A Basketball Town

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In the classic movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” Paul Newman asks several times, “Who are those guys?” That thought has come to mind occasionally ever since losing a long-forgotten basketball game — played 60 years ago — to the Hutchinson Tigers when I played for Waseca.

When life led me to Hutchinson a few months ago, I set out to discover the answer to that question.

Today, Hutchinson is a football town, having just won its seventh state championship, but in the early 1960s, it was very much a basketball town.

In 1960-61, Hutchinson and Glencoe joined the South Central Conference. The six charter members were Blue Earth, Fairmont, New Ulm, St. James, St. Peter and Waseca. Games were generally competitive, and predicting a conference champion in any sport was chancy. I played for Waseca’s varsity in 1963-64 and 1964-65.

To set the stage, in the 1962-63 basketball season, a quirk in the scheduling brought Waseca and Hutchinson, the top two teams in the conference, together for the last game before tournament play began in March. Waseca came into the game 13-3 overall, 8-1 in the conference. Hutchinson lost its opening game of the season to Granite Falls, but had not lost since, entering the final game 15-1, 9-0 in conference play.

The game was played in Waseca, and the crowd was standing room only by halftime of the B-Squad game, which Waseca won, 33-32. Anticipation was never higher for what came next, but the better team quickly asserted itself. Hutchinson blew out Waseca, 78-60, led by senior Mark Linder’s 23 points.

The Tigers moved on to District 12 play and won all three games, stretching their win streak to 19. The state had 32 districts in its one-class basketball tournament, and just winning a district was the equivalent of reaching one of today’s four state tournaments.

Hutchinson next played Marshall in a Region 3 semifinal matchup. Some old-timers remember the game as a miscarriage of justice. Marshall won 55-53. However, the officials called 19 fouls on Hutchinson and only seven on Marshall, which outscored the Tigers 20-2 from the free throw line. The loss was particularly bitter because Marshall went on to become state champion.

The following year, Waseca traveled to Hutchinson for the first conference game of the year, having replaced all five starters from the previous year. Waseca came into the game 0-2. Meanwhile, the Hutchinson team, which had several hoopsters who also played on that fall’s undefeated football team, lost only Linder and point guard Brian Ziemer. Returning starters included Carl “Skip” Moehring, Jeff Hoeft and Robb Totushek. Sixth man Ward Haugen and Neil Jensen moved up to the starting lineup.

The game was, as expected, mostly forgettable. Hutchinson routed Waseca, 77-49. Tigers Coach Art Ollrich employed an effective full-court press.

In addition, the 6-5 Moehring set a new school scoring record with 35 points, 27 of them in the second half. Jensen also set a personal best with 15 points, which was matched by Hoeft. Waseca’s starters committed 22 fouls among them because they could not keep up with the quicker Tigers.

Then a strange thing happened. Waseca began winning conference games by a few points, while the Tigers kept winning by double-digits – except when they lost. At the end of the season, Waseca and Hutchinson tied for second place in the conference with 8-2 records, behind Fairmont. Hutch had handed the Cardinals their only conference loss. Waseca would have won the conference except it blew a 14-point halftime lead to Fairmont. Meanwhile, Hutchinson lost to archrival Glencoe in overtime, and to St. James.

Next, the Tigers again cruised through District 12, and beat Springfield in the Region 3 semifinals only to face Marshall, which had four starters returning from its state championship team. It was another nail-biter. This time, Hutchinson won, 47-45, after Totushek made both ends of a 1-and-1 with 12 seconds left.

Explaining how big the Minnesota State High School basketball tournament was then is difficult. Attendance at games regularly exceeded 18,000 at Williams Arena. Thanks to team photos in metro papers and TV exposure, players gained statewide name recognition.

Hutchinson had been to state three times in the 1940s, but this was the first time in the TV era. In a game of what-might-have-beens, Hutchinson lost to the eventual champion Luverne in the opener. Three minutes in, Hoeft, the team’s second-leading scorer, tore his ACL and was lost for the remainder of the tournament. The Tigers beat Benson the next day, but lost to Bemidji in the consolation final to finish sixth.

It made no difference to Tigers fans. The team bus was met by 200 cars in Silver Lake on Sunday, escorting it into town. Moehring was named to the all-tournament squad, and the cheerleading team of Karen Alrick, Luanne Crittenden, Ellen Smith, Paulette Smutka, Joanne Sylvester and Barb Tapper was honored as the tournament’s best.

The team finished 20-6 for the season with four of those losses coming when Hoeft missed playing time because of injuries. Hoeft said the team developed mostly on their own in junior high. One outdoor basket existed in the city near the school, and they played there constantly. They maximized their talent, he said, and were helped by strong rebounding. So, who are those guys and where did life lead them after 1964?

Coach Art Ollrich left Hutchinson in 1966 to coach at Mankato State University. He died in 2007.
Moehring, the team’s leading scorer, became a physician, practicing internal medicine in Bandon, Ore. He passed away on Aug. 9.
Hoeft became a teacher and coach , first in California and Roseville, then Hutchinson, coaching various sports, including varsity basketball from 1986-90. He lives in Hutchinson.
Haugen had a long career with Carquest, spending 18 years in North Carolina before retiring in Hutchinson.
John Hitzemann, who started when Jensen did not, became a dentist in Blaine and retired to Park Rapids.
Totushek returned to his hometown after college, joining his father’s insurance agency, and still lives here.
Two players, Ron Kirchoff and Mike Hogan, became Hutchinson police officers. The greatest tragedy to befall a team member occurred in 1989 when Hogan was shot and killed while trying to arrest a shoplifter strung out on drugs.
Four team members, Jensen, Scott Newman, Ned Lee and Dick Hoel, became attorneys. Jensen and Newman came back to Hutchinson. Newman also served 15 years in the Minnesota Legislature, retiring last year. Lee practiced in Arizona. Hoel practiced in Minneapolis and Florida.
Bruce Peterson worked in construction, as an insurance adjuster, and as a courier before passing away in 2019. He served on the Hutchinson City Council from 1977 to 1981.
Other 1963-64 team members were junior reserves Duane Hagen, Lee Youmans, Doug Ziemer and Steve Schmeling.

Although they did not win a state title, with quickness in the backcourt and strong rebounding and defense up front, that Tigers team, when healthy, was as good as any in Minnesota at the time.