La Farge High School - Memories Yearbook (La Farge, WI)

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2222222 1956 Memories l arge's impressive record in giving the Cats El Will tussle from start to finish. lla Farge had a 19-13 lead at the end of the first period, but the Grovers narrowed it to three at the hall' Il-1-31. The tempo picked up considerably in the third stanza as the Wildcats ont-clawed the Cardinals 22- 20 and took a 56-51 lead into the final frame. The Grovers took a 62-58 lead with 2 minutes remaining. As the Cards added another basket and lla l-'urge scnrried for six markers time ran out and left the died in the wool fans a real barn- burner, This all set the stage for the hectic over- time period and gave La Farge the opportunity to show the stuff which made it a championship' team during the regular season. llig .liln Harris lopped the l.a Farge scoring attack with 21 and Bob Kennedy added 20, Bo., A1t'Natt tallied another 12 La Farge points and Roi Kennedy had 10. John Popenfus, coach, holding traveling league trophy Bill Hoffland, the slick Cardinal cager pivot man, meshed 28 points on 13 baskets and a pair of free throws. lla Fan-ge Posts District YVin ln Thumping Blue River February 25, 1956, at De Soto Mighty La Farge, the No. 1 team of the Kick- apoo Valley Conference this season, would not be stopped as Coach Popenfus' Wildcats rolled to a 91-72 triumph over Blue River in the finals of tthe WIAA District Tournament. Striking for 22 points in the first period and 23 in tfhe second, tlhe Wildcats completely domina- ted play in the contest against the XVisconsin River League contender. La Farge now has a record of 22-1 for the season, yet not good enough for rating in the WIAA's Little Sixteen. .lim Harris and Bob McNatt, La Farge's stars all season, were tlhe shining lights for the Wildcats again. Harris racked up 31 points in hitting 10 field goals and 11 free throws from his center posi- tion. McNatt,, a slick ball-handling guard, 'was not tar behind. He matched Harris in tield goals with 10, and 'had tive free t-hrows for 25 markers, Bob Kennedy came third in the La Farge scoring with 14 tallies. Top scorer of the contest. however, was Bob Bartels, Blue River forward who tossed 35 tallies. Mike Adams chalked up 17 more. La Fartge held a 22-16 lead :after one period and paced the Eagles 45-36 at the half. The Wild- cats struck for 27 points in the third quarter and pulled away from Blue River for good after that, Starting the fourth stanza ha Farge enjoyed a Z4-51 advantage. Cuba City Upsets lla l m'ge, Cats Bow Out Of Tourney Play VVith Fine 22.-2 Season Record Marclh 2, 1956, at Fennimore lla Farge tangled with Cuba City in the spac- ious Fennimore gym only to lose their second con- test of the year, The Cubans jumped to a 16-9 first quarter lead. The second period remained even as Cuba City protected its lead and led 27-20 at the intermission. The third stanza the Cats played the kind of ball they were capable of and outscored the Cubans 20-12 and took a 40-39 lead into the fourth frame. lt was here the Cubans chose to drive 'home 18 points to the Wildcats' 12 and chalk up a 57-52 victory. Bob McNatt, one of six Seniors playing their last game, scored 17 points for La Farge. Jim Harris, Senior pivot man, tallied 11 and Bob Ken- nedy, also a Senior, hlt for 10. The other three graduating members are Dick Steinmetz, Lanny Smith and Don Burnard. Dave Dall, Cuba City forward, and Jerry 0'Brien, 6 ft 3 in. guard, tallied 22 and 16 re- spectively,

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-33333333 1956 Memories The second half the Wildcats poured it on as they racked up 26-15 and 29-16 third and fourth stanza scores. The final score was 86-41. Jim Harris pump'ed 9 field goals and six gift tosses for 24 points. Rod Kennedly tossed 19 mark- ers. Bob McNatt, Bob Kennedy and Jim Thompson rounded out the scoring with 14, 12 and 10 points respectively. Harold Brackway tallied 12 for Seneca. La Fargie Wallops Viola 84-53 There February 7, 1956, Viola There The Wildcats hit tlhe road for one of four remaining games to be played on the road. They tangled 'with the high-flying Viola Blue