After Igloo, On To Hershey

 The previous post related the connection between Igloo, South Dakota, and the Brookings Teeners baseball team of 1965 (https://classof69bhs.blogspot.com/2023/06/igloo-south-dakota.html).  

Winning that competition earned the team the right to participate in the National Teener Tournament to be held in Hershey, Pennsylvania.  

We left Brookings on a chartered Jackrabbit bus. We may recall that "westerns" were rather popular at the time.  TV shows such as "Bonanza" and "Gunsmoke" were some of the most highly-viewed programs.  At the suggestion of Bob Webbenhurst, one of our coaches, we were encouraged to purchase cowboy hats (aas shown in the photo below) to reinforce the belief that we here in South Dakota still lived in the era of the "Old West."  Perhaps those elite easterners still believed we traveled in covered wagons and lived in log cabins or sod huts.

 It seems that the first night we stayed in La Crosse, Wisconsin, while we stayed in Gary, Indiana, the next night, (where we were able to find a ball field and get in a little practice) before arriving in Hershey the following day.  While the bus trip was long, it was not uneventful.  Judd Bergan, the pick-up player from Watertown, brought along his guitar and entertained us with some popular songs.  "I'm Henry the Eighth, I Am" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GisCRxREDkY) by Herman's Hermits was frequently played, while Bob Webbenhurst liked "The M.T.A. Song" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7Jw_v3F_Q0)

Since we made frequent stops for nourishment, the jukeboxes were kept quite busy.  Some of the popular songs of the day were "Catch Us If You Can" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8MCsRXXc8A); "I Got You, Babe" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JxIw58lkHQ); "Baby, The Rain Must Fall" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtvDq1zn4Vg); "Wooly Bully (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5LWa18w-BE); "What's New, Pussycat (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQvIAs-nPSo); and Walter's favorite, "Down In The Boondocks" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4CeR9Mkjs4).  

A few of the fathers came along as chaperones.  Would they have been Mr. Tordoff, Mr. Kabrud, Mr. Buehler, Mr. DeWitt, Mr. Bozied, and who helped to keep us under control? (The article below indicates that only two parents came along, but that is incorrect) Card games were frequent, while some just enjoyed looking out the windows and enjoying the scenery.  It seems that we passed a number of Chrysler auto manufacturing plants. 

Upon arrival in Hershey, we stayed at the Hershey Ballroom.  Nearby was the local swimming pool.  Beneath the ballroom ran a little stream.  A player from one of the other teams rigged up a pin and some string and snagged a fish (carp?) out of there.  Also nearby was Hershey Park, and amusement park with a big roller-coaster.  It provided us with some great entertainment.  

The Phladelphia Eagles had their summer training camp at Hershey.  Pete Retzlaff, who played football at SDSU (then SDSC), was an outstanding player for the Eagles.  He came to talk to us one day, and gave us an autographed picture of himself.  We also visited the Hershey Chocolate factory.  

Since we came to play some baseball, we did have some important business to tend to.  Our string of victories, however, came to an abrupt end.  We played well in our first game, but lost by one run in extra innings.  We then moved into the loser's bracket, and, unfortunately, lost again, thus losing the only two games we played. 

On our trip home, we saw a number of high-school football teams in Pennsylvania and Ohio preparing for the upcoming football season.  Those boys were BIG by our standards.  

 While it may have been a disappointing end, we realized we had had an eventful summer, and owe a great deal of thanks to those who made it possible.  Many of those people are gone:  our parents and coaches, and even some teammates, but our memories will always remain.  

The above picture is our banquet that was held at the VFW later that summer.  In the back row are Tim DeWitt, Jim Arndt, Phil Trautman, Judd Bergan, Lloyd Beneke, Dan Sterud, Walt Osterberg, John Iverson.  In the front are coach Bob Webbenhurst, Tom Bozied, Doug deBoise, Barry Beuhler, Chip Kabrud, Randy Hofer, Don Tordoff, Tom Osterberg, coach Bernie van Essen.  

