20th anniversary of state tourney memories

Working at the Boys State Basketball Tournament Friday night to cover the Hall of Fame induction of former Creston coach Jim Calkins, and watching St. Edmond’s sea of green on the west side of Casey’s Center for the 1A title game rekindled a lot of memories from 20 years ago.

That facility, then known as Wells Fargo Arena, opened in 2006 and the tournament moved across the street from Veterans Memorial Auditorium. Creston was there in Class 3A and Nodaway Valley in Class 2A.

To set the stage for those 2006 memories I should mention what happened in 2004 and 2005. One of the best substate final games I ever saw was at Southwestern Community College in 2004 when PCM, coached by Fred Lorensen, nipped Nodaway Valley in a great battle. PCM went on to beat St. Edmond 58-57 in double overtime for the state championship, led by future Iowa Hawkeye and NFL player Brandon Myers. Harlan won the 3A crown that year.

(Fred Lorensen, father of SWCC national champion coach Todd Lorensen and grandfather of ADM star guard Hudson Lorensen, was inducted into the IHSAA Basketball Hall of Fame Friday along with Calkins.)

I still remember walking alone up the SWCC Student Center stairs with NV coach Darrell Burmeister, who had to be wondering if he would ever take that next step in the tournament trail after having so many great teams.

One year later the Wolverines closed down Vets Auditorium by making the state championship game, falling to Unity Christian 62-54. (Unity Christian won it again this year over Carroll Kuemper Catholic.)

Calkins, in a run of taking Creston to four straight substate final games, led the 2004-05 Panthers to their first state tournament since the 1997 state championship team. Ballard won that 2005 quarterfinal game, 50-43. Our son Keith was a sophomore player on the varsity that year and I remember the thrill of seeing him and so many teammates I had coached in youth ball warming up on the state tournament floor where I had seen so many great games.

But, all of that was just a prelude to the events of 2006 in the brand new arena. In Class 2A, St. Edmond and Nodaway Valley each won semifinal games and I was there taking photos as the Wolverines got over the hump and topped St. Edmond for the 2A championship, 46-39.

I was a few feet away from coach Burmeister as he shouted, “SOUTHWEST IOWA BABY!” as the clock ran out and his players celebrated together at midcourt. When I worked in Atlantic in the 1980s I had covered his Bridgewater-Fontanelle teams. That championship moment seemed so far away then, but I was glad to be there when he felt it.

As the Class 3A state tournament opened, Creston beat Washington 63-48 and Harlan topped Waverly-Shell Rock, 53-42.

That set up a Hawkeye Ten semifinal clash, and Mitch Osborn’s Harlan Cyclones edged the Panthers, 42-41, in a fierce defensive battle. Creston had the ball late with a chance for a winning shot, but just missed. Harlan went on to beat MOC-Floyd Valley 86-79 in overtime in a shootout compared to that semifinal battle where each basket came with difficulty.

A deflated Creston team then fell to Grinnell in the third-place game, 45-44. But, no team at state had come as close to Harlan in their title run as the Panthers did. It reminded me of the 1996 Creston team that narrowly fell to Western Christian in the semifinals, 62-60, before Western Christian won in the finals. Creston was that close to back-to-back championships in that era.

Creston has not been back to state since that 2005-06 season. I hope I’m still helping out at the paper when the Panthers and their fans experience those thrills again.

Meanwhile, on Friday I saw St. Edmond win the 1A crown in coach Adolph Kochendorfer’s final season. (Calkins and other Hall of Fame inductees were introduced at halftime.)

Kochendorfer had led the Gaels to the 2000 state championship, and I ran into young adults from my hometown there that night with their kids, 26 years after they were children thrilled by St. Edmond’s championship.

That was a great way for coach K to go out. It was a special night.

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