February 5, 1960, a date which shall live in infamy.
This wasn’t a quote by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, but it recalls the first vivid and long-lasting sports memory that still survives in the dark recesses of this sportswriter’s mind.
I was a third-grader in Milan and about to attend my first basketball game.
It was a big game, too. The Milan Vikings were playing host to the Montevideo Mohawks. The Milan gym was packed, mostly by Milan fans eager to see the Vikings knock off the big city boys from 15 miles to the southeast.
Milan came into the game with a 12-0 record, while Montevideo was 8-4.
The game more than lived up to its advanced billing. The lead changed hands several times, with Montevideo owning the largest lead of the game at 48-41 midway through the fourth quarter.
Things looked bleak for the Vikings when burly 6-4 center Mal Undlin fouled out with 5:12 to play.
But the Vikings fought back and pulled within 49-48. That’s when things really got interesting. Montevideo had the ball, with guard Ron Hillman dribbling the ball, trying to run time off the clock. One of the officials called a “held ball” violation on Hillman, resulting in a jump ball that was controlled by Milan with 41 seconds remaining.
Then an even more bizarre call was made by one of the officials with 5 seconds left.
Tom Dalen, Milan’s 6-5 junior forward, who had a big night with 22 points, was fouled by Paul Brynteson and made his first free-throw attempt to tie the score at 49-all. With the crowd roaring and Dalen focusing on the rim, the official called Dalen for taking more than the alloted 10 seconds to shoot, giving the ball to Montevideo.
Mohawks center Merle McClung was fouled with 1 second left and cooly made both free throws to give Montevideo a 51-49 win.
McClung scored 31 points in the game and would finish his Montevideo career with 1,138 points before going on to a standout basketball and academic career at Harvard University, where he earned a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford in England.
The 10-second call at the free-throw line is a call I have never seen or heard of occuring since. It’s in the rule book, but never enforced.
Brynteson was my physical education teacher at South Dakota State University and we enjoyed reminiscing about that memorable game.
Though it was a date which shall live in Milan basketball infamy and a heartbreaking night to be a Milan fan, that game made a lasting impact on me and I’m sure it had something to do with my developing a love of the game of basketball.
