Kansas Prep Basketball History Part 6               Revised July 23, 2012             Kansas High School Basketball  History

 Part Six:  Kansas CLASS AA, A & B Tournaments  1941-1951              * = Overtime    ! = Forfeit     by Patrick Macfee

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Chapter 1: War Years 1941-1945     Chapter 2: Post-War Boom 1946-1951


                       1941   1942   1943   1944   1945  
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1943 Class AA Tournament

March 25-27	Salina - Memorial Hall
>475 Students		Harold Reade	NEKL	1	Shawnee Mission	(24-1)
		Marion Wools	INDEPENDENT	2	KC-Wyandotte	(18-7)
		Frank Lindley	ARK VALLEY	SF	Newton	(21-2)
		Jack Randle	CKL	SF	McPherson	(16-4)
Shawnee Mission					Final 4 Officials
	Shawnee Mission
McPherson	43-31				Mike Oberhelman
					Cliff Ogden
		Shawnee Mission			Darrell Hinkhouse
Wyandotte		34-28
	Wyandotte
Newton	26-21
No Consolation Game
No All-Star Team
Hutchinson Sectional
Salina	Wellington
Wellington	41-26
Newton	Newton	Newton
Dodge City	53-28	31-21
McPherson	McPherson		Newton
Hutchinson	35-30	McPherson	42-20
Winfield	Winfield	36-24
Junction City	60-21
Topeka Sectional
Independence	Ottawa
Ottawa	43-30	Wyandotte
Wyandotte	Wyandotte	32-20	Shawnee Mission
Lawrence	31-25		20-17
Topeka High	Chanute	Shawnee Mission
Chanute	39-37	36-24
Shawnee Mission	Shawnee Mission
Columbus	32-27
The top 2 finishers in the Sectionals advanced to FINAL 4 in Salina

1943 Class A Tournament

	Salina - Memorial Hall
March 25-27		Dave Shirk	INDEPENDENT	1	Augusta	(19-4)
		Wayne Gardner	SKL	2	Anthony	(20-1)
		Oscar Richards ^	NEKL	SF	KC-Rosedale	(9-11)
81 Teams entered in competition		Gerald Travis	NWKL	SF	Norton	(16-2)
13 Play-Off sites.
^ Richards inducted into miltary - Art Lawrence coached last 3 games
Augusta
	Augusta				Final 4 Officials
Norton	40-23
		Augusta			Mike Oberhelman
KC-Rosedale		49-42			Cliff Ogden
	Anthony				Darrell Hinkhouse
Anthony	45-24
No Consolation Game
No All-Star Team
Eureka Sectional
Augusta	Augusta
Neodesha	32-20	Augusta
Eureka	Eureka	37-17
Altamont	42-28
Russell Sectional
Norton	Norton
Hays	31-29 ***	Norton
Osborne	Osborne	30-22
Salina-Sacred Heart	36-35
Topeka Sectional
Marysville	KC-Rosedale
KC-Rosedale	56-27	KC-Rosedale
Turner	Turner	25-20
Osage City	31-30 **
Hutchinson Sectional
Anthony	Anthony
Hoisington	44-29	Anthony
Garden City	Lyons	43-30
Lyons	43-25

1943 Class B Tournament

	Salina - Memorial Hall
March 25-26
< 200 Students		Dennis McKee	NCKL	1	Mankato	(23-1)
		Jay Scott	N MARION CNTY	2	Tampa	????
		Lafayette Haughn	INDEPENDENT	SF	Olivet	(28-1)
		George Norton	MID-KANSAS	SF	Pretty Prairie	(19-8)
Final Four
Mankato
	Mankato
Pretty Prairie	28-15
		Mankato			Final 4 Officials
Olivet		31-25
	Tampa				Mike Oberhelman
Tampa	51-39				Cliff Ogden
					Darrell Hinkhouse
No Consolation Game
No All-Star Team
Russell Sectional
Mankato	Mankato
Ransom	38-21	Mankato
Leoti	Leoti	23-20
Almena	28-24
Hutchinson Sectional
Pretty Prairie	Pretty Prairie
Little River	31-26	Pretty Prairie
Miltonvale	Miltonvale	27-19
Chase County	38-36
Topeka Sectional
Olivet	Olivet
Riley	34-26	Olivet
Willis	Willis	33-31
Edwardsville	18-17
Eureka Sectional
Tampa	Tampa
Madison	34-19	Tampa
Welda	Welda	34-16
Weir	30-29

TOURNAMENT REVISION - War Time

    America was in the process of converting everyday life to the realites of a nation at war as the school year began in September of 1942. The KSHSAA was determined to continue with inter-scholastic sports. There were certain areas of the state that struggled to maintain football schedules. The most difficult impediment was the travel expenses involved - especially in the rural areas. Gasoline and other transportation products (tires, oil) were strictly rationed as these items were reserved first for the military effort. The association decided to continue the basketball tournaments with an expansion of the system that would keep elimination rounds closer to the competitor's geographic area and a final four championship event for all classes in one location.

   This is the break down for tourneys in 1943.
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Class AA Regionals  - First & Runner-Up advanced. Independence alone advanced from their two team regional - KSHSAA awarded Topeka the invitation on the basis of consolation win over Atchison. Eastern sectional was held at Topeka High and Western sectional was played at Hutchinson Civic Center as detailed above. The winner and runner-up of the two sectionals advanced to the final four competition.

