Missoula Hellgate Is Best MT High School Team I've Ever Seen

[IdaGriz01]

I was always told the best MT HS team was the 1934 Anaconda team. I believe they won state that year in the big 32. And I think that was the last time Anaconda won it all in boys BB.
They were the original “fab 5.” Actually, they were called the “wonder-five.”
I have not been able to confirm this but I was told all five of them went on to play, and eventually start, for the Griz. If true, it would be hard to beat 5 D1’s all on one team.

Results of some research: The 1934 Anaconda BBall team missed an undefeated regular season by one game, which was considered an upset. They then largely walked through the state championship. The names I could find who went on to play college BBall at UM were: Miller, Chumrau, Thomson, and Lazetich. According to clippings I found, a fifth member of that team, Devich, went on the play for Creighton. Other scorers on the 1934 team were Marinkovich and Vaugh. I couldn't find out whether or not they played in college. But that was clearly one hell of a team. (Unfortunately, the box scores and rosters I found did not give the first names.)

I get frustrated when a piece of information is missing, so I did some more looking. Found an obit for Charles “Chawky” Miller in the Missoulian for January 21, 2009. Key quote:

Chawky was born Oct. 2, 1914, in Anaconda. He attended Anaconda High School, where he was a member of the "Wonder 5" basketball team that won the Montana state championship in 1934. The team, which also included Paul Chumrau, Bill Lazatich, Mike Devich and Cat Thompson, played with a magical sense of teamwork and skill to top all of the much bigger schools.

Notice that the box scores showed the last name as “Thomson,” BTW.

I figure it's better to recall some Griz/Montana sports history than to get into a pissing match that there's not much hope of deciding objectively.

 

[zengriz]

...holy dark ages...
...so far back in the day...
...anaconda was pronounced..anacanooch...

... :shock: ...

 

[Spanky2]

Bill Lazetich played football and basketball for the Griz. Coached at Billings Senior for years.

 

[IdaGriz01]

Bill Lazetich played football and basketball for the Griz. Coached at Billings Senior for years.

As I recall in one of the clippings about him, he lost part of a HS football season with a broken arm. Played fullback, I believe.

 

[UMFan12]

Have not seen either team, so I cannot speak to the comparative talent. But I gather the crux may come down to all-out offense versus structured D with conventional O. That I have seen and, in my experience, the result often turns on how the game is called. If the refs blow their whistles at every bit of contact, making it hard on the defense, and the all-out O team can make its freebies ... the O-oriented team can win even if they don't have quite as much talent. But if the refs let the defensive players hand-check, body-up, and so on ... the all-out O team is going to have a lot of trouble.

No disrespect towards any of you but I think you are all making an over generalization of Native American hoops in general. The good teams from reservation schools are not undisciplined at all. They play at a faster pace and they play hard on defense and create a lot of turnovers. They have structure but they just push the ball. This Hardin team is not what a lot of you are thinking. They are more physical and more disciplined than most teams they play. They don't just "roll out the ball" and go. They are really well coached. They have a really effective full court zone press and they have sets on offense that put the ball in Famous Left Hand's "hands" and he can score and pass. The team that plays them the best is Livingston. They are a really well coached team and will hold the ball for 3 minutes. And Livingston is next up for them at tourney. Should be a good game.

No offense, but how do you expect that a team that has close tight games with Livingston is about to come and hang for 4 quarters against a team that can beat Sentinel by 30?

Livingston is a pretty good team. They will hold the ball to stay close. Would Hellgate hold the ball? Didn't Sentinel just lose to Big Sky? There is not as big of difference between the good teams in Class A and the good teams in Class AA as you think. The year in and year out games that Billings Central and Laurel play against Billings AA schools are usually competitive. Or look at Butte playing Butte Central and Dillion year in and year out. Or when Columbia Falls had their good run a few years ago and they would roll Kalispell schools. The Class A schools around Missoula haven't been great so you might not get to see that in person. But I have watched this Hardin team for last three years. They are a special group.

So you really are as uninformed as you seem. After Hellgate blew out Sentinel, 3 of the Sentinel players including Frolich Fair and Germer got into a huge fight in the locker room. Since then, parents have started yelling at other people’s kids, and I have some inside scoop Frolich Fair is likely to transfer. The loss to Big Sky was a result of this. Truly the worst team chemistry in the state thanks to Hellgate.

 

[Spanky2]

12, sounds like you may be a proud Dad. Hellgate must be a good team. Just don’t sell Indian teams short as I’ve known some players who would embarrass the young players on the Hellgate team. Also, any comments that they don’t play good defense are wrong.

