A couple of really cool additions this week. I added two games, including the first game in state history:

Added Cheyenne Central’s 14-0 loss to the University of Wyoming on Feb. 22, 1894 (also UW’s first official game)

Added University Prep’s 0-0 tie with the Cheyenne Central JV on Oct. 30, 1920 (added to missing games list because I couldn’t find the location)

Also, I added a Coaches Project update for Laramie.

All the updates have been made on all the relevant pages.

I also added state championships from 1921 to 1930 to the champions listings. I also added mythical and unofficial state championships to the team listings on the relevant individual team pages. I figured the champions from 1921-30 were just as relevant as the ones in the “dead era” from 1939-47. Even though there probably aren’t many players left from the teams in those eras, I figured they should get their due on that page. Agree? Disagree? Don’t care? Comment below.

–patrick

The 1971 Class A all-state team I had posted on the all-state listings has been updated with what I think is a more accurate and comprehensive team. The team I used to have posted was selected by an AP panel; the team posted now is the team chosen by the Wyoming Coaches Association.

I try to post the WCA teams over any other teams when available, but I did not find a WCA team for this class and year until a former Torrington Trailblazer, Mike Mitchell, emailed me one a while back. Torrington was one of the best Class A teams in the state in 1971, going 9-0, but had no players chosen for first-team honors on the AP all-state team and only three second-team players. The WCA list is definitely more representative and more inclusive.

Thanks to Mike for his help on this!

–patrick

The last major historical update I think I will ever make — the span of seasons from 1894 to 1919 — has been made. In all, 189 additional games have been added to the database. All the updates have been made on all the relevant pages.

Finding these 189 games was some of the toughest research I have ever done, especially when you consider the format of late 19th and early 20th century newspapers. Locating games was at times like hunting for a tiny needle in a huge haystack. I make no claim that the 189 games I have uploaded are a complete list of the games played from 1894 to 1919; it’s just the best I can do right now with what I have available.

What now? Well, now I continue to fill in the holes where I have information missing. The missing games list and the Coaches Project are good places to start. I’m also attempting to verify all bye weeks listed here and have got a nice jump on that research, as well.

In short, this is not the “end.”

In addition to the years 1894 to 1919, I also fixed a mistake I noticed for St. Stephens — I corrected the Eagles’ record in 1964 to 6-2, not 5-2 as I had listed — and took some names off the Coaches Project list for Cowley and University Prep.

All of the updates have been made on all the relevant pages.

–patrick

Some quick missing games updates from another round in the library:

Found the score for Lovell’s 33-6 loss to Billings Central, Mont., on Oct. 21, 1954

Found the score for Lingle’s 64-28 loss to Harrison, Neb., on Oct. 12, 1951

Found the score for Byron’s 36-13 victory over the Cody sophomores on Oct. 10, 1946

Byron’s victory was part of a long winning streak for the Eagles, now with 26 verified games. However, according to reports from that era, the streak actually pushes into the 40s and is probably Wyoming’s longest — but, thus far, only 26 games have been accounted for.

All of the updates have been made on all the relevant pages.

As an aside, research (going backward) has been “completed” through 1903. The only schools I can find with teams in this era are Cheyenne (Central) and Laramie, and I have run into years — especially with Laramie — where I can’t find any evidence of a team existing. That makes the research go fast (only searching for two schools) but also go slow (looking for something that may not even be there). Now that I am finished with grad school, my research should pick up quickly over the next week or so. Maybe even “done.”

