April 5, 2017 by Philip Lewenstein

A Memorable Basketball Season 51 Years Ago Comes Back to Life in a Dusty Scrapbook

As the high school version of March Madness ended last weekend with the state basketball tournament, I came across a dusty scrapbook chronicling the Duluth East High School l965-66 season—51 years ago, more than a half century. Newspaper clippings were falling out, and I had to re-tape them in order to reconstruct that memorable experience.

Known as a hockey school, East showed signs of basketball success with a 13-5 record the previous season. Yet nobody envisioned what was to come in 1965-66. A review of my dusty scrapbook enabled me to recall that memorable season in which East lost its first game and then reeled off 24 straight victories before an overtime loss in the final state tournament game.

I served as a student manager with responsibility for keeping our scorebook, sweeping the gym floor, washing the basketballs, and keeping statistics. Despite the nonplaying role, I have always valued this rare experience.

Much has changed in basketball over 50 years. The players possess more size, speed, and skill than in the 1960s. The three-point line has affected scoring dramatically. Then, Minnesota had one state tournament with eight teams compared to the current four classes. With Minnesota professional sports in their infancy, the public’s attention focused on Minnesota Gopher football and the state high school basketball tournament.

But looking through the scrapbook, it became clear that the main principles and characteristics of success in most major life endeavors including sports have not changed. Key factors in East’s success were teamwork, experience, leadership, adversity, hard work, school support, and community support. While victories are fleeting, core principles of success endure and are as important today as they were 51 years ago.

East opened the season losing to rival Duluth Central 52-43 as two starters fouled out, and our star forward separated his shoulder. Despite the forward’s missing several games, the team won seven straight before defeating Central in a rematch. The Greyhounds completed the regular season 17-1 with nine more victories including two one-point wins.

The team won three games to capture the District 26 tournament and headed to the Region 7 tournament. After beating Tower-Sudan, the Greyhounds defeated Chisholm 71-69 in overtime, earning a spot in the state tournament. That game was tied 17 times. Chisholm was coached by Bob McDonald, who became legendary among Minnesota high school basketball coaches for his decades of success.

Because of an impending snowstorm, we left Duluth on Tuesday, a day earlier than planned, and stayed at a motel in White Bear Lake before going the Curtis Hotel in Minneapolis, tournament headquarters, the next day. On Thursday afternoon, East defeated Ada 68-61 in the first round after trailing much of the first half. On Friday night, the team beat Hutchinson 76-49.

Before almost 19,000 spectators, the majority favoring our team, at Williams Arena on Saturday night, East appeared headed for the state championship. The team led by eight points three times in the fourth quarter, but Edina-Morningside (the name then) managed to tie the game in the final two minutes before winning 82-75 in overtime. As in the season opener, our star forward separated his shoulder, and one of our starting guards fouled out. The victory gave Edina the first of three straight state titles.

Excellent teamwork was a main factor in the team’s achievements. A strong bond and chemistry among players contributed to success. This teamwork was exemplified in the team’s signature zone press. Each player understood and executed his role in harassing and keeping opponents off balance. The players excelled both in the classroom and on the court with a high basketball IQ. Preparation and professionalism were important, too. The team was ready for each game, and players, who wore uniform navy blue blazers with the team logo and ties to games, behaved in a mature, professional manner.

The players learned from experience. The lineup included five seniors including three returning starters. They provided leadership as did the coach, Joe Mrkonich , a native Iron Ranger from Eveleth, Minnesota, who taught history. Also the school’s football coach, Mrkonich, described as garrulous and sometimes volatile, directed the boys’ basketball program from 1963 to l970, compiling a 110-36 record. He came out of retirement to coach girls’ basketball from 1978 to 1987, compiling a 163-39 record with four state tournament trips. Of course, there were no girls’ sports in 1965-66. Mrkonich died in 2011 after a career in which he positively impacted his students, players, school, and community.

As victories continued, school support for the team grew. With each tournament victory, the community increasingly got behind the team. Successful teams often must overcome some adversity, and East had to adapt to the absence of its top forward for several weeks early in the season and had to overcome deficits in some games. Yet the team was able to persist in winning several close games.

The Duluth media provided comprehensive coverage of the dream season from beginning to end. In scanning the scrapbook, I noticed that Patrick Reusse, a noted Twin Cities newspaper columnist and radio star, wrote several stories as a cub reporter for the Duluth papers. I recall him visiting the equipment room to gather statistics.

The 1965-66 East basketball team would have been successful in many endeavors besides sports because of its ability to work effectively as a team, its strong leadership, its persistence in overcoming adversity, and its strong school and community support. A dusty scrapbook housed in the crawl space of my house enabled me to relive a great experience and reflect on several life lessons from it.