Jackets, who had won seven straight and had not lost since playing the Cats in La Farge on the 6th of January. -Coach John Popenfus' boys took no time in pointing out a 17-14 first quarter lead. Then witlh Rod Kennedy, Jim Harris and B-ob McNatt spear- heading Une attack the Cats ran to a 37-18 inter- mission advantage, The third period was nip and tuck with Lea Farge holding a slight 23-22 lead in points but led in the game 60-40. The last stanza La Farge out- scored Viola 24-13 and won going away 84-53. Dean Kennedy potted 25 points to lead the assault followed by Big Jim Harris with 20 and Bob McNatt with 18 markers. Bob Kennedy tossed in 14. Dewey Huston racked up 17 and Jim Matthes tallied 16. Jim Endicott tossed in 13 in a losing cause. With this win the Wildcats clinch no worse than a tie for the conference clhampionship. Just one more win will 'give them the crown, XVilldc.ats Capture Kickapoo Valley Crown February 10, 1956, Grays Mills There La Farge clinclhed the Valley championship by posting a 62-61 win over a never-say-die Gays Mills team. The Cats led by Big Jim Harris all the way, jumped to an 18-15 first quarter lead. Both squads posted a 16 point second stanza and La Farge main- tained its slim three point lead at ihalftime. The third period saw La Farge just one step closer to that coveted crown by outscoring the Ti- gers 13-11 and controlling a 47-42 lead. The final period almost saw the Cats throw it out the window. At one time they held a nine point lead but saw it dwindle down to one point as the horn sounded. Harris pumped 11 field goals and 9 out of 12 -gift tosses for 31 points. Bob McNatt tossed 12 and Rod Kennedy had 10. Jack Lucey potted 26 points and Doug Petit 18 for Gays Mills. Cletus Fleming tallied 10. Cats Trim Hillsboro 74-66 February 14, 1956, Hillsboro 'There La Farge traveled to Hillsboro and found themselves on the short end of a 18-15 first quarter score. By -half time the Wildcats were back- in con- trol and held a 34-28 lead. The third period the Wildcats rang up 22 points to the Oriole's 12. At one time in the last quarter t'he Cats led 'by 25 points. Hillsboro started to roll and wvhittled the lead to 8 points as the game ended. Jim Harris tossed in 11 field goals and 6 free throws for 28 markers. Bob McNatt hit 6 field goals all in the first half and 10 out of 10 gift tosses all in the second half for 22 points. Jim Tho-mpson added 10 points. Don Hora tallied, 14 field goals and one free throw for a losing cause, 29 points. Dave Hammer ohalked up 14. La Farge Posts 19th Win of Regular Season February 17, 1956, Readstown There With the conference crown under their belt and 18 wins out of '19 games in the bag t'he Wild- cats journeyed to Readstown for the last encounter of the regular season. The Cats toyed with the Eagles all night long in using this as a tune up contest for the coming De Soto District Tournament. La Farge held a 10 point 39-29 half time advantage and plrayed good steady basketball the rest of t-he way for a 74-62 win. This win notched the Cats their 15th in 16 league games and their 19th over all. The Cats came up with good even scoring with guards leading the way. Bob Kennedy and Bob McNatt continued to combine talents and baskets by chalking up 39 markers between them. Kennedy tossed in 10 field goals for 20 points and McNatt 19 tallies. Jim Harris flipped in 17 points from his pivot position. Jim Thompson ad-ded 8, Rod Ken- nedy 6 and Dick Steinmetz 4. McManamy led the Readstown scoring with 18 points followed by Burdell Smith with 16. Sklklklklklli Cats XYin First Tourney Game February 23, 1956, DeSoto There La Farge, after drawing a first round bye, drew DeSoto to open tlhe second evening festivities. The Cats dlrew first blood in rolling to an 18-14 first stanza lead. The second quarter saw La Farge add 18 more to their cause and held a 36-27 intermission lead. The second half led by their pair of hot-shoot- ing guards, La Farge increased their lead to 61-44. The fourth quarter with numerous records being broken, both team and individual, the game became a wide open affair. Tlhe final score after t'he last 8 minutes of run and shoot, was La Farge 85 and DeSoto 68. ba