization of the significance of the shot came quickly for Worley, who looked up into the celebrating crowd and saw her father, tears in his eyes. Soon after, the two found each other, and Worley’s dad hugged her as dads do when they can’t contain their excitement, picking her up and twirling her around.

For Worley, who played her senior season only after recovering from back-to-back knee injuries, the championship was the closure of one chapter of her life. But she did take some time to soak in what she could and enjoy it.

“I was riding high for a full week after that,” Worley said.

Worley’s basketball career ended with that shot. She found her passion in health and fitness, a career she has pursued for the past 14 years. After getting her master’s degree in public health from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, Worley is now working as a heath educator, wellness coordinator and trainer at a manufacturing company in Wisconsin.

Meanwhile, the Doggers’ run from Worley’s senior year remains a testament to the unpredictable nature of sports, exemplifying how an entire team can dance on the edge of failure multiple times and still find success through good fortune, opportune timing and the right attitude in the game-defining moment.

–patrick

Note: This is the first in a series of stories about some of Wyoming’s biggest high school sports underdogs.

The Reliance boys basketball team from 1949. Photo courtesy of the 1949 Reliance High School yearbook.
Top row: Coach Jack Smith, Ronald Wilson, Robert Burns, Tony Tsakakis, Everett Hernandez, John Fortuna, George “Bud” Nelson, Stan Kouris, Claude Thomas, Walter Sawick, assistant coach Thomas Manatos.
Bottom row: Manager Henry Telck, George Jelaco, Michael Fresques, James Rafferty, William Strannigan, Ernest Mecca, Spiro Varras.

The Reliance High School basketball team from 1949, one of the most remarkable teams ever fielded in Wyoming history, has two big claims to fame.

The first, most obvious, is the smaller of the two accomplishments: A team from a high school with 94 students played with Wyoming’s big schools and nearly pulled off a basketball championship run for the ages, finishing as the state’s runners-up during a magical week in March.

The second reason why the Pirates of 1949 are so special goes well beyond the scores of games played more than 70 years ago, stretching into communities and lives across the state and country. Of the 15 players in the team picture, three (plus a fourth freshman not in the photo) went on to become inductees into the inaugural class elected to the Wyoming Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Several others became coaches and educators in Wyoming. Also in the mix were boys would become an oceanographer, a doctor, a civic leader, a Naval weapons specialist and more — a collection of leaders who shaped countless lives. They were inspired by a coach who left a noticeable impression on their lives.

THE SEASON

It seems odd that a team that would produce so many coaching legends would come from a town and a school with such little hardwood success. To put it bluntly, Reliance did not have a rich basketball history. Aside from trips to the state tournament in 1929 and 1930, when all teams no matter their record could play, the Pirates’ only other visit to state came in 1942, when the Pirates rallied from a first-round loss to win the consolation championship.

In 1948, the year before their memorable run at state, Reliance finished a paltry 11-14 but had shown promise in the regional tournament, upsetting Rawlins in the first round and nearly beating Kemmerer in a state play-in game before losing 33-32.

The following season, the Pirates had shown they were an improved team under coach Jack Smith, but they still looked far from championship material. Reliance was competitive during the regular season, finishing 14-9 and going 11-4 in conference play, good enough to finish second in the nine-team Class AA/A Southwest District. (Incidentally, the Pirates also played well at home, in a “crackerbox” gym that needed two 10-second lines because the court’s length was too short to be regulation.) Reliance reached state by finishing second in the Southwest District tournament; their one-point loss to top seed Rock Springs in the title game was proof, though, that the Pirates could play with the state’s best.

This realization came even though the Pirates were not blessed with the one thing that usually guarantees success in basketball, height. The starting five of senior Spiro Varras and juniors Stan Kouris, Bud Nelson, Michael Fresques and George Jelaco were built for hunching in coal mines, not posting up on the block.

“We were really small,” Nelson said. “We had one person that was over 6 feet tall. I was the center and I was 5-11.

“We didn’t have much height, but we had a lot of fight.”