–patrick

A hodgepodge of updates that I’ve been collecting over the past couple weeks:

Updates:

Corrected the date and opponent and found the score for the Torrington JV’s 14-7 victory over Guernsey-Sunrise on Sept. 14, 1982

Found the date and location for Basin’s 22-0 home win over the Worland Institute on Sept. 16, 1953

Found the score for Hanna’s 14-10 victory over Guernsey on Oct. 20, 1944

Found the score of Newcastle’s 26-0 loss to Crawford, Neb., on Oct. 14, 1922

Found the Newcastle-Edgemont, S.D., game scheduled for Nov. 4, 1922, was canceled

Found the date for Newcastle’s 28-0 loss to Edgemont, S.D., on Oct. 21, 1921

I also removed two games I had listed in which teams did not field teams (to the best of my knowledge): a scheduled date between Big Horn and Dayton on Oct. 9, 1942 (Dayton did not field a team this year) and a scheduled date between Arvada-Clearmont and Ten Sleep on Oct. 11, 1963 (Arvada-Clearmont did not field a team this year).

Coaches Project: Updates for Laramie and Midwest.

Streaks: Noted two long losing streaks: Meeteetse’s 0-21 streak from 1947-51 and Guernsey’s 0-21 streak from 1922-30. Guernsey’s streak is not counted among the streaks due to a five-year gap in which the school did not field a football team.

All the updates have been made on all the relevant pages.

–patrick

Part of this research that I have always wanted to discover is the names of the coaches who have the most victories at each school.

Now, after a few weeks of counting and tallying, I have that list — the coaches with the most victories at each school.

I have tallied the all-time victories leaders before, but those records were career totals and did not look at the victory totals at each school.

Only 10 current coaches are their program leaders. They include Burns’ Bill Fullmer, Cokeville’s Todd Dayton, Glenrock’s Ray Kumpula, Hulett’s Steve Colling, Kaycee’s Dustin Sipe, Kemmerer’s Shawn Rogers, Natrona’s Steve Harshman, Snake River’s Mike Bates, Southeast’s Mark Bullington and Wright’s Larry Yeradi.

Only one coach has the most victories at two schools — Carl Mirich. He is the leader at both Moorcroft and Goshen Hole.

The leader for each program is listed below. Programs that did not win a game or where no coaches are known are not listed. Totals are from 1920 to 2010 only. As always, this list and these totals are dependent on the names I have; to see the names I’m missing for the Coaches Project, click here.