 

[sdk.catfish]

by UMFan12 » Thu Feb 27, 2020 5:37 pm

Livingston is a pretty good team. They will hold the ball to stay close. Would Hellgate hold the ball? Didn't Sentinel just lose to Big Sky? There is not as big of difference between the good teams in Class A and the good teams in Class AA as you think. The year in and year out games that Billings Central and Laurel play against Billings AA schools are usually competitive. Or look at Butte playing Butte Central and Dillion year in and year out. Or when Columbia Falls had their good run a few years ago and they would roll Kalispell schools. The Class A schools around Missoula haven't been great so you might not get to see that in person. But I have watched this Hardin team for last three years. They are a special group.

Maybe a case for the big 32, I think that is what it was called, to re-emerge. I remember the games between Kalispell, Columbia Falls, Whitefish, and Libby (Agather twins and Racicot). They were very competitive. Not like football where numbers of athletes turning out make a big difference. Put 8 really good players together and good things are possible. I think I remember another name from the Columbia Falls team - Schulte - who was a really good big. Come on Northwest Montana, you remember those days. I don't think everybody has passed.

 

[UncleRico]

No disrespect towards any of you but I think you are all making an over generalization of Native American hoops in general. The good teams from reservation schools are not undisciplined at all. They play at a faster pace and they play hard on defense and create a lot of turnovers. They have structure but they just push the ball. This Hardin team is not what a lot of you are thinking. They are more physical and more disciplined than most teams they play. They don't just "roll out the ball" and go. They are really well coached. They have a really effective full court zone press and they have sets on offense that put the ball in Famous Left Hand's "hands" and he can score and pass. The team that plays them the best is Livingston. They are a really well coached team and will hold the ball for 3 minutes. And Livingston is next up for them at tourney. Should be a good game.

No offense, but how do you expect that a team that has close tight games with Livingston is about to come and hang for 4 quarters against a team that can beat Sentinel by 30?

Livingston is a pretty good team. They will hold the ball to stay close. Would Hellgate hold the ball? Didn't Sentinel just lose to Big Sky? There is not as big of difference between the good teams in Class A and the good teams in Class AA as you think. The year in and year out games that Billings Central and Laurel play against Billings AA schools are usually competitive. Or look at Butte playing Butte Central and Dillion year in and year out. Or when Columbia Falls had their good run a few years ago and they would roll Kalispell schools. The Class A schools around Missoula haven't been great so you might not get to see that in person. But I have watched this Hardin team for last three years. They are a special group.

So you really are as uninformed as you seem. After Hellgate blew out Sentinel, 3 of the Sentinel players including Frolich Fair and Germer got into a huge fight in the locker room. Since then, parents have started yelling at other people’s kids, and I have some inside scoop Frolich Fair is likely to transfer. The loss to Big Sky was a result of this. Truly the worst team chemistry in the state thanks to Hellgate.
[/quote
So once again the Western AA got even weaker? A lot of bad teams in that conference. So now Sebtinel is bad along with Butte, Flathead, Helena and Big Sky?

 

[CatGrad-UMGradStu]

by UMFan12 » Thu Feb 27, 2020 5:37 pm

Livingston is a pretty good team. They will hold the ball to stay close. Would Hellgate hold the ball? Didn't Sentinel just lose to Big Sky? There is not as big of difference between the good teams in Class A and the good teams in Class AA as you think. The year in and year out games that Billings Central and Laurel play against Billings AA schools are usually competitive. Or look at Butte playing Butte Central and Dillion year in and year out. Or when Columbia Falls had their good run a few years ago and they would roll Kalispell schools. The Class A schools around Missoula haven't been great so you might not get to see that in person. But I have watched this Hardin team for last three years. They are a special group.

Maybe a case for the big 32, I think that is what it was called, to re-emerge. I remember the games between Kalispell, Columbia Falls, Whitefish, and Libby (Agather twins and Racicot). They were very competitive. Not like football where numbers of athletes turning out make a big difference. Put 8 really good players together and good things are possible. I think I remember another name from the Columbia Falls team - Schulte - who was a really good big. Come on Northwest Montana, you remember those days. I don't think everybody has passed.

I concur about the Big 32.


What I recall about the Big 32 and how it ended was Libby, Laurel and Wolf Point. For what it's worth, the first time Hardin played Lodge Grass this year the score was 112-92 if I recall correctly. Lodge Grass is really young this year and it'll be a shame to not get to watch Hardin and Lodge Grass play after Lockwood opens.

 

[anchorage ak]

So we can all agree that Hellgate is special this year...

However, in the last 30 years, this is arguably the 3rd best team that the Hays clan has put on the floor. The JR Camel/Ryan Dick state championship duo of the 90’s was outstanding as was the Tres Tinkle two loss team from five seasons ago. All 5 Hellgate players matriculated to college b-ball on that beast squad. Baerlocher was a stud at St. Martin’s for 4 years. Tinkle is arguably the best high school player ever from the Treasure State.

