CONGRATULATIONS

     The big news in Boonetown these days has to be the success of both the BHS boys and girls basketball teams. Both have already had outstanding seasons with tournament play looming ahead.
     The boys have already been declared Raccoon River Conference champions while the girls, as this is being written, will, also, at least share an RRC championship, if not win the title outright.
     Let's hit it head-on. Toreador basketball has not been very good in most recent years. The boys last winning season was the 1995-96 campaign when they were 13-7. Its believed the last time they won a conference title was in  the 1956-57 campaign when they shared a championship with Marshalltown and Grinnell in the old Central Iowa Conference.
     Dick Musser, who played on a 1963 team that earned a state tournament berth, dropped me a note this week with the comment, "what I remember about the 56-57 team is that they defeated Ames twice by one point each, but lost a triple overtime game to Marshalltown." Dick added, "keep up the good writing and story collection," and he showed great support for continuation of the Korner's effort.
      The Boone boys, of course, had a state championship team in the 1920's that went on to play in  the national high school tournament in Chicago. The 1931 team also won a state title and both the 1948 and 1963 teams were state tournament entrants.
     Marilyn Long, BHS-49, wrote, "I was reading your blog about boys conference championship teams. I was thinking about the team of 1948. I think I have a scroll here and, with a little looking, I might be able to find out about that. Always fun to read your post. The class of 1948 has a lunch on Monday at Saints Avenue. Usually, only about four people show up. I go, even though I'm younger. The numbers really drop rapidly after we hit 80."
     Sorry to say, the Kornerman can't provide much conference history for the BHS girls. We know they were a state tourney team in 1958 and 1989 but haven't been able to pinpoint a conference standing. In fact, its believed that in 1958, Boone was not conference affiliated but played as an independent. Chuck Lovin coached some good teams in the 50's, including one that started the season with 17, 18, 19(?) wins in a row. Again, I don't know about conference results at that time.
     Well, anyway, you viewers can see that it has been a long time for such success, so congratulations for these current teams are well deserved.
K-----K
     If you are an Our Iowa magazine subscriber, you may have noticed that the old Kornerman authored a little story that appeared in the most recent January/February edition. It was Super Bowl time and I thought what I submitted was appropriate. My original story was heavily edited (that means some material was left out and some was changed a bit) but the main point still appeared and, I even accepted a nice check for the submission.
     Here was the gist: The Super Bowl, as we now know it, was first called the Super Bowl in 1967 and from then until now, it has featured a championship game between the Western Conference NFL winner and the Eastern Conference NFL winner. Even prior to 1967, there was an IDENTICAL NFL championship game.......the only difference was that in those earlier years, it was not called the Super Bowl.
     In 1953, 14 years before it became known as the Super Bowl, the NFL championship game was won by the Detroit Lions who defeated the Cleveland Browns, 17-16, with the winning points scored by the Lions via a 33-yard touchdown pass from Bobby Layne to Boone Counties Jim Doran. No other Iowan can make the claim that they scored the winning points in any NFL title game. That's a wow!
     Doran, now deceased, had lots of ties to Boone and, even today, he has many relatives in the Boone area.  He was raised on a Boone County farm and was a graduate of Beaver High School who did not offer the sport of football in the 1940's. However, Jim was interested in the sport, attended Iowa State University, joined the football squad and became an  All-American, establishing numerous school and even conference pass receiving records along the way.  He later earned numerous NFL honors as a member of the Lions, one year even named that team's Most Valuable Player.
     The old Kornerman thought this was an "overlooked" story insofar as the Boone/Boone County and even Iowa sports scene was concerned. I'm glad the magazine found it worthy of publication.
K-----K
     BOONE CONNECTED DEATHS: Rob Loudon, 68, Boone. BHS-66. Boone area survivors include his wife, Jill, and uncle, Wally Loudon, both of Boone.........Rose Marie Johnson, 90, Ogden. OHS-44. Worked at a bank and the Ogden schools. Boone area survivors are her husband, Leo, of Ogden and daughter, Maria Maffett of Ames.........Dorothy Harmon, 95, Madrid..........Yvonne Fjelland, 93, Huxley. Started and operated a well known Huxley restaurant, the Fjord, from 1954-67. .........Commodore Tunney Litchfield, 88, Ames. Worked at a lumber store and as a mail carrier. Married a Boone girl, Margaret (Peggy) Riordan in 1950. Boone area survivors include his wife, Margaret, and daughters, Linda Griffen and Julie Ann Taylor all of Ames.
K-----K
     Worldwide Korner headquarters are located at 710 Aldrich, Boone, Iowa 50036-4703. Phone number is 515-432-1530. To email your stories/memories/comments/SUPPORT.......
kelleyskorner1@gmail.com.