A Surprising Honor

Another classmate has received a distinguished, but surprising, award.  Most of us recognize that our class has some gifted individuals both academically, intellectually, professionally, and athletically.  Some have been publicly recognized, while others are quietly honored by their peers.  One surprising accolade that was announced recently was Lee Colburn's selection into the South Dakota High School Basketball Hall of Fame (http://www.argusleader.com/story/sports/high-school-sports/2014/12/24/high-school-basketball-hall-induct/20848097/). ( It will probably work best to copy and paste this address in the URL at the top of the webpage).  It surprised me because I thought he had already been selected for this exclusive honor.  He has received so many awards since his untimely passing Dec. 31, 1997,  that it seemed only natural that he should be a member of this esteemed group. Obviously I was mistaken.  Here is a little article written for one of the groups to which he belongs  (http://www.sdshof.com/inductees/lee-colburn/).   Most of the honorees for this year's South Dakota High School Basketball Hall of Fame are probably unknown to many us, but there may be a few names that trigger our memories.

John Eidsness was just finishing up his senior at State when Lee was a freshman. so they played together for only one year. John wasn't the quickest player, but he was a deadly shooter.  We enjoyed watching him  when we were in high school.  He and Denny Womeldorf made a great combination at the guard spots for the Running Rabbits.  It seemed as if they could run all day and not get tired.  When Lee was being recruited, there were some concerns, because Lee was a guard in high school, that he would not be able to handle the ball very well against quality guards such as Eidsness or Womeldorf.  However, Lee told us that Coach Marking, who was recruiting him, said that he was capable of handling that responsibility right now, as a high-schooler.  He really did not have to worry, as he continued to grow and really did not play guard in college.  His experience in high school, however,  proved most beneficial when he competed as a collegian.  John Eidsness also played some baseball and football while at State, and became an assistant basketball coach at SDSU for a few years after graduation.  He and Tom Osterberg played on the same independent basketball team for those years, I believe.  Did they also play on the Spies slo-pitch softball team?  He  lived next door to Mr. and Mrs. Guy O. Karnes.  During my first year of teaching, I relied on sporadic visits to Mr. Karnes to help me through the tough times.  If the weather was nice, the Eidsness family would often be outside with their young child.  Can't remember if the child was a boy or a girl. 

John was also a fine baseball player, pitching and probably playing shortstop if he was not pitching.     He played Legion ball for Canton.  They also had another pitcher named Ray Johnson, I believe.  He was fast, and drew the attention of some major league scouts.  The state "A" Legion Tournament was held in Brookings in 1966.  Canton had won the "B" division, so they were eligible to play in the "A" tournament.   They competed well, but were unable to overtake Rapid City for the championship. 

Mike Freier is a name that stood out in the 1967 State "B" tournament.  He was a fantastic shooter.  He went to Yankton College and played for Jim Holwerda.  Mr. Holwerda became the athletic director and later girls basketball coach at BHS when "Nig" Johnson retired in 1973.  He taught me a great deal about the game.  He told me that Mike Freier did not play much in college because he did not know how to get open.  Evidently, in high school, he could get open by just standing around.  It seems that they did not play defense with the same intensity in the small schools as they did in the larger schools.  If you read the link above about Lee's induction into the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame, you may have noticed that in high school,  he was recruited by Tex Winter of Washington.  Tex Winter was Mr. Holwerda's college coach at Kansas State in the 1950's.  He later was an assistant with Phil Jackson when Mr. Jackson coached the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers to a number of NBA championships.  Without Tex Winter, Phil Jackson likely would not have had the success he did. 

One of those girls we coached against was Amy Burnett.  She was somewhat of a combination of Barry Howe and Joe Jensen.  She scored more points than Joe or Barry did because she was their main player.  Her team did not have the balance that our 68 and 69 teams did.  She was bigger and stronger than most of the girls she played against.  It would not be surprising if she learned to play the game competing against boys whenever possible.   She was also a talented thrower in the discus and shot put on their track and field teams.

Vince Whipple was in the state tournament record books for a long time.  He held the record for the total number of points scored, 79, in the championship rounds of the State "A" tournament for many years. 

Chuck Iverson graduated the same year as Lee.  He is no relation to me.  Our senior year, we scrimmaged Chuck and his Vermillion team in our gym about a week before our first game.   He was about 6'8" so he made Joe look somewhat small.  He played collegiately in his hometown, as did Lee.  He and Lee faced off many times during their four-year careers.  Chuck still is in the record books as one of the the all-time leading rebounders in the now-defunct North Central Conference.  Chuck, too, may have had a pro tryout.  He was drafted by Seattle as the 73rd pick in the fifth round.  Lee was drafter in the fourth round as the 58th pick by the Rockets (http://northcentral.prestosports.com/Record_Book/08_Updates/08_MBB.pdf--this website is amazing!  Phil Jackson was a dominant player in the conference in the mid-60's;  John Eidsness was the best field goal and free throw- shooter in 1969;  if one is a history junkie, one could spend many hours on this sight).  What is really eerie, though, is that Chuck Iverson's daughter married the son of Mike McClemans, who was a year behind us in school.  Mike told me some of the details, but I couldn't keep everything straight, as Mike tended to get off-track in his narration.