Albin: Joseph Weller (8 victories, 1942-43)
Clearmont/Arvada-Clearmont: Mike Starr (19 victories, 1938-41)
Basin: Andy Johnson (69 victories, 1966-76)
Big Horn: Rick Scherry (133 victories, 1975-2000)
Big Piney: Joel Eskelsen (148 victories, 1983-2007)
Bow-Basin: Dean Bartow (9 victories, 1978-81)
Buffalo: Mike Moon (136 victories, 1974-97)
Burlington: Rick Wheeler (30 victories, 2000-05)
Burns: Bill Fullmer (58 victories, 1994-present)
Byron: Frank Thompson (52 victories, 1959-66)
Cheyenne Central: John Powell (94 victories, 1924-39)
Cheyenne East: Art Kissack (38 victories, 1970-76)
Cheyenne St. Mary’s: Marv Strauch (33 victories, 1954-59)
Cody: John McDougall (131 victories, 1974-98)
Cokeville: Todd Dayton (253 victories, 1980-present)
Cowley: Scott Nielsen (19 victories, 1971-73)
Dayton: Richard Gruber (34 victories, 1950-55)
Deaver-Frannie: Dennis Dyvig (28 victories, 1966-69 and 1971)
Douglas: Pete Petronovich (113 victories, 1943-68)
Dubois: Pat Ballinger (41 victories, 1988-97)
Encampment: Burt Willford (2 victories, 1990)
Evanston: Kay Fackrell (92 victories, 1980-97)
Farson: Neal Nelson (5 victories, 1987-88) and Ruline O’Neill (5 victories, 1989)
Fort Washakie: William Balmer (1 victory, 1926-27)
Gebo: Clarence Speich (9 victories, 1932-37)
Gillette: John Alberta (68 victories, 1961-70)
Glendo: George Carmin (58 victories, 1954-67)
Glenrock: Ray Kumpula (81 victories, 1990-96 and 2002-present)
Goshen Hole: Carl Mirich (14 victories, 1970-73)
Green River: Tom Wilson (53 victories, 1987-99)
Greybull: Tim Nolan (47 victories, 1983-89)
Guernsey: Ed Jolovich (18 victories, 1955-61)
Guernsey-Sunrise: Tony Gamble (81 victories, 1967-81)
Hanna: Brad Barlow (31 victories, 1985, 1987-92 and 1995-98)
Heart Mountain: Ray Thompson (3 victories, 1943) and Talbot Rudolph (3 victories, 1944)
Hulett: Steve Colling (72 victories, 1992-present)
Huntley: LeRoy Cundall (20 victories, 1961-66)
Jackson: Jim Rooks (42 victories, 1981-88)
Kaycee: Dustin Sipe (12 victories, 2009-present)
Kelly Walsh: Tom Staffileno (37 victories, 1982-88)
Kemmerer: Shawn Rogers (54 victories, 2003-present)
LaGrange: Duane Christensen (1 victory, 1961)
Lander: Art Quinlan (38 victories, 1930-36 and 1939)
Laramie: John E. Deti (203 victories, 1944-76)
Lingle: Roger Fuss (40 victories, 1970-74 and 1980-83) and Ron Halley (40 victories, 1984-90 and 1994-98)
Lovell: Roy Strom (59 victories, 1992-2003)
Lusk: Jerry Fullmer (174 victories, 1975-2004)
Lyman: Loren Huntsman (39 victories, 1996-2001 and 2006-09)
Manderson: Jim Caines (12 victories, 1961-64)
Manville: Joe Sandoval (10 victories, 1946-47 and 1950)
Meeteetse: Jim Barrus (51 victories, 1966, 1971-73, 1984-85, 1988-91 and 1993-94)
Midwest: Dallas Hoff (131 victories, 1962-89)
Moorcroft: Carl Mirich (110 victories, 1980-2002)
Morton: R.E. “Dick” Kinzer (29 victories, 1955-59)
Mountain View: Don Dinnel (94 victories, 1989-2002)
Natrona: Steve Harshman (125 victories, 1991-present)
Newcastle: Erv Wentling (48 victories, 1977-85)
Normative Services: Mike Gorzalka (14 victories, 2000-02)
North Big Horn: Steve Hutchinson (7 victories, 1979-80)
Pavillion: Chuck Frost (14 victories, 1963-64 and 1966-68)
Pine Bluffs: Tom Watson (49 victories, 1986-99 and 2006)
Pinedale: Gene Andrews (54 victories, 1973-82)
Powell: Harold Hand (60 victories, 1955-64)
Ranchester: Al Peyton (4 victories, 1954-55)
Rawlins: Fran Connor (42 victories, 1953-61)
Reliance: Jack Smith (32 victories, 1946-54)
Riverside: Steve Olson (62 victories, 1990-2003)
Riverton: Don Julian (63 victories, 1993-2001)
Rock Springs: Mike Lopiccolo (62 victories, 1981-91)
Rocky Mountain: Ben Smith (101 victories, 1988-2002)
St. Stephens: Chuck Murray (21 victories, 1961-63)
Saratoga: Mike Koulentes (35 victories, 1972-77)
Sheridan: Bruce Keith (99 victories, 1978-93)
Shoshoni: Harold Bailey (128 victories, 1975-2001)
Snake River: Mike Bates (13 victories, 2009-present)
Southeast: Mark Bullington (98 victories, 1999-present)
Star Valley: Jerry Hart (83 victories, 1969-81) and Robert Linford (83 victories, 1988-98)
Sundance: Lance Hofland (52 victories, 1999-2007)
Sunrise: Tony Balzan (17 victories, 1952-56)
Superior: Tony Katana (26 victories, 1948-53)
Ten Sleep: John Hamilton (38 victories, 1972-82)
Thermopolis: Joe Bush (59 victories, 1924-34)
Tongue River: Walter Gray (140 victories, 1965-91)
Torrington: Doug Bartlett (102 victories, 1981-2000)
University Prep: Don Harkins and John Engstrom (co-coaches, 4 victories, 1929)
Upton: B.F. “Tead” Weaver (51 victories, 1954-68)
Valley: Herbert Snyder (1 victory, 1925)
Wheatland: Bill Pentland (82 victories, 1982-98)
Wind River: Dick Quayle (76 victories, 1987-2004)
Worland: Carl Selmer (86 victories, 1947-57)
Worland Institute: Norman Holmskog (2 victories, 1957)
Wright: Larry Yeradi (69 victories, 1995-present)
Wyoming Indian: Kevin Jordan (16 victories, 1993-2000)

