Coaches Project update: Basin, Seton, Ten Sleep, Saratoga, Hanna, Lander, Lyman, North Big Horn, Byron, Encampment

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With some of my spare time this week, I jumped into the Coaches Project and found out some more names. Basin, Seton, Ten Sleep, Saratoga, Hanna, Lander, Lyman, North Big Horn, Byron and Encampment all had names added for various years, most in the 1980s. Check out those individual team pages to see the updates.

Also, the 1944 season is about an hour away from being completed. The 1945 season is done and ready to go…. I hope to have the 1940s compete by May, then work back from there this summer. I hope to reach 1920 by this August, but we’ll see. From there, I’ll post the years to the site as time allows, although I’m still not completely sure of my summer schedule yet.

–patrick

Coaches Project: Wyoming Indian

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Thanks to AD Tom Rogers at Wyoming Indian, I now have the Chiefs’ full coaching history, from the start of the program in 1972 to the present. That’s now all posted on the Wyoming Indian team page. Thanks a ton, Tom!

If you think you might be able to help with the Coaches Project, click here to see what I’m missing.

–patrick

The Coaches Project

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Another arm of this site is dedicated to tracking down the names of the coaches for each school for each season. I’m seeking some help with this project, too, and to help let you know what I’m missing, I’ve set up a page with a checklist of what I’m missing.

Click here to see the list of what I need. The same page is permalinked above, along with the radio station guide and the “about” page.

I made a big Coaches Project update today. A few years ago, my dad gave me his old WHSAA directories from 1976, 1984 and 1985. Thanks to those, I plugged in some of the missing coaches for Basin, Bow-Basin, Byron, Cokeville, Cowley, Deaver-Frannie, Glendo, Greybull, Hanna, Lander, Lyman, Moorcroft, St. Mary’s, Saratoga, Ten Sleep, Wind River and Wyoming Indian. Check out those individual team pages to see the updates.

Anyway, if you can help, that would be awesome. I especially need help for Cokeville, Green River, Greybull, Hanna, Lander, Lingle, Lyman, Moorcroft, Rawlins, Saratoga, Ten Sleep, Thermopolis, Torrington and Wyoming Indian, as well as all the defunct programs.

As always, e-mail me at pschmiedt@yahoo.com if you have some help you can drop my way. Thanks!

–patrick

Playoff record updates

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In doing some double-checking on playoff records, I uncovered a few places where I miscounted. When I totaled the victories and losses together, the numbers weren’t equal, so I double-checked every team’s record. Now those totals are equal, but in the process several teams have had their playoff records corrected:

Basin is 0-2, not 0-3; Big Horn is 21-21, not 20-22; Burlington is 11-18, not 11-17; Byron is 13-4, not 12-4; Cheyenne Central is 19-15, not 18-15; Cody is 11-16, not 10-16; Kemmerer is 17-16, not 17-15; Laramie is 18-17, not 16-17; Lovell is 15-17, not 13-18; Mountain View is 22-15, not 21-15; Powell is 13-9, not 12-9; Rock Springs is 15-21, not 15-20; and Shoshoni is 7-17, not 6-18.

I’ve created a bare-bones basic page listing the state’s playoff history, as well as playoff records for every team. Click here to check it out; I’ll make it pretty later.

–patrick

Site updates: Lots of Deaver-Frannie, and some Meeteetse, Byron, Cowley, Burlington and Hulett (and how you can help)

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I came across some old copies of the Deaver Sentinel newspaper last week in the library, and in doing so I was able to add a lot of information about Deaver-Frannie’s seasons in 1947 and 1948. The following games were added:

A 62-24 loss to Meeteetse on Sept. 26, 1947

A 26-18 loss to Cowley on Oct. 8, 1947

A 39-0 loss to Byron on Oct. 31, 1947

A 49-7 loss to Byron on Oct. 3, 1948

I also found the date (Oct. 17, 1947) for the game between Meeteetse and Deaver-Frannie, the location for the Oct. 24, 1947, game between Deaver-Frannie and Byron (it was in Byron) and the location for the Sept. 17, 1948, game between Deaver-Frannie and Cowley (it was in Cowley).

