This summer, the basketball team of 1967-68 (and a few other classmates) held a couple of informal reunions at Nick's, courtesy of the efforts of Bob Adams (BHS class of 1968). These tales can be viewed at http://classof69bhs.blogspot.com/2015/07/re-acquainting.html#comment-form and http://classof69bhs.blogspot.com/2015/06/gus-adams-sad-and-glad.html#comment-form. Those two preceded a wonderful reunion held on Sept. 26, 2015, at The Depot, a local eating establishment run by Mike McClemans (BHS class of 1968) and his family. Players in attendance were Bob Adams, Steve Hayes, Bernie Hendricks, Barry Howe, John Iverson, Jim Kortan, and Tom Osterberg. Stew Linn, our manager also attended, and we eagerly read through the scrapbooks he and his mother had compiled during our junior and senior years. Coaches attending were Mr. Jostad, Mr. Webster, Mr. Klavetter, Mr. Gibbons, Mr. Tlustos, all of whom still live in Brookings, and Mr. Thury, who, that morning, drove all the way from the Twin Cities area (Lakeville?), and then returned later in the afternoon when he we had finished swapping stories with each other. Many of us had not seen Mr. Thury since high school. He may be almost 20 years older than we are, but still exhibits the energy and vitality that made him such a dynamic person, teacher, and coach. His stories seem to be never-ending. He claims to be the only coach to take teams to the state tournament in three different states. He even stated that we could do a web search to prove his veracity. My web search could not confirm his statement, but did turn up a few interesting tidbits. From the Yankton Daily Press and Dakotan, of Tuesday, April 15, 2008 12:00 am:
50 YEARS AGO
Tuesday, April 15, 1958
- Coach Floyd Mitchell at Southern State Teachers College awarded 10 basketball letters to Jon Westling, Centerville; Bill Pistulka, Fairfax; Bill Belitz, Armour; Arlo Mogck, Parkston; Dennis Sudbeck, Parkston; Don Guthmiller, Menno; Jan Mitchell, Springfield; Ervin Ptak, Tabor; Ken Thury, Parkston; and John Adel, Tyndall.
http://shop.yankton.net/media/pubs/517/1978/13870-74252.pdf (this article notes that Mr. Thury played in a seven-overtime basketball game against Black Hills State when he was playing for Yankton College), Evidently, he had transferred from Southern State College to Yankton College.
We revisited those youthful days while we were able to watch somewhat four old films of portions of some of our games from that bygone era. The original films were just that, 16 mm film. One reel of film lasted about 12-15 minutes, so Mr. Thury had Mr. "Nig" Johnson, the athletic director, just film selected portions of the game. One week might be devoted to defense, while the next week may have more emphasis on the offensive end. Not every game was filmed, either. We were able to save these films from destruction several years ago. The custodians were cleaning up the equipment room upstairs by the swimming pool. They were discarding old uniforms and equipment that was thought to be no longer needed. Fortunately, the equipment manager (Bob Ritter) knew that those films had sentimental value. He had actually attended Southern and knew Mr. Thury, so Mr. Ritter made sure that they were given to us.
This little reunion was a great way to end summer and "kick off" the fall football season. The night before, the homecoming game was held, and the Bobcats defeated Huron quite handily 54 to 12. That win was especially nice for Bob Adams and Barry Howe. When they were juniors, the Bobcats played at Huron n the last game of the season. A win would give the conference championship to the Cats. Hopes were high, as the Cats had some talented players: Whitmore, Broadbent, Beneke, Wheeler, Thorne, et al. However, it was not to be.
