Coach Mickelson took the Roland Basketball team to the winner’s bracket in the 1925 Story County Boys’ Basketball Tournament. Then he came to Milford Twp and the Milford Twp boys won the county tournament in 1926! -- one year before the first graduation of seniors from Milford Twp. Exactly thirty years later Milford again was county champion. We came close in a few other years; i.e.1941, 1943, and 1947; with a second place trophy each year.
During the 1926 Story County Tournament, which was the fifth annual tournament held for Story County, Milford played and defeated North Grant; 20-9 and won the finals against Fernald 22-15. There were fifteen teams competing in two classes and those in Milford’s bracket were Kelly, Fernald, North Grant, and Shipley. Milford Twp had no seniors on this squad as the first graduation class was in 1927. The tournament was played at Huxley and the receipts were about $475.
Left; Milford’s first four year High School basketball team From left- very uncertain; unk, Huber Wilson, George Allen, Eugene Thornton, Wayne Slocum, John Hereim, unk, Ray Danielson, Coach Supt Michaelson The paper mentions that “the bank boards in the gym have been cut down to regulation size and the boys are practicing two nights a week.” In a surprise engagement, this 1927 team played in the Boone County Tournament and lost to Luther- 25-17 after being tied at 15 at the close of the third quarter. The paper, speaking of the team’s ability, said, “Milford played very good ball at times and at others, it played very poorly. At best, play was very inconsistent.
Left: Ray Danielson’s athletic letter from 1927.It’s unknown whether this letter was awarded by the County Association or Milford’s athletic program. This artifact answers many of the questions from page 101. Photo and artifact from the Ray Danielson collection
Below: From Dorothy Day’s Memory Book--Front Row: Senior Marion Gilreath, Junior Kimble Peterson, Freshman John Allen. Middle Row: Senior Bernice Howland, the next two fellows- we have three names so not too sure-Wayne Slocum, Earl Prescott, and Millard McCoy and the last fellow on the far right with the uniform is Sophomore Eugene Thornton. Back Row: the man in the business suit is Supt Mickelson and the man with the Milford sweater is B. G. Halverson (who later became the Superintendent at Milford Twp). This is probably the same group of fellows from Milford that won the County Tournament in 1926 as that team had no seniors on it. Possibly John Allen was not on that 1926 team because he’s listed as a freshman in this 1927-’28 team photo. The photo was taken during a quite chilly time of the year as the youngsters who were edited out of this edition of the photo were dressed in their winter coats. Another set of Identification from Ruby Christian Freeman- Front: Wayne Slocum, Marion Gilreath, John Allen. Middle: Virgil Burley, Eugene Thornton, Kimble Peterson. Back: Supt A J Michelson, B G Halverson, Bernice Howland (behind Allen).