Girls' Basketball Leads FHS Sports In Playoffs
By BILL ELLIS
The calendar says February, and more often than not, that means that Friona High School’s Squaws are in the playoffs.
The current season was no exception. Coach Richard North’s team has just played in the “area” round for the fourth time in the past six years.
North, currently in his 12th season as a Squaws coach, and the leader in that regard, is carrying on a tradition that was first born back in the 1940’s.
Beginning in 1941, the Friona girls reigned as county and/or district champions 22 times in a 28-year period. Six times during the 1940’s, the Squaws made it to their state tournament.
R.L. Bates is given credit for putting Friona “on the map,” for his talent at getting his teams into the playoffs, and once there, getting all the mileage possible.
In Friona’s six trips to the state meet in the 1940’s, the teams brought home two state runner-up trophies, three third places, and one consolation championship. Sadly, although compiling an overall record of 16-6 in state tournament games, the Squaws of that 1940’s “dynasty” never managed a state title. That wouldn’t come until 1964.
Had it not been for a small “Hill Country” team called Aquilla, Friona could have won three of the “gold basketballs” at the state meet. Aquilla beat the Squaws, 23-20 in the 1944 state finals, 29-26 in 1946, and again in the semi-finals in 1945, causing the team to settle for third place. The Aquilla girls won state three straight years at the point.
In 1948, the Squaws took a glittering 42-0 record to the state meet. This time the team had avoided their “nemesis,” only to lose to Stanton, a team they had beaten earlier in the season at the Ropesville tournament, by a score of 32-24. Posting a 45-1 record, the dejected girls had to settle for third place after edging Penelope, 25-24.
In those early years, girls’ basketball was regulated by the “High School Girls League of Texas,” the brainchild of L.C. McKamey of Hillsboro, who devised the playoff system after persistent refusals by the Texas UIL to sponsor girls basketball. (It was supposedly too hard on the female’s body to compete in sports of this nature!)
Sometimes referred to as the “McCamey League,” the state tournament was held in Hillsboro most of its existence, and at Waco a few times.
Teams competed on county-wide basis, with county champs meeting in a “District” tournament, similar to today’s “regional” setup. From 14 to 16 counties were represented in the Panhandle tournament, usually played at places like Hedley, Claude and Panhandle, but never in Amarillo, as far as we know.
There were 16 “districts” across the state who sent representatives to the state meet, meaning there had to be eight games played in the first round—just to get to the quarterfinals (the “usual” size of most high school tournaments.)
At that time, girls played on a “half court” system, with the forwards on one end and the guards on the other. In the 1940’s, there was also a rule that girls could only dribble the ball twice, and then had to pass to a teammate. (Ye Author can’t figure out a rhyme or reason for this rule.)
At about the time the UIL “sanctioned” girls basketball, the game was changed so that after the opposing team scored, your guards had to put the ball in play and work it upcourt, where they would pass it across the center- line to an offensive teammate.
The larger schools didn’t sponsor girls’ basketball for a long time, and it wasn’t until 1952-53 that the UIL finally set up a playoff system for girls’ basketball, but at that time it was only for schools from class B through AA. Later, enough interest was shown that the larger schools such as Amarillo and Lubbock were able to take part in the sport.
Although he coached only four years, R.L. Bates (whose wife Martha was also a school teacher and also served on the City Council), still holds the FHS record for most playoff wins, 31, against only five losses, a hefty 86.1 per cent wins in playoffs only.
Baker Duggins came to Friona in the fall of 1955, and it wasn’t long until he had the team back on the “state tournament” level. His 1959-60 Squaws fought all the way to the state finals before being outlasted by Buna, 66-63, as Friona finished with a 32-3 record. That team was led in scoring by Charlotte Bock (Ratcliff), who scored 758 points, 21.7 points per game.
Other starting forwards were Jacquelyn Magness, who scored 655 points, and Tommy Lewellen, who scored 474. Starters at guard were Lawana Houlette, Eleanor Dodson and Gwen Green. Magness and Houlette were named to the All-State team.
In 1963, the squaws again battled to the state meet, although it took a triple-overtime thriller to get past longtime cage rival Tulia at the Region I meet in Lubbock, 82-80.
The ’63 Squaw team had the misfortune of drawing Little Cypress of Orange in the state semi-finals. That team brought a 38-0 record to Austin, having edged Buna out . The Squaws became Cypress’ 39th victim, 57-46. Friona had to settle for third place, with a 30-8 record, after beating Cotulla, 64-38. Seniors Janet Buckley and Kay Burleson were named All-State.
