1964

STATE CHAMPIONS CLASS AA: Wyandotte CLASS A: Chapman CLASS B: Osage City CLASS BB: Strong City

Ken Bueltel called this group "the greatest team I have ever coached at Hayden. It also was the first defensive team I have coached in my career." High scoring team started All-State forward Tom Sheahan (3 year letterman) and pressing guards Paul Donahue and Steve Gibbs. Mark Hanson played bigger in the post than his actual size. Jim McMullen might have broken all scoring records if the 3 point shot had been legal - as it was he had the 4th highest single season point total in school history.

Hayden was undefeated in Centennial League play, but flamed out in the Topeka Invitational Tourney. They saved their best performance for the post season. After a fairly easy Regional championship, Hayden played Hutchinson in the first round of the Class AA State tournament at Allen Field House in Lawrence. The Salt Hawks had their best team in history - 3 starters 6' 6" and taller. Topeka Daily Capital writer Dick Fensler called Paul Donahue's last second shot that won the game in overtime one of "the most dramatic moments in Class AA high school basketball tournament history." McPherson overcame an early Hayden lead to prevent Hayden from meeting eventual champion Wyandotte and their All-American Lucius Allen.

The road to the tournament had seen Hayden perfect their style of pressing defense that would spark a fast break offense. The team scored over 80 points 6 times and the 95 against Olathe tied a school record. *** The AA Regional was another jam packed frenzy over 3 nights. Highland Park upset Topeka High and Hayden had to play Highland Park for the fourth time. The game was tremendously exciting with Hayden pulling away late for the win.

Coach Bueltel prepared his team well for the first round game against Hutchinson. I still remember the page cut from the Hutchinson newspaper with photos of the Salt Hawk players posted on the Hayden East gym bulletin board. Crowd estimates vary from 7,500 to 10,000 for Hayden's game on that Thursday night. It was the last game of the day and there were a lot of neutral observers who were cheering the Hayden team by the end of the game. Paul Donahue jumped at center court against the Hutchinson post man at the start of each quarter (stolen from North Carolina strategy against Wilt Chamberlin). When Donahue was tied up for a crucial jump ball late in the game, the Hutchinson player was caught flat footed by the leaping Donahue. Coach Bueltel's strategy was matched by players who believed in themselves and overcame tournament jitters for Hayden's most dramatic victory.

The final play has always been a little difficult to describe. It started with Tom Sheahan taking a shot with little time left in overtime. There was a wild scramble underneath the basket. The original game report said that Paul Donahue tipped the ball back towards the basket. Donahue says he "caught and shot the ball in the same motion." The ball hung on the edge of the rim. The buzzer sounded ending the overtime period. The ball finally fell inside the rim and through the net. It really did seem like that ball stayed up there for 2 or 3 seconds before dropping in. Tom Sheahan said he thought maybe someone might have touched the net causing the ball to go in. More far fetched theories involved the crowd's collective breathing directing the ball through the net.

The immediate result of this basket was a mass stampede of every student and player onto the Allen Fieldhouse court. Paul Donahue was lifted on top of the crowd in a victory celebration that ended only when the P.A. announcer and crowd control (Fr. Santa) warned that the raised K.U. floor might collapse.

Dick Fensler's column of 3/14/65 in the TDC included a review of Hayden athletics by Ken Bueltel. He talked about the lack of serious attention to athletics in the early days of the school. He noted that the early success of teams in the late 1940's and early 1950's was also known for "poor crowd control". He gave credit to Topeka High School, Jack Dean, Buck Weaver and others for scheduling Hayden and convincing others to give competition a chance.

He also stated his philosophy about sports for young people. "I feel athletics teaches boys to live with other people. They learn to recover from setbacks, and they learn that no matter what you try to excel in, preparation is necessary. There are no short cuts. There is no doubt in my mind of the value of athletics. All I had to do was look up in the crowd Thursday night. There was Topeka High, Highland Park, Seaman and Topeka West, and all the rest, cheering like crazy for us. There was Dale Cushinberry (Highland Park star), greeting me as we went back on the floor for the second half against Hutchinson with 'Good luck, Coach.'"

