The Nebraska High School Basketball All-State Project - Saluting 1975

Before we look at those 1975 All-State teams, here is how each class played out in 1975 State Basketball Tournament:

*In Class D, Two of Shickley Coach Richard Ideus' game plans backfired a bit in the first half, but the Longhorns came storming out of the locker room in the 2nd half to bury the floundering Sterling Jets, 71-42. In the end, it was Ideus' plan to shut off the hot shooting game of Sterling's star junior, Rolley Aden. A box and one defense plus the menacing defense by Mike Lichti did the trick. Shickley had employed the same exact defense during the year to stop offensive machines like Davenport's Kelly Ficken, so it was nothing new to the 'Horns.

So potent was this group of Shickley high school athletes, that THREE made the all-tournament Class D squad. Lichti, Bill Anderson, Brad Schweitzer, Rich Dondlinger, and Steve Dowdy were also stars on Shickley's number 1 Class D football team and all were on the track team which had a great spring. This may have been one of the finest classes in the history of Shickley boys sports. Schweitzer, Dowdy, and Anderson were those all-tournament players.

*The Class C title went to a Louisville crew who played on the edge the entire State Tournament. Nothing seemed to phase the Lions in the late stages of the biggest games of the year, as they beat Wood River 41-40 in the first round, Friend 57-56 in the semis, then took down undefeated Grant by.........you guessed it..1 POINT, 48-47 to gain the "C" crown. The man that seemed to come though on Coach Fred Applegate's crew time after time was 6-4 post man, John Beck. The rock steady senior canned 11 of 14 charity tosses in the semi final against Friend, then managed to draw fouls in the paint and put 11 of 11 through the cylinder in the final against Grant. The undefeated Plainsmen were down by 19 at one point in the 3rd, but came storming back to tie the game at 44 with under 2 minutes in the game.

Ironically, in sharp contrast to Beck's perfect night from the charity stripe, it was a player named Mark Hrabik, who iced the game with his only 2 free throws of the game. The contrast.......Hrabik was perfect on all of his field goal shots for the contest, a perfect goose egg that is, missing all 9 of his field goal attempts in the game. Another irony was the fact two Grant players, Randy Beckler and Rod Young, made the all-tournament team while only Beck of the Lions was named to the squad.

*In Class B, it may have been one the most memorable seasons in many, many years for high school basketball fans in the state, especially in Class B. In a situation that may never have been witnessed before, an Omaha Metro team was dropped from the Class A ranks to Class B due to dwindling numbers. Omaha Tech, who had legendary basketball players like Fred Hare and Joe Williams (1963 team), Ron Boone ('64), football stars such as Phil Wise (NY Jets), Johnny Rogers, Preston Love (Husker FB), and MLB Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson, made it to the 1974 Class B state basketball tournament, having never heard of any schools and towns they were about to face.

It's no secret that Tech was a legendary Class A sports school, especially basketball. As I remember, it seemed as if there wasn't a single fan outside of Omaha that rooted for the Tech team as they hit the courts of Lincoln that year. Sad. It was almost as if it was unfair for the Omaha school to be in Class B, although it was merely a numbers game for Tech. Couldn't be helped. I'm sure the Trojans from Cuming Street would rather have been in the Class A dance. I'll go into a little more detail into the Omaha Tech "B" tournament appearance later in this blog.

Most of us expected Omaha Tech to sweep through this tournament field with little resistance. But waiting in the wings was a Crete team who dearly loved to play the run and gun game....and played it well since being together since grade school. Tech played the patented Metro style running game and it only made sense to think that there wasn't a team outside of Class A that could survive a game with the Trojans, who played an exclusive Class A schedule, could rebound with the best of them, and had speed to burn.

Omaha Tech found the going a little tougher than expected, but still turned back a very good Ord team (71-62), and a fine Minden team (77-69) to reach that finals game vs. Crete. And Tech showed great poise in both of those games by fighting back from slow starts.

