Kansas Prep Basketball History Part 6               Revised August 4, 2012         Kansas High School Basketball  History

 Part Six:  Kansas CLASS AA, A & B Tournaments  1941-1951              * = Overtime    ! = Forfeit     by Patrick Macfee    Revised 8-1-2012

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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                Includes sectional results

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                 Includes final two rounds of sectional

	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          Includes final two rounds of sectional

	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
Milton	Milton	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

Final Four Scores: One Hundred Years of Hoops, 2011
Topeka & Eureka Sectionals:  Topeka Daily Capital - Various
Hutchinson & Russell Sectionals: Hutchinson News Herald - Various

TOURNAMENT REVISION - War Time

    America was in the process of converting everyday life to the reality 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.

Source: Topeka Daily Capital, March 7, 2012, 11A
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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.

Source: Topeka Daily Capital, March 7, 2012, 11A
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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:  Milton, Douglass, Oxford, Conway Springs, Clearwater, Latham, Cedar Vale, Argonia.

Source: Topeka Daily Capital, March 8, 2012

Class AA Tournament

       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. 1 The scribes from the Ark Valley had ample support for the confidence they had in Newton, Winfield, Hutchinson from the Ark Valley or Salina and McPherson from the CKL as higher quality teams than those playing in the Topeka 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 at Salina, Wyandotte, would be difficult. 2

      The eastern AA sectional had one opening round game that captured the crowd's attention but ultimately disappointed the Topeka crowd. Chanute squeezed by the Trojans 39-37. KC-Ward, shut out of the sectional by the KSHSAA in favor of Topeka, publicly complained about the decision as they had a better record than Topeka and had defeated them twice in the regular season. 3 The two representatives from the Kansas City regional ended up in the finals. Shawnee Mission defeated the Wyandotte crew for the third time as both teams still moved on the the final four in Salina. 4

      Wyandotte, at Salina, jumped out to a 8-2 lead over the Railroaders in the first quarter. They kept the pressure on against the taller and highly favored Newton and were still ahead 12-8 at halftime. The Newton five were not having a good night - sloppy passing and crucial misses kept the team off balance, yet they were able to come back and briefly hold a one point lead in the 4th quarter. That is when Owen Peck hit some crucial baskets for the Bulldogs and Newton was unable to connect in the final minutes of the game. 5 The win by Shawnee Mission over Wyandotte was an anti-climax to the wartime AA tournament. Harold Reade's club made it victory number four out of five meetings with Wyandotte that season and win their first state championship.

     The story of the Wyandotte win over Newton or,  more directly, the defeat of the Ark Valley at the state tournament dominated the press coverage of the high school scene for the next few days.

      All coaches, no doubt, have opinions in regard to official calls, playing conditions, etc. on games played that they discuss privately with their friends and family. But Coach Lindley decided it was necessary to respond to some of the reports about his team's play at Salina. Excerpts from his article in the Newton Evening Kansan-Republican are included below.

 "It is a common practice to play up Newton as a 'super-machine' and then if they fall short to deride their ability. That type of publicity puts added pressure on a team already loaded to the limit by tradition of past titles."
 "Every Class AA school ... has a right to expect the opportunity to win or lose the state title under conditions as near normal as it is possible to provide. Salina doesn't have a regulation court (42' wide when it should be 50' and 78' long when it should be 84'). In addition the floor was slick, the lights dim, and the ceiling extra high. "
 " It might be said that this was as fair for one team as another, but that's not true. Carry that type of reasoning far enough and you'd end up putting two teams in a box car, turning out the lights, and call the winners State Champions. " 6

     He made several valid points, but he also challenged the wisdom of the KSHSAA policies regarding travel and implied that the motivation for these rules was one more concerned with gate receipts than wartime rationing efforts.

    Coach Lindley aimed more direct criticism at writer Stu Dunbar, his old nemesis from the Salina Journal. Dunbar printed a letter from Lindley in the April 1, 1943 edition of the Salina Journal. Some of that letter is quoted here.

