Former scorekeeper recalls Villisca’s previous state trip

When the Villisca girls basketball team took to the floor of the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines Monday afternoon it marked their last chance for the school to compete at the state basketball tournament as the Villisca girls basketball team.

By next fall, those on the team will be part of Southwest Valley High School as part of a whole-grade sharing agreement with the Corning School District.

The history of Villisca High School and its long tradition dates back nearly 100 years. Among that history is the season 45 years ago this year when the Villisca girls’ basketball team qualified for their first-ever state tournament.

The game was played Wednesday afternoon March 13, 1968 in Des Moines.

The Jayettes, as they were then known, played Paton-Churdan,  a  school located about an hour west of Ames.

Villisca lost their only state tournament game that day by a score of 62-61.

But the game itself was not without controversy.

A “phantom point” given to Paton-Churdan proved to be the difference.

According to Vince Else, who was scorekeeper at the time, Paton-Churdan received two points for one free throw. Else said he noticed right away.

“We had to sit on the bench and we noticed, I noticed, a mistake on the scoreboard and said something to our coach,” Else said. “His comment was this is the state tournament, but they surely couldn’t make any mistakes. If they did, they’d probably get it corrected right away.”

Else wasn’t allowed at the scorers table, therefore he sat on the bench with the team.

The scorers table didn’t change the score though, so Paton-Churdan was able to hold onto the point, and ultimately the game.

Else said the team brought the point to the attention of state officials after the game.

“A lot of the radio stations and reporters agreed with us,” Else said.

The officials checked it out later, but didn’t admit to the mistake until hours later, according to Else. The score remained Paton-Churdan 62, Villisca 61.

“They didn’t admit it to me; I wasn’t there then,” he said. “We talked about it at that time.”

Paton-Churdan didn’t last much longer at state as they were knocked out in the quarterfinal round by Rockwell City.

There was very little media coverage of girls high school basketball in those day.

Red Oak Express Sportswriter Jim Logan wrote three paragraphs on the tournament game in the Monday, March 18, 1968 edition as part of his column on regional sports.

Logan wrote an estimated 800 people showed up to Villisca’s first round game against Paton-Churdan. The schools, as well as businesses in the community, were closed for the day.

To reach the state tournament, Villisca needed to run the gauntlet through sectionals and districts.

They defeated Farragut 68-65 in the district final March 2 to earn the bid to Des Moines.

Along the way, Villisca had to defeat Cumberland and Massena, Bridgewater-Fontanelle (now part of the Nodaway Valley School District), Prescott and Adair-Casey.

Else describes that 1968 team as a good group of girls that worked really well together.

“There was a good group of girls that really were athletes,” he said.

The retired teacher doesn’t keep stats for the team any longer, but does get to as many games as he can. Else drives a school bus for the district and still substitute teaches from time to time.

Else knows this year’s team well and said he’s impressed with the kids and the coach.

“I listened to the [Bedford] game and I was very impressed with the way they were playing,” Else said.