I also corrected the score for Deaver-Frannie’s 38-0 victory over Meeteetse on Sept. 24, 1948; I had originally listed 28-0.

I also added canceled games scheduled between Deaver-Frannie and Cowley on Nov. 7, 1947, and between Deaver-Frannie and Burlington on Nov. 11, 1948.

Also, courtesy of the Deaver paper, I added Meeteetse’s 6-0 victory over Cowley on Oct. 3, 1947.

The new findings also caused some changes to the streaks page. Meeteetse’s 22-game losing streak in this time frame was chopped down to 19, and therefore taken off the page. Byron’s winning streak from 1946-50 also grew by two games, now reaching 24 according to my current research.

The Byes Project also produced one more game: Hulett’s 26-0 victory over Buffalo, S.D., on Sept. 9, 1960.

All those corrections have been made on all the relevant pages.

Speaking of the Byes Project, it’s going fairly well. After starting with close to 800 dates to check from 1960-forward, I’m down to about 180ish. There are some seasons on which I am struggling, though, where I’ve exhausted my available resources. I’d appreciate some help finding more information on the following seasons:

Big Horn’s 1965 season

Burlington’s 1962 season

Douglas’ 1965 season

Dubois’ 1968 season

Goshen Hole’s 1966 season

Guernsey’s 1962 season

Guernsey-Sunrise’s 1963 season

Hanna’s 1965 season

Hulett’s 1964, 1965 and 1981 seasons

Lyman’s 1965 season

Meeteetse’s 1965 and 1995 seasons

Mountain View’s 1962 and 1965 seasons

Ten Sleep’s 1962 and 1963 seasons

Tongue River’s 1961 and 1963 seasons

If you think you might be able to help me out with those seasons, let me know and I’ll let you know what I’m looking for specifically. My e-mail address is pschmiedt@yahoo.com. Thanks!

–patrick

Basketball updates

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In addition to the football research I’m doing, I am also deep into researching the state basketball tournaments, as well. I have posted most of the scores from the state tournaments — albeit in rudimentary form — at the basketball arm of this site.

The research for the girls tournaments is complete; I have every score from every girls state tournament game from the modern era (1976-2009).

The boys’ research, obviously, is a bit more complex, simply because the tournaments for boys stretch back much farther. However, I have obtained ALL BUT ONE score from 1946 forward.

The only score missing from the last 64 years is a consolation semifinal game from the Class A tournament in 1953, in which Rawlins defeated Reliance. I have looked in seven different newspaper microfilms for the score — the Casper Tribune-Herald, the Powell Tribune, the Laramie Republican Boomerang, the Rawlins Daily Times, the Rock Springs Daily Rocket/Rock Springs Miner, the Thermpolis Independent Record and the Wyoming State Tribune — and none of them had it. I’m up against a wall here so I’m appealing to YOU for help on this one…. If you can find it, let me know, and I’ll be forever appreciative.

Prior to 1946 is a bit more sketchy, but I haven’t put in a ton of time on those years yet, either.

Click here to jump to the basketball info.

–patrick

State championship shakeup for 1973-74

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Deciding mythical state champions has always been a difficult task to do.

Unfortunately, that’s how champions were decided in Wyoming from 1962-74 in the A, B and C classes, and from every year forward until a playoff was established in 1968 for Class AA schools.

Even now, more than 30 years later, who actually won those mythical championships is subject to debate.

With that in mind, I’m making a couple changes to my state champions listing to be more consistent.

Specifically, I’m talking about the state championship teams listed for 1973 and 1974. The teams listed as champions for the A, B and C classes for those years were the champions as decided by the Casper Star-Tribune. The champions listed for other “mythical” years were the winners of the UPI statewide polls or, in the case of 1962 before the UPI poll started, the Associated Press statewide polls.

Therefore, in order to remain consistent, I’ve decided to list the mythical champions of 1973 and 1974 as the winners of the UPI poll, not the winners of the Star-Tribune poll.