In the championship game, the Cardinals, led by an outstanding post player named Daryl Wittstruck, not only survived the lightning- paced offensive pace of Tech, but continually broke the menacing Trojan press to rock the Metro boys by a shocking 75-57 final. Honestly, I'm not sure any other team but that Crete team of 1974 could have beaten that super slick Omaha Tech squad. They were really, really a well oiled machine and so well coached, but Cardinal Coach Walt Harris let his seniors play by instinct, the game they had known for years, and it worked like a charm, frustrating Tech in the second half.

The crazy thing was the fact Harris had faced a rebuilding season, returning only 1 starter in junior Mark Erickson. But Harris knew he had the pieces in place and decided to turn the tables on Tech and give them some of their own medicine. Crete slapped a full court press on the Omaha team and the Cardinals knew they had to be strong on the offensive boards to prevent the Trojans from initiating the fast break. Wittstruck was gold throughout the entire state tourney, averaging 24 ppg.

*In Class A, Omaha Central successfully defended their 1973 title by abandoning their exclusive man-to-man defense, and going into a zone, which took Brother Michael Wilmont and his Creighton Prep boys by surprise. The 2nd half zone defense led to a 47-38 victory over the Junior Jays. The zone seemed to frustrate the solid inside game of Prep, especially the play of 6-5 Ted Parks, who scored only 5 points in the game. It was just awfully difficult to beat the play of the Eagles Clayton Dillard and John C. Johnson, who were as smooth as it gets.

I do remember hearing that the fierce rivalry of Prep and Central reached a fever pitch during halftime of that Championship game with the players unaware in the locker room. Creighton Prep students always formed a human pyramid at center court during the halftime break of basketball games in those days. Not to break tradition, the Junior Jays did it again, better and taller than ever during the halftime break at the NU Colesium. In the middle of all this, a couple of kids bolted out of the stands, slid on the floor into the base of the human pyramid structure, bringing the whole works down with a crashing thud. A hassle broke out I guess, but order was restored by the local Gendarmes before the players came back out on the floor and all was well.

Can you imagine, in your wildest dreams, that happening in this day and age? Don't get any ideas here.

And now................................

1975 All-State Teams:

*Class D All-State Team*

G - Lyle Thompson-Filley - 5-10, Sr. (21.0 ppg)

G - Stan Dowdy-Shickley - 5-11, Sr. (17.0 ppg)

F - Roger Carlstrom-Polk - 6-2, Sr. (23.0 ppg)

F - Bill Anderson-Shickley - 6-1, Sr. (14.0 ppg)

C - Bruce Hird-Litchfield - 6-9, Sr. (16.0 ppg)

Second Team:

G - Kelly Ficken-Davenport - 6-1, Jr. (31.0 ppg)

G - Jamie Pankoke-Fairmont - 6-3, Sr. (21.0 ppg)

F - Bill Bruhn-Dawson-Verdon - 6-2, Jr. (36.0 ppg)

F - Rick Petit-Loomis - 6-4, Sr. (19.0 ppg)

C - Tim Lamb-Clarks - 6-4, Sr. (22.0 ppg)

*How about the scoring averages of 2nd teamers Bill Bruhn and Kelly Ficken. I saw both play that year, and in particular Kelly Ficken, whom I saw 3 or 4 times. You must remember, there was no 3 point shot in those days. It would have especially affected the deadly shooting Davenport star, who could nail it from 20 to 25 feet on a nightly basis. And Bruhn! My goodness, what an athlete. Sprinter in track with :10.7 hundred speed and a 1,600 yard rusher in football, the guy could do it all. Bruhn would eventually score 61 points in a game in 1975. If I'm not mistaken, Bruhn is still an assistant football coach at Beatrice these days.