Farge's scoring twins, B-ob McNatt and Bolb Kennedy, accounted for 52 points between them. McNatt tossed in a record breaking 12 field goals, 6 free throws for 30 points. His running mate in the back court, Killer Kennedy, sacked the nets for 7 field goals and 8 out of 9 lgift tosses. Big Jim Harris racked up 20 markers from his center spot. Legs Lerum and Raymond Vangan had 18 and 16 respectively. La Farge Scores Over-Tilne Victory Over Soldiers Grove Cardinals February 24, 1956, at De Sto Favored La Farge walked off with the Cham- pionship of the WIAA sub-district tournament by clipping a. fighting Soldiers Grove quintet 70-68 in a torrid overtime battle. Coach John Popenfus' Wil-dlcats clawed their way into the overtime by tieing, tlhe score 64-64 in the regulation contest after Soldiers Grove had taken a four point lead in the final two minutes. The losing Cardinals paid no heed to La

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1956 Memories 555555 FINAL KICKAP00 VALLEY STANDINGS TEAM WINS LOSSES La Farge 15 1 Wauzeka 13 3 Viola 10 6 Soldiers 'Grove 10 6 Gays Mills 10 6 Readstown 7 9 De Soto 4 12 West Lima 3 13 Seneca 0 16 Final Kickapoo Valley High School League basketball statistics show why La Farge walked off with Championship fhon-ors witlh 15 wins and one loss and posted a 22-2 overall season record. Coach John Popenfus' Wildcats led the league on both offense and defense, scoring 1,238 ta new recordl while holdling the opposition to 890. Per- centage-wise the Wildcats scored at a 77.4 clip and posted a defensive mark of 55.6. INDIVIDUAL SCORING Individual Team fg ft tp tp tLeagueJ Season T. Olson West Lima 144 378 484 B. Hoffland Soldiers Grove 138 356 472 J, Lucey G-ays Mills 131 346 432 B. Trehey Wauzekia 141 342 424 J. Harris La Farge 143 337 510 R. Vangan De Soto 142 323 422 R. McNatt La Farge 115 309 472 I. Anderson Readstown 105 309 469 J. Dull Soldiers Grove 92 249 309 C. Lerum De Soto 101 246 309 D. Huston Viola 97 240 306 R. Kennedy La Farge 87 229 298 B. Kennedy 79 173 270 D. Steinmetz 27 86 157 J. Thompson 21 61 90 G. Hodge 8 20 23 L. Parr 5 12 16 J. Dempsey 2 7 7 L. Smith 1 2 2 All Star Game - North 77, South 70 March 3, 1956, at La Farge The seventh annual Kickapoo Valley Senior All-Star game was held at La Barge on March 3. This game is made up of ten seniors from the North and ten from the South to be divided among the nine member conference schools. The delegates from the winninlg North squad includedl: Bud Williams and the Leagues leading scorer, Ted Olson, from West Lima, B-urdell Smith, Dean Jacobson and Ivan Anderson of Readstowng Dale Hamilton and Bruce Hill of the Viola squad, and Bob Kennedy, Robert McNatt and Jim Harris of the Conference Champion, District Cfhampion La Farge Wildcats. Tthe 'South brought to town its fine array of Seniors in the persons of: Bob Helgerson and Larry Honzel from 'Senecag Big Harlan Lerum and just as big Raymond Vangan from De Soto: also Doug Petit and Jack Lucey, Gays Millsg Soldiers Grove sent Jerry Dull and high scorer Bill Hoffland: Gordon McCullick and Bill Trehey come from the second place Wauzeka Hornets. The North jumped to a commanding 39-25 first half lead but saw it dwindle away to a 67-67 tie midw-ay in the fourth stanza. It was here Bruce Hill and Jim Harris, who completed a beautiful night's work, wrapped up a 77-70 victory for t'he North squad. Harris led the pack as ,he tossed in 13 field goals and 4 free throws for 30 points. Ted Olson dumped in 16 markers and Bob Kennedy' tossed in 14 for tthe North. Jack Lucey led the South 'with 23 points andl Bill Trehey tired in 11. Between halves Mr. A. E. Oaklief, secretary of the Conference, made the presentations to the All-.Conference Ucoaches' dream team , which in- eluded: Bill Trehey, Wauzeka-most valuable player Bill Hoiiland, Soldiers Grove Jack Lucey, Gays Mills Ray Vangan, De Soto Ted Olson, West Lima Jim Harris, La Farge. Honorable mention went to Robert MoNatt, La Farge, and Ivan Anderson, Readstown. It is here that the .members of the team, coaching staff and all personnel concerned wislh to to thank' the community anidl student body for its fine support given us during the past season.