Published: March 19, 2015
Hartford Union: 1953
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News
Bob Talajkowski was a starter on the Hartford Union boys
basketball team that reached the WIAA state tournament in 1953. He went to
state again, this time as a coach, with the Orioles’ girls basketball team four
times in the 1990s and 2000s.
In 40 years, what’s changed with the state tournament?
“It’s always electric; no matter who makes it,” Talajkowski
said. “I’ve gone to a lot of state tournaments. The schools really enjoy it.
It’s a great time. Everybody’s rooting for their team. It’s a great community
builder.”
Talajkowski was a junior at Hartford in the 1952-53 season.
He was in his third year as a starter. Also in the starting lineup for the 1953
Orioles were Dennis Carroll, Jim Stracka, Bill Chaplin and Jerry Schwartz. The
reserves were Don Hagen, Howard Hagen, William Dierterich, Chester Bliss and
Wayne Fischer.
The coach was Hal Beatty.
“We always played together through our whole high school
careers,” Talajkowski said. “We were good friends. ... We grew up together.”
Talajkowski, who is 79, made the varsity team as a freshman
for the 1950-51 season.
The Orioles teams at that time were some of the best in
southeastern Wisconsin. They won three straight Wisconsin Little Ten Conference
championships from 1950-53. They won 27 straight conference games.
At that time, there were no schemes. Teams mostly just
played. But because this team did so much together, they were a well-oiled
machine.
“We shot the ball well,” Talajkowski said.
Going into the 1952-53 season, the Orioles had their
postseason runs cut short, including in the sectional final to Baraboo in 1951.
“We were close,” Talajkowski said.
When the Orioles finally broke through with the sectional
championship in 1953, it was a dream come true.
“It was a highlight of my athletic career, being at the
state tournament,” Talajkowski said.
According to the WIAA Yearbook after the 1952-53 school
year, the Orioles were the darkhorse of the tournament.
It was easy to give them that label.
“It was one division and only eight schools made it and we
were one of the smallest schools that got through the sectionals,” Talajkowski
said. At the time, Hartford had a population of 2,549 people and about 400-500
attended the high school. Today, there are more than 14,000 people in the city
of Hartford and the enrollment for the high school is more than 1,400.
“It was a big deal,” Talajkowski said of the Orioles and the
city of Hartford to make the state tournament. “The other teams were from big
towns.”
Also in the state field in 1953 were Menasha, Beloit, Eau
Claire, Superior East, Birnamwood, Sheboygan Central and Tomah.
“We were close twice before this and we finally made it,”
Talajkowski said. “It wasn’t unexpected.”
Carroll and Stracka were considered two of the tournament’s
premier players, according to the WIAA Yearbook.
Carroll was the sharpshooter from just about anywhere on the
court, while Stracka was the man in the middle, anchoring the center of the
Orioles’ offense and defense.
In the state quarterfinal, Hartford beat Eau Claire, 58-51,
after building a sizable lead in the first half.
In the state semifinal, Hartford led Menasha late in the
fourth quarter. However, Menasha won, 62-51.
Menasha then defeated Sheboygan Central, 61-57, in the
championship game.
“We were young when we first lost (to Baraboo),” Talajkowski
said about the team’s development. “We had freshmen and sophomores on the team.
We got more physical and stronger and we got better, played better.”
Today, there are five divisions in the state tournament and
20 teams make it to state.
“It was a life-changing event because it didn’t happen to many
teams,” Talajkowski said. “Now there’s five divisions. At that time there was
one, you had to beat a lot of teams in a lot of areas. We had to go to Madison
to play in the sectional final.”
One of the biggest differences between the tournament in the
1950s to when Talajkowski returned to state as a coach 40 years later was how
the community responded.
“The whole town was excited about it,” he said of the
community’s support in 1953. “It was a lot of fun.”
“When I played everybody knew everybody; there were no
strangers,” Talajkowski said, adding reaching state brings communities
together.
“It’s a great community builder,” he said.
Talajkowski was apart of four state tournament appearances
by Hartford’s girls program from the early 1990s into the 2000s.
“It created great memories for us,” Talajkowski said.
Memories that are still hanging around 62 years later.
No comments:
Post a Comment