Tales from the old-timer

Remember the Peshtigo “Rockets” Basketball Team?

It was maybe back in 1950 or so. Being a “pack rat” and hanging on to news clippings and old photos runs in my family, and I’m no exception. I turned up in my papers an old program on the Peshtigo “Rockets,” a semi-pro basketball team that played outfits from all over the area, and as far away as Milwaukee. They even had games against the Sheboygan Redskins and the Oshkosh All Stars, who belonged to the regular pro NBA league, and I think the Rockets beat both of them.

Among the players listed were Earl “Jug” Girard of Marinette and his brother “Jig” Girard, and Glenn Johnson, also of Marinette, Harold “Tuffy” Titus” the Peshtigo High School Bulldogs coach, and Jack “Big George” Dashner, who excelled at PHS and graduated with me in 1943.

Titus used the “bowling ball” tactic of ramming through defenders around the basket like Bob Chevalier always did in pickup games at the Menominee YMCA then dropped in a layup shot. Jug was a superb athlete in football, basketball, and baseball, and played football with the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions after leading Marinette High in all sports. I was safety man for the PHS team, which played Marinette because of wartime travel restrictions, and he ran right past me like a will-o-the-wisp. I watched him score 5 touchdowns against Iowa for the University of Wisconsin Badgers back in 1947, two of them long punt returns. When 3 or 4 men went up for a basketball rebound, Girard went up higher and hung there like he was floating in the air until the opponents came back down, and he grabbed the ball. Frannie Steffen, also a PHS great, was also on the Rockets first five. Other names were Larry Rhode, also of Peshtigo and Don Vogl of Marinette. I remembered that Norman “Red” Hansen was on the Rockets at one time, and called him up. Red remembered Maury Rhude of Unit Structures in Peshtigo also played and was a superb player. Jokingly, Red said that he, Red, sat by the water bucket at the end of the bench and only got in when everybody else had fouled out.

The ads on the program give a panorama of businesses for the entire area in those bygone times. The program also lists Francis Burns as Business Manager, Jack Lindsay as Equipment Manager, and Joe Herman as Scorekeeper.

The ads included Knapp’s Tavern out in Grover with its nickname “Snapperville” at the corner of US 41 and Co. M who also sponsored softball teams for years, the Thompson Boat Company of Peshtigo, the Peshtigo Food Market run by Gordon Johnson of Peshtigo, Dr. John M. Bell, and Dr. E. J. Carter, the Peshtigo Dentist who fixed all the kids’ teeth in town, thanks to the “anonymous” generosity of E. A. Meyer of the Badger Paper Mills, Stibbe’s Grocery Store, Kings Deep Rock, operated at that time by Herb and Gaylord King, Eklund Convalescent Hospital, run by Elizabeth Eklund, LaValley’s Tavern, run by John LaValley and Chet Gryzwa, J. P. Skowlund Trucking, Zimmerman Hardware, E. J. DeHart Oil Co., Dr. H. E. Romaine, Dentist, Schussler’s Friendly Bar, Picard Insurance, Dr. H. W. Haasl, Hansen’s Keep U Neat Shop, Harper & Sons Coal Co., Guay’s Superette run by Terry Guay, all of Peshtigo, the M&M Box Co., Lauerman’s Department Store, Wesley Freight Co., Globe House Furnishing, Ansul Chemical Company, Norge Van Domelen, The Jewel Box, Shaver’s Garage, Bowland’s Tavern, Hotel Marinette, Marinette Lumber Yard, Court House Super Service, and Wally’s Sport Shop, all of Marinette or Menominee.

I don’t know who went out and hustled all these ads in those bygone years, but it raised some revenues for travel and other expenses. The home games were played at the PHS gym.

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