TWO BASEBALL TITLES, COULD'VE BEEN THREE
Yes siree......they were Iowa baseball dominant in the mid-1960's.
During that time, the Boone High School baseball Toreadors won two state championships in a three-year period and still dream of "what shoulda, coulda" been a trifecta sweep.
Champs in 1965 and 1967 but with another terrific year, 1966, sandwiched in between.
In 1966, the Toreador squad, boosted by five....that's five first team all-conference players, finished up, again, as Central Iowa Conference champions and posted a 21-3 record.
The big five were Bobby Hopkins, Hal (Topper) Lyness, Mike Harris, Kelly McMullan and Steve Crandell. Two of them, Harris and Crandell, hit .447 and .420 respectively, while both Hopkins, 1.38, and Crandell, 1.58, had fantastic earned run pitching averages.
BUT, alas, an injury to Crandell and a lack of lady luck produced a sad ending. Crandell had hit 10 home runs in just 23 games. And, as BHS coach Bill Sapp explained to BNR reporter Chuck Hackenmiller, "we had a tremendous ball club but to win state championships you need some luck and we had luck working against us that year." A Sub State loss to West Des Moines Valley, 6-2. ended another outstanding but "just short" season.
The history book tells us that Norway, 1981-82-83-84; Lansing Kee, 1989-90-91-92 and West Des Moines Valley, 2003-4-5-6, were state champions four years straight. Only Muscatine, 1956-57-58, and Mason City Newman, 2017-18-19, have been three time winners.
But, back to memories of those two Toreador championships.
In 1965, no classification was involved. All Iowa teams were matched up in head-to-head competition, regardless of school size. The path to state began with four Sectional games, two in the District and two in Sub-State, followed by a lone state championship contest.
That BHS season got off to a rocky start when, after just two games, Hall of Fame pitcher Jack Mustapha was invaded by a hepatitis infection that placed him in the hospital for two weeks and caused a 40-pound weight loss.
However, this was a battle-tested crew of players who had participated in the entire Little League program together and, most, had been members of the 1962 Babe Ruth team that won State and Regional championships and became one of only eight Ruth teams in the world to qualify for the Ruth World Series in New Jersey.
They knew success and what it took to achieve it.
Their season was highlighted by a season-ending nine straight tournament victories, including the championship game triumph over Burlington, 2-0, at Williamsburg.
Obviously, Mustapha fully recovered from his early season illness, firing three no-hitters and a one-hit win in those last nine games, including a no-hit performance in that state title win. He allowed just seven hits in 56 2/3 innings during that tourney stretch with a perfect ERA. His high school career ended with a 30-2 pitching record.
Both Boone runs, scored in the third inning of the title game, were propelled by doubles stroked by Mustapha and Crandell.
Actually, there was that odd beginning and an odd ending to the season. Mustapha's illness at the start and at the end, the Toreadors, after winning the state title, had to come home for one last game to solidify its conference championship. A win over Ames allowed them to tie Newton for the crown.
That final win boosted the Toreadors season record to 21-6.
Here was the entire '65 roster: Mustapha, Crandell, McMullan, Clyde Hovick, Hopkins, Al Dannatt, Harris, Marty Rinehart, Bruce Geerdes, Don Riker, Rick Davis, Bruce Conlin, Mike Rinehart, Rick Neely and Dan McDevitt.
AFTER A BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT, ANOTHER TITLE
In 1967, the Toreadors opened with 18 straight wins before being shutout, 1-0, by arch-rival Newton.
A one-class tournament was still in effect but the format had changed slightly. BHS stopped Panora-Linden, 9-0, and Indianola, 4-3, in District play and defeated Marshalltown, 2-0, in the Sub-State.
Speaking of a lack of luck in the '66 campaign, maybe the locals grabbed back just a bit of it in the '67 State tournament. They won both state games.....but both in extra innings.
A two-run homer by Topper Lyness in the ninth inning and a nine-strikeout performance by Joe Fontanini gave the Toreadors a 6-5 victory over Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson in the nine-inning semifinal. Then, in the final, Dick Sapp was the winning hurler in a 4-3 victory over Mason City Newman in 10 innings. Those wins completed a 28-1 campaign.
Jack Teagarden was the leading hitter with a .344 mark, followed by McMullan at .327, Lyness .284, Fontanini at .268 and Sapp at .255. Sapp was also 11-0 on the mound with an ERA of .071. Fontanini was 12-1 with an .078 and Tom Peterson was 3-0 with an .091. The entire mound crew had an ERA of .074. Rick Neely led the team in RBI's with 20, while both Teagarden and Lyness had 14 each.
Here was the 1967 championship roster: Jack Teagarden, McMullan, Lyness, Fontanini, Sapp, Neely, Ron Nunn, Gary Eckley, Peterson, Denny Behn, Marty Dannatt, Denny DeLance, Joel Teagarden and Marty Cory.
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