By MATT OTTE
Special to The Gazette
There never has been any doubt that the Central Wisconsin Grade School Basketball Tournament has been a rousing success through the years.
But it seems there was a lot of confusion in the 1940s over the origination year of this popular St. Peter Catholic Church and school-sponsored event.
The tournament was held for the 60th consecutive year, at St. Peter's school gymnasium, this past weekend.
Or is this really the 61st year? Or maybe only the 58th?
The Stevens Point Journal of March 24, 1941, announced plans for the "first annual Junior Basketball Tournament open to teams in the St. Peter's Junior League." One thing strange, however, about this tournament was that the teams weren't grade schools except for one - St. Peter's. The others had names like Eightballs, Ramblers, Bandits, Cardinals, Cubs and Bears. They may have been boys from other schools - or representing no schools at all.
Winners of that "first annual" affair were the Bears. They defeated St. Peter's, 30-28, in the title game. The Journal listed these names of both teams but not their first names (except for one): Bears - Schrake, Pleet, Sliva, Nye, W. Klinkert, Swett, Foxx, Solie and Wanserski; St. Peter's - Terry Menzel, Kardach, P. Bennett, R. Lukasavige, Glaser and J. Dineen. The Cubs beat the Bandits, 34-30, for third place. A boy by the surname of Hanna scored 22 points for the winners.
There's more confusion over the origination date in the Feb. 21, 1944, Journal which announced that the "first annual Central Wisconsin Basketball Tournament" would be held the following month. If that was correct, then this year's event would be the 58th annual. However, not too many days later, the Journal of March 13 summarized the results by stating, "St. Stephen's (winner over St. Peter's, 11-7, in the final game) also won possession for a year of a traveling trophy that has been in St. Peter's custody the past two years." That statement gives credence to 1942 being the first tournament, making the 2001 version the 60th. More support for 1942 came in the Journal announcement in February, 1950, stating the tournament that year would-be, the "9th annual." Past champions were listed, and St. Peter's was listed winner in both 1942 and 1943.
Strangely, the sport pages of the Journal make no reference to a St. Peter's tournament of any kind in either 1942 or 1943. There were a few accounts in 1942 about games played by a variety of schools (parochial and public). And there was extensive coverage given to an all-city tournament in 1943. St. Peter's won the 8th grade division of that event. St. Peter's also played in the 12th annual Green Bay diocesan tournament in 1943, taking third place in competition held in Menasha.
The Journal on Feb. 13, 1991, ran a story noting the 50th anniversary of the tournament. All past champions were listed - except for 1942 and 1943. The entries for those two years said "Unknown." That same listing included 1941, again with its champion indicated as "Unknown." The mystery of it all may never be solved.
For many years, beginning in 1951, the tournament was conducted by St. Peter's Athletic Association, which was involved in a host of athletic ventures through the years. Before 1951, the church and school ran the event. For example, publicity for 1950 stated the tournament was sponsored by St. Peter's Social Center.
Even before formation of SPAA, volunteers from St. Peter's congregation were involved. Some of those who contributed to the early success of the tournament were Leonard Glodowski, Jerry Meshak, George Johnson, Al Laszinski and Syl Kubisiak. They and others continued being active in the program under the banner of SPAA.
Glodowski, Kubisiak, Laszinski and Johnson were original members of the Athletic Association along with Alvin Miskowski, Emil Stoltz, Ben Kulick, B.J. Levandowski, August Cooper, Atz Kubisiak and Nick Stroik. Rt. Rev. Monsignor Julius Chylinski was pastor at St. Peter's at that time. Rev. Dominic Eichman and Rev. Richard Laszewski were on the staff. All three were members of SPAA.
The tournament evolved into an important activity in the area, and radio station WFHR in Wisconsin Rapids broadcast the championship game into the 1970s, with the late Stevens Point sportscaster Bob Daniels doing the play-by-play.
St. Peter's became a middle school in the late 1980s, and the Athletic Association bowed out of operations in favor of the school's athletic board beginning in 1990.