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TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2022
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GLORY DAYS
Irrigon players
reminisce about
1955 district
championship
against Prairie City, with the
winner advancing to the state
B tournament.
Irrigon won the fi rst game
66-62, then dropped the next
two 61-57 and 79-62.
While Mann certainly was
the star of the show, he and
Ballard agreed that Edwards
was the fl oor leader.
“Ken was always under
control emotionally,” Ballard
said. “He would bring the ball
down and we knew he would
get things set up. He was a
quiet guy that settled us down
to do what we needed to do.”
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
I
RRIGON — They
strolled up to the high
school wearing their
still pristine letter-
man’s sweaters, books
of memories in hand, and tales
as tall as 6-foot-6 center Joe
Mann.
Two members of Irrigon’s
1955 7-B District Champion-
ship team visited Irrigon High
School on Friday, April 1,
wanting to get another look at
their trophy, and take a walk
down memory lane.
“It’s been so long since
I’ve seen this,” Mann said as
his 83-year-old hands held the
trophy.
Mann and Cliff Ballard, 82,
were two of the six members
of the championship team
that Grant Schiewe coached.
When they attended Irrigon,
the high school was down
behind the A.C. Houghton
Elementary School.
“The last time we saw it,
the gym fl oor was warped,”
Ballard said. “I think it had
water damage.”
The Morrow County
School District still owns the
old school building, built in
1921. The school colors were
black and orange, and the
mascot was the Comets, which
dates to 1904.
The former teammates
marveled at the new school
and gym, which is grand in
comparison to their old stomp-
ing grounds.
“The bleachers were only
about three rows up,” said
Ballard, who lives in Desert
Aire, Washington. “This is
nice.”
The 1955 district title was
the fi rst the Comets won and
holds special memories for the
players.
“There were only six of
us, but I don’t remember that
being a problem,” said Mann,
who made the trip from
McMinnville.
Other team members
included Ival Sullivan, who
died in February, the late Dale
Shingledecker, Ken Edwards
of Pendleton and Sam Burke,
whose whereabouts are
unknown to his former team-
mates.
Mann was a junior center
on the team, while Ballard was
a sophomore, but had earned a
starting guard position.
“I just fed him the ball,”
Ballard said of Mann.
An inquiry as to the lack
of players on the team was hit
with a hilarious reply from
Mann. He quickly asked for
it not to be printed, but it will
forever be remembered.
The Irrigon Comets were
around from 1904 to 1959,
when the students were
sent to Boardman. Irrigon
opened its own high school
once again in 2006, and they
Empty pages
Annie Fowler/East Oregonian
Joe Mann, left, and Cliff Ballard pose Friday, April 1, 2022,
with the 7-B District Championship trophy they helped the
Irrigon Comets win in 1955.
Contributed Photo
Members of the 1955 Irrigon Comets 7-B District Champi-
onship team from left are Cliff Ballard, Ken Edwards, Dale
Shingledecker, Joe Mann, Sam Burke, Ival Sullivan and coach
Grant Schiewe.
became the Knights.
A season to remember
The Comets got plenty of
press in 1955 with Mann at
the forefront. In high school he
was 6-6 and dominated play
on the court. He got recogni-
tion from the East Oregonian
on a weekly basis, and by The
Oregonian after he scored
more than 50 points in a game.
Irrigon went 6-9 during
the regular season with two
losses each to Ione, Echo and
St. Joe’s.
Mann scored 283 points in
the Comets’ fi rst 15 games,
and averaged 22.9 points in
seven league games. At the
time, Schiewe was quoted as
saying, “Joe has been more
valuable to us because of his
defense and rebounding than
his scoring.”
During the regular season,
Mann scored 53 points in a
76-59 victory over Touchet,
Washington. He had 50 points
at halftime and played just
three quarters. It was the Class
B scoring record at the time.
The Comets were the
No. 4 team heading into the
7-B District Tournament.
The media labeled them the
Cinderella team.
The underdog Comets
opened district with a 56-48
win over Athena, then moved
on to play Echo, which had
beaten them earlier in the
season 72-37 and 66-52.
But before we get to the
game, there’s a little story to
be told.
