Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Monday, March 16, 2015
50 years ago: The young coach and his unlikely team
March 12, 2015 7:00 pm •
Early in the season, after the Beavers had lost four of their first six games, their coach wasn’t thinking about the state tournament.
He would have been happy to break even on the season.
“We didn’t start off good,” Dean “Babe” Ruth said Thursday. “We were just trying to get to 500.”
Nobody knew what to expect from the 1965 Beaver Crossing boys basketball players, except that they would play in the shadow of the 1964 Beavers -- a team that had brought home the Class D trophy but lost its five starters to graduation and its coach to a new job in Iowa.
“I think the town, in a way, was pretty well enamored with the previous year’s team,” said Gerald Wambold, a guard on the ’65 team. “We had a hard act to follow.”
They also had an untested coach who wasn’t much older than his seniors. Ruth got his diploma from Nebraska Wesleyan in May 1964 and his biology classroom in Beaver Crossing in August. The Rising City native had played high school ball but was too small to make his college team.
And when basketball season started, and the team started losing, any hope of a repeat seemed to vanish.
“It was awful,” Wambold said. “We went out and tried and we just weren’t playing together as a team. But Coach Ruth, he never got down on us, he never quit talking to us.”
They listened. They started winning, going 16-2 after the Christmas break. They frustrated better teams with their aggressive defense. They got good at coming from behind.
And 50 years ago this weekend, the Beavers walked onto the court at the University of Nebraska Coliseum in their red and white jackets. They were about to play Odell for the championship, but the bleachers were already filling with Creighton Prep and Lincoln Northeast fans, waiting for their later game.
The Northeast fans decided to pull for the Beavers, said Jim Flowerday, a 6-2 senior.
Beaver Crossing was a small high school, fewer than 60 students in four grades, just 14 seniors.
At the Coliseum, the Beavers stared up at the stands.
“We had never seen 4,500 people, ever. Half of them stood up for our team and my knees felt like thimbles. Clink, clink, clink,” Flowerday said. “We were scared, but we thought: We need to perform for these guys. This is the big time.”
* * *
The coach didn’t return to Beaver Crossing in 1966. He took another teaching job in Geneva.
Two years after that, Ruth was teaching in Madison. He was a principal in Columbus and an administrator at Centennial and spent 16 years as principal of two elementary schools in the Adams Central School District.
He retired in Hastings in 2007 after more than 40 years as an educator. And he was honored earlier this year with a standing ovation at an Adams Central basketball game, students holding up cards spelling out: “We got you Babe.”
“It was one of the greatest thrills I’ve had in my long educational career,” he told the Hastings Tribune. “It's not very often that you get told by so many people that, ‘Yes, you did a good job.’”
And an important job. Earlier in his career, he and his wife, Robbie, spent 13 years in New Mexico. He was hired to launch an alternative high school for students who were struggling, or had dropped out, or had been kicked out.
“Seeing those kids graduate from high school and how happy they were when they got their diplomas, they were probably happier than kids who’d just won the state championship in high school.”
And he would know what that looked like.
* * *
With a minute left in the 1965 championship game, the Beavers were down 46 to 44 to Odell.
Ruth had a plan: Get the ball to Flowerday, the 220-pound underneath guy.
The senior had spent most of the second quarter and all of the third on the bench, four fouls against him. But late in the fourth, he tied it up with a left-handed hook shot.
And with 6 seconds remaining, Wambold faked out a defender and passed it to Flowerday, whose layup gave the Beavers their second straight championship trophy.
The team drenched their coach in their celebration. Ruth was 22, and his family believes he remains the youngest coach to win a championship in Nebraska. And he did it his first year as a coach, and in his first -- and last -- trip to a state tournament.
Thursday, he visited the trophy in Beaver Crossing on his way to Lincoln. He thought about what turned his team around 50 years ago, from early season losers to state champs. And he credited his team. They learned how to play together, how to win. They didn’t quit.
“They were hard-working, big strapping kids. They were men already at 17 years of age,” he said. “I told them at the athletic banquet in front of the entire town: ‘These kids are good kids.’”
Some of those kids are retired now, some of them already gone.
Flowerday lives in Florida. His points sealed the win for the Beavers, but the coach got them to the game. Ruth was fiery when he needed to be, caring when a player was struggling off the court.
