Streaks To The Sweet Sixteen

Melrose Opera House: Home Court of the 1937 Melrose Shamrocks

Melrose started the season slowly with close wins over Bussey (twice) and Albia.  Class A Albia was surprised by their loss because they considered Class B Melrose to be just a warm-up game.  Beginning with their fourth game, the Shamrocks started to win by bigger margins.  They probably started off slowly because their center, Jim Thynne, was out at the start of the season while his two broken ribs healed.  However, with Thynne in their lineup, Melrose played well and kept adding to their winning streak.

They used their number one fan and town priest, Father D.C. Browne, as a scout on some occasions.  However, he did not always provided the most useful information.  Father Browne went to scout a game in Ottumwa and advised the boys to watch a list of jersey numbers that added up to nearly the whole team.  Years later, Walt O’Connor noted that as Father Browne kept listing jersey numbers, the boys said in exasperation, “We’re running out of numbers, Father!”  He also said that Father Browne “was a wild man when it came to rooting for us,” and the team’s opponents probably thought the Melrose defense was able to watch all of the players pretty close.

The Shamrocks used a spectacular defense, led by Jim Carr, and a fast paced offense, led by Thynne and Walt O’Connor, to dominate their Chariton Valley Conference games.  As they kept winning, the newspaper headlines were constantly noting the length of the Shamrocks’ winning streak.  However, after going 17 - 0, their winning streak was jeopardized by a non-conference game against the team from Rathbun.  

Rathbun led most of the game.  It was ahead of Melrose with quarter scores of 11 - 8, 18 - 16, and 26 - 21.  Rathbun kept its lead in the fourth quarter.  In fact, with 1:45 left, Rathbun led by six, 34 - 28.  However, Melrose went on a sensational 9 - 0 run to win the game.  Ray Parks started it with a free throw and a basket.  Soon after, Mike Kasper was fouled.  He jokingly asked Walt O’Connor to shoot for him.  Walt replied, “Get up there and make them both.”  He did.  With 30 seconds left, Parks hit an outside shot to give Melrose the lead.  Walt recently referred to that shot as a “Hail Mary.”  The Shamrocks got possession of the ball again and Thynne put one in at the buzzer.  The final score was 37 - 34.  Parks led the balanced Melrose scoring with 9 points.  The Melrose rally was helped greatly by the rules of 1937 that required a center jump ball after each score.  Melrose’s center, Jim Thynne, was tall at 6 feet, 3 inches, and won all of the jump balls during the rally.

Melrose went on to win the Chariton Valley Tournament and the first two games of the Sectional Tournament handily.  Melrose then had to deal with Blakesburg in the final game of the Sectional Tournament.  That game turned out to be a “fire department” game.  Newspapers of the time used the term “fire department” to describe a close, exciting game.

Melrose led Blakesburg for most of the game with quarter scores of 7 - 4, 19 - 9, and 23 - 19.  Blakesburg’s second half rally continued until it tied the score at 25 - 25 with 30 seconds to go.  Blakesburg’s switch to a man-to-man defense in the second half appeared to enable them to fight back and tie the score.  In addition, Blakesburg was also helped by the fact that Walt O’Connor fouled out.  Then, with 15 seconds to go, F. Chisman fouled Ray Parks.  Chisman had just tied the score moments before.  Parks calmly sank his free throw and Melrose held on to win 26 - 25.  Thynne led the Melrose scorers with 12 points.

After 26 straight wins, Melrose entered the District Tournament.  Melrose needed to win three more games to get a chance to play in the State Tournament.  The Shamrocks were up to the challenge and easily won their next three games.  They defeated previously unbeaten Martinsburg in the final game by a score of 30 - 20.  Their next stop was the State Tournament in Des Moines.

With the win over Martinsburg, the Melrose players and fans could celebrate an unbelievable run of 29 victories.  However, Melrose Coach Hlubek wasn’t looking back at their winning streak.  Instead, he was looking forward to the games they might have to play.  To keep his players rested, he only practiced for about an hour each day during this time.  He hoped that with the extra rest, his players could continue their winning streak.  Only time would tell.