Wayland Academy - Pillars Yearbook (Beaver Dam, WI)

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AYLAND'S basketball squad, which reported to its new Coach James Bennett immediately after football season, was an unknown quantity due to the lack of ex- perienced men from last year's varsity. Using holdovers Bill Nolan, Bob Griffin and Bill Weiner as a nucleus, Coach Bennett was forced to start from the ground up. The result was a team which started slowly, won and lost its share of games and is ending the season with a creditable record to date of seven wins and nine losses. With two exceptions, our boys were right in every ame up to the final whistle. Many of the games lost could Tiave been won with only a few of the breaks, for this year's team was a hard luck team. Although miraculously free from in'uries, many of the boys were beset with illnesses during tfne campaign. After two bouts with pneumonia, Griffin was forced to leave the team early in February and newcomer Chuck Johnson left shortly after for the armed forces. Nevertheless, only in the two games with Country Day was the Red and White outdistanced. Nickle, Pontius, Rauschert, Jim Herrick and Johnson be- side Nolan, Griffin and Weiner saw most of the action. After two weeks of hard drills we ventured north to Fond du Lac to take on Winnebago Lutheran in our open- ing game. Although our boys appeared to be markedly superior, we just couldn't seem to get gxoing. Poor ball handlin and erratic shooting kept us on t e spot through- out ands Winnebago eked out a 26-25 win and pointed out the need for further hard work. Nolan started out the season by scoring twelve points to lead Wayland in this disappointing game. ln our next game, however, we really got rolling and buried Hustisford High, 62-29. In this game we began to show some promise as Nolan and Rauschert shared scoring honors with 17 points each. Johnson, firing from a guard position, contributed twelve points to the total. Three days later we absorbed one of the only two bad defeats which we were to suffer during the season. All- conquering Country Day, superior to our boys in height and manpower and led by the sensational Fritz Schneider, overwhelmed the boys in Red and White, 51-20. Way- land, under the pressure, had a bad day and was never in the ball game. Next, in a return game with Hustisford High, our boys again returned to form and won under wraps, 50-30. Nolan and Rauschert with 22 and 19 points, respectively, led the scoring. When Milwaukee Lutheran invaded Beaver Dam follow- ing the Christmas holidays, it ran up against a stubborn Wayland team which fou ht its heart out only to lose, 29 to 36. Although Waylandq led at the half, 17-15, the boys seemed to show the results of the long lay-off and tired in the late stages. Against Northwestern Preps down at Watertown three days later our boys battled on even terms through most of the game and even led at halftime, 16-14. ln the latter stages of the game, however, the Preps gradually drew away to win, 43-35. Wayland bounded right back in the next game on the schedule against Elgin at Elgin. After a hard-fought first half, at the end of which Elgin led 20-18, Wa land came to life in the third quarter, pouring 12 points through the hoop while holding Elgin to four. Although Elgin made a fight of it for the rest of the game, we stayed right with them, winning out, 44-36. Winnebago Lutheran, which had sprung a surprise de- feat on our boys to open the season, now traveled to Beaver Dam in an attempt to make it two straight over the Red and White. This time, however, we were not to be denied. Seizing an early first quarter lead we were never headed and won going away, 38-27. Nolan with 18 points and Griffin with 12, led the scoring. Following the Winneba o Lutheran game, Elgin brought its team to Beaver Dam stisfl smarting under the defeat we had handed them on their home floor. This time they caught our boys way off form and managed to eke out a 29-28 victory. One week later, against Northwestern Military and Naval Academy at Lake Geneva, we ran our winning streak to three straight by trimming the Cadets, 37-35. In a hair- raising battle, Wayland just plain outfought the Lake Geneva quintet all the way through. Trailing by one point as the last quarter began, Wayland kept at it to outscore the opposition, 11-8. Nolan was again high scorer drop- ping in his special one-handed push shots with uncanny accuracy to run up 19 points. Northwestern Preps, next on the schedule, again proved too tough and finished on the long end of a 32-23 count in a game played at Watertown. Handicapped by the hu e Preps' floor, our boys were decidedly off form and fougffit a grim battle in a futile attempt to overtake the Preps. Rauschert led in scoring with eight points, while Weiner revealed a deadly long shot to rack up seven points. The next game, against Milwaukee Lutheran at Mil- waukee, was probably the most amazin one of the entire season. For the first half the Red and Nlghite squad played almost perfect ball and swept the Lutheran quint off its feet to lead, 28-13. The second half saw a complete re- versal of the first half. Playing their heads off against seem- ingly impossible odds the boys in Blue cut into our big lead basket by basket, finall catching and passing us about two minutes before the finallwhistle. Score, 43-40. Nolan lriarrfg up 17 points, 15 of which were scored in the first a . In two games with M.U.S., we lost a tough one at Mil- waukee and won the other one on our own court. At Milwaukee, Nickle fired 15 points and Nolan 13, but to no avail, M.U.S. winning out, 43-42. At Wayland the story was a little different. Wayland took an early lead only to drop behind at halftime by one point. ln the second half we surged out in front and contented ourselves with merely protecting our lead. Final score, 35-30. Then in the Alumni Comeback Game, the Varsity took the measure of an Alumni five that had fought hard against the Faculty in the afternoon. Although bone-weary, the Alumni made a grand fight of it, losing out, 44-36. Nolan again led the scoring for the Varsity, while Peachey, of Beaver Dam, counted 16 for the Old Grads. Gther former Waylandites who ave their all for the dear ol' alumni were Jack Hartzheim, .ffm Zimmerman, George Booth, Kenneth Hoffman, Harry Burdick, Mike and Alex Peachey. ln a game which was perhaps the climax of the season, Country Day brought its powerful five to Wayland one week later and, again led by Fritz Schneider, ran up 60 points to our 40. For the first half our boys fought on even terms with the heavily favored Milwaukeeans. We led, 11-9, at the first quarter and trailed by only one point at half. ln the third quarter, however, Schneider broke loose for 13 points, or two more than he had scored in the entire first half. Disheartened by this barrage, the Red and White fought back desperately but to no avail. All told, Schneider totaled 32 points, a total which more or less obscured the fine job done by Rauschert in running up 17 for Wayland. Two games remain on the schedule, one with the Faculty and one with Northwestern Military and Naval Academy. Both should be close games, but regardless of how they turn out, Coach Bennett and his boys can look back on what we all regard as a successful season, with feelings of satis- faction. S. H. Simpson reporting Wayland Greetings Page 47

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