1945 Boys Basketball

The climax of the 1945 basketball season was the Bulldogs conquering Webster, 30-28 to win the South Dakota State “B” Championship. This team, although a ‘B’ team, finished fourth in the ESD Conference. Despite the five losses in the conference, this team will go down as one of the best ever at MHS. They needed to win three games in District 17, then two games in Region 5 just to make it to the State Tournament. I was told that this team excelled in teamwork and good ball handling under the guidance of Coach Hauge, and management of Boyen ‘Mama’ Beckel. Members of that team were; Frank Doyel, Merle ‘Pete’ Struwe, Bill Wenk, Vince Wadden, Jerry Thomas, Bob Aga, Cal Mathison, Bud Gulstine, and Dean Deragisch.