The team time forgot

The
re’s a reason it’s called March Madness, with its rich history of euphoria and heartbreak.
History books are filled with stories of the most powerful Goliaths being slain by seemingly outmatched Davids.
A cold night shooting, untimely foul trouble or a fateful bounce or two can undo just about anyone.
Just ask Bill Stange, one of the starters on a team many consider among the greatest high school basketball squads ever to lace ’em up in these parts.
That 50 years have passed since the 1964 Cubs took the court has done little to dampen Stange’s memories of the star-crossed, magical season.
But for others, including the participants, memories of the ’64 Cubs have gone by the wayside.
“You know, I hadn’t thought about that game in years,” said Steve Honeycutt, one of the senior stalwarts who later became a fan favorite and two-year all-conference player at Kansas State University.
“It’s been so long, I don’t remember a lot,” said Craig Adams, another starter who grew up to become a teacher, coach and administrator at Wellsville High School.

QUITE A LINEUP
Hopes were high for Humboldt entering the winter of 1963, thanks in large part to Humboldt’s dynamic trio of seniors.
Earl Seyfert, Steve Honeycutt and Joe Henrichs all played key roles the previous year as the Cubs advanced to the Class A State Tournament and were returning for their senior seasons.
At 6 feet, 8 inches, Seyfert dominated the court on both offense and defense.
At 6-3, Henrichs also had plenty of length to cause match-up problems, particularly because of his shooting.
“Joe was such a great shooter,” Stange said. “He could hit from almost anywhere.”
Henrichs was limited in his scoring only because of the era in which he played. Remember, the 3-point line was decades away from being enacted at the high school ranks.
“I’d have loved to have seen how many points he would have gotten with the 3-point line,” Stange said.
If defenses converged on those two, the 6-foot Honey-cutt was more than able to pick up the slack at guard.
While he, too, was capable of scoring in bunches, Honeycutt’s greatest attribute was at the other end.
“I loved playing defense,” Honeycutt said.
While his teammates controlled the game with their height, Honeycutt utilized his quickness and speed to harass opposing guards.
Rounding out the starting lineup was Stange, at 6-1, another front line player in there to do the unsung work — pull in key rebounds, set screens for Seyfert to do his handiwork and get an occasional putback. Likewise, Adams helped steady the ship at guard when the need arose.
“Every starting lineup needs a weak link,” Adams joked. “I was it.”
Equally lanky Ronnie Owens, 6-3, came off the bench when a teammate tired.
“We were confident,” Honeycutt said. “We thought we could have a special season that year.”

SOMETHING SPECIAL
The 1963-64 season was the capstone for the youths who had forged friendships as youths growing up together in small town America.
Honeycutt, Henrichs, Stange and Adams all grew up within a few blocks of each other, playing baseball, basketball or whatever sport beckoned. Seyfert moved to town by the time he was 10 and joined the group.
They were more than skilled athletes.
“Steve and Earl’s fathers were pastors,” Stange said. “Joe’s father might as well have been.”
They also excelled in the classroom. By the time they graduated, Henrichs was Humboldt’s valedictorian; Seyfert the salutatorian. Honeycutt and Stange were National Honor Society students.
“I’m pretty sure I’m the only one in the group who ever said a cuss word,” Stange joked.
The Cubs gave fans a glimpse of their potential during their eighth-grade year when they rolled through the  season with a 9-0 record in 1959-60.
“We knew then we had a pretty special group,” said Honeycutt.
“There weren’t many 6-2 middle-schoolers like Earl was.”
Sure enough, Seyfert almost immediately earned a starting spot for the Cubs when he entered high school. Henrichs and Honeycutt joined him in the starting lineup by their junior years.
The ’63 Cubs made it to the state playoffs, where they were eliminated in the first round by Buhler, 55-41.
When Stange and Adams joined the starting lineup the next season, the team was ready to roll.
The Cubs won their first 15 games by an average of 28 points. Only once during the regular season did a team stay within single digits.
Humboldt’s players were soft-spoken on and off the court, happy to let their games do their talking.
Stange remembered entering the regional tournament against Garnett, a team Humboldt had defeated twice during the regular season by an average of 29.
“But Garnett’s players let it be known they weren’t that impressed with our team,” Stange recalled. “They said they were going to beat us at regionals.”
Instead, Humboldt limited Garnett to 26 points in their regional opener, winning by 32.
The Garnett win set up a showdown with Gardner, the host school for the regional tournament.
“Gardner had just built its new high school, and they were giving us a tour before the game,” Stange recalled.
Their guide, Gardner’s principal, took the players through a large cafeteria that doubled as a banquet hall. It was there, Stange said, the principal told the Cub players that Gardner planned to host its celebratory dinner after winning the regional tournament.
“We didn’t say a word,” Stange said.
Instead, the Cubs rolled that night over Gardner, winning 83-36.
The game led to a humorous encounter years later for Adams as he started his teaching career in Wellsville after he introduced himself to another young teacher.
“Not that Humboldt,” his coworker cried. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”
Adams learned the Gardner coaches were so confident of victory they prematurely called off classes the following Monday to celebrate.
“Sorry we ruined their fun,” Adams laughed.
The Cubs secured a return trip to the state tournament in Hutchinson with a 37-27 win over Bonner Springs. They opened state competition with a 56-46 win over Colby and a 67-56 romp over Haven to set up a showdown with an old nemesis, Buhler.
“Buhler had lost quite a few players from the season before,” Stange said. “They weren’t supposed to be as good.”
Buhler certainly wasn’t supposed to be the one facing Humboldt for the title. That honor was designated for Beloit, and their head coach, Gene Keady. Beloit and Humboldt were tapped prior to the tournament as the co-favorites. Buhler’s 72-68 semifinal win changed those plans.

