Auxvasse High School - Saber Tooth Yearbook (Auxvasse, MO)

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, - l T ann Boys' Basketball The 1955 basketball season found us with the smallest and most inexperienced team in the conference,and perhaps in the history of our school. Without a single man from the regular five of the previous year, we were faced with the task of building a team around a single letter man, our Captain, John Scholl, Others reporting for duty were: ' Clifford Fox, Bernard Gingrioh,Bobby Hunt, Elwood Craig, ' Levi Rains5Baul'Owen,Joe Scholl,Sammie Burt,Junior Plybon, and David Haden, all except the first three named playing basketball for the first time. B ' T Though numerical victory was never quite ours, with such a handicap we often felt that the moral victory was on our side. Indeed,in several nip and tuck games our opponents seemed to be merely 'saved by the bellH,the final whistle having an uncanny way of sounding just as they chanced to be in the lead. The season opened at Auxvasse with Mokane furnishing the opposition in a game which resulted in a 15-to-15 tie. The first half of this game saw our team hitting its stride, with playsnclickingu and defense practically airetightg we were out in front at'half-time,15 to 2. Then Mokane adopted a defensive position,intercepting our passes and taking a few cracks at the basket on their own account,often feeding the ball to a man who had sneaked back under our basket. Believe it or not,the scoring of the first half was exactly reversed in the second period,and both sides were willing to call it a tie after playing a scoreless extra period. The ' line-up for this most unusual game included: Scholl and Craig forwardsg.Fox,centerg Hunt and Gingrich, guards,with Joe Scholl substituting. , On our home court a week later our game with New Bloom- field was a pretty even affair in the first half,Auxvasse - trailing the strongNew Bloomfield team by only three points. Though we had many chancesto score by means of free throws, not a single charity toss was good. The final score was 10- 25. In this game Rains went in for Craig and Joe Scholl and Owen saw service at guard. The third and fourth games were lost to Herefordtin succession, the scores being 4-12 and 16-18 respectively. A tabulation of shots for these two games revealed that in thr first game the number of attempts on each side were about even, while in the latter game,in which we held the lead until within a'few minutes of the endy we had a slightly larger number of chances than did our opponents, The game at Hereford saw Owens doing a good job of holding down the center position in the absence of Foxywho was ineligible for this one game. Rains and Joe Scholl also got into the line-up. ' ' Our return games with New Bloomfield and Mokane,played on foreign courts on successive Friday evenings,went down

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S Sally could not have held the defense with out Eve- 1yn's help, We are expecting Evelyn to take Sally's place next year. Nelle Motley was our main stay to run to the line in center. Nelle was placed as running center on the second all-star team. Marian Buckner ran Nelle a close race for running center. We are ex- pecting some good playing from these two girls next year. Mary Virginia Yates must win her fame as passing center. She's only a Freshman, so we are looking for-' ward to great prospects in our passing center of 1936. Mary Ward Maupin must become a shark at long shots: If Nelle proves to be a whirlwind pivoting forward, wefll have a very nice forward end. Helen Potts sub- stituted for us this year, but we are expecting her advancement to guard position with Evelyn. The players wish to express their appreciation for the cooperation of those girls who helped in our practice and sincerely hope they will be successful. The following players received letters for the past-sason: Mabel Yates, Sally Dean Hatcher, Nelle Motley, Marian Buckner, Mary Ward Maupin, Evelyn Meyer, and Mary Virginia Yates. The team and coach hope that the girls who helped ' in practice will come out next season, and also others, because we are in need of two or three good players. Secrets What a dangerous player we must have had - the public wont understand, but we'll get their curiosity aroused. Do you players remember these points of court gossip ?i Do I look like that when I get mad? C On the Mokane court7.nNow Honey, donft get angry, fthe referee got fresh at Herefordi. Remember the faculty riot when Mokane came to bouts with us on our own court? It seemed that we had a Uwowu of a guard that had played five years or was too old, or something - anyway,she Played. Yes, and we had a little running.center that caught the ball in her mouth. Then there was a fast forward who ran so fast the referee couldnft see her feet, so he called steps to be sure.There was a forward shefll be on next year too, whose feet are too heavy, they stick'to the ground. Gur running center never says any- thing, just frowns, but when she gets tired she throws her arm out of place and rests a while - we're going to strap it down. There is another guard who is always in the right place at the right time,but the side lines are afraid her legs will break, but we're not. We know they are O.K, The readers might think we're sorta cuckoo but we have a different idea. V v .

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on the wrong side of the ledger to the tune Of'13'f0u44 and 15-to-57 respectively. In latter game Capt. Scholl was shifted to guard position at the end of the half, and there- after scoring was evenly divided, each side registering ten points. Sammie Burt,who had been persuaded a few days before to come out for-basketball, gave a good account of himself against Mokane. ' We played our most brillant game of the season against Hereford in our first game of the tournament. Off to a fly- ing start and displaying a flashing brand of basketball, we held the lead all of the way until within three minutes of the end,when one Uset-upn'and two almost impossible long shots by the enemy topped us,51 - 55. Of course we felt gg if we deserved to win,but we had played a-game of which we were proud. Not even defeat at the hands of Mokane the next morning,22 - 58 could make us forget that game. In the final game Junior Plybon was inserted into the line-up in the final quarter. A John Scholl's determined playing in the tournament won him a much deserved place on the second All-Star Team ' The scores of the season were as followss- Auxvasse 15 vs Mokane 153 Auxvasse 10 vs New Bloomfield 255 Auxvasse 4 vs Hereford 123 Auxvasse 16 vs Hereford 183 Auxvasse 15 vs New Bloomfield 44j'AHXVQSS6 15 vs Mokane 575 The total points scored by Auxvasse 71 while the opponents piled up a score of 151 points. The two games played in the tournament were as follows: Auxvasse 51 vs Hereford 55g Anxvasse 22 vs Mokane 58. Soon after the tournament the players were called into the auditorium and the following boys received letters having played in twelve quarters'or more during the season: ' John Scholl, Elwood Craig,Clifford fox, Bernard Gingrich, Bobby Hunt, Paul Owen, Levi Rains, and Joe Scholl. The players who are entitled to letters always look forward to the time when they receive their letters and yet there is a feeling of sadness as it means that there are nearly always a few who will not get to represent our school again in basketball and also it marks the close of the season for that paticular year. We are living in hopes that some day, the community will see fit to build a gymnasium f0I' Olll' bays and girls so that we may continue to Play b+1Sk6 0'0-911 during the long winter months when there seems to be so , little to do.