A single tip sent me down a huge rabbit hole — and from that, I’ve posted seven new all-state listings to the site.
I’ve added the Class B all-state teams from 1971 and 1970 in addition to the Class AA all-state team from 1950 and the all-class all-state teams from 1939, 1936, 1933 and 1929.
The last four teams listed above don’t have first names — for now.
The 1970 and 1971 Class B all-state teams have always been a mystery. A few years ago, I found an article that said those teams weren’t picked due to the regional loyalties of the coaches who selected the teams; research help from friend of the site Jim Craig had helped me uncover the 1970 and 1971 Class B all-conference teams, which I had posted here before:
But friend of the site Mike Ragan also alerted me to the fact that there was indeed all-state teams chosen then — he had the 1971 team cut out from the Casper paper to prove it. As it turns out, the Class B all-state teams ran in late December, after Christmas, well after I had given up looking for them (and maybe after the coaches came to their senses and voted for all-state teams after the whole regional rivalry thing got out to the public?).
Regardless, those teams are now listed as part of the site’s all-state listings.
Then I really headed down a research rabbit hole. Using a subscription I recently acquired, I uncovered the other all-state teams from 1950, 1939, 1936, 1933 and 1929 from various sources.
I also found the only missing first name I couldn’t find since 1945. For the 1969 Class B team, I found the first name for Mountain View’s Joe Aimone, who had always been listed only with his first initial.
I also added Rawlins’ Gary Eyre to the 1951 all-state team. I unintentionally left him off the original list.
In exploring all-state selections, I also corrected some spellings of some names: Cody’s Darren Wehrer (1985); Big Horn’s Nolan LaMeres (2000); Cokeville’s Kalvin Watson and Kaylan Grandy (2004); Cokeville’s Jared Watson (2002), Cokeville’s Kent Cassels (1990); Douglas’ Jon Schroeder (1984); Douglas’ Brent Plumb (1976); Guernsey’s Forest Foos (2015); Guernsey’s Greg Putnam (1972); Hanna’s Conor McGraw (2018); Kemmerer’s John Corra (1983); Kemmerer’s Curt Waisath (1982); Laramie’s Ralph Barkey (1951); Lovell’s Keith Grant (1997); Lusk’s Damien Molzahn (2017); Natrona’s Marcus Bielefeld (2005); Rawlins’ Larry Jebens (1974); Rawlins’ Floyd Rummel (1974); Southeast’s Justin Burkart (1997); Star Valley’s Todd Spencer (1982); Torrington’s Mike Cruickshank (1970); Wheatland’s Steve Loyd (1985); and Wright’s Erin Knight (1985). As always, if you spot a misspelling in my all-state listings, please let me know and I’ll get it fixed!
I’m exploring some other research regarding all-state teams, now that I’m confident that I have basically all of them from the 1940s forward — although the Class 1A nine-man all-state team from 1994 is still proving to be incredibly elusive. I still haven’t found a full listing for that team yet.
I’m still not sure if Class A or Class B all-state teams were chosen in the early 1950s, particularly 1950-54. I’m also still missing all-state teams from 1932 and 1926, which I can’t seem to find anywhere — and I’m not even sure if they were selected.
Still, it was fun to put a big dent in the research needed here to make the all-state listings complete. Thanks to Mike for the inspiration!
–patrick