THE GAME
Buhler had no match for Humboldt’s height, with only one player standing taller than 6-1.
But the Crusaders were anything but small.
“They were a bunch of farm boys,” Stange said. “They were thick, powerful. We were all skinny and slow.”
The game started on an ominous note for Humboldt.
Three early fouls sent Seyfert to the bench by the midpoint of the second quarter, depriving the Cubs of their biggest offensive and defensive weapon. In his stead, Henrichs picked up the slack, draining jumper after jumper to keep things close.
How close?
A Hutchinson reporter noted the game featured 11 ties and so many lead changes, “you needed a calculator to keep count.”
The score was tied at 47-all when Buhler’s John Gaddert drove in for a layup to give the Crusaders a 49-47 lead with just over two minutes remaining.
While memories have faded for many involved — “I really don’t recall a lot about the game,” Adams said — those final two minutes are like yesterday for Stange.
After a Cub timeout, Honeycutt found himself open in the corner with 1:36 left. His jumper tied the score at 49-49.
Buhler was content to hold the ball for the final shot, patiently moving the ball around the perimeter until guard Rod Franz found Bruce Ediger gliding under the basket for the layup — 51-49.
Six seconds remained as Humboldt called timeout with the hopes of getting up a final shot.
Head coach Ed Hankins’ instructions were simple.
“He told us that somebody needed to put it up for Seyfert,” Stange said.
Honeycutt raced upcourt, passing to Stange on the far wing.
“I was probably 15 to 18 feet from the basket, just a bit farther than what I was used to shooting,” Stange said.
But with time running short, he had no choice.
With nary a moment’s hesitation — and Seyfert camped beneath the basket as instructed — Stange let it fly.
The ball hit the rim, bounced up, then hit the rim a second time.
The second bounce was crucial.
“It would have been a tough shot, but Earl could have gotten the rebound for the putback,” Stange said. “But the second bounce meant he was off balance.”
Seyfert could only deflect the ball as the final horn sounded.
Buhler’s fans swarmed the court to celebrate; Humboldt’s players and fans sat in stunned silence.
Stange saw cheerleaders and other supporters wiping away tears.
He wasn’t as distraught.
“We played a good team that day,” he said. “I’d have loved to have won it, but we just got beat.”
Honeycutt wasn’t as diplomatic.
“I was mad,” he said. “We should have won. We didn’t play to our strength, which was Earl.”

