A look back at Sheffield-Chapin boys state team 50 years later

It has been 50 years since the Sheffield-Chapin boys basketball team made it to the state tournament and that season continues to be a fond memory for those involved in the team. Sheffield-Chapin went 25-1 under head coach Jim Cuvelier that year with the one loss coming at the hands of Orange City Unity Christian 62-58 in the quarterfinals. Orange City Unity Christian went on to win the Class A state championship. That season was a special one as it was the first time that a Sheffield team had made it to the state tournament.

Former guard Doug Peter said that heading into the season that the team thought they had a good team but was not sure of how good they really were. 

“There were a lot of good teams ahead of us,” Doug said. “You need to have a little bit of luck and things just have to fall just right.”

Doug said that it was pretty cool for the team to go undefeated throughout the season not only for the team itself but for the community as well.

“When you get a teamlike that the fans are going nuts and following you everywhere and the community empties out when ball games happen on the road,” Doug said. “When we went out to Des Moines to play it seemed like the whole town went.”

With the community support and when it became clear how special the team was that year, Doug said that the players felt like the big men on campus.

“You were getting a lot of pats on the back, that's for sure,” Doug said. “We got to go up to the tv station in Mason City and we were on the sportscast. It was pretty cool we had a send off to go to Des Moines and the fire trucks led us out of town and back into town after the state tournament game and we had a big pep rally and the mayor was there and it was a big deal. I think it was an even bigger deal for all the parents that were involved who were excited for their kids to be on a state tournament team.”

According to Doug the team was a run and gun fast pace team where rebounding and fast breaks were areas the team focused on . Doug said that he thinks the team realized how good they were when they beat Lu Verene.

“They were undefeated when we played them and I thought yeah we are going to be pretty good,” Doug said.

Doug’s cousin and fellow former guard Terry Peter said that one thing that stands out to him about the team is how hard the team worked and another was how well they played together.

“It was my senior year and we got close to playing in the state tournament the previous year and this one everything came together,” Terry said. “We had real good chemistry and we worked really hard at it and the coaches were really good and they did a great job getting us to where we needed to be."

Terry said that the previous year the team had only lost three games, so during the 1974 season that the players did think about how good they were playing at the time.

“We had a pretty good program going and we were getting better every year,” Terry said. “We had good seniors that came together and we had a really good start to the year and we had some games that were close but we knew that we had the ability to get to state if things went the way we wanted to.”

After the season ended, Doug said that one thing that he said the team felt like they were good enough to go all the way so with falling short that they could have won that game and Doug said that he still feels that way all these years later.

“We got down 17 points in the first half and someway we found a way to claw back into it and tied the game with about 3:00 left to go,” Doug said. “We ended up losing by four and to this day we feel like we probably could have won that day.”

Terry said that one thing he remembers the most about that season is how close that final game was.

“We had a poor first half but came back to tie it up and we got beat by four, but the resilience of that team. It was a fun year and we had some really good games and some really good people to work with and it was a great season.”

One thing that Terry said he remembers after the loss was the disappointment from the team.

“We knew we could have won if a couple of things happened,” Terry said. “I shot the ball terrible and we did not have the best game in the first half and that was probably the worst first two quarters we played all year. But you can’t ask for a lot more because there are plenty of people who don’t get that opportunity. So we felt blessed but we were disappointed we didn't play as well as we could have.”

Terry said that he did not feel any extra pressure with the fact that it was the first time the school had made it to the state tournament and that it was a great feeling to make it that far.

“We were a pretty competitive group and we all wanted to win pretty bad,” Terry said. “I don’t think we felt any pressure about being the first one. I don’t know if we put any extra pressure on ourselves but we were 17 and 18-year olds and didn’t know any better probably. It seemed like it was a routine thing. We expected to win and there wasn’t a game we went into that we did not feel like we were going to win. Not that we were overconfident but that we felt we had the ability and the talent and worked harder than a lot of people.”

The team’s center Tom Koenigsberg said looking back on the season that it was one of the great experiences of his life.

“Especially at such a young age to be able to have the camaraderie with that group of guys and athletic success that year and other years it was really a great memory and a great experience,” Koenigsberg said.

One moment that really stands out to Koeingsberg was how it was a privilege to play with his teammates.

“It was a really good group of good guys and we all got along really well and in team sports the one thing that has to happen is that you function as a team,” Koeingsberg said. “And if you don’t it is really difficult to win. We had the fortune to get along as we had a group of great young men and that helped our performance on the court.”

Koeingsberg said that throughout the season that everyone on the team contributed and that different people stepped up during the season to help the tema. 

“No one was selfish and it was a unique situation in team sports that I have experienced,” Koeingsberg said.

Koeingsberg said that around half way through the season and with the team still undefeated that it was around then when he started to think the team had something special. Koeingsberg said that coach Cuvelier and assistant coach Tom Schockemoehi were outstanding and that the players felt like they were getting individual attention from the coaches.

“Between coach Cuvelier and coach Schockemoehi we had great coaching that year and I think that helped us as well,” Koeingsberg said. “The whole team all the way to the managers were great people and we got along well and had a lot of fun and that makes it such a memorable experience.”

The quality of the guys on the team, the camaraderie, the great coaching, and the unselfish play of the team and the skill of the entire team were all reasons that Koeingsberg said were reasons for the team’s success.

“If you don’t have the skills you can’t step up in the moment and I think everyone on the team had different skills for different times and as a result when they had the opportunity to step up they did and that just made it all the more fun,” Koeingsberg said. “To celebrate someone who stepped in and had a moment was so much fun.”

When it came to the final game, Koeinsberg said that he felt like it was a subpar game for him.

“I think I could have performed at a much higher level,” Koeinsberg said. “For whatever reason because of the venue or because it was a big game I just remember it was such a big arena that it was a very different place to play. Everyone else seemed to play fine and I just had a subpar performance. They were a really good team but if we had played at our optimum level we would have beaten them I think.”

Even though it may have ended in a way that the team he would not have liked, Koeinsberg said that it was a privilege to play at Des Moines.

“It was terrific to be there,” Koeinsberg said. “It was thrilling to be there, the crowd and the big arena it was a real privilege to be a part of that for sure.”