Having said that, let’s not forget that the state AA champ from that season with Tinkle was Skyview who had RayQuan Evans (Florida State) and Kendall Manuel (Griz) in their backcourt.

Also at that state tourney was GF High with Brendan Howard and Matt Wyman. West was also loaded and runner up at state with Jared Samuelson as their big dog.

So it’s premature to say that the Rollie and Abe version 3.0 of the Knights is the best ever.

They’re great though and I’ll reiterate that they’d have their bench cleared in the middle of the fourth quarter as they rolled up any Class A schools like Hardin — c’mon really?!?

 

[PlayerRep]

Bill Lazetich played football and basketball for the Griz. Coached at Billings Senior for years.

My dad and Bill were good friends. Bill used to take my dad to the Lazetich ranch near Anaconda on breaks, when it was too far for my dad to get home. Pete and I were good friends during high school and college and a bit beyond. I see him only occasionally now. We had some fun nights at Stanford and at the Delt house during college. What a personality he was and is.

 

[PlayerRep]

"The Knights’ 19-point win in a battle of the state’s top two scoring offenses was their third-smallest margin of victory in 14 conference games. It lowered their average margin of victory this season to 28.7 points per game but still keeps them as the state’s No. 1 scoring offense (69.9 points per game) and No. 1 scoring defense (41.2 points allowed per game)."

 

[garizzalies]

I was always told the best MT HS team was the 1934 Anaconda team. I believe they won state that year in the big 32. And I think that was the last time Anaconda won it all in boys BB.
They were the original “fab 5.” Actually, they were called the “wonder-five.”
I have not been able to confirm this but I was told all five of them went on to play, and eventually start, for the Griz. If true, it would be hard to beat 5 D1’s all on one team.

Results of some research: The 1934 Anaconda BBall team missed an undefeated regular season by one game, which was considered an upset. They then largely walked through the state championship. The names I could find who went on to play college BBall at UM were: Miller, Chumrau, Thomson, and Lazetich. According to clippings I found, a fifth member of that team, Devich, went on the play for Creighton. Other scorers on the 1934 team were Marinkovich and Vaugh. I couldn't find out whether or not they played in college. But that was clearly one hell of a team. (Unfortunately, the box scores and rosters I found did not give the first names.)

I get frustrated when a piece of information is missing, so I did some more looking. Found an obit for Charles “Chawky” Miller in the Missoulian for January 21, 2009. Key quote:

Chawky was born Oct. 2, 1914, in Anaconda. He attended Anaconda High School, where he was a member of the "Wonder 5" basketball team that won the Montana state championship in 1934. The team, which also included Paul Chumrau, Bill Lazatich, Mike Devich and Cat Thompson, played with a magical sense of teamwork and skill to top all of the much bigger schools.

Notice that the box scores showed the last name as “Thomson,” BTW.

I figure it's better to recall some Griz/Montana sports history than to get into a pissing match that there's not much hope of deciding objectively.

This is really cool. Thanks!
There might have been better players, but I’m not sure there was a better team. Hell even in Anaconda, I don’t believe Estes won a title, nor Kalafat. And even Braxton lost a chipper.
I saw ole Willie’s letter sweater once. 9 letter stipes—FB, BB, And track x3yrs.
When Willie was a coach in Billings, his son little Pete won a chipper for his old man and made the winning bucket in OT.

 

[garizzalies]

Bill Lazetich played football and basketball for the Griz. Coached at Billings Senior for years.

My dad and Bill were good friends. Bill used to take my dad to the Lazetich ranch near Anaconda on breaks, when it was too far for my dad to get home. Pete and I were good friends during high school and college and a bit beyond. I see him only occasionally now. We had some fun nights at Stanford and at the Delt house during college. What a personality he was and is.

When little Pete was inducted into the MT hall of fame, they showed this footage from an old NFL Films reel. Possibly the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. It was an interview he gave after being traded. I’ve been trying to find it ever since. Pure comedy super gold.

 

[braves84]

No disrespect towards any of you but I think you are all making an over generalization of Native American hoops in general. The good teams from reservation schools are not undisciplined at all. They play at a faster pace and they play hard on defense and create a lot of turnovers. They have structure but they just push the ball. This Hardin team is not what a lot of you are thinking. They are more physical and more disciplined than most teams they play. They don't just "roll out the ball" and go. They are really well coached. They haven't a really effective full court zone press and they have sets on offense that put the ball in Famous Left Hand's "hands" and he can score and pass. The team that plays them the best is Livingston. They are a really well coached team and will hold the ball for 3 minutes. And Livingston is next up for them at tourney. Should be a good game.

No offense, but how do you expect that a team that has close tight games with Livingston is about to come and hang for 4 quarters against a team that can beat Sentinel by 30?

