February 26, 2014 at 2:53 p.m.
Saying goodbye to the champs
Marks, 91, was last surviving member of undefeated '39 squad
Saying goodbye to the champs
Marks was the last surviving member of the 1939 Wisconsin state championship basketball team, the only Hodag squad to reach the mountaintop.
Now, with this year's Hodag squad in the middle of its own postseason run, echoes of a team long gone reverberate around Rhinelander one more time.
Basketball was different back then. The three-point line was decades from existence and the rules had only recently been updated to retire the use of rope cages that surrounded the court.
Rhinelander played an important role in developing the game of basketball back then. It was head coach Russell Leksell who introduced the one-handed push shot to Wisconsin basketball. The form is now used universally today, but was alien to players back then. The revolutionary shot was soon adopted by the rest of the Wisconsin Valley Conference and spread around the state.
It was still five-on-five though, and the team who put the ball through the hoop more times than the other still won the game. The '39 Hodags did a lot of that.
Old headlines from The Daily News dubbed it the "Golden Age" of Rhinelander athletics and the state championship served as the crown jewel.
The WVC had a slightly different look back then. Along with longtime Valley teams Antigo, Wausau, Stevens Point, Marshfield, Wisconsin Rapids and Merrill, Tomahawk and Nekoosa also joined the Hodags in the nine-team league.
In 1939, the WVC was the best basketball conference in the state. Rhinelander entered the year looking for its fourth consecutive conference title, but Wausau was coming off an upset at state the year before, when they beat a heavily favored Wauwatosa team for the title.
The Hodags were led by four-year standout John Kotz, a 6-foot-1-inch center who led the conference in scoring every year he competed.
Kotz was joined in the starting lineup by Ray Lenheiser, Penny Drivas, Ray Terzynski and Bill Chariton. Reserves included Roy Lewis, Lodi Morris, George Makris, Dale Danfield, Raymond Johnson, Warren Johnson and Marks.
Games started on Nov. 18, 1938 with a non-conference matchup against Niagara. The Hodags rolled easily, winning 49-13. Next up was Ironwood, Mich., and Rhinelander won again, although this time in a much closer game, 39-36.
The Hodags really found their rhythm when they opened conference play. They beat Wisconsin Rapids on Dec. 2, 62-13.
Just like that, the Hodags were off and running. They piled on win after win, plowing through WVC competition without much trouble.
Sportswriters at the Daily News documented the incredible run and, after a 62-24 whipping of Marshfield of Feb. 11, they weren't stingy with their praise.
"When the late Gene Shepard created his ferocious woods monster, he didn't know just how terrific a beat he had in the Hodag," the sports department wrote. "But Wisconsin Valley Conference basketball fans know that the Hodag has more than bulldog grit. The Hodag has everything."
It wasn't just that Rhinelander was winning; it's that they were blowing opponents out of the gym. In 1969, the late Joe Bloom (who once served as Rhinelander's mayor) wrote a book entitled "A Half Centry of Hodag Basketball 1916-1969." At the time, he branded the '39 squad as the best in state history.
"When they entered games, it was a foregone conclusion as to the winner, even against such teams as Wausau, Stevens Point and Green Bay," he wrote. "Yet all games were played before 'standing room only' crowds. Many times there was not even standing room."
Shirley Terzynski was a student at Rhinelander High School at the time. She said she remembers the raucous atmosphere.
"It was crazy," she said. "The crowds were wild. (The gym) was full every time. Kotz and the rest of the fellas were great guys and very good."
The Hodags carried a 15-0 overall record into their final conference game against Antigo. They had already wrapped up their fourth consecutive WVC title, but the game against the Ants (they would not be called the Red Robins until years later) was an opportunity to put a bow on top.
Antigo hung around early but they were severely overmatched against the dominant Hodags.
"If variety is the spice of life, it also adds a pleasant flavor to basketball," the Daily News sports department wrote after the game. "And old man Leksell did a nice job of putting the spice in last night's affair. When his Hodags found the driving Ants something of a problem, he switched to a fast break early in the third period that sent the score sky high quicker than Antigo knew what happened."
Rhinelander won 61-20, capping off a perfect conference season. It wasn't just opposing teams who fell to the Hodags that year though. Rhinelander also tore up the record books.
They scored a total of 635 points in the conference, topping a mark they'd set the year before by 147.
Kotz scored a whopping 316 points, topping his own record by 124.
All five starters were awarded all-conference honors. Kotz, Lenheiser and Drivas made the first team, and Terzynski and Chariton made the second team.
In his book, Bloom said the second-team Hodags may have been slighted.
"In those days, the all-star team was picked by the Valley sportswriters," he wrote. "After the selection, one of them made the offhand comment, 'To be really truthful, we should put them all on the all-conference team.'"
After a win against Green Bay West to finish the regular season, the Hodags made the trip to the state tournament in Madison. They entered as the favorite, but drew a formidable Wauwatosa team in the first round. While the game was drummed up to be a close contest, Rhinelander routed Wauwautosa 54-21 in the first round of state.
Playing in the University Fieldhouse, Kotz set a new individual tournament scoring record for points in a single game with 28.
After a second round win against Shorewood, a championship matchup against defending Wausau was next on the docket.
After beating Wausau in the regular season, history repeated itself and Rhinelander earned its first state title.
George Craig, sports editor at the Daily News at the time, summed up the victory.
"For years, the Hodags have had swell basketball teams, and for the last three years they've threatened to exile the reigning powers," he wrote. "Twice they failed, but last night was a kitten of a different complexion. The Hodags put on as sweet an exhibition for three quarters as a couple of coaches ever wrote home about, telling the state and Wausau in a 46 to 29 way that Wausau just 'usta be champ.'"
Kotz led the way with 26 points. After the game, the senior announced his intention to play for Wisconsin and bring the rest of his Hodag teammates with him.
Kotz, Lenheiser and Drivas were all unanimous all-state selections.
The Hodags finished the '38-'39 season a perfect 20-0, inarguably the best Rhinelander team of that era. In his book, Bloom wrote that the team transcended Northwoods relevance though.
"When sportswriters gather at the annual state tournament, this team is considered the standard of measurement of all tournament champions," he wrote. "Even today, the question is asked, 'Is this year's champions as good as the '39 Rhinelander team?' The questions, of course, (have) no answer but is worth speculation. It is without a doubt, a truly great high school team."
Kotz went on to star at Wisconsin. As a sophomore, he led the Badgers to a national title, earning the 1941 Most Outstanding Player Award. He was an All-American in 1942 and 1943, and was inducted into the University of Wisconsin Athletics Hall of Fame in 1991.
Several other Hodags from the '39 team went on to play college ball, most notably playing key roles on conference championship teams at the University of Stevens Point.
That was 75 years ago. Members of the state championship team went on to do great things. Many fought in World War II. They built families and careers and lived their lives as members of the greatest generation. They grew old and, eventually, they left us. Marks was the last.
The season they had still lives on thought, beckoning other teams to reach as high as they did. The '39 squad was the only group to stand on the state's basketball summit and bring the title home with them to Rhinelander. That's a legacy worth remembering.
Andy Hildebrand may be reached at [email protected].
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