In 1961, the editors of the McCook High School Yearbook dedicated the athletic seasons to the spirit of Discobulus, the Greek discus thrower who they felt symbolized the continuity between the spirit of ancient Greece and MHS.

The Greek philosophers advocated that sports had a double purpose in the development of a successful human being -- sports sharpened the mind while they developed the body, developed leadership, loyalty, and good sportsmanship. In the case of the 1960 football team they had a good example.

Some years ago, when there were no high school football playoffs in Nebraska the "Big 10 Conference Champio-nship" was a very major honor. The Big 10 consisted of the major (Class A) schools outside Lincoln and Omaha. The West Division teams were McCook, North Platte, Kearney, Scottsbluff, and Alliance. In the East there were Hastings, Grand Island, Columbus, Fremont, and Norfolk. Though McCook had come close on a number of occasions, they had won a Big 10 title only once before, in 1956.

Entering the 1960 season, there were questions to be answered. It was felt that McCook would field a number of quality athletes, but they had a new coach, Andy Loehr, who was bringing a new formation, the T-Formation, which had not been tried in McCook for several years. (Loehr was assisted by basketball coaches, Ken Foster and Paul Forch). Would the Bison defense be able to hold their opponents in check in the early games while the offense worked out the kinks in Loehr's new system?

At the beginning of the season, temperature was the biggest Bison problem. For the weeks leading up to the opening game the daytime thermometer rarely dipped below the 90 degree mark. It was so oppressive that Coach Loehr instituted 7 a.m. practices in an attempt to "beat the heat". Whether it was the early morning practices or something else, by the time of the first game -- with Gering -- the Bison were strong and well prepared.

The Bison offensive first stringers were a seasoned team, consisting of eight seniors and 3 juniors, led by co-captains Larry Thompson and Vince Wasia, who each scored two touchdowns in the Gering game. The strong Bison defense, led by Tom Cotton, Bob Hackenkamp, and Mike James was just as effective, never allowing Gering inside the Bison 20 yard line (though Gering did force a 2-point safety), in a 25-2 romp.

Amazingly, McCook opponents managed only another six points going into the Holdrege game -- the 9th game of the season. Expected tough games with Scottsbluff, who had won the West Big 10 the year before, and perennial power North Platte, proved to be little more than bumps on the road for the Bison juggernaut as it headed into the Big Ten showdown with the Eastern Big Ten Champs. Scottsbluff, who boasted that it had not been shut out in 37 games went down 25-0. North Platte was able to score the first touchdown of the season against the Bison, but was thoroughly outclassed at 48-6.

It was against Holdrege in the ninth game of the season that the Bison got a hint of what awaited them in the championship game. For the season the strong Bison ground game had made passing almost an afterthought. Though McCook opponents had attempted twice as many passes as had McCook, they had been relatively unsuccessful against the Bison. Holdrege relied on a strong passing attack, and made it pay off to a certain extent. In the second quarter they passed for one touchdown and were able to move the ball with some success -- but, in the end it was Bison 45-Dusters 14.

With the Holdrege victory, McCook wound up the 1960 regular season with 9 wins and 0 losses, their first unbeaten untied season since 1946. The Bison had out rushed their opponents 2,956 yards to 856. Vince Wasia had led the attack with 16 touchdowns, followed by Larry Thompson with 12, while Thompson had led the team with 1,064 yards followed by Wasia's 914.

Hastings came into the championship game at Hastings with a 7-1-1 record. They were undefeated in the East Big 10 -- the only blemishes coming from two Lincoln teams. They boasted a strong passing attack, which they felt would be enough to overcome McCook's running game. But probably most of all, Hastings still smarted from what they perceived to be a fluke victory by McCook in the 1956 game, when a late field goal by Walt McGuire beat heavily favored Tigers 3-0. Hastings wanted revenge.

The Big 10 Championship game proved to be everything the 3,500 fans in attendance could have hoped. Among these fans was a large contingent of enthusiastic and very vocal McCook fans who had made the migration aboard a special train.

The high scoring Bison offense, which had terrorized opponents, was held in check more than at any time of the season by a speedy and well disciplined Hastings defense. But the McCook defense was just as effective, and in the fourth quarter, as expected, Hastings was forced to go to the air in an attempt to overcome a 15-6 McCook lead. Wasia and Thompson each scored a touchdown in the game, but at the end of the day, it was the defensive work by the two stars that sealed the victory for McCook.

In the second quarter, with Hastings owning a 6-0 lead, McCook's Chuck Campbell boomed a tremendous 65 yard punt inside the Hastings 10 year line. Tiger Randy Paymal became confused, thinking he was at the 7-yard line instead of the 2-yard line. He took a step backward to elude a hard charging Larry Thompson. This was just enough to allow Thompson to down him in the end zone for a 2 point safety. These two points proved to be the margin of victory.

McCook had forged a 15-6 lead into the fourth quarter. But it was Hastings that owned the final minutes of the game. McCook ran only six plays in the final 12 minutes of the game, while Hastings ran 25 plays, including one touchdown, to make the score 15-13. Late in the game Hastings was driving for what would have been the winning touchdown. Time was short and the Hastings was having some success in passing to receivers running toward the sidelines, away from Vince Wasia, who had done a yeoman job of protecting the middle of the field.

But late in the game Wasia was injured while making a tackle and could barely hobble to his position. For some reason the Hastings club failed to take advantage of Wasia's injury and continued to throw away from him. Though they did manage to reach the Bison 16-yd. line that was as far as they got as time ran out, preserving a 15-13 victory for McCook.

Critics questioned Hast-ing's strategy in passing up a field goal attempt from the 16 yard line. Evidently, since he had already missed one extra point the Hastings coaches had no confidence in their field goal kicker.

The jubilant Bison lifted Coach Loehr to their shoulders as the final gun sounded, and only set him down long enough to join Captains Thompson and Wasia in accepting the Big 10 Trophy. Arriving back at the outskirts of McCook, the team was treated to a rousing reception by adoring fans, complete with police escort, who accompanied them to the McCook High School for speeches.

It was only after the team retreated to their dressing room his happy warriors grabbed their jubilant coach and tossed him into the showers.

For the 1960 season, without a chance to play the Lincoln and Omaha schools, the Bison were picked # 4 of the Class A teams by the Omaha World Herald. They had McCook's first unblemished record since 1946, and had outscored 10 opponents 307-22.

Larry Thompson and Vince Wasia had been named to the Class A All State team, and Wasia had been named a High School All American Honorable Mention. It had been an outstanding, absolutely "Discobulus" type of football season to be sure.

Source: Gazette Special "35th Reunion" Edition 1996 and The 1961 MHS Bison Yearbook