In the wake 1 of lour state high school basketball tournaments 11A through 4Al, let’s take a tew minutes to remirnisce about the era when Utah had only a single tourney. Until 1944. old-timers will remember. little and bng schools were lumped together and the winner oi the 16-team tournament was the one and only slate champion. The cagefest was held with great fanlare, usually at the old Deseret Gym in Salt Lake City. in most cases the large schools walked away with the top prize – but not always. by any means. lndeed, part of the romance of the single tourney setup came when a little. ttnheralded school turned giant killer and won the crown. The last really small school to accomplish the lat was Hinckley -t1l the Millard-Beaver Division which beat American Fork for the title in 1930 – 55 years ago this month. . Three years previous, Minersville of the same division, vanquished the mi ty LDS High School of Salt La City in the 1027 finale. e “Deseret News” wn-nie at the time that Mines-sville lnad’nmly 14 boys in its student body. Was the school really that tiny? in any event Mlnersville High was based out in 1035, with its swdmntg’X&’Nsierred to Beaver. -.’ , . . ‘N in 1953, 1-lincklvv Hugh- also was disbanded under Une school consolidatum program. Studennls of Hnnckley and nearby towns of Ahralnaun, Deseret and Oasis have been bussed to Delta since that year., Old records have been stored away – maybe forever – but this writer’s Class of ’32 (Hinckley High was my alma materl had ony about 30 graduatim seniors. This will give you a rough idea of HHS enrollment in those years. 1 well remember the pulsating excitement in the Hinckley area when our school “tnook state” itil still lun, when 1 see a member bf the lllill “Gnderella” team, to reminisce about those “glory days.” Thm players of the startingniivtn, now live in Utah County. Parlell Peterson and Warren Stratton are Orem residents; Glade Wright dividu his team between Indio, Calif. and ‘ 1’he otlnu two – Wayne Slaughter (captain) and Fred Reeve – are deceased, as are Coach Verunon we and Paul Pratt, reserve calf . “l er reserves were Melvi!l’Hadie3U1 Rulon Davis, Ferron Blake and MQ; Cunis. A: Coach L0ve’s championship tai took a-104) league recoeryo. tournament but wsslptolted Lake sportswriters to lose all games at the meet. m g llinc eycrvssodup eeswj, stunning Springville 22-12, Mnkriy 20-l7, Granite M-ll and Aut ‘ Fork 19-81 on consecutive da . Granite. the detendlngr , ‘ n. had been favotjed to epeatnltut could manage mnly flvq fell! foals against the dujnse-milweg MUBFU outlitf .-V.; no Wn Hincuq ern? of noone, conveqedron Deau’6%Qysan”h-ntwnhers. But M1; ivWSn’lu got,. arriql away a lit whkn hequipg that “there ….;…u ………i. 4-..u.a nan at nam. in migllIficoiki”? ; as . e – nament Utah sketbah sctap miss. inception Lehi yryon that yeariand repeated as champ M m’190l7 D;. an-1 -ras’ttg’last winm- ..,.i,’llt=qil,nn: on 2942 4 ‘ in the’Yl5 yeans’lli.na .n Sufi– mi; tournament was held. Granite paptured the most titles i live. Lehi. weber and Davis won three each. according to Utah High School Activities Association records. LDS Hin. asc. of Cellar. Qnlyrssnzms; ville, Dixie and Ogden were douln e winners. Eleven schools were onetime klngpins ‘ BY College of Logan. Spanish Fork. Pleasant Grove. Logan, Panguntch. Minersville. Hinckley. Murray, Jordan. Uintah and Provo Because of World War li. there was nc” 1943 game. With resumption of tournament play in ‘1944, two divisions emerged – Cgnss A and Class B InterestingIJ’- Jo mm the tgla;sA tntle nn 19-fl 5 while Wasatch ‘won Class W ors those two years. The kann H alignment. which contnnntnd tlvuangh 1969. was a forerunner of todays lA. KA. ZA and lA setup, enahlnshed in 1973 alter a brief experiment with three categorAs rwpln cnm A. mw became the firs M champion. Other wlnnezspthat nnntnal year of the (ourdnvlsnon arrangement were Bingham, KA; Grand County, 2A. and Gunnlsqt1.lA… , .