Igloo, South Dakota

 This past winter, South Dakota Public Television aired a program about Igloo, South Dakota (https://www.sdpb.org/blogs/arts-and-culture/igloo-south-dakota-the-utopia-that-war-built/).  In brief, Igloo was the site of the Black Hills Ordnance Depot (BHOD).  It was "filled with danger," as bombs, grenades and rockets were housed there in large, concrete bunkers covered with earth.  From a distance, these bunkers resembled round igloos, hence the name of the town.  Construction of these 802 "igloos" began in 1942, shortly after the United States entered into World War II.  After 25 years of activity, Igloo was abandoned in 1967.   Incredibly, there are between 30 and 40 full-time residents still living there.  But they do not live in houses, as most of them were moved to the nearby Pine Ridge Indian Reservation; they live in the abandoned concrete bunkers.  They have taken advantage of modern technology to have the conveniences of a normal home.  Electricity is supplied by solar power and/or portable generators.  Some have dug wells, while others have access to wells provided by a developer (https://www.coldwartourist.com/black-hills-ordnance-depot).  Some notable residents have lived in Igloo, including Tom Brokaw (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hills_Ordnance_Depot) and a former teacher at BHS, Leon Friend (https://classof69bhs.blogspot.com/2018/10/a-friend-indeed.html).

Igloo also has a special significance for a few of us.  For the 1965 Brookings Teener Baseball team,

 it was the penultimate stop before the team entered the National Teener Tournament to be held in the chocolate capital of the United States, Hershey, Pennsylvania.  The initial stages of that journey were in the regional tournament held here in Brookings.  The other teams in our region were Watertown, Milbank, and Sisseton.  The championship game against Watertown went into extra innings.  In the bottom of the tenth, we had a runner on third.  Everyone knew the batter was going to bunt.  The third baseman was only about 30 feet from the batter, while the center fielder replaced at the normal third base position to keep the runner from getting too big of a lead.  The pitcher had a good fastball.  One of his pitches was high fastball.  The batter just lifted his arms to avoid being hit by the pitch.  However, he did not lift them quite high enough, and was struck in the elbow.  It's an unwritten rule not to rub the spot where you were hit, but the batter was in a great deal of pain, and thrashed his arm about rather wildly, creating some laughter from some of the fans. 

With runners on first and third, our coaches, Bob Webbbenhurst and Bernie Van Essen,  used a special strategy to entice the pitcher to balk.  As soon as the pitcher started his wind-up, the runner on first took off for second.  This sudden movement was supposed to startle the pitcher, and interrupt his motion.  The strategy worked; the pitcher balked, the runner on third walked home for the winning run. 

As the articles above indicate, winning this tournament advanced us to the state tournament that was held in Madison.  Under Teener rules, a team is allowed to pick up two players from other teams in its region.  Since Watertown had an outstanding pitcher named Judd Bergan, Brookings picked him up, along with his catcher, Joe Snow.  We won the state tournament, thus earning the trip to the area tournament to be held in Igloo, South Dakota. 

National Teener rules mandated that a team could have no more than 15 players.  Since Brookings added two players for the state tournament, making its roster 17, that meant that two players now had to be dropped.  Since Brookings already had a fine catcher in Dan Sterud, backed by Bernie Hendricks, there really was no need to have the third catcher, Joe Snow, from Watertown.  It was vital to keep Judd Bergan, however, (as noted above in the Register articles, he won two games as a pitcher) so one of the seldom-used players had to be left off the official roster.  However, he was able to remain with the team as the batboy.  

At Igloo, the team stayed in some former military barracks.  Since the town had not yet been abandoned, there was still a semblance of a small town.  There was the swimming pool and the movie theater.  Of course, there were still some baseball games to be played.  Since very few teams in the area were eligible for this teener tournament, the only other teams at Igloo were from Miller, South Dakota, and nearby Crawford, Nebraska.  Miller was the class "B" teener champion in South Dakota, and had a very talented team. Three years later, they would be in the class "A" ranks, making it to the state basketball tournament.  Many of us may remember Al Nissen, their all-state player, who later played at Nebraska.  However, the Bobcats again proved to be somewhat more talented, again winning the state tournament. 

The Register articles below summarize the games better than any of my recollections.  

Now it was on to the national tournament in Hershey, Pennsylvania.  More on that later.