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In the early 1960s, the annual Minnesota boys’ basketball tournament had only one class of participants. All schools, regardless of size, played in the same tournament. White Students Shoes
Describing it as the “boys” tournament for that era is unnecessary. There were no high school sports for girls in that era and consequently no girls’ tournament. The single-loss elimination tournament began in early March with every school in the state participating. It culminated in an eight-team State Tournament held at Williams Arena on the University of Minnesota campus in late March.
It is undoubtedly difficult for those who did not experience the era of the one-class tournament to understand how important the state basketball tournament was in that era to Minnesota sports fans. All the State Tournament games at Williams Arena sold out, which at that time before its major modernization, held approximately 14,000 spectators at capacity.
All of the games were broadcast on Channel 9, which had only a black and white signal that could be received throughout the state. For Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights in late March, the entire state paid great attention to what was happening in the basketball tournament.
A trend was developing in the late 1950s and early 1960s that only teams from the largest schools won the tournament. In the 1950s, teams from Twin Cities suburbs won twice, and Minneapolis city high schools won three times. There was one victory for Austin, a thriving factory town of almost 28,000 people. The trend was interrupted in 1960 when the Flying Dutchmen from Edgerton (population 1,019 and a total school enrollment of 94) won the tournament, defeating large schools along the way.
Edgerton’s win inspired the hopes of small-town teams and their fans for many years to come.
For the 1962-63 season, there was only muted optimism that the Plainview High School Gophers could have a decent season. ... There were three seniors returning who would start each game. Benji Mahle, a six-foot forward was the team’s best player and the leading scorer in the previous season. Danny Hall played guard. Hall was fast and a tenacious defender, but small, standing 5-foot-4 and weighing 140 pounds. Logan Grummons was muscular, though not particularly tall. He was a stoic and determined rebounder. A junior, getting his first chance to start, was LaVerne “Butch” Kronebusch, who played guard alongside Hall. Kronebusch was fast, a good shooter and lean, with spidery arms. The fifth starter was a sophomore, Dennis Lee. Lee was 6-foot-3, the only starter taller than six feet.
The coach was Al Sorenson who also served as a Social Studies teacher at Plainview High. It was Sorenson’s third season as Plainview’s basketball coach. Sorenson looked the part of a combination basketball coach and Social Studies teacher, commonly found across the Midwest in high schools large and small. He was in his thirties, tall and fit, and looked like he had played the game in earlier days.
The season did not start well for the Gophers. In its first seven games, Plainview went 2-5. The team’s poor start and the coach’s style caused great concern to team captains Mahle and Hall. The duo’s main concern was that they believed Sorenson had a random approach to determining who played. There was no definitive starting five, and Sorenson’s approach seemed to be to have players taking turns on the floor. Sorenson was open about his intentions, having told the team that he believed in an approach where all players would have an equal opportunity to play. His ideal game, he said, would be 10 players scoring 6 points each.
Mahle and Hall were demoralized, not having fun playing, and mainly concerned that the team wouldn’t come close to reaching its potential. They took action.
In a bold and arguably cheeky move, they paid an unannounced evening visit to the home of the Principal James Hanson. Mahle and Hall were aware that Hanson was not only an experienced basketball coach, but also one who had met considerable success recently at the State Tournament. They made their pitch to Hanson in his living room. They outlined their grievances. Things were not going well with Sorenson as their coach. Would Hanson be willing to step in to coach the team? Hanson gave the two a sympathetic hearing but declined. Hanson had given up coaching. It would be extraordinarily awkward for a principal to supplant one of his teachers in a coaching capacity. The two left feeling quite dejected.
When Plainview lost to the team from Dover-Eyota, a small school, in the holiday tournament, Hanson changed his mind. He indicated that he could contribute in a small way by holding a practice. Mahle and Hall called a captain’s practice at the gym. Coach Sorenson was out of town for the holiday vacation and there was no need to inform him.
At the practice, Hanson taught the team the fundamentals that led to success for his teams. He worked on the pick and roll involving both sides of the court. Recognizing the players’ speed, he coached them on fundamentals of the fast break (rebound, outlet pass, lead pass) and more importantly, strongly encouraged them to implement it in their offense. By implementing Hanson’s suggestions, the team went 6-3 after the Dover-Eyota game.