What does that mean?

Well, it means that some shared championships are going away. Green River won the UPI’s Class A poll in 1973 outright from Buffalo; therefore, Green River will be listed as the mythical champ, not as sharing it with Buffalo. And for 1974, Torrington won the UPI’s Class A poll, so they  will take sole control of the mythical championship rather than sharing it with Kemmerer; and in Class B, Tongue River won the top spot in the UPI poll, so the Eagles will take sole command of the Class B mythical title rather than sharing it with Saratoga. No UPI Class C poll was ever commissioned; therefore, Deaver-Frannie’s mythical Class C title of 1974 will be going away, too.

Of course, many more teams than the one listed in my champions listing still “claim” mythical championships, and I’m not the one to tell them that those championships aren’t any less valid than they were back then. I simply want to stay consistent in which poll I chose to compile my listing, hence these changes. These changes aren’t meant to slight any teams. If only we could have had a playoff to decide it all…. but I guess it’s too late for that now. The debate remains.

For reference, here were the final polls for the years 1973 and 1974, including the Class AA poll taken after the Class AA championship game:

1974
UPI polls
Class AA
1. Cheyenne East, 9-1, 50 points
2. Rawlins, 9-1, 38 points
3. Natrona, 7-2, 32 points
4. Worland, 7-1, 20 points
5. Riverton, 5-3, 10 points
Class A
1. Torrington, 9-0, 48 points
2. Kemmerer, 8-0, 40 points
3. Lovell, 7-1, 26 points
4. Jackson, 5-4, 10 points
5. Glenrock, 5-3, 8 points
Class B
1. Tongue River, 9-0, 48 points
2. Saratoga, 8-0, 40 points
3. Cokeville, 7-0-1, 18 points
4. Basin, 6-1-1, 10 points
5. Deaver-Frannie, 8-0, 8 points

Casper Star-Tribune polls
Class A
1t. Torrington, 9-0-0, 54 points
1t. Kemmerer, 9-0-0, 54 points
3. Lovell, 7-1-0, 43 points
4. Glenrock, 5-3-0, 35 points
5t. Newcastle, 5-4-0, 33 points
5t. Star Valley, 4-4-0, 33 points
Class B
1t. Saratoga, 8-0-0, 61 points
1t. Tongue River, 9-0-0, 61 points
3. Cokeville, 9-0-1, 57 points
4. Basin, 7-1-1, 55 points
5. Guernsey-Sunrise, 7-2-0, 49 points
Class C/Eight-man
1. Deaver-Frannie, 9-0-0, 39 points
2. Cowley, 8-1-0, 34 points

1973
UPI polls
Class AA
1. Laramie, 9-1, 50 points
2. Riverton, 7-3, 35 points
3. Natrona, 6-3, 22 points
4. Cheyenne East, 6-2-1, 14 points
5. Worland, 6-2-1, 12 points
Class A
1. Green River, 8-1, 56 points
2. Buffalo, 8-1, 46 points
3. Kemmerer, 8-2, 42 points
4. Torrington, 7-2, 16 points
5. Lovell, 6-2, 14 points
Class B-C
1. Tongue River, 9-0, 50 points
2. Byron, 9-0, 46 points
3. Cowley, 9-0, 40 points
4. Pinedale, 7-2, 25 points
5. Upton, 7-1-1, 14 points

Casper Star-Tribune polls
Class A
1t. Buffalo (3), 8-1, 78 points
1t. Green River (3), 8-1, 78 points
3. Kemmerer (1), 8-2, 74 points
4. Torrington, 7-2, 59 points
5. Lovell, 5-2, 58 points
Class B-C
1. Tongue River (4), 9-0, 87 points
2. Cowley (2), 9-0, 85 points
3. Byron (1), 9-0, 84 points
4. Guernsey-Sunrise, 7-2, 70 points
5. Pinedale, 7-2, 68 points

Site updated! And some ramblings about playoffs, the late 1940s and the Turkey Bowl

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The 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950 and 2009 seasons have been added. All the changes have been made on all the relevant pages. Check it all out when you get a chance.