In compiling these records, I also made a double-check of each team’s overall record. In doing so, I discovered a few errors I had made in my tallies over the years. Most of them were small — usually one win, loss or tie either way — but a couple were pretty big corrections. Nevertheless, records for the following teams have been corrected and have been updated on all the relevant pages: Albin, Arvada-Clearmont, Big Horn, Cheyenne East, Cody, Cowley, Deaver-Frannie, Douglas, Dubois, Encampment, Evanston, Farson, Gillette, Glenrock, Greybull, Hanna, Huntley, Jackson, Kelly Walsh, Kemmerer, Lovell, Mountain View, Natrona, Newcastle, Pinedale, Rock Springs, Rocky Mountain, St. Stephens, Saratoga, Star Valley, Ten Sleep, Tongue River, Upton, Wheatland.

–patrick

All-state listings from 1922 to 1945 have been added to the all-state listings. The all-state teams from this time are a bit of a hodgepodge because no coach, official or press organization consistently picked a team during this time. Sometimes, more than one team was chosen in a year. In cases where I found more than one team, I tried to list the team that was the most representative of all teams statewide.

First names, when available, have been used. Unfortunately, first names were rarely used in the sports section during this time.

For some years, I have yet to locate all-state listings, and I have yet to find any all-state listings prior to 1922. As always, if you can help me, email me the listings at pschmiedt@yahoo.com or post a comment below.

–patrick

With my ability to fill in the holes in my research becoming more and more limited by what is available to me in Laramie, I made a quick trip to Cheyenne today to visit the Wyoming State Archives. The microfilm there helped me fill in a big gap in my research — Lingle from 1923 to 1939. The microfilm from the Lingle Review is not available in Laramie, but it’s on hand at the State Archives. Conversely, I added 16 new games for Lingle in this span and patched up numerous gaps in my missing games list. The updates for Lingle and associated teams:

1923: Noted that the Wheatland-Lingle game on Nov. 2 and the Lingle-Guernsey game on Nov. 9 were both canceled.

1925: Noted that Torrington later forfeited its victory over Lingle on Oct. 9. … Posted the location and the correct date for the Oct. 16 game for Lingle’s game with Sunrise (in Lingle). … Posted the date for the Lingle-Sunrise game on Oct. 23. … Added three games: a 13-0 victory over Harrison, Neb., on Nov. 11, a 30-6 loss to Gering, Neb., on Nov. 14, and a 32-0 loss to Harrison, Neb., on Nov. 26.

1926: Noted the location for Lingle’s game with Lusk on Nov. 12 (in Lingle).

1927: Noted the location, the specific date and the score for Lingle’s 18-0 home win over Minatare, Neb., on Oct. 7. … Noted the location and corrected the score for Lingle’s 43-0 victory over Lyman, Neb., on Oct. 14 (in Lyman). … Added Lingle’s 39-0 victory over Lyman, Neb., on Oct. 28. … Corrected the score for Lingle’s 19-6 victory over the Lusk JV on Nov. 3 (I had 20-6 Lingle). … Added Lingle’s 19-0 loss to Minatare, Neb., on Nov. 11. … Noted the correct location for Lingle’s 6-0 loss to Sunrise on Nov. 18 (in Sunrise). … Added a canceled game between Lingle and Harrison, Neb., that had been scheduled for Nov. 23.