The post-season tournament began each year with “sub-district” play. The sub-district system was structured to give the big schools in the region a bye and have smaller schools play each other. The big schools in Region 1 were the schools belonging to the Big 9 conference, which included Rochester, Winona, Red Wing, and Austin.
Expectations were not high for success by Plainview in the tournament, even among the team’s players. But Plainview won its first two games, defeating the small schools of Wabasha and Lewiston. It then faced Lake City for the sub-district championship and the right to play in the district finals in Rochester.
Plainview was the underdog in the game. The two teams had met twice before during the season and Lake City won both, first by 18 points and then by 27 points.
What followed was one of the most extraordinary and memorable games in Plainview's history. The game was played in Plainview’s gym. Plainview stayed even in the first half, but Lake City began to pull away in the second half, taking a 10-point lead.
A 10-point lead in that era was formidable because the three-point shot—and the shot clock—had yet to be implemented.
With 2:07 left in the third quarter, Plainview player Dennis Lee, defending close to the basket, jumped and got his hand entangled in the net. As he came down, he inadvertently pulled the hoop down.
Hoops didn’t have hinges in that era, and so the sudden stress on the hoop caused the Plexiglas board to honeycomb, and then shatter completely.
The game was stopped. Custodians began to use push brooms to clear the floor. An iconic photo appeared in the area’s papers, and eventually went national, showing Dennis Lee sitting under the broken backboard among the shards of the broken backboard.
While the crowd was in a state of disbelief, a group of men in suits met on the court to figure out what to do. The group included both teams’ coaches, PHS superintendent Elliot Whoolery, and PHS principal James Hanson. The game needed to be finished because it was a single-elimination tournament, and so the discussion centered on the alternatives of how that might be accomplished.
Hanson proposed what he thought was a fair solution. He suggested that the folding bleachers be retracted, the metal practice backboards be lowered, and that the game be completed on one of the two smaller practice courts.
Some fans could watch from the stage and the rest would have little option except to leave.
The Lake City coach was adamantly opposed. “What are you trying to pull, Hanson,” he said angrily. He argued for completing the game the next night on Lake City’s court.
Hanson immediately thought that the Lake City coach’s proposal was not in Lake City’s best interest. Lake City had the momentum in the game, and Plainview players were getting tired. Plainview typically played only its starting five, along with sixth man Van Harrington.
Hanson speculated that the Lake City coach wanted to clinch a win on his home court. Hanson and Sorenson agreed to the completion of the game the following night and an announcement was made. The game would be resumed on Saturday night in Lake City, with 2:07 minutes left on the clock in the third quarter. It would basically be a 10-minute game with Lake City holding a 10-point lead.
The Plainview team approached the game’s second night as if they had nothing left to lose. The Lake City team, quite possibly overconfident, likely looked upon the game as merely putting the finishing touch on their success the night before. Benj Mahle recalls that when the Plainview team arrived, the Lake City players were already dressed in their uniforms and in the gym.
Rather than any organized drills, they were playing horse or 21, with some attempting to make shots from mid-court.
Mahle talked to some of the Lake City players as the teams warmed up. Mahle recalls this about the Lake City players: “There wasn’t a thought in their minds that they could lose the game.”
Plainview implemented a full-court press from the start, taking Lake City by surprise.
With only a 10-minute game to play, Plainview’s starting five could give their all. As Plainview began to shrink the lead, the Lake City players tensed up. The game ended with Plainview winning 57-56.
All games in the District tournament were played at Rochester’s Mayo Civic Auditorium. Plainview’s first opponent in the District tournament was Kasson-Mantorville, the winner of the other sub-district tournament.
Kasson-Mantorville (called the KoMets) was an experienced tournament team, with veteran players returning after it had defeated large-school Winona the previous year. Though it was a close contest, Plainview led the entire game and won by four.
Plainview’s next game was for the District championship against Rochester John Marshall.
Rochester was a heavy favorite.
Rochester had only one public high school at that time. The graduating class each year was about 750 students, more than 10 times the size of each class in Plainview. Rochester had enjoyed a successful season, having finished second in the Big 9 conference.
Any doubts of the Plainview players that they could give Rochester a competitive game were dispelled by the first practice to prepare for the game.
