Bainbridge High School teams saw a rich resurgence as
peacetime resumed.
Bud Lundgren was a feisty guard for Bainbridge High School basketball coach Fritz Knoell from 1944 to 1947.
As a senior, his team qualified for State. Bud recalls, “We had a little trouble as the ferry was on strike again. We had to stay at the old Frye Hotel and take a taxi to “Hec Ed” (Pavilion at the University of Washington). We lost our first game and won the next two. The team was pleased and proud to bring home our first State trophy – eighth place! We were also pleased for our coach. We all loved him and his wife. After Tom Woodman and I graduated, the team went on to win the whole thing the next year with Coach Tom Paski.”
Paski followed his state title in ‘48 with runner-up spots in ‘54 and ‘55, several league and district championships and, in 23 years, 405 Spartan wins.
He urged teams to never give up. He began each game with a team huddle, a group gripping of hands and a team shout in Finnish, “Sisu!” – “Give a little better than your best!”
“Coach could get more out of a bunch of runts like us than anyone,” Ed Selfors, a ‘53 dribbler, recalls. “He was a strict disciplinarian – a no nonsense guy.”
Ron Thompson, ‘55, a 5-foot-6 guard, recalls. “We were 20-0 in the Olympic League. It included large schools – Bremerton, Port Angeles, Central and South Kitsap. I don’t think any other BHS team has gone undefeated in league. We lost only the State title game, 56-54. Paski’s offense emphasized getting the ball to our big men. ‘If you can’t,’ he told me, ‘then shoot and let them rebound.’”
Ron didn’t miss many. His father taught him well – the legendary Ed “Ashcan” Loverich.
Fondly, Ron adds, “We were a family of players. Once on the court, despite any differences, we were all one. You can’t teach heart. It is an intangible quality. Yet Paski’s presence gave us an undefinable confidence. He never got angry if we did our best. In one tight game, he took a time out and told us, ‘Don’t worry. We are going to win. We’ll figure out a way.’ And we did!”
Bud Lundgren made many contributions to BHS sports after he graduated. A professional radio announcer, he became “The Voice of the Spartans” at every game from the early ‘60s to about 1980 including the ‘54 and ‘55 tournament from the College of Puget Sound for KBRO radio.
Lundgren applauds, “Credit should go to the boys who led the ‘54 and ‘55 teams. David Beach set a game scoring record at State – he hit 40 points – and two strong forwards were Gene Start and Dick Axelson. Both went on to play for Jack Friel at Washington State University. They were backed up by fine players – Vic Ellingson and Ron Thompson.”
Tommy Almojuela, quicker than most in the early ‘60s, graduated to play for Army at West Point. In 1969, the first year BHS played AA ball, Paski had a great team led by Steve Endreason who went on to play for Seattle University and pro ball in Europe.
Paski’s teams moved to a new building in 1956. The old gym inside the school became classrooms, a study hall and a badly needed enlarged library. The David W. Buchanan Gym (named for the school district superintendent) was also home once a year to the Seattle Symphony.
Surprisingly, Paski and Buchanan were hung in effigy – twice, anonymously in Winslow – just weeks before the gym opened. Was a taxpayer strained by a second levy vote in as many years?
At every game from the ‘40s to the ‘60s, Spartan teams benefited from “a good luck noise” – the Munro family’s old island school bus’s klaxon horn. It was soon outlawed.
“I used to laugh at my dad,” Ralph Munro smiles. “He always put the horn in the car. We’d arrive at the packed gym and he’d send me up into the middle of the crowd with instructions to honk it like heck. It was so noisy, folks cleared away a bit and we’d all have seats!”
Though noisy in the stands, Hall of Fame Coach “Gentleman Tom” never raised his voice. When he retired after 23 years, he had an able replacement, his assistant, Dean Scherer, who enjoyed coaching for the next 23 years, 1971 to 1993.
“Tom taught me a lot,” Scherer says thankfully. “He coached fundamentals. You did things his way or you didn’t play. He believed that the hardest workers, not the most talented, should play.
“We were a small school. To excel meant hard work and smart play. We drew players from among 250 to 300 students. Our competition had 600 to 800. Tom and I attended a workshop with (legendary coach) Bobby Knight. He taught that weaker teams should use the zone defense. Paski became a master of the zone and taught me. With it, we held our own against stronger squads.”
Scherer’s 1990 squad captured the Wesco District crown.
“Of course, basketball is about winning,” Scherer says from his Allyn home, “but I miss the kids and the camaraderie most of all.”
