Harrisburg’s Winston Hill and the 1936 Class B Tournament

HARRISBURG’S WINSTON HILL AND THE 1936 SOUTH DAKOTA CLASS “B” TOURNAMENT

The late Winston Hill was interviewed on October 10, 2010. Winston participated in the 1936 South Dakota Class “B” Boys Basketball Tournament.

This narrative are notes from Winston Hill’s interview.

The Harrisburg basketball games were played upstairs at the J.S. Stoneback store at the north end of Main Street in Harrisburg. The building is still standing and in use.[ see photograph ]. The court was real narrow. The Harrisburg teams played a zone defense in order to take advantage of the narrow court. There was a potbellied stove at one end of the court.

The winter of 1935-36 is one of the coldest and snowiest on record in South Dakota history. Winston remembered the winter being very cold. There was no snow storm during the tournament, as one historical account stated. The weather had warmed up and there was no snowstorm. However, during February, there had been only three days that had been warm and clear enough for Harrisburg to have school not cancelled. All but one of the Harrisburg basketball players lived in the town of Harrisburg. One player, Dutch Thornton, lived only a little over a mile south of town. During the district tournament one of the cars carrying the Harrisburg team back into town from Sioux Falls got stuck in a snow drift, at the corner of Highway 77, and the road into Harrisburg. This was one mile west of town.

District/Regional Tournament Sites:

In 1933 there was no place to play the district basketball tournament. The tournament was played at the Pierce Gym at Sioux Falls College. In 1934 the district tournament was played in the Sioux Falls Coliseum Annex. It was just finished. [For further information on the documentation of the use of WPA funds to expand the annex facility check the WPA Sports Facility section.] There was basement in the annex. Winston remembers climbing through a portion of the wall where the bricks had been removed. They went into the basement of the Coliseum where they used the locker room and showers.

The 1936 regional tournament was played at the Coliseum Annex in Sioux Falls. Harrisburg beat Gayville to make it to the State Tournament. Most of the favored teams were not at the regional tournament having been upset in the district tournament.

The 1936 “B” Tournament:

The Huron College gym, where the Class “B” tournament was played was a smaller to medium sized gym with a balcony all around it. The crowds were not that good. It was a nice gym, but not long enough. The seating capacity was small, and there wasn’t much of a crowd.

Harrisburg beat New Effington in the first round of the tournament on Friday night.

Semi-Finals vs. Oglala Indians:

We had an eleven point lead over the Indians midway in the fourth quarter. One of the Indian players was really injured. He lay on the floor for several minutes. The Oglala coach, Elijah Smith took the injured player’s shoe off. They taped over the injured player’s sock. Put the shoe back on. The injured player returned to the game. The officials determined that the Oglala Indians had used up all of their allotted timeouts, as well as time that they did not have to administer to the injured player. Harrisburg was awarded two technical foul shots. Winston remembers a fan hollering from the balcony, “Good sports wouldn’t take those.”

Harrisburg played a 2-1-2 zone with their star player, Dutch Thornton playing the one position. He played an important role on both offense and defense. With four minutes left in the game, Loren “Dutch” Thornton fouled out. After that happened the Indians took over the game. Everything they shot went in.” We ended up losing by three points, 36-33. In 1936 the basketball rules required that there be a jump ball after every made shot, both field goals and foul shots. Irving Jumping Eagle of Oglala won every jump ball against Dutch Thornton’s replacement, Olson. The Oglala Indians capitalized on every possession after winning the center jumps. “They started shooting from the outside, and everything went in.”

Winston recalls that he only time he ever saw a Native American in 1936 was when he played against the Oglala Indians in the state tournament.

During the 1936 Class “B” tournament in Huron the Harrisburg team stayed at the Marvin Hughitt Hotel. It was really quite a place for the time. In 1960 Winston Hill’s son, a member of the Harrisburg high school team, playing in the Class “B” tournament in Huron, stayed in the same Hewett Hotel.

There was only one fan from Harrisburg who attended the state tournament. It was George Brecht, the Harrisburg car dealer, who drove one of the two cars, loaded with the team, to the tournament. Eckern, the coach and superintendent, drove the other car.

The receipts for the entire 1936 tournament were only $1400. The tournament lost around $ 3300.

During the 1936 season Dutch Thornton developed a hook shot to go along with his jump shot. This enhanced his scoring capabilities. he was named the MVP of the 1936 Class “B” tournament. Thorton did a great job of rebounding against the huge center for Sioux Falls Washington, Timmerman. Timmerman was close to seven feet tall.

Bob Ekern, was both the Harrisburg superintendent of school, and the basketball coach. He had attended Flandreau Public School. He knew Elijah Smith, the Oglala Indians’ coach, who had been at the Flandreau Indian School.

Winston remembers attending an Augustana/South Dakota State basketball game played at the Coliseum proper. Wally Diehl played for SDSU.

Winston did not play much during the district tournament. However, he got to play in each game of the state tournament. Winston was one of the three reserves allowed on the roster. He became starting guard, as a senior, during the 1937 season.

Winston attended college at Nettleton College in Sioux Falls. He played on the basketball team with players from the St. Francis Mission team, who had competed in the National Catholic Tournaments in Chicago. The coach of the Nettleton teams was “Kick” Rohlf, who had played for Salem High School, winners of one the early high school tournaments in South Dakota. Leonard Iron Wing wanted to be both a coach and player. The St. Francis kids were not prepared for the business school classes provided by Nettleton College.

Styles of Play:

During the 1936 season Dutch Thornton developed a hook shot to go along with his jump shot. This enhanced his scoring capabilities. he was named the MVP of the 1936 Class “B” tournament. Thorton did a great job of rebounding against the huge center for Sioux Falls Washington, Timmerman. Timmerman was close to seven feet tall.

After 1937, the basketball rules stated that after free throws were taken the opposing team would get the basketball out of bounds.

Coaches could not communicate with the players during the game. During a timeout a coach had to sit like a gentleman, or he received a technical foul.

The forwards played up front on defense. The guards were taller and had to rebound underneath. The center was allowed to stand under the basket. The guards would get the rebound and just bring the ball up the court.