Friona’s 1964 Squaw team finally made amends for all of the great teams who “could’ve/should’ve” won the title, when they went through their 33-game schedule without a blemish. The team coasted to playoff wins over Post, Spearman and Granbury to earn their ticket to “State”.
At Austin, the team took care of Mineral Wells, 63-49, and Clear Creek, 50-45 for the long-sought prize. Teto Jennings, who scored 692 points, Charlotte Nettles (682) and Linda Jo Davis (341 points) paced the offense. Defensive stars were Glenda McClellan, Merylene Massie, Shirley Phipps and Wessie Hand, with Carolyn Herring seeing a lot of action.
With leading scorer Teto Jennings on the bench with five fouls early in the final quarter and point guard Linda Davis picking up her fourth foul, Duggins had Nettles “work the ball,” a role she seldom played. Thus, if the Clear Creek girls had to foul (which they did) to get the ball, they’d be fouling the team’s leading free throw shooter, and Nettles proved the decision a right one, hitting vital free throws late, to clinch the game.
McClellan and Nettles were named All-State. Miss Nettles set the school record for free throws in ’64, hitting 318 out of 398 attempts, a “cool” 80 per cent. She went on to sink 748 free throws in her three-year career at FHS, a record that seems pretty safe after 42 years.
Although he would have had most of that championship team back for 1964-65, Duggins chose to retire from coaching and become FHS counselor. “Margaret and I loved Friona and wanted to stay, and we knew this would probably be the only way we could,” he told the writer in recent years.
Duggins was named “Man of the Year” by the Friona Chamber of Commerce for 1964.
While Duggins coached the squaws, a tradition was begun when the girls on the team began wearing “squaw dresses,” in beautiful, vibrant colors, when they went to out-of-town games. “Several times, the home crowd would give the girls a round of applause as they entered the gym, single file,” Duggins proudly told the writer recently.
Mel Williams took over as Squaws coach for 1964-65, and he went right to work. You couldn’t expect another unbeaten team, and the ’65 Squaws lost some early games (close ones) to some state-ranked teams. They won District 3-AA with a 9-1 record. It was Friona’s third straight district title, and seventh in nine years.
The team easily beat Slaton, 55-34 in bi-district. Jennings spent three days later that week
in the hospital with a bad case of influenza, but sophomore replacement Cindy Ingram was equal to the task. She tossed in 19 points and Linda Davis 12 as the Squaws downed Spearman for the second year, 54-33.
Janet Rushing stepped up to score 20 points later that evening, and Miss Davis added 12 as FHS downed Granbury, 49-44 to earn Friona’s third straight trip to Austin.
With her health back, Jennings scored 35 points in the state semi-finals win over Rockdale, 60-44. That equaled Teto’s personal best total, which she had scored twice before that season, and five times in all!
The Squaws drew Edna in the finals, who like Friona a year earlier, was unbeaten. It was a great game, with numerous lead changes, but in the end, the Cowgirls claimed a 60-57 win, and FHS’ dream of back-to-back titles was smashed. Jennings scored 21 and Ingram 16.
Jennings and McClellan were named All-State, Friona’s seventh and eighth players to be so honored in the 1960’s.
Friona has had numerous teams make the playoffs in the last 41 years, but none has made it to a regional finals.
F.G. Crofford, who had won a state title at Claude, became the team’s coach in 1968. Squaws won district in 1971 and ’72, but lost to potent Slaton both years.
Crofford’s 1973 team made it to regional, first since 1965. FHS downed Tulia in bi-district, 66-44, paced by Darla Rhodes’ 28 points, but lost out to Spearman at Lubbock, 54-48, in spite of Rhodes’ 23 and Sharon Smith’s 20 points. Crofford’s twin daughters, Sharron and Karen were on the varsity in 1970-71, and played on his first district championship team.
Friona wasn’t able to keep a girls’ coach more than three years until Richard North came in 1994. His teams have won four district titles, and have made the playoffs two other seasons. His 2001 Squaws have done the best, winning three playoff games, beating Panhandle, 48-36; Olney, 52-47 in an OT, and Clarendon, 54-50, to gain the regional semi-finals, where they fell to tough Wall.
Pacing the scoring for the ’01 Squaws were Kayla Smiley with 526 points (15.5) and Kristi Jack added 327.
North’s 22-8 record with this season’s team brought his Friona record to 231-125. He is now only nine games behind all-time leader Baker Duggins, who posted 240 wins in his nine seasons.
(For more information on all the sports and academic records of FHS, send $10 to Bill Ellis, 1201 Maple, Friona, TX, 79035 to reserve your copy of “Friona on Parade,” to be ready at the Centennial celebration. The book will be hard-bound. We need your reservation!)