“We had warm-up jackets
back then, but not the pants,”
Mann said. “Echo had just
gotten new warm-ups, and our
athletic director went to Echo
and bought their old pants for
us. During pregame warmups,
their players were taunting
us, asking how we liked their
hand-me-downs.”
Mann went out and scored
46 points, and the Comets
came away with a 71-55
victory.
“I liked them just fine,”
Mann said.
In the district champion-
ship game against Ione, 1,700
fans packed the Umatilla
gym to watch one of the best
small-school games played all
season.
According to a well-pre-
served press clipping, “Irrigon
and Ione staged one of the two
of the evening’s thrill-packed
fi nals, a fi nish that left the over
1,700 fans attending limp and
wet.”
Mann scored one bucket
and made 2 of 4 free throws
in the fi nal 58 seconds to help
secure the 58-54 win. He
fi nished with 30 points.
“That was a cliff hanger,”
Ballard said.
In three tournament games,
Mann scored 110 points.
The Comets then entered
a three-game playoff series
The scrapbook that
preserved the 1955 season had
several blank pages after the
season was over.
Mann was a senior in
1956, but said they must not
have been very good because
he could not recall anything
memorable.
The powers that be at
Oregon Hoops History were
able to help us out, and Mann
was wrong.
Mann posted one of the
all-time great seasons in 1955-
56, scoring 719 points in 21
games (34 points per game).
It also was the fi nal season of
the narrow key, which was
widened from 6 feet to 12 feet
the following year.
He also scored 53 points his
senior year in a 61-59 loss to
Ione. Shingledecker scored the
other six points.
He fi nished his high school
career with 1,859 points.
Mann also played football,
and ran track and played base-
ball in the spring. He threw the
discus and shot put and did the
long jump in track, and was a
pitcher and fi rst baseman.
After high school, Mann
went to Oregon State for one
year and played on the rookie
team. He then spent four years
in the Navy, and returned to
Oregon State when he was
discharged.
He redshirted his first
season back with the Beavers
and coach Slats Gill in 1962-
63. The Beavers went to the
1963 NCAA Tournament —
a team that included Terry
Baker and Mel Counts. They
reached the Final Four, but
lost to top-ranked Cincinnati
80-46.
“After that season, I didn’t
play again,” said Mann, who
got his college degree 30 years
after he started.
After high school, Ballard
went on to play tennis at Ever-
ett Junior College, and later
worked in the paint industry.
Ballard went to the state
tennis tournament one year,
but did not place. His biggest
win came in a non-league
match over Hermiston’s
Dave Griffi n, who had been
a district champion the year
before.
It’s been 67 years since the
Comets won their district title,
but the years do not wipe away
the memories. After their visit,
they might have a few new
ones for their scrapbooks.
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
Pendleton’s Andy Oja races to a win in the 110-meter high
hurdles with a time of 15.45 seconds at the Clay Lewis In-
vite at Hanford High School on Saturday, April 2, 2022.
Albersh Kuwa (left) took second with a personal record of
15.62.
Sports highlights
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
RICHLAND — Andy
Oja won both hurdles
events, and Reilly Lover-
check won the long jump
and placed second in three
events as Pendleton made
a strong showing Saturday,
April 2, at the Clay Lewis
Invite at Hanford High
School.
Kamiakin won the
boys team title with 157.83
points, with Hanford
second at 139.5. Pendleton
was fi fth with 55.33 points.
Kamiakin also won
the girls title, with South-
ridge right behind with
137 points. Pendleton was
fourth with 74 points.
Oja turned in a time of
15.45 seconds to win the 110
hurdles, more than a second
faster than the second-place
fi nisher. In the 300 hurdles,
Oja ran a personal best 42
seconds.
Lovercheck soared
16-0 ¾ to win the long
jump, then placed second in
the 300 hurdles (50.96), 100
hurdles (16.94), and went
34-9 ½ in the triple jump,
which ranks her fi fth in the
school’s record book.
Nessa Neveau threw a
personal best of 96-6 to
place fifth in the javelin,
while Kelsey Lovercheck
cleared 9 feet in the pole
vault for third place, and
Muriel Hoisington was third
in the long jump (15-2 ¾).
