By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com
Once upon a time, in a community of less than 1,400 residents, a boys’ basketball team won every game it played one season and captured a state championship.
It didn’t happen in the mind of an over-exuberant dreamer.
It happened in Mahomet, Ill., nearly 60 years ago.
The special season occurred over the winter months that were part of the 1958-59 season.
The players were members of the eighth-grade team, competing in what was then called the heavyweight division.
A 22-0 record was capped off by a 13-point state semifinal win (54-41) over Chillicothe, which eventually placed third, and a 43-31 title-game win over an undefeated (22-0) Newman team.
“It was a big thing in our lives,” point guard Danny McClughen said as he reflected on the historic season. “The school was tiny and the idea we could do it gave you the feeling you could be successful in other parts of your life.
“You felt you might be somebody, when you knew you really weren’t.”
Mahomet’s weekly newspaper, The Sucker State, chronicled details of the community’s reception and reaction on the night of the championship game, Wednesday, March 18, 1959.
“The village police car and the fire truck were waiting at the south edge of town until the bus carrying the team arrived. Then the parade of nearly 100 cars with sirens screaming and horns blowing went through town to the grade school gym (at what is now the Sangamon School). Here about 400 people crowded in to welcome the team.”
McClughen said practices were held at the grade school gym, which also served as the cafeteria.
“We played our games at the old high school (the now-demolished building at the intersection of Main and Divisions streets) and I remember how big the court looked compared to our crackerbox.
“Wind sprints were short.”
The Sucker State also detailed a donation made by an area business.
“Most residents found a quart of milk on their doorstep Thursday morning. Country Charm Dairy (from Monticello) had prepared special printed cartons greeting the state champions, filled them with milk and delivered one free to each house here the next morning.”
At the time, the grade school consisted only of Mahomet students. The consolidation with Seymour was not yet in effect.
The nickname for the grade school’s athletic teams was the Bears.
“We were the Bears,” said McClughen, a lifelong Mahomet resident, “but we wanted to be the Bulldogs.”
The cardboard message attached to each milk jug said:
“Bob Miller and Country Charm Dairy extend its hearty congratulations to a fine Mahomet team. We have never seen a finer champ! We in Monticello swell with pride to be your neighbor. We at Country Charm are proud to be your dairy. Congratulations to Mr. Inman and Mr. (Don) Stillwell and to your mighty fine players — Dan McClughen, Jim Rusk, Monty Pierce, Fred Daniels, Rickey Goode, John Ponder, Phil Knell, Lynn Webb, Tom Parkhill and David Lewis.”
Knell (19.3 season scoring average) and Ponder (13.7 season scoring average) were the Bears’ top scorers.
Other who joined them and McClughen in the starting lineup were Goode and Webb.
“We knew our roles,” McClughen said. “The idea was to get the ball to Phil or John.
“We ran a 1-3-1 offense with Phil or John running the baseline. The idea was to use the screens.”
Stillwell, who was also the principal, served as the head coach.
“In junior high and high school, a coach who has the capabilities of teaching fundamentals is the key,” Knell said. “He stressed teamwork, and academics. He was a strong leader.”
McClughen said the coach seldom varied his lineup.
“Don didn’t use much bench,” McClughen said. “I appreciated him. He was so encouraging.
“He told me if I’d shoot more, I’d score more.”
The primary substitutes who played at state were Parkhill and Pierce.
The postseason path started with a sectional tournament at Melvin-Sibley.
Knell had 33 points and Webb scored six in a 46-33 first-round win over Fairbury.
In the sectional semifinals, Ponder scored 17, Knell 11 and Goode eight as the Bears handled Rantoul, 39-34.
In the sectional finals, Mahomet defeated the host Melvin-Sibley school 37-32. Knell and Ponder each hit 15 points.
The state tournament games were played at Monticello.
Mahomet started with a 37-30 win over St. David. Knell had 15 points, Ponder had 11 and McClughen five.
In the quarterfinals, Knell scored 25 points and Ponder added 14 in Mahomet’s 41-39 win over Bushnell.
In the semifinals, Knell totaled 26 points, Ponder had 15 and Goode added seven in a 54-41 triumph over Chillicothe.
In the title game, Knell had a game-high 21 points and Ponder hit 19 as Newman suffered its first loss, 43-31.
“That was a formation to my athletic career,” Knell said. “I looked forward to high school to continuing the success.”
Four years later, Knell and cohorts — which included several contributors from Seymour — set the school standard for the most varsity basketball wins in any four-year period (87), a total which was matched for the first time this year by the Class of 2018.
“I enjoyed the competition and the other players,” Knell said. “It was fun.”
Even 59 years ago, not everyone was on board with the team and the commitment to the program.
A letter to the editor was published in the April 9, 1959 Mahomet Sucker State.
It was signed only as “A Basketball Parent.”
The letter, in its entirety:
“Our grade school basketball team has had a wonderful season and we are very proud to have Mahomet hailed as the home of the state champs. Mr. Stillwell is due a vote of gratitude for the way he led and trained the boys.
“On the other hand, I’m wondering if we are justified in putting so much time and expense into the training and equipment of a grade school basketball team. Last year the school board voted against supporting our children’s participation in the state music contests; then why do they continue to support the basketball team’s entrance in state competition? Are we going to make our grade school basketball the adult spectator sport that high school and college basketball have become? And we are encouraging such an outlay in order to bolster our own egos?
“Last summer the planning group for our community recreation program were wise in not sponsoring inter-community baseball. Would it be better to support a really good physical education program in our grade school with intramural contests aimed at developing all the boys in the community rather than the few who are able to participate in inter-scholastic basketball?
“Besides, think of the pressure that has been on these boys, cheerleaders, and the whole school since our basketball season opened with St. Joe around the middle of November. For four months they’ve eaten and lived basketball. No wonder Mr. Stillwell had to sweep out the tears as he boarded the bus on the victory evening. Such a sustained and increasing amount of tension had to be released in some way. I, too, shed some tears — tears for our opponents who played their hearts out and still lost; tears of relief that it was all over and once again our household could settle back to a somewhat normal routine. I think you will find that the colleges which have had the most unsavory basketball scandals are in states where too much emphasis is placed on basketball during the early school years.
“I would like to see the school board reconsider their position on inter-scholastic sport participation at least on the grade school level, and encourage a program to develop and train all our boys. I hope there are other parents who feel as I do and will raise their voices in protest, too.”
There’s one mystery surrounding the unbeaten 1959 state championship team as well as Mahomet’s 1932 grade school state championship basketball team, coached by H. R. Sparks: What became of the championship trophies?
“We do have some past trophies in storage, but we have not seen anything from that time period,” M-S junior high principal Heather Landrus said.
There is also not an area in the school where the accomplishments of the only two championship basketball teams are highlighted.
“We do not have a display for these teams,” Landrus said. “I am unsure if the current teams and coaches are aware of the state champion status from this time period.”