Sorenson turned the practice over to Hanson. Hanson had been at Rochester’s first tournament game to scout the team. He gathered the Plainview players around him at practice and pointed out the weaknesses he’d observed in each of Rochester’s players.
And Hanson demonstrated to Dennis Lee how to handle JM's center, Dave Daugherty. (Daugherty was 6-foot-7 and went on to play college basketball for William and Mary.) To demonstrate, Hanson stuck his posterior into Lee and backed him up off the court and into the padded gym wall.
Hanson was familiar with the assigned crew of referees and assured the team that the referees were unlikely to call fouls except on only the most obvious contact, and encouraged the Plainview players to defend aggressively.
Hanson’s presentation gave the players, for the first time, the feeling that they could play evenly with Rochester.
The team was confident and loose on the bus ride to Rochester. Dennis Lee, a Catholic, was observed praying to his rosary, which, when discovered, caused his teammates to give him some good-natured ribbing.
When the Rochester game started, the Plainview players realized a couple of things. First, Hanson had been correct in his insightful scouting of the John Marshall team and the refereeing crew.
Second, the Plainview players could match the Rochester team in athletic ability. Plainview played its best game of the season. Although outrebounded by the larger Rochester team, they committed only 9 fouls and had only 5 turnovers.
By its aggressive defense, Plainview held one of the top-scoring teams in the Big 9 to only 38 points. The game came down to the final shot, [with Plainview trailing 38-37]. The shot was taken by Plainview’s Dennis Lee from short range.
The ball bounced around the rim, and then in for the win as the buzzer sounded.
The atmosphere in Mayo Civic Auditorium was electric; the Plainview fans were joyous, and the Rochester fans were stunned.
The Rochester Post-Bulletin would go on to give the PHS team extensive coverage in the days following the loss to the hometown team because it made a good story.
The angle was that Plainview, the giant-killing small town, could possibly become an echo of the Edgerton win just two years ago.
In the days after the game, it seemed the entire town of Plainview shook off its characteristic reserve, and a festive atmosphere took over. A Plainview businessman treated the entire team to a steak dinner at Michael’s, Rochester’s finest restaurant.
One afternoon, other adult fans commandeered one of the town’s fire trucks, picked up all the players and cheerleaders, and drove them through the town to the cheers of the townspeople, a one-vehicle victory parade.
There were four teams left in the Region finals. In its next game, Plainview dispatched Chatfield by the score of 52-49. Chatfield was another small town, led by outstanding athletes including Wayne King (who went on to become a star on the U of M’s football team a few years later).
The Region 1 championship game was against Austin. The winning team would go to the state tournament and play on TV with the whole state watching.
However, the good fortune which had buoyed Plainview on its winning streak in the tournament disappeared in the Austin game.
Bad omens appeared immediately. Sixth man Van Harrington arrived in Rochester without his game shoes, and he had to run with his father Don to a store in downtown Rochester to buy a substitute pair. He didn’t return in time to properly warm up.
Logan Grummons sprained his ankle early in the game and was thereafter unable to contribute. Harrington, wearing brand new shoes (these were the days of canvas high top shoes with slab rubber soles), stiff and not broken in, lacked sufficient traction and flexibility to keep up with the Austin forwards.
Dennis Lee got into foul trouble and had to spend much critical time in the second half on the bench. Plainview had to improvise on defense.
The final score was Austin 60, Plainview 53. The miracle tournament run that started with a broken backboard had ended.
Plainview’s extended run in the State Basketball Tournament of 1963 can be considered as being among the last gasps of small-town schools achieving statewide fame in high school sports.
In retrospect, Plainview’s ‘63 basketball tournament run is a great story, which commenced with the infamous “broken backboard game” on its home court.
Toddler Baby Shoes For Kids Boys Girls John Mulligan is a graduate of Plainview High School (1966), the University of Minnesota (1970), and the University of Minnesota Law School (1976). He served on active duty in the Navy from 1971 to 1973, and practiced law in Minneapolis for 42 years. John has been married for 53 years and has two adult children and three grandchildren. He has published four novels, in addition to It Actually Happened. You can buy It Actually Happened on Amazon.com for $12.95. We highly recommend it.