*Honorable Mention names:* Bob Curry-Ponca, Steve Pokorny-Falls City SH, Tim Alvarez-Minatare, Greg Bellamy-Farnum, Mike Rowan-Gurley, Carl Ashford-Omaha Brownell-Talbot, Roger Behrends-Lodgepole, Brad Nutter-Thedford, Tim Hagedorn-Springview, Randy Fahey-Sidney St Pats, Scott Miller-Newcastle, Ron Gross-Bartlett, Rich Dondlinger-Shickley, Joel Richardson-Benedict, and Dean Klute of Hampton.

*Class C All-State Team*

G - Pete Tipton-Hartington- 6-2, Sr. (31.0 ppg)

G - Rick Hayden-Valley - 5-11, Sr. (21.0 ppg)

F - Evan Schnegelberger-Geneva - 6-7, Sr. (20.0 ppg)

F - Bill Ourada-Elm Creek - 6-2, Sr. (23.0 ppg)

C - Russ Anderson-Wilber - 6-5, Sr. (25.0 ppg)

Second Team:

G - Rod Young-Grant - 5-11, Sr. (17.0 ppg)

G - Mike McCue-Alma - 6-0, Sr. (22.0 ppg)

F - Jay Bergmeier-Tri-County - 6-3, Jr. (23.0 ppg)

F - John Beck-Louisville - 6-4, Sr. (15.0 ppg)

C - Randy Beckler-Grant - 6-3, Sr. (20.0 ppg)

*No doubt Hartington's Tipton could put the ball through the hoop. The 6-2 sharpshooter ended up scoring 2,036 points during his illustrious career, which ranks 23rd all time at this point in time. Tipton went off for 51 in a game in '75. Honorable mention player Jeff Barta of Niobrara went one notch above that, scoring 61 in a game that season. Geneva's Schnegelberger was a repeater from 1974 and was such a force for the Wildcats, scoring 1,118 points in his career, pulled down 601 rebounds, and dished out 172 assists in 3 seasons. Wilber's Anderson also hit the 1000 point plateau for Dave Oman's squad, hitting 1,170 counters on a 57% scoring clip. Anderson was a 64% shooter in 1974-75 scoring 24 ppg.

Another player I saw that season was Tri-County junior, Jay Bergmeier. Pretty salty player, who went head to head with Wilber's Anderson the night I was there. There were many who thought Louisville's Beck should have made first team all-state but I'm sure he would take the state championship over all-state status if he had to make the choice back then.

*Honorable Names:* Jeff Barta-Niobrara, Randy Mroczek-North Platte St. Pats, Louis Meyers-Centura, Casey Micek-St. Edward, Marty Wissing-Wood River, Rich Cech-Howells, Ken Adkisson-Geneva, Danny Keyser-Arnold, Jeff Johnson-Stromsburg, Craig-Marble-Hastings St. Cecilia, Bill Krueger-Doniphan, Terry Mastny-Clarkson, John Reuss-Elgin Pope John, Steve Kucera-Pleasanton, Jay Bellar-Walthill, Dave Christensen-Raymond Central, Gary Stokes-Friend, Jeff Stutzman-Milford, and Bob Barry-Battle Creek.

Class B All-State Team

G - Doug Haupt-Sidney - 5-11, Sr. (24.0 ppg)

G - Doug Sweeney-Aurora - 6-2, Sr. (21.0 ppg)

F - Mark Etzelmiller-Minden - 6-2, Sr. (19.0 ppg)

F - Daryl Wittstruck- Crete - 6-1, Sr. (20.0)

C - Denis Lesor-Auburn - 6-3, Sr. (22.0)

Second Team

G - Glen Randel-West Point Central Catholic - 6-0, Sr. (19.0 ppg)

G - Mark Bangert-Fairbury - 6-3, Sr. (16.0 ppg)

F - Vic Streufert-Seward - 6-4, Sr. (20.0 ppg)

F - Richard Brown-Omaha Tech - 6-4, Sr. (15.0 ppg)

C - Jeff Scholl-Central City - 6-5, Jr. (20.0 ppg)

*Ahh yes, Mark Etzelmiller. There weren't too many like that late, great Etz. My wife and I loved to go watch Etz orchestrate the fast break for the Whippets. Etz would plant his feet like he was a quarterback on the gridiron and fire a pass downcourt to an open teammate after pulling down a defensive rebound. It was a thing of beauty. Etzelmiller, who passed on not that long ago, was such a fine player. I'll never forget him and he gave Omaha Tech fits in that semi final game. We miss you man.