The size of the school itself, not just its players, was another handicap, another one Reliance was determined to overcome.

With a senior class of 18 students and a 9-12 student body of 94 (according to a count from the school’s 1949 yearbook), the Pirates were one of the smallest schools in Wyoming’s Class A ranks. At the time, Wyoming basketball only had two classifications — A and B — as four-classification play with classes of AA, A, B and C was still three years away. The dividing line between Class A and Class B was an enrollment of 100 students. Riding the edge of that line, Reliance played against Wyoming’s biggest boys from its biggest schools, including some schools more than 10 times their size, despite having only double-digit numbers walking the halls.

In fact, John Fortuna, a senior on the 1949 team, said the Reliance superintendent probably lied in reporting the school’s enrollment to keep the Pirates in Class A.

But Reliance was used to the challenge, and they knew how to handle it.

“Most of what made our team click was aggressiveness and desire and to believe in that we could win,” Nelson said. “People will look at us and kind of laugh at us, like a car of midgets drove up to the basketball court… but we had the desire to win so much, that made up for us being so small.”

When the state tournament came around, that desire wasn’t yet on display for the state to see. Reliance wasn’t given much of a chance to get out of the first round, much less make a deep run.

Up first was Worland, which had finished third in the Northwest District tournament but had 19 victories on the season, including one against mighty Casper Natrona. The Pirates weren’t fazed; Fresques scored 12, Kouris 10 and Varras nine, and Reliance won 43-35.

Next up: Cheyenne.

This is where the dream had to end, right? After all, the Indians represented the state’s biggest school and, at the time, its biggest basketball dynasty.

Entering the 1949 season, Cheyenne and coach Okie Blanchard had won six of the past seven state basketball championships. The Indians had their struggles in 1949, sure, but still came into the game against Reliance with 18 victories, a Southeast District tournament championship, momentum from a 27-point first-round victory against Gillette and a student body significantly larger than that of the Pirates. (The 1949 Cheyenne yearbook shows 829 students in grades 10-12.)

The game wasn’t even close — and not in the way that most expected. Reliance dominated Cheyenne in every possible way. Kouris had 10 and Nelson, Varras and Jelaco had eight apiece, no Cheyenne player had more than five, and the Pirates won 44-27.

“They were much bigger, but we were quicker,” Varras said. “We pressed, and we had a bunch of guys that were just really tough. And the pressure got to (Cheyenne). Their coach told our coach later, ‘I’d trade two of our big guys for one of your scrappers.'”

That was the game that turned the state’s attention to the little team that could.

Now one of the final four, Reliance was among a set of giant-killers. Little-regarded Lusk beat Northwest District tournament champion Cody in the second round, while at the same time Lovell had beaten Rock Springs — the team that beat Reliance in the Southwest District title game. The only non-surprise among the final four teams was Casper (Natrona), which had consistently been one of the state’s best all season long.

The semifinals paired Reliance with Lusk and Lovell with Casper. But with mighty Cheyenne already vanquished, what were the Tigers? Once again, Reliance played above its size, Nelson scored 14 and the Pirates wiped out Lusk by 11, 39-28.

Just like that, little Reliance was in the state championship.

Casper’s 45-35 victory against Lovell set up one of the most unlikely of title pairings: the 22-4, big-school, big-town, we-belong-here Mustangs against the 19-10, small-school, small-town, we-belong-here-too Pirates.

Nelson said excitement for the Pirates had reached a frenzy back in the four coal camps of Reliance, Winton, Dines and Stansbury. Those who couldn’t make it to UW’s Half Acre Gym by car, train or bus for the championship still managed to keep up with the proceedings. Even the underground miners in Reliance’s coal mines kept in the know. Miners running hoists above ground would listen to the game on the radio and periodically write down the score of the game.

“They’d put (the scores) on the coal cars and run them down the mine, and (the miners) could keep up with the scores that way,” Nelson said.

The Pirates’ magic ran out in the championship, though, as a bigger and more physical Mustang team built a six-point halftime lead and won by 13, 49-36.