Sources: TDC TSJ dates in March - Dick Fensler Column , HYB SEE Jim McMullen's comments about Hayden's most famous victory (below).

Back Row: Ron Esquibel, Pat Dickey, Tom Sheahan, Jerry McMorris, Mark Hanson, Don Grantham

Front Row: Vince Rolsing, Lee Allen, Steve Gibbs, Paul Donahue, Jim McMullen, Tom McLaughlin

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Coach Ken Bueltel 1964-65 WON 21 LOST 4 Centennial League Champion CLASS AA 3rd Place

Of course, I remember the Hutch game very well and I was next to Paul when he had position under the basket at the end of overtime. I saw him sky above the Hutch giants and for a split second had control of the ball in mid air and guided the ball back up on the rim as it sat there for eternity before it fell through the basket and all hell broke loose.

I remember I was next to Paul after the basketball went through and he was yelling for the people to get off of him because we both wondered if we were going to get off the court alive. That was the only time we were scared as I explained below but I think we were still so focused and playing the game ; one second we were so focused playing and the next getting mobbed. It was an unbelievable and great experience that none of us will forget. I will never forget the infamous smile on Coach Bueltel's face when he entered the locker room after the game.

I was glad I was a player because as a fan I imagine it was really nerve racking to watch the Hayden-Hutch game. Coach Bueltel had us so well prepared and he said "guys let's go out and have some fun because the pressure is on those guys to win". We had made it this far and not expected to win. We seemed to be quite at ease for such a big game. The team was having a great time playing and I could tell it on the Hutch's faces that they were scared of losing. Some how I thought we would win. I will never forget Greg Bein (one of my Hayden heroes like Unrein) coming up to me after the game on the court....... after things settled down and congratulated me. Hayden had many great teams.

I went on to play at Emporia State and played with guess who? Hutchison's 6''8 Van Sickle. We had some great discussions about the game. I was glad he would talk to me. I was assigned to guard him in the Hayden-Hutch game. So we had a lot to talk about. Overall, he said it was a huge loss for them as they were over looking us to play Wyandotte KC with Lucius Allen in the finals.

One side bar funny story, as there are many - before the game with Hutchison Salt Hawks ...........we had previously practiced to play against these giants of 6''6, 6'''7 and 6''8( Van Sickle) on their front line. Well, before we went out to the court to warm up before the game, Coach Bueltel told us not to look at those guys from Hutch on the other end of the court because it might scare us. He had us grinning, but, you know, I never looked. Coach always had a way of relaxing us before a game with his smile, but you always knew who the boss was.

When we started the Hayden Hutch game with the tip off, I could see why Coach said that...they were huge. Of course, Paul 5'-'7" was put in the center to tip off against their 6'-'8". The reason Paul was doing the tip was so we would be set up for defense immediately from the tip off. No way for us to get the tip. I know it looked funny to all watching, but there was a method to Coach's style. Coach Bueltel was a brilliant coach. You know we never thought about Hutch's size after the tip-off because he had us so well prepared, focused and somewhat, if you can believe it, confident & relaxed.

We had a special group of BB players that year. We had known each other and played together all four years (in and out of basketball season).

E: MAIL: November 7, 2005 Jim McMullen Class of 1965.

*** TOPEKA CLASS AA REGIONAL: March 2-5 How Hayden got to the CLASS AA State Tournament

Hayden benefited from 2 big upsets in the CLASS AA Regional at Topeka High. Seaman (6-11) upset Manhattan (16-2) in an overtime contest. John Johnson was the leader of the Vikings and had one of his best games. Hayden drew Topeka West (3-14) and had no problem defeating the Chargers. Topeka High was give a bye at 15-4 - I am guessing that was because they had victories over Hayden, HPHS, TWHS and Lawrence. Highland Park defeated Lawrence and faced off against Topeka High in the semi-final. They shocked the Trojans with great play from Dale Cushinberry and Steve Workman - the Scotties were 29 for 31 from the free throw line.

