Been working on this one for about a week. What a labor of love for sure. Hope you enjoy!
STINESVILLE, Ind. -- It has happened twice in our tourney’s great history. A high school basketball team and all the community support and trappings that go with it were busy preparing for the climax of the Indiana sports calendar - the IHSAA state basketball tournament. However, something went terribly wrong.
The principal forgot to mail in the school’s Sectional entry form.
It was such a simple omission, but one that would hit a community like a neutron bomb.
Principal Archie Breeden felt all the wrath that one Hoosier town could muster after finding the entry form under a stack of papers on his desk.
...After the entry deadline.
One can almost feel the wave of panic the Stinesville administrator must have felt as the weight of his mistake fell across his mind and body.
Accounts at the time point to harried phone calls placed to the IHSAA office and specifically to Commissioner L.V. Phillips - Which would prove fruitless.
1946 Stinesville Quarry Lads
To make matters worse, Stinesville’s prospects for Sectional success were better than decent that year. The Stinesville Quarry Lads had finished 12-6 and were ranked second in Monroe County.
Principal Breeden, to his credit, took the blame like a champ. He even went so far as to call a convocation on a Friday afternoon to announce and attempt to explain all that his mistake would mean to the school. He had simply forgotten.
A rabbid community immediately called for the principal’s job and, in some cases, head.
The Associated Press at the time cited “irate patrons, citizens, and taxpayers” demanding his resignation.
One school patron pointed to wasted money spent on new uniforms as salt in the wound.
“In good old Bean Blossom Twp. citizens intend to rise up when the interest is so low in school sports the principal fails to enter the team to play in the Sectional tourney after a successful season and spending $250 on new suits.”
Senior William 'Hunchy' Swafford
Quarry Lad senior forward William Swafford very well might have saved Breeden’s hide when he publicly stated, “My teammates and I are heart-sick and disappointed about missing the Sectional...but we have no hard feelings toward the Principal.”
If Breeden was ever looking for sympathy, he very well might have found it in his brother-in-errs, Royerton High School Principal Maurice O’Bannon.
In 1918 first-year principal O’Bannon made the same mistake with the same results. No tourney. What made Royerton’s omission especially painful was the fact that most felt the Redbirds were thought to be the best team in eastern Indiana that season.
Early century stars, Mark Shafer, Whitehead, Gump, Lambert, and Riggins had bested all-comers under Coach J.S. Shepherd. (Also worth noting: Every senior on the team joined the military following graduation and served during WWI.)
A newspaper account at the time reported that Royerton had “beaten just about everybody in their neck of the woods and were top favorites to capture the Sectional at New Castle.” The same column went on to state, “Muncie High School wasn’t too bad, but they admitted they were scared of Royerton.”
An account in O’Bannon’s obituary many years later stated the town “wanted his scalp.”
Epilogue
Principal O’Bannon survived his gaffe and would continue in his role as adminstrator at Royerton for three more years. He would go on to serve as president of the Indiana State Teacher Association and later became a professor at Ball State.
Principal Breeden resigned from Stinesville that May after eight years of service. The Indianapolis Star reported at the time that school trustees were allegedly willing to overlook his oversight and were in fact going to renew his contract. Reports of anonymous death threats spurred his actions. He was not out of work long, however, as he was hired as principal at New Washington that June. Reportedly he never missed another Sectional entry deadline the remainder of his career.
Special thank you to Monroe County History Center for helping me track down photos from the 1946 Stinesville Quarrian yearbook.
STINESVILLE, Ind. -- It has happened twice in our tourney’s great history. A high school basketball team and all the community support and trappings that go with it were busy preparing for the climax of the Indiana sports calendar - the IHSAA state basketball tournament. However, something went terribly wrong.
The principal forgot to mail in the school’s Sectional entry form.
It was such a simple omission, but one that would hit a community like a neutron bomb.
Principal Archie Breeden felt all the wrath that one Hoosier town could muster after finding the entry form under a stack of papers on his desk.
...After the entry deadline.
One can almost feel the wave of panic the Stinesville administrator must have felt as the weight of his mistake fell across his mind and body.
Accounts at the time point to harried phone calls placed to the IHSAA office and specifically to Commissioner L.V. Phillips - Which would prove fruitless.
1946 Stinesville Quarry Lads
To make matters worse, Stinesville’s prospects for Sectional success were better than decent that year. The Stinesville Quarry Lads had finished 12-6 and were ranked second in Monroe County.
Principal Breeden, to his credit, took the blame like a champ. He even went so far as to call a convocation on a Friday afternoon to announce and attempt to explain all that his mistake would mean to the school. He had simply forgotten.
A rabbid community immediately called for the principal’s job and, in some cases, head.
The Associated Press at the time cited “irate patrons, citizens, and taxpayers” demanding his resignation.
One school patron pointed to wasted money spent on new uniforms as salt in the wound.
“In good old Bean Blossom Twp. citizens intend to rise up when the interest is so low in school sports the principal fails to enter the team to play in the Sectional tourney after a successful season and spending $250 on new suits.”
Senior William 'Hunchy' Swafford
Quarry Lad senior forward William Swafford very well might have saved Breeden’s hide when he publicly stated, “My teammates and I are heart-sick and disappointed about missing the Sectional...but we have no hard feelings toward the Principal.”
If Breeden was ever looking for sympathy, he very well might have found it in his brother-in-errs, Royerton High School Principal Maurice O’Bannon.
In 1918 first-year principal O’Bannon made the same mistake with the same results. No tourney. What made Royerton’s omission especially painful was the fact that most felt the Redbirds were thought to be the best team in eastern Indiana that season.
Early century stars, Mark Shafer, Whitehead, Gump, Lambert, and Riggins had bested all-comers under Coach J.S. Shepherd. (Also worth noting: Every senior on the team joined the military following graduation and served during WWI.)
A newspaper account at the time reported that Royerton had “beaten just about everybody in their neck of the woods and were top favorites to capture the Sectional at New Castle.” The same column went on to state, “Muncie High School wasn’t too bad, but they admitted they were scared of Royerton.”
An account in O’Bannon’s obituary many years later stated the town “wanted his scalp.”
Epilogue
Principal O’Bannon survived his gaffe and would continue in his role as adminstrator at Royerton for three more years. He would go on to serve as president of the Indiana State Teacher Association and later became a professor at Ball State.
Principal Breeden resigned from Stinesville that May after eight years of service. The Indianapolis Star reported at the time that school trustees were allegedly willing to overlook his oversight and were in fact going to renew his contract. Reports of anonymous death threats spurred his actions. He was not out of work long, however, as he was hired as principal at New Washington that June. Reportedly he never missed another Sectional entry deadline the remainder of his career.
Special thank you to Monroe County History Center for helping me track down photos from the 1946 Stinesville Quarrian yearbook.