BMCC brings
in 9 runs to split
doubleheader
PENDLETON — The
Blue Mountain Community
College Timberwolves split
their Northwest Athletic
Conference East double-
header on Saturday, April 2,
with the Big Bend Commu-
nity College Vikings of
Moses Lake, Washington,
to improve to 4-6 in East
play.
Playing in Pendleton,
the BMCC lost the first
game 16-6. In the opener,
Kennedy Robertson hit a
grand slam for BMCC in
the third inning.
In the second game, the
teams were locked 1-1 after
three innings. Big Bend
scored one in the top of
the fourth, while BMCC
answered with nine runs to
pull away. Elizabeth Tuhol-
ski pitched a complete game
for the win.
ON THE SLATE
TUESDAY, APRIL 5
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6
Prep baseball
Pendleton vs. Bend, at Hood
River, 2 p.m.
Enterprise at Heppner/Ione (2),
2 p.m.
Riverside at Stanfi eld/Echo, 4 p.m.
Union at Weston-McEwen, 4 p.m.
Hermiston at Southridge, 4 p.m.
Grant Union at Heppner, 4:30 p.m.
La Grande JV at Irrigon, 7 p.m.
Prep baseball
Baker/Powder Valley at McLough-
lin (2), 2 p.m.
Prep softball
Pilot Rock at Union (2), 3 p.m.
La Grande JV at Irrigon, 4 p.m.
Umatilla at Riverside, 4 p.m.
McLoughlin at Pendleton,
4:30 p.m.
Boys soccer
Walla Walla at Hermiston, 7 p.m.
Prep tennis
Weston-McEwen at Umatilla,
3:30 p.m.
Stanfi eld/Echo at Riverside,
4:30 p.m.
Track and fi eld
Heppner at Grant Union, 4 p.m.
Prep golf
Pendleton girls at Prineville Coun-
try Club, 11 a.m.
College softball
Treasure Valley at Blue Mountain
(2), 2 p.m.
Prep softball
Baker at McLoughlin (2), 2 p.m.
Prep tennis
Redmond boys at Pendleton,
3 p.m.
Pendleton girls at Redmond,
3 p.m.
College baseball
Yakima Valley at Blue Mountain
(2), 1 p.m.
THURSDAY, APRIL 7
Prep softball
Umatilla at Pendleton JV, 4 p.m.
Prep golf
Heppner Invitational, Willow
Creek Country Club, 1 p.m.
Prep tennis
Sherman at Irrigon 2 p.m.
Riverside at Weston-McEwen,
3:30 p.m.
Stanfi eld/Echo at Umatilla,
4:30 p.m.
Prep lacrosse
Hermiston at Mount Si, 7 p.m.
SPORTS SHORT
EOU Blue and Gold Weekend set to return to La Grande
The Observer
LA GRANDE — After a
two-year postponement due to
the coronavirus pandemic, East-
ern Oregon University will host
its Blue and Gold Weekend on
campus.
The community event is
scheduled to begin on Friday,
May 13, and conclude May 14.
The weekend is geared toward
community outreach and a gath-
ering of current students and
alumni.
“It’s about building connec-
tions and engagements with
our community, alumni and
students,” Athletic Director Anji
Weissenfl uh said in the universi-
ty’s announcement.
The two-day event includes
fun for all ages, with live music,
spike ball tournaments, barbe-
cue, cornhole and more. Alumni
will compete in a soccer game,
and the football team will host a
spring scrimmage.
Blue Mountain Summit Realty
Group and Fairway Mortgage are
sponsoring this year’s Blue and
Gold Weekend.
The university’s athletic
department will be fundrais-
ing through a silent auction in
the tailgate zone on campus —
the items set to be auctioned off
have been donated to the Eastern
Oregon athletic department.
Eastern Oregon University/Contributed Photo, File
Fans pack the stands at Community Stadium at Eastern Oregon Uni-
versity, La Grande, in this October 2016 photo. After a two-year post-
ponement due to the coronavirus pandemic, EOU host its Blue and Gold
Weekend on campus May 13 and 14, 2022.