Hayden beat Seaman for the third time by shutting down Johnson and executing the press as they had all year. The championship game marked the 4th meeting of the year between the Scots and the Wildcats. The turn away crowd of 4500 fans warmed up during the 3rd place game won by Topeka High. In this era it was not unusual to hear cheers from the opponents playing on then current Catholic dietary rules ("fish eating") and Hayden fans would respond by spelling the name of the school over and over and over.. until everyone was sick of it. There were fans without tickets who stood in the lobby just to see a sliver of the game action that was available from that viewpoint. And others, who just wanted to hear the crowd and peek up at the scoreboard every now and then. When it was all over both teams received a standing ovation from the fans. Hayden had the usual balanced scoring attack to cinch the trip to the State Tournament ( Hanson 18, Sheahan 17, Gibbs 14, McMullen 12 and Donahue 6).

	1964-1965		21	4


	Centennial		12	0	COACH: Ken Bueltel

DATE	OPPONENT	W/L				PLACE

12/11/64	Highland Park	W	79	61	Centennial	Highland Park (Topeka High)
12/12/64	Olathe (Olathe North)	W	95	70		Olathe
12/18/64	Leavenworth	W	55	43	Centennial	Hayden (Municipal Auditorium)
1/8/65	Atchison	W	88	45	Centennial	Hayden (Municipal Auditorium)
1/9/65	Topeka West	W	58	40		Hayden (Municipal Auditorium)
1/15/65	KC-Ward	L	72	74		KC-Ward
1/16/65	Shawnee Heights	W	83	65	Centennial	Shawnee Heights
1/21/65	Lawrence	L	52	63	Topeka Invitational	Topeka West
1/22/65	Topeka West	W	54	45	Topeka Invitational	Topeka High
1/23/65	Highland Park	W	70	56	Topeka Invitational	Topeka High
1/29/65	Washburn Rural	W	62	44	Centennial	Washburn Rural
2/5/65	Seaman	W	72	60	Centennial	Hayden (Municipal Auditorium)
2/6/65	Highland Park	W	62	45	Centennial	Hayden (Municipal Auditorium)
2/12/65	Leavenworth	W *	71	68	Centennial	Leavenworth
2/13/65	Atchison	W	86	73	Centennial	Atchison
2/19/65	Topeka High	L	65	68		Hayden (Municipal Auditorium)
2/20/65	Shawnee Heights	W	81	67	Centennial	Hayden (Municipal Auditorium)
2/26/65	Washburn Rural	W	61	50	Centennial	Hayden (Washburn Rural)
2/27/65	Seaman	W	78	67	Centennial	Seaman (Topeka High)
3/2/65	Topeka West	W	79	53	CLASS AA REGIONAL	Topeka High
3/4/65	Seaman	W	84	65	CLASS AA REGIONAL	Topeka High
3/5/65	Highland Park	W	67	53	CLASS AA REGIONAL	Topeka High
3/11/65	Hutchinson	W *	53	51	CLASS AA STATE	Lawrence-KU Allen FH
3/12/65	McPherson	L	45	55	CLASS AA STATE	Lawrence-KU Allen FH
3/13/65	Wichita East	W	62	49	CLASS AA STATE	Lawrence-KU Allen FH


			1734	1430

PLAYER	No	G	FG	FT	TP

Tom Sheahan		25	144	127	415
Jim McMullen		25	154	65	373
Mark Hanson		25	114	111	339
Paul Donahue		25	100	38	238
Steve Gibbs		25	46	62	154
Tom McLaughlin		25	42	15	99
Pat Dickey		23	15	7	37
Don Grantham		19	12	6	30
Lee Allen		6	5	9	19
Mike Hassur		13	3	5	11
Ron Esquibel		12	4	6	14
Jerry McMorris		7	2	1	5
Vince Rolsing		1	0	0	0
Bob Faught		1	0	0	0

					1734

Shawnee Heights game 1-16-65 TDC story & box per P Donahue scrapbook
Microfilm copy of that page was not available