Show Sports It T li The sport of basketball is a popular activity in the seventies seventies seventies seven seven- ties but it was also one of the favorite games for athletes In Inthe Inthe Inthe the and A number of high school hoop- hoop during the and were asked the following Compare basketball during your time to the and what was your most memorable game KEN N Vernal a member of the 1939 Uintah team that captured the state basketball title for the first time In the history of the Vernal school remarked Basketball in 1939 doesn't compare very well to the The game In the is speeded up more and the players are so much more ambidextrous Ican can use either hand They are quicker bigger and better shooters It is a much improved game added The top game for me would have to be when we beat Granite at the state stale tourney in 1939 The score was 20 to 18 and now now they would score 80 points We scored 20 points to win Granite was the big favorite in the tourney After Uintah downed Granite they defeated Bear River 37 to 30 for the 1939 State Hoop Championship title They players in the are just an awful lot better They build them bigger and they're stronger faster and in short they are better ball ballplayers players They are really schooled in the game of basketball II commented SO SOW WARDS SAID SAm I played three years of varsity basketball for the University of Utah Ulah 1941 I started as a sophomore I was the top scorer at the U U. U My senior year I made all conference We played the University of Wyoming and they won the title in 1943 19 In 1942 we were tied with Colorado for first place going into the final game Colorado beat us at Utah for first place Utah placed second The last game Wyoming played us in 1943 3 Utah played Wyoming four times in 1943 they won by bya a few points With three minutes left in the game we had them by four points Wyoming garnered the N title in 1943 19 when they downed Georgetown 46 to 34 in the championship game The starters for Wyoming were Milo Komenich a 68 center who was the leading scorer in the three game tourney with 48 points Bill guard Kenny Sailors 60 forward who ho was an American All and the most valuable player in the tourney Jim Weir 66 forward from Evanston Wyoming and Floyd Volker guard A substitute for the Wyoming team was Curt Gowdy a native of Green River Wyoming Sailors also played a number of years of professional basketball Starters for the University of Utah team in 1953 were Vaugh Bennion 62 forward Freddy Sheffield former high jump champion and a member of the 1944 Utah team that won the title 60 forward Ken s 63 forward-center forward Tom Lannan guard and Veldon Larsen guard MEMBERS of the first Uintah state stale championship team in 1939 are Joe Milburn Curtis Hadlock Neldon Walker Leland Fox Charles Murray Kenneth Workman Jay Freestone Reed Birchell Birchen and LeGrande Hadlock Coach of the team was Frank Wright Utes captured another state title in 1967 1067 but that year is too close to the for this ar ar- Vernal City mayor Sam Snyder played basketball for Uintah from 1944 to 19 1947 1 Snyder stated slated Basketball has really changed In those days the dhe forties they would play defense more and played a slow deliberate game Today its it's a game for the tall more well- well coordinated people They work mainly on the fas break and more scoring scaring plays whereas before it was more defensively Our coaches were that way We had bad a u lot of low scoring coring games In 1944 we lost to Roosevelt 11 U Uto to 10 Snyder added I think the most exciting time for me was that that I made the starting five as asa asa asa a sophomore in 19 1945 5 and then we played t We played Inthe in inthe inthe the old gym and that was my first starting assign assign- ment That would have to be my most exciting game We lost the game 41 to 1 ended up as the high point man for the night 11 It It 1 AN ANDERSON N U IRSON IH Vernal who was a member of the Uintah basketball team in 1955 commented I think basketball hasn't changed that much In Salt Lake City and other areas you have bigger men mn and the bigger men are getting faster They are getting to where they dominate the game because of their speed and agility When asked what his most memorable game was Anderson Anderson An An- derson Berson remarked We had a playoff game in Rangely Colorado in 1955 with Union to see who went to state Uintah and Union tied for first place in region We beat them to go to state stale Uintah beat Union InVernal in inVernal inVernal Vernal and then Union beat Uintah in Roosevelt to gain the tie I had a pretty good game I l got 15 to 16 points We won the first game with South Summit at the state tourney and then lost the next two to Cyprus and Marysville Lee Wilkins Jensen a member of the Uintah High School basketball team in 1952 said Basketball really hasn't changed that much The coaches have more help They have assistant coaches and we had one coach who had to do it all The jump shot was starting to come in after I graduated Before that it was pretty much the set shot Wilkins added adde Well I have relived those ball games quite a bit In 1952 we lost by one point of whipping Union Our coach set up a defense to stop Ken Nickell The first two times down the court he scored So the coach jerked me out of the game They were 16 points ahead of us at halftime 28 He Ile started me in the second half and the first four times I shot I scored I shot four straight from the center line and had 11 straight points in the second half They ended up beating as us asby by one point 38 to 37 The longer longerI I 1 sat on the bench the more upset I got and when I went in I threw abandon to the wind and scored four straight long ones from the center line Tim THE GAME ME was the first basketball contest in the history of the Union-Uintah Union rivalry Later during the year Duchesne upset Union Uintah and Union met again in 1952 and the Roosevelt team won by bv a score of 41 to 34 If Uintah c could uld have won the first meeting with Union then the Utes would have ended the season in a tie and a playoff would have been necessary The year before f 1951 Uintah was defeated by Roosevelt in a playoff in Rangely Colorado It was the first time that a playoff between two Utah schools was held in Colorado A portion about the 38 37 Union win over Uintah follows Aided by Gary l Tullis Lee Wilkins went on a aspree aspree aspree spree that couldn't be topped Lee tanked four beautiful field goals and the Cougars could only growl Cant someone stop slop him The article about the game was printed in the Vernal Express on January 31 1952 Wilkins also mentioned that he used to hitch-hike hitch every night after school 14 miles to Jensen The emphasis was more on defense and not on scoring in inthe inthe inthe the forties The games were more low scoring contests The games were slower then and more deliberate The games today are terrific and I enjoy going to them We had a 91 9 9 1 region record in 1949 We played Roosevelt and that was the highlight for me because we wel l heat eat them commented Brent Fe Feltch Itch Vernal who was a member of the Uintah basketball teams from Crom 1946 to 1949 HI ANOTHER It tEl MEMBER of the 1959 1939 Uintah state tate championship team is LeGrande Hadlock Vernal Hadlock stated staled In the old days we played more defense and today its it's all of of- tense We took pride in holding down Today they run and shoot back and forth We used to stall a lot Each player would take pride in trying to hold his man scoreless If we could get six or eight points ahe ahead d we felt pretty safe and we would start stalling slowing down the game and hold the ball We would play tighter lighter defense We beat Bear Ilear River 37 30 in 1939 1919 for the state slate title Everyone played excellent ball They passed well and played defense well We stalled the ball hall up to three minutes at a time against Granite We passed and passed until we worked it in for a good goodshot goodshot goodshot shot or a Today they foul and back then they wouldn't foul They could have fouled us if they wanted d remarked padlock Hadlock The Union Cougars of Roosevelt won their first and only state basketball title In 1953 and a member of that team Gordon Eldredge Neola commented I began playing basketball at Union High School |