The five years from 1946-50 were an interesting time for Wyoming football, and I’m glad I got to upload it as a group. The first statewide playoffs were in 1948 — a move that looks to be directly spurred by a couple postseason games staged in 1946 and 1947.

In 1946, the first “Turkey Bowl” was staged in Casper. The “Turkey Bowl” tried to pit the two best teams in the state against each other (and, oh by the way, raise money for the Casper March of Dimes), and Cody and Sheridan staged a game for the ages. In front of a crowd that pushed close to 5,000 people, Sheridan edged out a 20-19 victory behind a third-quarter touchdown run from Joe Zowada and the extra point kick from Ray Hobbs. Sheridan earned the state’s mythical title that day.

Both on the field and at the till, the game was a success.

The 1947 Turkey Bowl didn’t match the 1946 one with either quality of competition or gate receipts. The state’s best team in ’47, Rawlins, opted not to play in the Turkey Bowl against second-ranked and unbeaten Lovell. Instead, third-ranked Natrona stepped in to fill Rawlins’ spot, then promptly outclassed the Bulldogs 26-13 in Casper. Rawlins remained as the state’s mythical champion.

Finally, in 1948, the Wyoming High School Athletic Association (as it was known back then) instituted playoffs for the Class A and the six-man divisions — and also voted to ban any postseason exhibition games like the Turkey Bowl. The vote stopped a proposition to continue a modified Turkey Bowl in Casper, a game that would have pitted the Class A champion against the Class AA champion, which was then a division made up of only six teams (Casper, Cheyenne, Laramie, Sheridan, Rawlins and Rock Springs).

The 1948 state playoffs were a hit. Two state champions were crowned until 1956, when a Class B 11-man division champion was also crowned. That arrangement held true until after the 1961 season, when the WHSAA eliminated playoffs for all divisions, a ban that stayed in place until 1968 for Class AA teams and until 1975 for other divisions.

Some other random stuff about the most recent update….

Three schools — Kaycee, Arvada and University Prep — were added to the database. Kaycee, of course, began play this season, finishing 6-4 and making it all the way to the 1A six-man title game in its first year. Arvada, meanwhile, donned the pads for just one season (1950), finishing 0-4 that season, and University Prep, from what I can gather, played in the 1946, 1949 and 1950 seasons, winning just one game in 11 combined tries. …

A few streaks were added to the streaks page. Byron’s 22-game winning streak (unofficial and likely much longer) from 1946-50 was added, as was Glenrock’s recent 21-game winning streak (snapped in the 2A title game this year) and Douglas’ current 20-game winning streak. On the other end, Basin’s 20-game losing streak from 1949-52 and 29-game winless streak from 1948-52 was added, as was Meeteetse’s 22-game losing streak from 1946-51 and Sundance’s 33-game (0-31-2) winless streak from 1950-55. …

The scoring records page underwent a pretty dramatic shift thanks to the 2009 six-man season. Two of the top three combined scoring games — and three of the top 10 — came from the 2009 six-man season. Guernsey-Sunrise’s 89-point effort against Ten Sleep this season ranked tied for third for most points in a game, while Douglas’ 76 scored against Rawlins ranked tied 10th all-time for points scored by one team in an 11-man game (through 1946). Additionally, Pine Bluffs’ 85-point effort against University Prep in 1950 ranked ninth all-time. …

Take some time and check out all the updates.

–patrick

Coaches Project update: Goshen Hole

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Thanks to Shawn Burkart down in Goshen County, I’ve now got almost every coach listed for Goshen Hole High School. This has been a big gray area for me (coaches of programs/schools that are no longer in existence), so this was a big help. Thanks Shawn!

–patrick

Site updates

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I’ll be updating the site with 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950 and 2009 throughout the next week or two. Bear with me as I do these updates; some pages will have them quicker than others. If you see any discrepancies between pages for the next week or two, this is likely why. Thanks.

–patrick