1928: Noted the location for Lingle’s game with Mitchell, Neb., on Oct. 5 (in Mitchell). … Added Lingle’s 25-0 victory over Lyman, Neb., on Oct. 12 (also added to the missing games list because I couldn’t pin down a location).

1930: Added Lingle’s victory over Guernsey on Oct. 3 (added to missing games list because I couldn’t find a final score). … Added Lingle’s 0-0 tie with Lyman, Neb., on Oct. 10. … Added Lingle’s 20-6 victory over Guernsey on Oct. 17. … Noted the locations for Lingle’s two games with Sunrise, Oct. 24 in Sunrise and Oct. 31 in Lingle.

1931: Noted the location for Lingle’s victory over Guernsey on Oct. 2 (in Guernsey).

1932: Noted the location for Lingle’s loss to Guernsey on Oct. 14 (in Guernsey).

1933: Added Lingle’s 18-7 loss to Sunrise on Sept. 14. … Noted the date of Lingle’s 6-6 tie with Guernsey on Oct. 12. … Added Lingle’s 0-0 tie with Sunrise on Oct. 20.

1934: Noted the score of Lingle’s 73-0 victory over Manville on Sept. 21. … Added the score for Lingle’s 6-0 victory over Guernsey on Oct. 5. … Added the score for Lingle’s 6-0 victory over Sunrise on Oct. 26.

1935: Noted the correct date and location for Lingle’s victory over Lyman, Neb., on Sept. 13 (in Lingle).

1936: Noted the date and location of Lingle’s victory over Lyman, Neb., on Sept. 11 (in Lyman). … Added Lingle’s victory over Guernsey on Sept. 18 (added to the missing games list because I couldn’t find a final score). … Added Lingle’s 45-0 victory over Fort Laramie on Nov. 5.

1937: Corrected the date for Lingle’s Sept. 10 game with Lyman, Neb. … Noted the correct date for Lingle’s victory over Sunrise on Oct. 6. … Added a canceled game between Guernsey and Lingle on Oct. 15.

1938: Noted that the Sept. 16 game with Guernsey was canceled. … Added the score for Lingle’s 12-6 loss to Sunrise on Oct. 6.

1939: Corrected the score of Lingle’s 33-0 victory over Guernsey on Sept. 29 (I had 30-0). … Noted the date and location for Lingle’s victory over Manville on Oct. 13 (in Lingle). … Added Lingle’s 14-0 loss to the Scottsbluff, Neb., JV on Nov. 4. … Noted that Lingle won its game with Sunrise on Nov. 10 by forfeit, as Sunrise was overrun with a case of the mumps.

I also made a lot of headway with Lingle coaches’ names for the Coaches Project. I now only need Lingle coach names for 1922, 1932 and 1933.

The State Archives also helped me patch some holes for three other seasons: Jackson in 1932, Lovell in 1929 and Powell in 1924.

For Jackson’s 1932 season, I added five new games, all against Idaho schools — a 28-0 loss to Idaho Falls on Sept. 10, a 6-6 tie with Madison on Sept. 23, a 6-0 loss to Ashton on Oct. 8, a 67-6 victory over Driggs on Oct. 21 and a 49-0 victory over Driggs on Oct. 28. I also fixed the score in the game with Star Valley on Oct. 14 to 19-6 in Star Valley’s favor (I had the score transposed, Jackson winning 19-6).

For Lovell’s 1929 season, four games I had listed as missing were not played: games against Cowley on Oct. 11, Nov. 11 and Nov. 28, and a game against Greybull on Nov. 7.

For Powell’s 1924 season, I added a 13-6 loss to Billings, Mont., on Oct. 4, and also added a canceled game with Byron on Oct. 11. I also pinned down the location for Powell’s Nov. 1 game with Lovell (in Lovell).