That first team was something else, let me tell you. Wittstruck said he went to a few Class A games in Lincoln when the Cardinals had a night off and found the defensive battles boring. "We like to get up and go, man" said the 6-1 magician, and Crete proved that, especially on that magic night against Tech. And Sidney's Haupt...wow! Many coaches felt like Haupt deserved to be on the 1st team Super State. Not a player in the Class B ranks could guard the Red Raider player one-on-one. Aurora Coach Bill Holliday thought Doug Sweeney was a major college prospect.....as did I, but I'm a football guy. We'll trust the venerable Holliday's opinion.

And it's too bad Auburn's Lesor didn't have a chance to show his talents at the state tournament. He was a terrific basketball player. As far as underclassmen go, Central City's 6-5 Scholl was about as good as it gets and the best was yet to come.

*Some Honorable Mention names that may be familiar with: Jeff Quinn-Ord (future Husker QB), Chuck Schnoor-Minden, Gregg Grubaugh and Conrad Slusarski-Columbus Scotus, Jerry Roh, David City Aquinas, Mitch Ohnoutka-Lin. Pius X, Jeff Nannen-Syracuse, Dennis Sloan-Boys Town, Rick Thomas-Columbus Lakeview, Dick Uhing-Hartington CC, Todd Dirmeyer-Holdrege, Jeff Nelson-Arlington, Jerry Johnson-Alliance, Larry Lehman-Gretna, and Howard Cotton-Omaha Tech.

Class A All-State Team

G - Clayton Bullard-Omaha Central - 6-3, Sr. (15.0 ppg)

G - John C. Johnson-Omaha Central - 6-3, Sr. (19.0)

F - Dave Wesley-Creighton Prep - 6-7, Sr. (14.0 ppg)

F - Rob Hayner-Omaha Burke - 6-1, Sr. (20.0 ppg)

C - Bruce Kucera-North Platte - 6-8, Sr. (18.0 ppg)

Second Team

G - Terry O'Doherty-Creighton Prep - 6-1, Sr. (11.0 ppg)

G - Mark McVicker-Hastings - 6-6, Jr. (18.0 ppg)

F - Huges Wilcox-Omaha Westside - 6-7, Sr. (16.0 ppg)

F - Dave Griffin-Lincoln Southeast - 6-7, Jr. (18.0 ppg)

C - Lee Johnson-Omaha South - 6-8, Sr. (20.0 ppg)

*My fav player that season in Class A was the silky smooth John C. Johnson from Omaha Central. John C. made many look silly with his moves that season, as well as the previous year. Bullard was no slouch either with his sweet moves and quick release. For pure hustle and college type skills, it had to be Burke's Rob Hayner. So difficult in one-on-one situations, Hayner would seem to always find a way to put the ball in the hole. Outstanding rebounder too. Big Bruce Kucera was a great paint player as was Hastings Mark McVicker, who could jump to the moon and his high jumping expertise proved that in the spring.

*Honor Roll: Doug Phelps-Hastings (Talk about an athlete!), Tom Marsden-Scottsbluff, John Selko-Lincoln East, Dave Copple-Norfolk, Sylvester Pierce-Omaha Central, Dave Blum-Millard, Rich Sheffe-Bellevue, John Kugler-McCook, Dan Clausen-Omaha Benson, Guy Frank-South Sioux City, and David Powell-Omaha North.

Hard to believe there was only one school each in Bellevue and Millard back then.