    That part of your  "chaff" concerning the "superbly manned Newton and the badly undermanned Wyandotte", saddened me. Oh my heart bleeds for those poor, scrawny, little Wyandotte boys. Just think of a school with an enrollment of a mere 3,000 pitting their puny products against the mighty Railroaders who can boast of a student body of 650!
     Then you rave about the "take-no-chances, tarry-a-while, defense minded  Newton," as against the "hustle-and-try, inexperienced Wyandotte."  Where were you Friday night? Who broke for the only few times there was a fast break? Newton.  Who did the fiddling and fooling with the ball?  Wyandotte. Inexperienced ? - Newton has one regular playing from last year's team. 7

     There was more, but Coach Lindley admits his team looked terrible and made more mistakes in that one game than in a total of any six during the season. But, then he asked Dunbar to admit that the turning point point of the game was a foul call that went against Newton.

     But I'm not griping on that. I've grown used to weird decisions year after year in the State. I used to wonder a little why they were always called against us, but I've quit wondering about that now.
     We looked bad out there - well, terrible, if you insist - and we might even have been worse on a BASKETBALL court, but I contend that every AA school has a right to expect the opportunity to win or lose the state title on a regulation  court with a satisfactory playing surface and good lights. 8

     Wyandotte Coach Marion Wools replied, "When a team gets beat it doesn't necessarily mean they were off; or playing below par. I saw Newton play only two games this year, both against us, the first one at Newton which they won, the second one at Salina, which they lost." He said that they looked as good to him the second time as they did the first. He recalled that officials at Newton had flagged his boys for six personals, while the state officials had called nine on the Bulldogs. He noted that Ark Valley and Newton domination of state basketball had ended citing that since 1938 KC-Ward, KC-Wyandotte and now Shawnee Mission had all copped titles. 9

    Coach Lindley was a fierce competitor and a passionate defender of his boys and school. The press of the day were often openly partisan and there did exist some enjoyment with the state writers that Newton and other Ark Valley teams were being knocked down a peg. But there were other calmer comments from writers around the state that Coach Lindley had stepped out of bounds. Miles Pember wrote in the Parsons Sun, "The highest aim of most Kansas teams is to surpass Newton and once in a while it happens. Newton ought to take a little pride in its reputation." 10


Class A Tournament

    The Augusta Orioles accepted the favorite roll in 1943. After all, they were returning Bill Sapp, Marion Robinson and Lawrence Kennedy from a team that finished 2nd in the 1942 state tourney. Coach Dave Shirk was pleased with his team's play even when they lost to some excellent AA teams like Winfield from the Ark Valley. 11 They romped through the regional at Newton with an impressive win over Buhler where Robinson scored 21. Then they polished off Wichita Cathedral for the fifth time that season and advanced to the sectional in Eureka. 12

   Illness that slowed Sapp & Robinson as they entered the Eureka event put a scare into the Augusta followers, but the team easily made it to the finals to face the once beaten Eureka Tornadoes. 13 Opinion in the area claimed that the Eureka boys would be nearly invincible on their home court. Alan Langton did his best to back that theory - but Lawrence Kennedy could not be stopped as he scored 16 points in the decisive 37-17 victory. The margin of the Orioles win reinforced their front-runner status at the final four gathering in Salina. 14

   Salina-Sacred Heart was expected to make some noise in the Class A and make up for missing the tourney in 1942. The Catholics were a power in Class B, but they were one of the few that were moved up to Class A when re-classification took place in 1941. Their reputation was built by one of the legends of high school coaching in Kansas - Anthony Zamrzla. The Salina Journal devoted a good deal of column space about his tenure at the Salina Catholic school. Excerpts are included below.

  Zam has been responsible for plenty of changes at Sacred Heart, the first of which was to schedule the biggest schools possible. The Knights ... in Class B ... crammed schedules with games against Class A opponents.
  Very early in his coaching career Zam scrapped every vestige of set play offensive and vowed that cutting-driving-shooting were the things he wanted. In that day and age most teams were contented with 40 shots a night, but (his) teams were hurling the ball at the hoop from 75 to 140 times a night. Zam came along when most squads were playing zone defenses and a tough, rugged, unrelenting man-to-man, but in a dozen years of that type of play (he) never assigned a player to a rival. The youngsters on the floor picked out their own men, and if that didn't work, called time and reassigned. And then three years ago Zam, with the smallest team he had in years, suddenly switched to a zone defense. Now his squads play either zone or man-to-man and are permitted with no advice from the bench to switch. 15
     