“He made a team out of a bunch of guys who wanted to win. There were no heroes, no outstanding athletes. I choose to say it was all of us and Coach Ruth.”
Wambold scored a team-high 17 points in the title game. Afterward, the high school student told a reporter: “He’s the greatest coach in the world.”
“Still believe it,” he said Thursday from Colorado. He’s kept in contact with the Ruth over the years.
“And he’s a great person, too. There’s more to being a coach than just coaching.”
Monday, March 2, 2015
Theta Chi / USO Golf Tournament 2015
Attention
All Theta Chi Alumni:
Please join us in Lincoln, Nebraska on April 25th for the 1st Annual
Theta Chi / USO Golf Tournament at the historic Mahoney Public Golf Course
& Resort. This tournament is open to the public, but you get first dibs. We are limited to 72 participants so sign up quick before this goes public.
Mahoney offers a legacy and history in golf no other resort in Northeast
Lincoln can match. Mahoney Public Golf Course features an eighteen hole championship golf
course for guests to enjoy, including the famed Mahoney No. 8. Don’t miss
this opportunity to stay and play at the #1 golf resort North of Adams St. and
South of Hwy 6, plus engage in a memorable brotherhood experience.
We hope that you will join us for what should be a fabulous weekend of golf and brotherhood on this challenging golf course. You don't have to be a golfer to enjoy this weekend with your brothers and for you golfers, this will be a great time guaranteed!
We have negotiated a discounted rate and cost has been kept to a reasonable $60 per person and $79 single occupancy. (before April 1st) You will have to contact the hotel at
We hope that you will join us for what should be a fabulous weekend of golf and brotherhood on this challenging golf course. You don't have to be a golfer to enjoy this weekend with your brothers and for you golfers, this will be a great time guaranteed!
We have negotiated a discounted rate and cost has been kept to a reasonable $60 per person and $79 single occupancy. (before April 1st) You will have to contact the hotel at
Schedule of events:
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Brunch at the Chapter House
10:00 am
2800 N. 50th St., Lincoln, NE
2 Man-18 Hole Scramble, Mahoney
1:30 p.m. (shotgun start)
7900 Adams St,
Lincoln, NE
7:00 p.m.
You are on your own, but get a group of guys together and hit the town.
You may register online. Please
click here to register. Or look to the right of this page under Founder's Day tab, plus see who is going to be there. For additional information, please
contact Mario Ostiguin, Vice-President at the Theta Chi
Chapter House, mostigui@nebrwesleyan.edu.
Deadline to register is April 25, 2015.
All registration payments must be completed with Cash or Check,
contact Mario for special arrangements.
Payments can be sent to:
Theta Chi – Gamma Phi
c/o Mario Ostiguin
2800 N. 50th St.
Lincoln, NE 68506
We
look forward to seeing you in Lincoln, Nebraska on April 25, 2015!
About Mahoney
Some
say you can feel the spirit of the plains as you turn onto Adams Street.
Walk beneath the whispering oaks and you’ll understand the wonder Dick Watson experienced
as he first designed the property in 1976…and the exhilaration Mike Schuchart
felts when he plays this course. Take time to enjoy the relaxed Midwestern
hospitality of Lincoln with your family or your favorite foursome. It’s an
experience everyone deserves at least once…though you’ll find yourself coming
back for more. The 18-hole "Mahoney" course at the Mahoney Golf
Course facility in Lincoln, Nebraska features 6,459 yards of golf from the
longest tees for a par of 70. The course rating is 69.9 and it has a slope
rating of 113 on Blue grass.
Founder's Day 2015 / USO Golf Recap
Saturday April 25th 2015
The Theta Chi Founder's Day event on April 25 was well attended. Our Founder's Day at Gamma Phi includes the commemoration of the founding of Theta Chi Fraternity at Norwich University on April 10, 1856 and the transformation of Delta Sigma Chi, a local Wesleyan fraternity dating back to 1917. Delta Sigma Chi was installed as the Gamma Phi Chapter of Theta Chi on April 30, 1949. A delicious brunch was served by the Actives. House President, Connor Bohlken, provided an update on the chapter's recent successes. The brunch was then followed by the Theta Chi/USO Golf Tournament at Mahoney Golf Course. Proceeds of this event were contributed to the USO.