“They played a completely different ballgame than any other team we played,” Fortuna said. “They forced us to move the ball. … They just turned the tables on us.”

Regardless, Varras was named to the all-state team, the first time a Reliance player had been so honored. And the Pirates picked up all kinds of recognition for being the team to not only end Cheyenne’s title run but to reach the title game. The team came home with a big, golden basketball trophy for its runner-up finish, which was displayed proudly in the school trophy case, and Smith was named the state’s coach of the year.

Jim Rafferty, a junior on the runner-up team, said the reason for the Pirates’ success was a simple combination of the care and comfort the players had for and with each other: “We played together.”

However, the on-court magic ended there.

The 1950 team had the opposite experience of being the hunted, not the hunter; the Pirates finished 21-2 in the regular season and won the Southwest Conference regular-season title. Then it all crumbled down at the district tournament, where Reliance had the misfortune of losing their final two games of the season in the final two games. They didn’t even have the chance to repeat their run at state, failing to qualify and spending that weekend at home.

The 1952 and 1953 teams, now playing in Class A and avoiding run-ins with the likes of Cheyenne and Casper, each advanced to the state tournament semifinals but no further.

That’s the closest Reliance ever got to another title run. With a declining enrollment, the Pirates moved to Class B in 1955 and, not long after the Union Pacific coal mines near Reliance closed in early 1959, the high school closed later that year. Reliance went 4-16 in its final season of basketball.

Reliance, population 714, survives today, with the school remade into apartments. The nearby mining towns of Winton, Dines and Stansbury, whose youth also filled the halls of Reliance High and whose citizens emptied the town to come to a high school basketball tournament in Laramie in 1949, did not survive, as a handful of foundations is all that remains.

And Varras is curious what happened to the big, golden trophy.

“I don’t know where that went,” he said. “That would be nice to know.”

THE TEAM

The true nature of the Pirates’ championship-game run wasn’t apparent for decades later, after it became clear just how special the group of young men on that team in Reliance truly was. To a man, each of them went on to lead successful, enriching lives. Many of them gave back to the sport by becoming coaches, educators or administrators. Others found success in other lines of work, such as engineering, medicine or military service. Many served as part of the U.S. military the Korean War. And they led the way for younger players who didn’t see the floor but saw the leadership in action and followed the path blazed in part by a dramatic championship-game appearance.

The team, and the fortunes that followed them, included:

SENIORS

  • John Fortuna: Worked in the oil and gas industry for nearly a decade, then worked with the U.S. Postal Service in Rock Springs for 30 years. Lives in Rock Springs; age 91.
  • Everett Hernandez: Became an engineer and had a 40-year career with the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in San Diego; was also a youth baseball coach and taught math at San Diego State and San Diego Mesa College. Died 2017.
  • Claude Thomas: Went to college at BYU and to medical school at Utah; was a practicing doctor in Utah for more than three decades, retiring in 1993. Died 2014.
  • Spiro Varras: A WCA hall of famer, led Rock Springs’ basketball team to four state championships in 14 years as head coach and was a math teacher at the school. Lives in Rock Springs; age 91.

JUNIORS

  • Michael Fresques: According to Varras, Fresques was a Korean War hero, working as a medic and rescuing people from battlefields after injuries; he graduated with an engineering degree from UW in 1956; buried in Fort Logan National Cemetery in Colorado. Died 2006.
  • George Jelaco: Was a teacher, coach and administrator in Rock Springs for close to three decades; he is a member of the Wyoming Sports Officials Association’s hall of fame. Died 2000.
  • Stan Kouris: A basketball coach for six years at Rock Springs and at one time was the elected head of the Wyoming Coaches Association, a position Varras took over immediately after Kouris became an administrator at Rock Springs High; he later worked as a grocery manager and owner in Utah. Died 2021.
  • Ernest “Ernie” Mecca: A 30-year member of the National Guard and civic leader in Sweetwater County, with accomplishments and memberships too numerous to mention, and was employed by Rocky Mountain Power; later became chief of staff to Wyoming Gov. Mike Sullivan. Died 2011.
  • George “Bud” Nelson: A WCA hall of famer, he was a coach and administrator at Rock Springs and Cokeville as well as at Western Wyoming College, where he was the basketball coach; he was named the national athletic director of the year in 1989 while at Rock Springs. Lives in Rock Springs; age 91.
  • Jim Rafferty: Worked in extraction industries, both coal and oil, until his official full retirement in 1988. Lives in Reliance; age 90.
  • William “Bill” Strannigan: A WCA hall of famer, coached St. Stephens to a then-record 46-game winning streak and two state titles; was later activities director at Riverton for many years. Died 2012.
  • Tony Tsakakis: Worked in the office of the lieutenant governor in Minnesota. Died 2020.

