Prologue
...Each of us has our own favorite childhood memories, but of all mine, cheering on the NESCO and ultimately Colo-NESCO high school basketball teams probably ranks #1... During the state tournaments, the towns’ commerce would literally come to a grinding halt as car after car of basketball fans caravanned down Interstate 35 to Veterans Memorial Auditorium, a.k.a. “The Barn”. As grueling as the months of December through March can be in central Iowa, high school basketball made the long, harsh winters seem as only a moment.
Chapter 1
....It was good news because much of the talent on that squad was found in the freshman class, and, as the late coaching legend Al McGuire once said, “The best thing about freshmen is they become sophomores.” One of those freshmen in particular was already making heads turn. His name was John Vaske; and he and his teammates were about to make basketball in Zearing, Iowa relevant. Very relevant.
Chapter 2
I’ll never forget the smell of popcorn, the boisterous crowd, and the blare of the pep band (the best pep band in the history of pep bands) at halftime and in between games. We lived for Royals basketball.
Chapter 3
“The Garwin kids were such tough nosed kids and we were trying to make our kids the same way. It was such a big game for both schools—crowds would line up waiting for the gym to open hours before the games would start. Both teams were so talented. The players were big, strong, and athletic. Those games reminded me of the movie Hoosiers.”
--Coach Miller
Chapter 7
“With the game, the season, and a career hanging in the balance, Myndie Berka found an opening between two South Hamilton guards, took two dribbles and hit a lay up with one second left, sending Colo-NESCO to Des Moines in March.”--Nevada Journal
Chapter 8
"I don't think any 4A school enjoyed playing us"
--Jeremy DeWitt
It’s been said that basketball players are made from March to November, and basketball teams are made from November to March. Fact is, the Royals were looking pretty formidable in July, so you can only imagine how scary they were going to be in March. The team was so good (in summer camps), even a Fred Hoiberg led Ames squad couldn’t hold them back..."That year, we beat Hoiberg's team. We beat Chris Street and the Indianola team, and we beat Cedar Rapids-Washington led by Russ Millard."
Chapter 9
The Colo- NESCO girls had not really been challenged eleven games into the 1990 season. One of the things a coach fears when they have a dominant team is that they won’t be challenged enough over the course of the regular season. What the girls needed at this point was a good old-fashioned rivalry. The fiercest rivalries I had seen in my lifetime to this point were NESCO vs. Hubbard, and NESCO vs. Garwin, but the Colo-NESCO vs. Collins-Maxwell girls’ rivalry was quickly escalating to the top of my list. There were so many people at this game in Collins that the Collins-Maxwell school administration had to set up television screens in the lunchroom for the overflow crowd...
Chapter 10
“During the Collins-Maxwell game my junior year at Collins, I remember Coach DeJong got so upset with the refs, he almost beheaded himself trying to rip his tie off."
--Kris Wildeboer-Purvis
Chapter 11
By this point, the girls had reached “rock star” status. Every home game was an event all its own. Kids, and even adults, idolized the team.
Chapter 12
"Even if we’d have to chip the ice off the cement, or wear gloves or whatever it took, we’d play."
--John Vaske, Iowa High School Hall of Famer
Overtime
“Demand for seats on the fan bus skyrocketed, and tournament tickets were sold on Sunday. The day of the first game was declared an all school field trip and both the school and the community were deserted Tuesday, March 11 for the first game, Colo vs. Cedar Valley at 2:30 pm.”--1980 Colo Yearbook
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....Morgan Nelson hit five of those three-pointers, scoring 26 points. Dana Johnson hit four three-pointers, scoring 16 points, and Sara Frohwein had 7 points and 9 rebounds as Colo-NESCO was on to its first state championship game since 1991.
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....Chandler Eley, along with Dane Kaufman, Ethan Rutter, Austin Wilson, Travis Guy, Quin Webster, and Jamie Chance gave the top ranked team in Class 1A a huge scare....Chandler Eley was a 2nd Team All-State selection, averaging 18.2 points, 11.1 rebounds, 4.8 blocks, 2.9 assists, and 2 steals per game.