Great Bend - McPherson, Dodge City & Great Bend.  Junction City - Salina, Manhattan, Junction City & Emporia.  Winfield - Winfield, Wichita North, Wellington & Arkansas City.  Newton - Newton,  Wichita East, Hutchinson. El Dorado

Independence - Independence & Coffeyville.  Lawrence - Topeka, Ottawa, Lawrence & Atchison.  Pittsburg - Pittsburg, Columbus, Parsons & Chanute.  KC-Wyandotte - Shawnee Mission, Argentine, Leavenworth, Wyandotte, Ward.
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Class A Regionals - Only winners of the regionals advanced and three more teams were invited to fill out the sectional tourneys. The winners of the sectionals advanced to the final four tourney in Salina.

BELOIT:  Belleville, Minneapolis, Lincoln, Beloit, Smith Center, Osborne, Concordia
COLBY:  Norton, Oberlin, Hoxie, Colby, St. Francis, Goodland, Atwood.
FREDONIA:  Eureka, Yates Center, Caney, Iola, Neodesha, Cherryvale, Fredonia, Humboldt.
GARDEN CITY:  Liberal, Garden City, Scott City
GREAT BEND:  Lyons, Ellsworth, Sterling, Hoisington, Ellinwood, Larned, LaCrosse.
HAYS:  Russell, Hill City, Phillipsburg, Hays, Ellis, Hays-St. Joseph's, Wakeeney.
HOLTON:  Marysville, Effingham, Holton, Hiawatha, Frankfort, Horton, Sabetha.
JUNCTION CITY:  Salina-Sacred Heart, Clay Center, Herington, Chapman, Abilene, Wamego.
MEDICINE LODGE:  Anthony, Medicine Lodge, Kingman, Pratt, Harper.
NEWTON:  Augusta, Marion, Buhler, Moundridge, Wichita Cathedral, Hillsboro, Valley Center.
OSAGE CITY:  Osage City, Garnett, Topeka-Highland Park, Burlington, Topeka-Capitol Catholic, Topeka-Seaman, Council Grove.
PITTSBURG: Altamont, Riverton, Arma, Galena, Baxter Springs, Cherokee.
KC-TURNER: Turner, Bonner Springs, Olathe, KC-Washington, KC-Rosedale.
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Class B Regionals    - 128 B schools survived 57 district tournaments and became eligible for 14 Class B Regionals - Winners and Runner-Ups of each district and 14 invited teams competed in the regionals. The winners of each regional advanced to the sectionals and the KSHSAA invited two other teams to fill the brackets.

BELOIT:  Jamestown, Athol, Lebanon, Courtland, Simpson, Glasco, Mankato, Beverly, Scandia, Narka.
COLBY:  McDonald, Monument, Quinter, Edson, Almena, Oakley, Norcatur.
FREDONIA: St. Francis (St. Paul, Lamont, Welda, Elk Falls, Coyville, Colony, Galesburg, Madison, Peru, Erie.
GARDEN CITY:  Hugoton, Meade, Cimarron, Syracuse, Tribune, Minneola, Sublette, Leoti, Ensign, Johnson.
GREAT BEND:  Chase, Macksville, Bushton, Jetmore, Nickerson, Rozel, Sylvia, Little River.
HAYS:  Wilson, Paradise, Schoenchen, Stockton, Brownell, Ransom, Plainville, Covert, Dorrance, Palco.
HOLTON:   Willis, Circleville, Silver Lake, Hoyt, Centralia, Fairview, Goff, Onaga, Denison, Powhatton, Senca Catholic, Havensville.
JUNCTION CITY: Blue Rapids, White City, Riley, Smolan, Barnes, Alma, Morrowville, Enterprise, Randoplh, Flush.
MEDICINE LODGE:  Hazelton, Cunningham, Pretty Prairie, Protection, Attica, Sun City, Coldwater, Kiowa.
NEWTON:  Halstead, Potwin, Peabody, Galva, Inman, Florence, Mount Hope, Whitewater, Tampa.
OSAGE CITY:  Olivet, Harveyville, Pomona, Appanoose, Melvern, Miller, Lebo, Princeton, Lyndon, Americus.
PITTSBURG:  Oswego, Arcadia, Pittsburg-St. Mary's, McCune, Fulton, West Mineral, Weir, Uniontown.
TURNER:  Perry, DeSoto, Edwardsville, Spring Hill, Parker, Atchison-Maur Hill, Basehor, Louisburg.
WINFIELD:  Miltonvale, Douglass, Oxford, Conway Springs, Clearwater, Latham, Cedar Vale, Argonia.

Class AA

       Ark Valley experts suggested that the KSHSAA could save on travel by making the winner of the Hutchinson Sectional state champion and telling the eastern AA teams to stay home..  The scribes from the Ark Valley had ample support for the confidence they had that Newton, Winfield, Hutchinson from the Ark Valley or Salina and McPherson from the CKL made their sectional of a higher quality than the Kansas City event. Newton played exceptional ball while taking care of Dodge City, Wellington and the upstart McPherson team that defeated Hutchinson and Winfield prior to the sectional final. Coach Lindley was pleased with his team's play led by Seniors Dwight Hefflebower, Art Becher, Tom Quilty, Cliff King and Bobby Unruh. But, Coach Lindley was well aware that the semi-final opponent Wyandotte at Salina would be difficult.