Here are some other updates I found, as well — some at Coe Library at UW, some at the State Archives:

Missing games

Found the score for Big Piney’s 15-0 victory over the Green River JV on Sept. 2, 1995

Found the score for Cowley’s 50-27 victory over Meeteetse on Sept. 26, 1952

Found the score and the correct date for Shoshoni’s 18-7 victory over the Worland JV on Oct. 14, 1949

Found the date and corrected the score for Shoshoni’s 37-0 victory over the Thermopolis JV on Oct. 28, 1947

Corrected Upton’s opponent in its Oct. 14, 1960, game from Rapid City, S.D., Cathedral to the Rapid City HS, S.D., JV team

Added a game between the Riverton JV and Shoshoni on Oct. 14, 1947 (added to the missing games list because I couldn’t find a score)

Coaches Project

Updates for Burlington, Cowley, Hanna, Jackson, Shoshoni and Sunrise. See those individual team pages for the new lists and click here to see what I’m still missing.

Also, Mike Mitchell once again was my Torrington connection. He helped me out with the Torrington coaches I was missing for the Coaches Project. Thanks, Mike!

All the updates have been made on all the relevant pages.

–patrick

Now it’s finally done: 10 more seasons, 1920 through 1929, have been added to the database. All the relevant pages have been updated with the addition of 1,105 new games, all played in a decade that saw unprecedented growth of football across the state.

Some suggestions of cool things to check out:

(1) The scoring records page has several new additions to it, thanks to some ridiculous blowouts from the 1920s. With the game just taking shape, some really good teams played some really bad teams, and a ton of blowouts ensued — including the state-record 127 points Cheyenne Central scored on Douglas in 1921. Of the six highest scores in state history now listed on the page, five were from the 1920s, and the other was in 1930.

(2) The all-time standings listings, by winning percentage and by total victories, were juggled a bit thanks to a decade’s worth of games. Specifically, Worland, Thermopolis, Sheridan, Cheyenne Central and Natrona had great decades; some other programs struggled in their infancy and were shifted down. By the way, I have now recorded more than 500 victories for both Cheyenne Central and Natrona; NC leads the total victories list since 1920 with 526 Ws. Seven other programs have at least 400 victories since 1920.

(3) The Grass Creek team page. The only new team page that came with this upload isn’t that deep — only one game has ever been recorded for the Grass Creek school, a 45-0 loss to Thermopolis back in 1926. But it exists.

(4) The school details page, which now has an interesting timeline of the “births” and “deaths” of programs at the bottom of it. Check it out. (More to come on this in a separate blog post.)

(5) The winning and losing streaks page. A significant unbeaten streak — Worland’s 35 consecutive unbeaten games from 1924-28 — was added. This streak, encompassing 33 victories and two ties, is tied for second-longest in state history. Another streak, Fort Washakie’s 0-28-2 winless streak, was noted, but not added to the list because of an eight-year gap the school went in that streak without playing the sport.

(6) Your ways to help! There are several additions to the missing games list and the Coaches Project list. If you can help me with any of this info, please do!

(7) Your favorite team page! Cruise around and check out all the new listings, and have fun. This upload should “complete” school records for all but six programs, as only Sheridan, Natrona, Laramie, Cheyenne Central, Buffalo and Newcastle played games prior to 1920. (“Complete” is in quotes there because I know these records will never be “complete;” they are only the best I can do with what I have available to me.)

Several all-state lists were also tracked down; they will be added to the all-state listings soon.

–patrick

You may start to see some discrepancies on some pages this week as I upload another big update. I am in the process of posting the details of 10 seasons (1920-29) on all the relevant pages on the site. I hope to be done by the end of the week; in the meantime, there might be some stuff on certain pages that is not on others.

If you’re curious, I have posted the yearly results from each year on their respective pages — 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1928 and 1929. I’ll update you on all the other cool stuff once I post it.

–patrick