SOPHOMORES

  • Robert Burns: Graduated from UW in mechanical engineering; Nelson, his brother-in-law, said Burns spent his career working on space research and technology with Lockheed Martin. Died 2015.
  • Walter Sawick: Graduated with an engineering degree from the University of Colorado; he served in the Navy and worked at Mare Island Naval shipyard and Concord Naval Weapons Station. Died 2010.
  • Ronald Wilson: According to Nelson and Fortuna, Wilson went to pharmacy school at UW and later worked as a pharmacist in Texas. Lives in Amarillo, Texas.

And some freshmen who weren’t in the team picture went on to have an impact as educators and coaches in Wyoming:

  • John Maffoni: An educator in Rawlins for 40 years, working up from teacher and coach — he was head football coach for six years — to administrator; he was the Rawlins High principal for nine years and the district superintendent for eight years. Lives in Rawlins.
  • Jim Mecca: An educator throughout the Bighorn Basin, including time in Thermopolis, Burlington and Shoshoni both teaching and coaching; he later owned the Tepee Pools in Thermopolis and was involved with fundraising for Shriner’s Hospitals for Children. Died 2019.
  • Jack Rafferty: A WCA hall of famer, was a coach and athletic director in Buffalo for many years, retiring in 1987; he was president of the Wyoming Coaches Association and led Buffalo to two state basketball championships. Died 2020.

Finally, senior manager Henry Telck also got into coaching; his specialty was youth baseball, where he eventually served as president of Rock Springs Little League. He, too, was a Korean War veteran, and he worked for 32 years for Mountain Fuel Supply. He died in 1997.

Meanwhile, the coaches of the team made their impacts beyond Reliance, too. Head coach Jack Smith — a graduate of Kemmerer and a former member of the UW basketball team — stayed on as the Pirates’ head coach through 1955. He later entered administration and became superintendent of Rock Springs schools, holding that position for 23 years. He died in 1999 at age 80.

His influence stoked the passion many of the Reliance players had for both sports and education.

“He was in World War II as a bomber pilot, and he just inspired all of us,” Varras said. “He was just that kind of person. I think that was one of the main reasons we all went into coaching. … We really felt that he was a good person and we tried to be the same way.”

Added Nelson, “He was a fundamental coach. He was a great coach that way, X’s and O’s, and he had a way with young people. … He was quite a man, and we all admired him.”

Assistant coach Thomas Manatos taught in Reliance and later in Rock Springs for 42 years. He also was the sports voice of the Tigers on the radio, broadcasting Rock Springs football and basketball games for almost 20 years. He died in 2004 at age 84.

Varras said Manatos was his inspiration to become a math teacher.

In Reliance’s case, success bred success. The success of the players after high school was no doubt related to the successes they already were, and the successes their families and community helped mold them into, with or without a couple victories in March.

Fortuna said the legacy of the team’s success was evident each of his 30 years delivering mail in Rock Springs, which was full of former residents of the closed coal camps.

“When I carried mail, the majority people knew me from playing ball in Reliance,” he said. ” … They knew all the players. It was like family.

” … It was just something that stuck with them all the time, that a little burg like we were could beat someone like Cheyenne.”

–patrick

Box score photos courtesy of Bud Nelson.

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