By MATT OTTE
Special to The Gazette
There probably is only one school in the entire country that adorns a state championship game basketball trophy with a pair of boxing gloves.
That school, as Stevens Point loyalists all know, is Stevens Point Area Senior High School (SPASH).
Fifty years ago this season in 1952 the local high school basketeers, then known as P.J. Jacobs, earned the title of "fightingest team in the state." And the community responded by entwining the Panthers' state runner-up trophy with boxing gloves.
The trophy and boxing gloves can still be seen a half-century later in the well-stocked trophy case alongside the hallway leading to the SPASH fieldhouse.
Point won the hearts of high school basketball fans all over the state that year. That's because of two almost incredible, come-from-behind victories in the quarterfinals and semifinals of the State Tournament in front of 14,000 people at the University of Wisconsin fieldhouse in Madison.
The coach of Stevens Point that year was young Johnny Erickson who was in his second and last season in that position for the Panthers. Not too many years later the Beloit College star would be coaching the Wisconsin Badgers.
Eventually, he would spend much of his adult life as the executive head (working out of Kansas City) of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Erickson's assist-ants were Duane Donovan (later a head P.J. Jacobs coach) and Merlin Nader.
The Panthers were just another team at State in 1952. They owned a gaudy 20-3 record, good for No. 5 in the final "Big 16" (large schools) ratings that 1951-52 season. But most of the victories came in the Wisconsin Valley Conference, which, outside of arch rival and defending state champion Wisconsin Rapids, didn't always offer the toughest resistance in those years.
Besides, there was No.1 rated South Milwaukee wearing the fav-orite's tag in the field along with Madison East's rangy quintet, perennially- tough Wauwatosa and oft-time State Tournament participant Neenah. The Panthers were good, the experts thought, but not good enough.
And the experts felt pretty good as Stevens Point opened its bid for recognition against Madison's entry. Led by 6-6 Charles Brendler who shattered all his conference's scoring records during the year, East got out of the gate with a 21-9 lead in the first quarter.
Then the Panthers went to work, pecking away at the big deficit. They still trailed, 55-49, with 5:06 to play but took the lead, 56-55, with less than two minutes left. Bob Litzow took a pass from Jack Sether for the go-ahead goal, and Litzow scored again a little later on a feed from George Roman to seal the outcome.
Litzow with 16 points and Sether with 10 led Point scoring. Brendler got 21 but only five field goals.
Just a fluke, said the experts on semifinal night. One comeback win, maybe, but don't think it will happen again. But it did.
Tomah, paced by talented Vic Burnstad, led most of the way and by an unbelievable 46-33 after three-quarters. The Panthers were tired but not finished. They roared down the stretch, outscoring Tomah, 21-8, in the final 6:19 of regulation. Litzow's basket tied it for the last time at 54-all with under a minute to play, and Tomah missed a shot in the waning seconds. With Joe Sanks scoring twice, Point never trailed in overtime.
Litzow had 10 field goals for the Panthers who also were sparked in the fourth-quarter comeback by Roman. He made all four of his shots from the field. Burnstad's 17 paced Tomah.
There would not be a third comeback victory in the championship game. The thought was always there and the "spirit" was willing but the "flesh" was weak on this Saturday night.
There was no denying a gifted South Milwaukee team led by smooth Jay Schauer. The Rockets won although only by 61-54. The Panthers were competitive but never closer than six points, 58-52, with 1:47 to go.
Schauer had only 15 points but cleared 26 rebounds (still a State record a half-century later). Rollie Blanchett scored 21 for the winners. Point, which as a team had only 21 rebounds, had balanced scoring - Don Woelffer 11, Jim Witkowski and Litzow 10 each and Sanks 8.
Eight inches of snow blew across the state between Stevens Point and Madison that Saturday. Some Panther fans couldn't make it to the fieldhouse. But they had no trouble at all making it to Plainfield to greet their heroes on Sunday afternoon.
Hundreds of cars were waiting as the Panther delegation reached the Portage County line. With a police escort, they accom-panied the team to P.J. Jacobs gymnasium (the last couple of miles with fire truck escort, too) where eventually 2,000 people gathered and loudly applauded master of ceremonies Roy Menzel in labeling the Panthers the "fightingest team in the state."
The 1951-52 season was not expected, except maybe by the players themselves, to have a State Tournament dimension. After all, the incomparable Dick Cable and high-scoring Johnny Kardach had graduated. Their junior and senior season teams had been two of the greatest, if not the greatest, in Point history even though they didn't get to Madison.
In fact, it had been five years (1946-47) since the Panthers went to State and that year, as No. 1 in Wisconsin, they narrowly edged Neenah in the first round and were rudely dumped by little Hurley the second night.
The 51-52 Panthers began the season 9-1 (losing a ragged 33-30 contest to Madison West two games into the season). One of the wins was an impressive 70-64 triumph at Eau Claire. Then the Panthers stumbled at Wisconsin Rapids, losing 59-45 to the defending State champions in front of 4,000 screaming fans. The season's low point was a 47-45 home loss to Nekoosa, a 50-50 team that year. But one night later the Panthers blitzed perhaps Waupaca's best team ever, 59-45, with a 17-2 final quarter.
That set the stage for a return game two weeks later against Rapids. This time the Panthers beat their once-defeated arch-rivals, 50-44, as Woelffer scored 19 points. A week later Point defeated Rhinelander to finish the regular season tied with Rapids for the Valley championship.
With another Rapids battle looming in the regionals (at P.J. Jacobs), the Panthers were only so-so in opening that tournament by defeating Wausau, 61-53, that same night. Waupaca ended No. 2-ranked Wisconsin Rapids' season in a 59-58 heart-stopper. That meant another game with Waupaca instead.
The Panthers won, 56-49, although outscored, 14-6, in the last three-and-one-half minutes.
In the regional finals, Marshfield held the ball on Point (the Panthers led 16-13 at halftime) but the locals raced to a 58-35 decision after the intermission.
Sectional play at Rapids started with a 67-47 win over Wittenberg-Birnamwood (although Point led only 32-25 at the half) and ended with a 48-31 state-qualifying victory over one of Amherst's best teams ever.
Amherst made only six field goals in the ragged game (Point had 28 fouls) but trailed only 28-23 in the third quarter.
Point's balanced team in 1951-52 had four 200-plus scorers for the season of 22 wins and four losses. Litzow (a sophomore) led with 255, Sanks (senior) had 252, Woelffer (senior) 242 and Witkowski (junior) 225. The balanced attack also was evident in the fact that only six times did a Panther reach at least 20 points in a game.
Witkowski had 22 at Wausau, Sanks 21 at Eau Claire, Erv Redding (senior) 20 in the first Waupaca game, Sanks 20 against Rhinelander, Litzow 20 against Tomah and Witkowski 20 in the Rapids' loss.
Erickson's tournament team consisted of all the above players plus Sether (senior), Roman (senior) Dick Tuszka (junior), Roy Hall (senior) and Jerry Quandt (junior).
Redding was honorary captain for the season and acting captain for the entire tournament series. During the regular season, Neil McCarthy and LeRoy Sroda were on the roster. Sroda's back problems limited his play. Both were seniors.
Sanks and Witkowski were first-team all-Valley that season while Redding, Woelffer and Tuszka were honorable mention. Litzow and Witkowski received unofficial second- team recognition from sports writers at the State Tournament.