The calendar says February, and more often than not, that means that Friona High School’s Squaws are in the playoffs.
The current season was no exception. Coach Richard North’s team has just played in the “area” round for the fourth time in the past six years.
North, currently in his 12th season as a Squaws coach, and the leader in that regard, is carrying on a tradition that was first born back in the 1940’s.
Beginning in 1941, the Friona girls reigned as county and/or district champions 22 times in a 28-year period. Six times during the 1940’s, the Squaws made it to their state tournament.
R.L. Bates is given credit for putting Friona “on the map,” for his talent at getting his teams into the playoffs, and once there, getting all the mileage possible.
In Friona’s six trips to the state meet in the 1940’s, the teams brought home two state runner-up trophies, three third places, and one consolation championship. Sadly, although compiling an overall record of 16-6 in state tournament games, the Squaws of that 1940’s “dynasty” never managed a state title. That wouldn’t come until 1964.
Had it not been for a small “Hill Country” team called Aquilla, Friona could have won three of the “gold basketballs” at the state meet. Aquilla beat the Squaws, 23-20 in the 1944 state finals, 29-26 in 1946, and again in the semi-finals in 1945, causing the team to settle for third place. The Aquilla girls won state three straight years at the point.
In 1948, the Squaws took a glittering 42-0 record to the state meet. This time the team had avoided their “nemesis,” only to lose to Stanton, a team they had beaten earlier in the season at the Ropesville tournament, by a score of 32-24. Posting a 45-1 record, the dejected girls had to settle for third place after edging Penelope, 25-24.
In those early years, girls’ basketball was regulated by the “High School Girls League of Texas,” the brainchild of L.C. McKamey of Hillsboro, who devised the playoff system after persistent refusals by the Texas UIL to sponsor girls basketball. (It was supposedly too hard on the female’s body to compete in sports of this nature!)
Sometimes referred to as the “McCamey League,” the state tournament was held in Hillsboro most of its existence, and at Waco a few times.
Teams competed on county-wide basis, with county champs meeting in a “District” tournament, similar to today’s “regional” setup. From 14 to 16 counties were represented in the Panhandle tournament, usually played at places like Hedley, Claude and Panhandle, but never in Amarillo, as far as we know.
There were 16 “districts” across the state who sent representatives to the state meet, meaning there had to be eight games played in the first round—just to get to the quarterfinals (the “usual” size of most high school tournaments.)
At that time, girls played on a “half court” system, with the forwards on one end and the guards on the other. In the 1940’s, there was also a rule that girls could only dribble the ball twice, and then had to pass to a teammate. (Ye Author can’t figure out a rhyme or reason for this rule.)
At about the time the UIL “sanctioned” girls basketball, the game was changed so that after the opposing team scored, your guards had to put the ball in play and work it upcourt, where they would pass it across the center- line to an offensive teammate.
The larger schools didn’t sponsor girls’ basketball for a long time, and it wasn’t until 1952-53 that the UIL finally set up a playoff system for girls’ basketball, but at that time it was only for schools from class B through AA. Later, enough interest was shown that the larger schools such as Amarillo and Lubbock were able to take part in the sport.
Although he coached only four years, R.L. Bates (whose wife Martha was also a school teacher and also served on the City Council), still holds the FHS record for most playoff wins, 31, against only five losses, a hefty 86.1 per cent wins in playoffs only.
Baker Duggins came to Friona in the fall of 1955, and it wasn’t long until he had the team back on the “state tournament” level. His 1959-60 Squaws fought all the way to the state finals before being outlasted by Buna, 66-63, as Friona finished with a 32-3 record. That team was led in scoring by Charlotte Bock (Ratcliff), who scored 758 points, 21.7 points per game.
Other starting forwards were Jacquelyn Magness, who scored 655 points, and Tommy Lewellen, who scored 474. Starters at guard were Lawana Houlette, Eleanor Dodson and Gwen Green. Magness and Houlette were named to the All-State team.
In 1963, the squaws again battled to the state meet, although it took a triple-overtime thriller to get past longtime cage rival Tulia at the Region I meet in Lubbock, 82-80.
The ’63 Squaw team had the misfortune of drawing Little Cypress of Orange in the state semi-finals. That team brought a 38-0 record to Austin, having edged Buna out . The Squaws became Cypress’ 39th victim, 57-46. Friona had to settle for third place, with a 30-8 record, after beating Cotulla, 64-38. Seniors Janet Buckley and Kay Burleson were named All-State.
