By MATT OTTE
Special to The Gazette
Stevens Point's initial encounter with basketball came three-quarters of a century ago this month.
But it turned out to be a bittersweet experience.
A 7-year-old boy was killed as the community welcomed back its state prep champions into town.
On Saturday night, March 27, in Madison, the prep cagers defeated River Falls, 9-7, in the WIAA's all-time lowest scoring state title contest.
Not 24 hours later on Sunday afternoon, John Kropidlowski, son of Mr. and Mrs. Felix Kropidlowski, 1205 S. Church St., and a student at St. Stanislaus School, lost his life.
The youngster died, as stated in the Stevens Point Journal on March 29, as a result of the "premature explosion of a shell case for a French 75 millimeter gun at the Soo Line station." The explosion also injured four Wisconsin National Guardsmen "as salutes were being fired in honor of the team."
An estimated 2,000 people were at the station for the welcoming occasion that resulted in the tragedy. The basketball team had left Madison "on a specially chartered bus" for Fond du Lac earlier in the day. There the players got on "Soo train No. 5"" for Stevens Point. Many people were unaware of the explosion that killed the Kropidlowski boy as they formed a parade through town to the post office. The next day an assembly at the high school honored the team. Two days later the young victim was buried.
Wisconsin's basketball tournament series was only a decade old in 1926. It had started in 1916, and Stevens Point had reached the state level twice, 1920 and 1923, each time losing its first game.
There was no overwhelming reason 75 years ago to think 1926 would be any different. Coach Walter Hunting's basketeers had settled for third place in the Wisconsin Valley Conference with a 7-2 record behind champion Shawano and runner-up Wisconsin Rapids. Point's only tough games were two with Rapids (a win and a loss, each by a point) and a 16-12 setback at Shawano. The team won its other six games by an average score of about 31-8.
Before Madison became one of 16 district meets producing one of the state tournament participants, Stevens Point was host for its district. Iola was the first victim, 30-6, of the team that had not yet been labeled "Panthers." Nekoosa was next to fall, 18-8. That set the stage for the finals and a third match with Wisconsin Rapids.
It was another typical Point-Rapids affair. The home team usually won. It did again this time. The score was 11-9. Gordon Copps scored the winning basket with 10 seconds left to play.
People around the state who thought they knew something about basketball said Stevens Point was not one of the best teams at Madison. One of the pre-meet favorites was La Crosse, defending champion and Point's first-round opponent playing in its seventh straight state tournament. Down 9-4 at the half, Point outscored La Crosse 9-1 in the third period on the way to a 17-15 upset win.
Superior Central was next. Point never trailed, taking a 7-3 lead at intermission. But star guard Kenneth Fishleigh crashed into the bleachers in the third quarter, injuring his back. With their captain out, Point's cagers saw Superior cut a 13-5 deficit to 13-10. Fishleigh returned and helped preserve a 17-12 win. Then he spent the night in Wisconsin General hospital.
The semifinals was another close game, 12-9, over Appleton. But the score should have been 30-9, said the Journal account on March 27, adding: "Unaccountable times the ball was sent soaring at the iron ring and unaccountable times did the ball bounce perversely around the steel circle only to bounce outside." Fishleigh got out of his hospital bed, his back heavily taped, to help his team gain a berth in the finals against heavily favored River Falls, which had defeated Manitowoc, 21-7, in its semi contest.
Two baskets in the first 90 seconds put River Falls in early control of the championship game. But River Falls could not double its output in the last 30 minutes-plus of this hard-found battle. Point battled back to 4-3 at the quarter and 5-4 at the half. It was 5-all after three periods. It was tied again at 7 late in the final period as Fishleigh scored a basket.
After River Falls missed two free throws with just under a minute to play, Albert "Ollie" Neuberger got the ball deep in the backcourt. He proceeded to dribble down the side of the court into the corner. Then he dribbled some more from the corner to "near the rim, reached up and arched the leather clearly through," said the March 29 Journal. There were only 12 seconds left after that basket, not enough time for River Falls to stop Stevens Point's first state championship.
Besides Fishleigh, Neuberger and Copps, other starters on the team coached by Hunting who was assisted by Harry Ringdahl, were Forrest "Scotty" MacDonald and Glen White. Neuberger had two baskets, Copps two free throws and Fishleigh one of each in the title game that was dominated by strong defense on the part of both teams. Reserves on Point's eight-man team at Madison were Paul Mancheski, Joe Siebert and "Dutch" Razner. Two others who played during the regular season were Maurice Chesebro and George Anderson.
After 1926, there would trips to the state tournament in 1928, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1947 and 1952, followed by another championship in 1954. Then, after more trips in 1965, 1982, 1988 and 1993, it would be 40 years before the third state title for Stevens Point in 1994.