Livingston is a pretty good team. They will hold the ball to stay close. Would Hellgate hold the ball? Didn't Sentinel just lose to Big Sky? There is not as big of difference between the good teams in Class A and the good teams in Class AA as you think. The year in and year out games that Billings Central and Laurel play against Billings AA schools are usually competitive. Or look at Butte playing Butte Central and Dillion year in and year out. Or when Columbia Falls had their good run a few years ago and they would roll Kalispell schools. The Class A schools around Missoula haven't been great so you might not get to see that in person. But I have watched this Hardin team for last three years. They are a special group.

So you really are as uninformed as you seem. After Hellgate blew out Sentinel, 3 of the Sentinel players including Frolich Fair and Germer got into a huge fight in the locker room. Since then, parents have started yelling at other people’s kids, and I have some inside scoop Frolich Fair is likely to transfer. The loss to Big Sky was a result of this. Truly the worst team chemistry in the state thanks to Hellgate.

That's impossible, don't you know everybody on a team sport gets along with everybody else, it's all sunshine and rainbows in a locker room. Just kidding.

 

[AllWeatherFan]

The Sentinel High School 1972-1973 basketball championship teams were certainly contenders for Missoula's "best ever."

 

[zengriz]

...getting like the football forum...
...say it in espanol so not to offend...
...el dicko measuremundo contesto...

... :| ...

 

[UncleRico]

So we can all agree that Hellgate is special this year...

However, in the last 30 years, this is arguably the 3rd best team that the Hays clan has put on the floor. The JR Camel/Ryan Dick state championship duo of the 90’s was outstanding as was the Tres Tinkle two loss team from five seasons ago. All 5 Hellgate players matriculated to college b-ball on that beast squad. Baerlocher was a stud at St. Martin’s for 4 years. Tinkle is arguably the best high school player ever from the Treasure State.

Having said that, let’s not forget that the state AA champ from that season with Tinkle was Skyview who had RayQuan Evans (Florida State) and Kendall Manuel (Griz) in their backcourt.

Also at that state tourney was GF High with Brendan Howard and Matt Wyman. West was also loaded and runner up at state with Jared Samuelson as their big dog.

So it’s premature to say that the Rollie and Abe version 3.0 of the Knights is the best ever.

They’re great though and I’ll reiterate that they’d have their bench cleared in the middle of the fourth quarter as they rolled up any Class A schools like Hardin — c’mon really?!?

Hardin beat Livingston (a team better than half of Western AA) today 67-33. A lot of you have this idea that Missoula is the Mecca of high school basketball in Montana. In the last 20 years Hellgate has won two state championships. No other Missoula school has won one. But schools from Billings have won five (West 3 and Skyview 2), Great Falls have won seven (CMR 6 and Bison 1) and Bozeman has won four. That is 15 of the last 20 from schools in the Eastern AA. The Eastern A schools compete with these schools in nonconference games and Hardin this year is better than all of them. C'mon really?

 

[Spanky2]

Rico, they can’t accept that Hardin could be good. 12 has in his mind that Hellgate is a national team and should be measured accordingly.

 

[UMFan12]

So we can all agree that Hellgate is special this year...

However, in the last 30 years, this is arguably the 3rd best team that the Hays clan has put on the floor. The JR Camel/Ryan Dick state championship duo of the 90’s was outstanding as was the Tres Tinkle two loss team from five seasons ago. All 5 Hellgate players matriculated to college b-ball on that beast squad. Baerlocher was a stud at St. Martin’s for 4 years. Tinkle is arguably the best high school player ever from the Treasure State.

Having said that, let’s not forget that the state AA champ from that season with Tinkle was Skyview who had RayQuan Evans (Florida State) and Kendall Manuel (Griz) in their backcourt.

Also at that state tourney was GF High with Brendan Howard and Matt Wyman. West was also loaded and runner up at state with Jared Samuelson as their big dog.

So it’s premature to say that the Rollie and Abe version 3.0 of the Knights is the best ever.

They’re great though and I’ll reiterate that they’d have their bench cleared in the middle of the fourth quarter as they rolled up any Class A schools like Hardin — c’mon really?!?

Hardin beat Livingston (a team better than half of Western AA) today 67-33. A lot of you have this idea that Missoula is the Mecca of high school basketball in Montana. In the last 20 years Hellgate has won two state championships. No other Missoula school has won one. But schools from Billings have won five (West 3 and Skyview 2), Great Falls have won seven (CMR 6 and Bison 1) and Bozeman has won four. That is 15 of the last 20 from schools in the Eastern AA. The Eastern A schools compete with these schools in nonconference games and Hardin this year is better than all of them. C'mon really?

Hellgate will win state with ease. And Billings schools aren’t any good this year not much of a feat to be better than them, and sorry. But West beats Hardin 4 of 6 times. Hellgate beats them 4 of 4 with ease.