I continue to be favorably impressed by the young men at Gamma Phi.
Our next scheduled Theta Chi Alumni Association event will be the Alumni/Active Work Days at the fraternity house on August 13, 14, 15 & 16. This combined effort will be geared to working on refurbishment where needed to prepare our house for another successful "Rush Week" at Gamma Phi. In addition to this worthwhile effort, this will also be a great opportunity to get together with your Theta Chi brothers old and new. Brother Steve Wylie, class of 1965, has developed a comprehensive maintenance plan for our property. Working in conjunction with Trent Maly, President of the Building Corp, Dustin Bartley, House Director and Trevor Cochrane, House Property Manager, projects will be identified and then coordinated by Steve. His contact information, if you would like more information is as follows:
Tel: 405-401-1418
Email address: stephen.r.wylie@gmail.com
Steve serves on the board of the Alumni Association and the Theta Chi Building Corporation.
(He and wife, Patsy, reside in Edmond, Oklahoma.)
If you will be coming in from out of town, a recommendation for a hotel is the Comfort Suites at 331 North Cotner, (402) 325-8800. When making your reservation mention that you will be in Lincoln to participate in an Alumni event at Nebraska Wesleyan and you should be extended the NWU rate of $79 per night.
Jerry Clark '60, President - Alumni Association
----------------------------------------------
Thank you to all those who participated in our Inaugural Golf for USO Golf Tournament. In total 41 people participated in the event. With that being said, $725.00 was raised for the USO Foundation. None of that would have been possible without your support, thank you! We look forward to seeing you again next year! - Mario Ostiguin, Vice President
I continue to be favorably impressed by the young men at Gamma Phi.
Our next scheduled Theta Chi Alumni Association event will be the Alumni/Active Work Days at the fraternity house on August 13, 14, 15 & 16. This combined effort will be geared to working on refurbishment where needed to prepare our house for another successful "Rush Week" at Gamma Phi. In addition to this worthwhile effort, this will also be a great opportunity to get together with your Theta Chi brothers old and new. Brother Steve Wylie, class of 1965, has developed a comprehensive maintenance plan for our property. Working in conjunction with Trent Maly, President of the Building Corp, Dustin Bartley, House Director and Trevor Cochrane, House Property Manager, projects will be identified and then coordinated by Steve. His contact information, if you would like more information is as follows:
Tel: 405-401-1418
Email address: stephen.r.wylie@gmail.com
Steve serves on the board of the Alumni Association and the Theta Chi Building Corporation.
(He and wife, Patsy, reside in Edmond, Oklahoma.)
If you will be coming in from out of town, a recommendation for a hotel is the Comfort Suites at 331 North Cotner, (402) 325-8800. When making your reservation mention that you will be in Lincoln to participate in an Alumni event at Nebraska Wesleyan and you should be extended the NWU rate of $79 per night.
Jerry Clark '60, President - Alumni Association
----------------------------------------------
Thank you to all those who participated in our Inaugural Golf for USO Golf Tournament. In total 41 people participated in the event. With that being said, $725.00 was raised for the USO Foundation. None of that would have been possible without your support, thank you! We look forward to seeing you again next year! - Mario Ostiguin, Vice President
The winner of the raffle Prize which is the Performance Driver was Mr. Ritter.
Our first place winners are
Matt Sernett and Adam Ramirez 65/70 Both will receive $100 Gift Certificates
Our Second Place Winners are:
Aaron Duncan & David Joekel 72/70 will both receive $50 Gift Certificate
Closes to Pin (Tee Shot)
Hole 2
Jay Bohlken
Closes to Pin (Tee Shot)
Hole 14
Aaron Duncan
Closes to Pin from Off Green
Hole 18
Dylan Oates
Closest to Pin (Second Shot)
Hole 16
Mark Hunter
Longest Drive in Fairway
Hole 11
David Joekel
Longest Made Putt
Hole 10
Seth Hanna
Longest Made Putt
Hole 6
Curtis Pankoke
Closest to Pin (Tee Shot)
Hole 9
Brian Nielsen
Closest to Pond w/o Going In
Hole 8
Cody Schilling
Closest to Pin (Second Shot)
Hole 4
Jake Barnyard
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