School: Greybull
Nickname: Buffaloes
Colors: blue and yellow
Stadium: Buffaloes Stadium
State championships: 1960
Times worth remembering: From 1960-62, the Buffs were the team everyone had to watch. The 1960 team went 10-1-1 and won the school’s only state championship. The 1961 team had an 8-0 regular season and was the top-ranked team in the state — regardless of classification — before a shocking loss to Buffalo, a team Greybull beat in the final week of the regular season, in the first round of the playoffs. In 1962, the Buffaloes went 8-0 and finished second to Laramie in the final statewide poll to decide a mythical state champion.
Times worth forgetting: Few schools have had the problems Greybull has had in maintaining success. The Buffs set the unofficial state record for consecutive losses with 35 from 1978-82, and also lost 29 straight from 1996-2000 and 27 straight from 1963-67. Eighteen of the 35 losses in the state record-setter were by shutout, but the 2000 season, in which the Buffs were outscored 288-6, was probably the toughest to get over.
Best team: Although the 1960 team was led by one of the best players in Wyoming history — future CFL star Tom Wilkinson — the 1962 team was probably Greybull’s best. Aside from a 19-7 win over Riverton, Greybull won every game by at least 20 points and didn’t allow any opponent more than seven points in any single game. Of the 11 first-team all-state positions in Class A, five went to Greybull players, an unheard-of ratio for that time. Six other players made second-team or honorable mention all-state.
Biggest win: When a school has but one state championship, the biggest win in school history seems pretty obvious. But the 1960 championship victory, a 14-7 win over Evanston, was not nearly as big as the two games the Buffaloes had to win the previous week to simply reach the title game. After tying with Lander for the Bighorn Basin championship, the Buffs beat the Tigers 33-7 in a Tuesday playoff for the right to play Buffalo four days later in the Class A semifinals. In that game, Greybull tied Buffalo 14-14 but advanced by winning the overtime period — setting the stage for the school’s only title-game victory to date.
Heartbreaker: There are a couple painful regular-season overtime losses that Greybull has suffered — a 22-14 loss to Lovell in 1987 and a 12-6 loss to Evanston in 1977 — that not only ruined the Buffaloes’ undefeated seasons, but also kept them out of the playoffs, as well. However, the 19-15 loss to Burns in the 1983 title game, which came after Greybull broke its 35-game losing streak in the season opener, is a tougher one to swallow. The Buffaloes not only missed out on the championship, but they haven’t been back to the title game since.