Perspective: 1949 Wildcats still inspire
I told this story to my grandson’s team down here in Lenoir City Tenn., just 13 miles south of Knoxville. They had almost the same record as the Wildcats. And when the district tournament began, they even made their motto before every tipoff “JASPER”. They did win the District AAAA, which is always one of the very best in the state, but that was the end of the line for them.
It’s tournament time!
This is the true story of how a basketball team from Indiana with a season record of 11-9 was very much indeed like the team in the movie Hoosiers.
Back when there were 789 schools and there were no classes like A, AA, AAA, or AAAA. You just had to play anyone, and that could be the number one or number two ranked team in the entire state.
The team I am talking about is my own high school team of 1949, the Jasper Wildcats. With a record like we had, we were not even expected to win the sectional. A sectional that included our most hated rival, the Huntingburg Happy Hunters who had won the Southern Indiana Athletic Conference, as well as the undefeated Winslow Eskimos headed by Dick Farley (who went on to IU and played on one of their national championship teams).
So you can see why our Wildcats were not the favorite, but we beat both to be on the way.
Every game was a hard-fought victory for our Wildcats, but we ended up in Butler Fieldhouse in Indianapolis for the State Finals, now with a 19-9 record—8 wins in a row.
At that time, your team played in the afternoon and if you won, you played for the championship that night. So in the finals, we played a great team, the Number 2 Auburn Red Devils and squeaked by that one by five with free throws in the last minute. That night we played for the title against Madison Cubs and won the State 62-61 for the first time ever!
And the only one since that time.
Jasper was listed as one of the playoff sites in the movie Hoosiers, and the movie could have very easily been the story about the 1949 Jasper Wildcats.
Just remember, when the tournament begins, every team is equal. Whether you are the best in the state or the worst, every team is 0-0 at the start. No matter what the record, it is all pushed aside when the state tournament begins.
So no matter who you play, just go git ‘er done!
Leroy Heldman
Knoxville, Tenn.
Great story, Leroy. It brings back many memories as I was a sophmore that year and attended every one of those games. What a thrill. How things have changed. Thanks for the memories.
Mary Schutz
Since my mother was the president of the Jasper High School class of 1935, we had to go to the parade on the Sunday afternoon. I was excited to watch the fire engine come down the street and thought those were truly heroes. I still think they were and I got to know Cabby O’Neal in later years and appreciated his friendliness. I have gotten to know and have numerous friends from
Jasper as well as having many relatives in the Pfeffer, Eckert, Fierst and Sumner families. Since I grew up in Huntingburg, I appreciate the competitive nature of the two communities with each other and it seems to have matured to a positive relationship. Thanks for the memories with this story.