STAYING TOGETHER
The end of the basketball season didn’t mean the end of the close-knit bond between Humboldt’s quintet.
Honeycutt and Seyfert shared the court many times after that, as teammates at Kansas State.
Three Cubs, in fact, signed up to play basketball for Tex Winter’s Wildcats. Seyfert picked K-State over such schools as the University of Kansas and John Wooden’s UCLA juggernaut. (He owns the distinction of being invited by both Winter and  Wooden to attend the NCAA Tournament’s Final Four showdown between Kansas State and UCLA that spring in Kansas City, Mo. Seyfert picked KSU shortly after that, even though Wooden’s Bruins won the game and one game later the NCAA title.)
Honeycutt admits he was an afterthought to the Kansas State recruiters.
“Tex came down to see Earl, and that’s how he saw me play,” Honeycutt said. “I was only about 5-11, 145 pounds, and I wasn’t a very good ball handler.”
But Honeycutt showed enough raw ability and court savvy to draw a scholarship offer. He redshirted his sophomore season at KSU, and used the year away from the court to advantage.
“I worked primarily on dribbling with my left hand,” he said. “It got to the point that I was primarily left-handed with the ball the rest of my career.”
Like at Humboldt, both left a legacy at Kansas State. Seyfert and Honeycutt were voted team co-captains in the 1967-68 season, with Honeycutt averaging a team-leading 14.4 points per game, and Seyfert just behind at 13.8.
Honeycutt earned all-Big 8 honors his junior and senior years. Seyfert was equally impressive in the classroom. He was named an academic All-American following his senior year.
“It was fun, knowing I could hold my own against some of the best players in the country,” Honeycutt said, where he faced future NBA stars such as Kansas’ Jo Jo White and Nebraska’s Stu Lance.
Neither Seyfert nor Honeycutt played professionally, although both were drafted by NBA teams. Seyfert was picked in the 13th round of the 1968 draft by the Philadelphia 76ers. Honeycutt was drafted in the 17th round a year later by Seattle.
Honeycutt eschewed reporting to camp because of an illness that struck him late his senior season.
“I dropped quite a bit of weight and was too weak to even try out,” he said. “Besides that, I had a four-year commitment to Air Force on my horizon.”
Likewise, Seyfert entered the military after his days in Manhattan. He played for a select Army team sporting such teammates as current Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski.
He played professionally overseas in the Philippines for a couple of years before hanging up his sneakers and entering the professional world. Seyfert became president and chief executive officer of Maestas Glass Company in Albuquerque, N.M.
Attempts to reach Seyfert for the article went unanswered.

LOSING A FRIEND
Joe Henrichs played on Kansas State’s freshman team — freshmen weren’t allowed to play varsity those years — before giving up basketball to focus solely on his studies as a sophomore.
Tragedy struck on a wet, foggy morning on Feb. 27, 1966.
Henrichs was a passenger on a Cessna 150, piloted by a KSU classmate and amateur pilot that crashed near a farm just south of Emporia. Both Henrichs and the pilot, 19-year-old Douglas Peters of Ellinwood, were killed.
Henrichs had celebrated his 20th birthday three weeks earlier.
They were returning to Manhattan after spending the weekend with Henrichs’ family in Humboldt.
“It was such a shock — so sad,” Honeycutt said. “I remember as a kid riding to my brother’s basketball games with Joe and his parents. He played the organ at church. He was a good, good young man.”

THE TEAM THAT TIME FORGOT
The bond between the old teammates slowly dissipated through the years.
After graduating from Pittsburg State, Stange stuck around southeast Kansas. He was among the first employees at Iola’s Berg Manufacturing (later Haldex) plant before moving to Tramec Corporation when it opened. He then was among the founders of Precision Pump before retiring. Stange now runs a hunting lodge northwest of Humboldt.
Adams moved to Wellsville, where he taught and later became an administrator. His son, Josh, was hired last year as Wellsville High principal. His daughter teaches third grade. Retired, he lives in Olathe.
Both Stange and Adams remained involved with youth athletics after their playing days. Stange officiated basketball and football for more than 18 years. Adams coached for several years in addition to his teaching duties.
After college, Honey-cutt fulfilled his military obligation with the Air Force before a 35-year career with Conoco Phillips. Now retired, he lives in Magnolia, Texas.
“It was probably at our 20-year reunion that we last saw each other,” Honeycutt said. “And that was 30 years ago.”
Unlike Humboldt’s 1969 state champion squad — which featured Earl’s younger brother, Lynn, and Honeycutt’s younger brother, Phil — the school has not had a ceremony to honor the 1964 squad.
The team was briefly recalled by long-time Cub faithful during the spring of 2013 when last year’s Humboldt squad rolled through the basketball season undefeated. Last year’s Humboldt team eventually broke the ’64 Cubs’ school record winning streak en route to a second-place finish at the state playoffs.
Honeycutt is hopeful to see his former teammates again.
“I’d love to have us get together,” he said. “It’d be great to talk about old times.”