Friona’s 1964 Squaw team finally made amends for all of the great teams who “could’ve/should’ve” won the title, when they went through their 33-game schedule without a blemish. The team coasted to playoff wins over Post, Spearman and Granbury to earn their ticket to “State”.
At Austin, the team took care of Mineral Wells, 63-49, and Clear Creek, 50-45 for the long-sought prize. Teto Jennings, who scored 692 points, Charlotte Nettles (682) and Linda Jo Davis (341 points) paced the offense. Defensive stars were Glenda McClellan, Merylene Massie, Shirley Phipps and Wessie Hand, with Carolyn Herring seeing a lot of action.
With leading scorer Teto Jennings on the bench with five fouls early in the final quarter and point guard Linda Davis picking up her fourth foul, Duggins had Nettles “work the ball,” a role she seldom played. Thus, if the Clear Creek girls had to foul (which they did) to get the ball, they’d be fouling the team’s leading free throw shooter, and Nettles proved the decision a right one, hitting vital free throws late, to clinch the game.
McClellan and Nettles were named All-State. Miss Nettles set the school record for free throws in ’64, hitting 318 out of 398 attempts, a “cool” 80 per cent. She went on to sink 748 free throws in her three-year career at FHS, a record that seems pretty safe after 42 years.
Although he would have had most of that championship team back for 1964-65, Duggins chose to retire from coaching and become FHS counselor. “Margaret and I loved Friona and wanted to stay, and we knew this would probably be the only way we could,” he told the writer in recent years.
Duggins was named “Man of the Year” by the Friona Chamber of Commerce for 1964.
While Duggins coached the squaws, a tradition was begun when the girls on the team began wearing “squaw dresses,” in beautiful, vibrant colors, when they went to out-of-town games. “Several times, the home crowd would give the girls a round of applause as they entered the gym, single file,” Duggins proudly told the writer recently.
Mel Williams took over as Squaws coach for 1964-65, and he went right to work. You couldn’t expect another unbeaten team, and the ’65 Squaws lost some early games (close ones) to some state-ranked teams. They won District 3-AA with a 9-1 record. It was Friona’s third straight district title, and seventh in nine years.
The team easily beat Slaton, 55-34 in bi-district. Jennings spent three days later that week
in the hospital with a bad case of influenza, but sophomore replacement Cindy Ingram was equal to the task. She tossed in 19 points and Linda Davis 12 as the Squaws downed Spearman for the second year, 54-33.
Janet Rushing stepped up to score 20 points later that evening, and Miss Davis added 12 as FHS downed Granbury, 49-44 to earn Friona’s third straight trip to Austin.
With her health back, Jennings scored 35 points in the state semi-finals win over Rockdale, 60-44. That equaled Teto’s personal best total, which she had scored twice before that season, and five times in all!
The Squaws drew Edna in the finals, who like Friona a year earlier, was unbeaten. It was a great game, with numerous lead changes, but in the end, the Cowgirls claimed a 60-57 win, and FHS’ dream of back-to-back titles was smashed. Jennings scored 21 and Ingram 16.
Jennings and McClellan were named All-State, Friona’s seventh and eighth players to be so honored in the 1960’s.
Friona has had numerous teams make the playoffs in the last 41 years, but none has made it to a regional finals.
F.G. Crofford, who had won a state title at Claude, became the team’s coach in 1968. Squaws won district in 1971 and ’72, but lost to potent Slaton both years.
Crofford’s 1973 team made it to regional, first since 1965. FHS downed Tulia in bi-district, 66-44, paced by Darla Rhodes’ 28 points, but lost out to Spearman at Lubbock, 54-48, in spite of Rhodes’ 23 and Sharon Smith’s 20 points. Crofford’s twin daughters, Sharron and Karen were on the varsity in 1970-71, and played on his first district championship team.
Friona wasn’t able to keep a girls’ coach more than three years until Richard North came in 1994. His teams have won four district titles, and have made the playoffs two other seasons. His 2001 Squaws have done the best, winning three playoff games, beating Panhandle, 48-36; Olney, 52-47 in an OT, and Clarendon, 54-50, to gain the regional semi-finals, where they fell to tough Wall.
Pacing the scoring for the ’01 Squaws were Kayla Smiley with 526 points (15.5) and Kristi Jack added 327.
North’s 22-8 record with this season’s team brought his Friona record to 231-125. He is now only nine games behind all-time leader Baker Duggins, who posted 240 wins in his nine seasons.
(For more information on all the sports and academic records of FHS, send $10 to Bill Ellis, 1201 Maple, Friona, TX, 79035 to reserve your copy of “Friona on Parade,” to be ready at the Centennial celebration. The book will be hard-bound. We need your reservation!)