    Despite the build-up, Sacred Heart was taken out by the unknown Osborne team at the Russell sectional. The two played a nip and tuck game from the outset that wasn't decided until the Osborne boys took the lead with two free throws leaving only six seconds left on the clock.  The Hays-Norton semi-final was settled in a very rare, for that era, triple overtime period. Hays sent the game into the first extra period when they declined a free throw shot and instead scored a game tying field goal with seconds left. The teams traded baskets in the first overtime and neither could score in the second overtime that was played under sudden death rules. Norton's top scorer, Gordon, finally ended the game with a field goal in the first minute of the third overtime. 16

    Anthony continued their march towards an undefeated season in the Hutchinson sectional. KC-Rosedale was the other final four qualifier when they defeated rival KC-Turner for the second time in four attempts at the Topeka sectional.

    Norton was at a size disadvantage when they faced undefeated Anthony in the opener at Salina. Bill Hixon, center, was their MVP and the other boys on the team were known for their calm, collected approach to the game. Coach Gardner's Anthony crew broke fast off a zone based defense that put great pressure on Norton's guards. The Pirates Dwight Lee led the way with 17 points. 17

    Augusta scored repeatedly on fast breaks in their win over Rosedale. The Augusta guards were so confident of their inside rebounding strength that they broke for their goal as soon as a Norton player put up a shot. They scored several easy baskets on long baseball passes from their strong front line. 18

    The final was a tightly played game between two evenly matched squads. Anthony was ahead 36-33 at the end of the third quarter. Then Augusta concentrated on distance shots to overcome the Pirates in convincing fashion. Coach Shirk could not ask for much better balance in scoring - Sapp 10, Watt 8, Kennedy 11, Ewart 9 and Robinson 10. 19

Class B Tournament

    Advancing to the sectional in Class B meant winning a Regional tournament except for two spots that had to be filled by issue of an invitation by Commissioner Thomas. As usual, there were complaints and the pick of Madison proved to be the most questionable in 1943. Halstead lost a one point decision to a strong Tampa team in the regional final at Newton. But, Thomas invited Little River and Madison who also lost close final games in their regionals. Coach Jesse Wilson of Halstead was on his way to military service, but he respectfully suggested that Commissioner Thomas misjudged his team's strength. A first string player had returned from injury and made the team much stronger late in the year. 20 Of course Tampa cruised through the Eureka sectional thumping Madison 34-19 in the semi-final. These objections would continue through the years until the time came where only winners of regionals or sectionals advanced to state.

    Little Milton of Sumner County (33 students) gave Pretty Prairie a battle for a time by using a rigid zone defense. But the Reno County boys played a tough defense as well - they only allowed two field goals while building a 11-7 halftime lead. When Milton was finally forced to switch to a man-to-man defense in the fourth quarter, Pretty Prairie ran wild and finished with a 27-19 victory. 21

    Olivet made the Salina tournament by edging Willis in the Topeka sectional. Willis found a way to put the clamps on Olivet's lanky star Harry Michaels* (6 points) but his teammates were able to provide the winning edge. Olivet played an exclusively fast break offense and averaged 50 points per game. 22 They rang up scores in the 80s on three occasions during the year. Michaels was the key to this offense and scored 42 in a regional final against Princeton. 23

* Harry Michaels was a phenom in high school but never played basketball in college. He married his wife of 61 years when he was still a senior in high school. He was a farmer in Osage and Lyon county before retirement in the early 1990s. 24 He was certainly one of the best basketball players in the state during the 1940s and scored over 700 points in his Senior season.