1975 Super-State Basketball Team

G - Clayton Bullard-Omaha Central - 6-3, Sr. (15.0 ppg)

G - Rob Hayner-Omaha Burke - 6-1, Sr. (20.0 ppg)

F - Daryl Wittstruck- Crete - 6-1, Sr. (20.0)

F - John C. Johnson-Omaha Central - 6-3, Sr. (19.0)

C - Dave Wesley-Creighton Prep - 6-7, Sr. (14.0 ppg)

Second Team

G - Doug Haupt-Sidney - 5-11, Sr. (24.0 ppg)

G - Doug Sweeney-Aurora - 6-2, Sr. (21.0 ppg)

F - Dave Griffin-Lincoln Southeast - 6-7, Jr. (18.0 ppg)

F - Evan Schnegelberger-Geneva - 6-7, Sr. (20.0 ppg)

C - Bruce Kucera-North Platte - 6-8, Sr. (18.0 ppg)

Third Team

G - Mark Etzelmiller-Minden - 6-2, Sr. (19.0 ppg)

G - Bill Anderson-Shickley - 6-1, Sr. (14.0 ppg)

F - Denis Lesor-Auburn - 6-3, Sr. (22.0)

F - Russ Anderson-Wilber - 6-5, Sr. (25.0 ppg)

C - Lee Johnson-Omaha South - 6-8, Sr. (20.0 ppg)

*Honor Roll* - Huges Wilcox-Omaha Westside, Terry O'Doherty-Creighton Prep, Mark McVicker-Hastings, David Powell-Omaha North, Jeff Scholl-Central City, Vic Streuert-Seward, Richard Brown-Omaha Tech, Bill Ourada-Elm Creek, Doug Phelps-Hastings, Dan Clausen-Omaha Benson

There was so much chatter about Omaha Tech and their state tournament appearance in 1975. The Trojans compiled a 17-5 record that year and played an all Class A schedule except for a single game against Class B, Boys Town. Tech's only losses were: twice to Creighton Prep, twice to Omaha Central, and a double overtime thriller to Omaha Westside. As you may recall, Prep and Central met for the Class A title. Tech even made it to the Metro Conference playoff game opposite Prep.

But it was their 17-5 record that placed them as the 7th seed in the Class B state tournament, drawing #2 seed Ord in the opening round. The NSAA seeded teams by winning percentage for years and Tech had the great draw in '75 and it just seemed wrong to the majority of fans around the state. To many it was a David and Goliath match-up pitting Omaha Tech against the rest of the puny field.

I'll never forget that opening round game the Trojans had against Ord at Pershing Auditorium in Lincoln. Tech came out during pre-game in their Harlem Globetrotter-type warmups, sporting the multi-colored, red, white and blue ABA basketballs. Two of the officials working the game, and veterans at that, were Grand Island football coach Kenny Fisher and former Islander coach Orv Qualsett. When Ord completed their warmups and left the court, Tech promptly sent half their players down to the Chants side of the court to shoot around. You could almost see the steam rolling out of Kenny Fisher's ears. The rugged, experienced Fisher went to the scorer's table and immediately assessed a technical foul on the Trojans before the game even began.

Yes, it was not legal to use your opponent's side of the court in warmups, even if they had departed the court. Tech overcame that rough start....and slow start...to beat Ord that day.

I cannot recall a team that was so despised during a state tournament as was Tech that year. It was merely because of the fact most observers felt they should have been in the Class A portion of the Big Dance and just didn't belong in Class B.

The sad thing, of course, was that Tech had nothing to do with what class they were competing in that year. Merely a declining student population for the school that opened in 1923 and was billed as the largest high school west of Chicago at the time.

Omaha Tech eventually closed its doors for good in 1984, leaving a rich legacy for all to enjoy. It just wasn't in the cards for the slick court wizards from 3215 Cuming Street to win a Class B title that year.