    Mankato was having a dream season in 1943. They had their share of close contests but their Coach Dennis McKee had drilled them to maintain composure and the boys always found a way to pull ahead in the 4th quarter. Jamestown finally ended Mankato's undefeated season in the final of the Jewell district. Luckily, runner-ups advanced to the regional and Mankato won the regional in Beloit with ease. 25

    Olivet was a fan favorite at tournament time due to the publicity surrounding the size of their school - 22 in 1943 - and their entertaining style of play. Olivet traveled the court, according to one writer, "like rumor along a party line."26 Their opponent in the final four, Tampa,  was unable to defense Harry Michaels as he scored 25 points, but the trouble for Olivet was the rest of the team only scored 14. Tampa was fully capable of pouring it on with their own version of run-shoot-run that over powered Olivet in the 4th quarter. Coach Haughn of Olivet commented after the game, "Nothing was wrong with us, except too much Tampa." 26

    Pretty Prairie and Mankato played a super cautious game in the first half, an opposite style of play that was used in the other semi-final. Mankato had the stronger defense that held the Bulldogs to only two field goals in the first half. When Fred Simmons began to find the scoring touch in the second half, the verdict was in for Pretty Prairie. They were unable to gain possession as Mankato used precise passing to run the clock down. 27

    The Jewell county team followed the basic winning formula against Tampa in the final and built a 17-10 halftime lead. But Tampa came alive in the third quarter when Lloyd Mueller hurled in four baskets in the span of three minutes. Tampa moved ahead by two as the third quarter ended. Then the Mankato boys began to use the post man Simmons to set-up the shooting of Junior Smith. Smith scored all nine of his points in the critical 4th quarter.  The defense did their part and Mankato celebrated their first and only state championship. 28

    The win gave a tremendous boost in morale to the area. The usual banquet celebrations drew participation even from rival high schools. Coach Ray Stewart from Courtland and others from around the county were guests of the Mankato officials. The impact of the win was felt by alumni spread out over the world due to the war. Don Davis wrote, "When I read the score of the final game, I let out a scream, kicked my heels in the air and danced like an Indian. The other boys in my barracks thought I had gone nuts." Lieut. F.W. "Bus" Boyd, former coach of the Cougars, wrote, "Tell the boys I am certainly proud of them and will write sometime on my trip. They may not hear soon .. but will get a letter one of these days." 29

1   Stu Dunbar, "Sport Chaff", Salina Journal, March 27, 1943
2   Salina Journal, March 22, 1943, 6
3   Kansas City Kansan, March 18, 1943, 6
4   Ibid, March 14, 1943, 1B
5   Newton Evening Kansan-Republican, March 27, 1943, 6
6   Frank Lindley, "Coach Lindley Voices Opinion", Newton Evening Kansan-Republican, March 31, 1943
7   Salina Journal, April 1, 1943, 15
8   Ibid
9   Stu Dunbar, "Sport Chaff", Salina Journal, April 8, 1943
10 Ibid, April 7, 1943
11 Augusta Daily Gazette, February 24, 1943, 3
12 Ibid, March 15, 1943, 1
13 Ibid, March 19, 1943,1
14 Ibid, March 22, 1943, 1
15 Salina Journal, March 2, 1943, 12
16 Ibid, March 20, 1943, 6
17 Ibid, March 27, 1943, 6
18 Ibid
19 Ibid, March 29, 1943, 8
20 Fred Mendell, "Sportangles", Hutchinson News-Herald, March 22, 1943
21 Hutchinson News-Herald, March 21, 1943, 12
22 Salina Journal, March 24, 1943, 10
23 Topeka Daily Capital, March 14, 1943, 6
24 Find-A-Grave Memorial (#62992759), www.findagrave.com , Harry W Michaels, Alpine Cemetary, Olivet, Ks
25 Jewell County Record, March 4, 1943, 1
26 Salina Journal, March 24, 1943, 10
27 Ibid, March 26, 1943, 6
28 Jewell County Record, April 1, 1943, 1
29 Ibid, April 8, 1943, 1

No published All-Star teams can be found but listed below are some of the outstanding players that competed in the Final Four stage of the 1943 tournaments.

Class AA:  Marvin "Bud" Shepherd, Henry Sullivan SHAWNEE MISSION Owen Peck, Bob Arnold, Norm Rothrock KC-WYANDOTTE  V. Carlson MC PHERSON  Tom Quilty, Cliff King NEWTON
Class A:    Larry Kennedy, Bill Sapp, Junior Ewart AUGUSTA Clifford Lee, Vic Elliott ANTHONY  Bill Hixon NORTON
Class B"  Fred "Zeke" Simmons, Finley "Junior" Smith  MANKATO  Wilbur Steinart, Lloyd Mueller TAMPA  Vic Jones PRETTY PRAIRIE  Harry Michaels OLIVET