The Hancock High 'Hoosiers'

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It is hard to believe now but quaint little Hancock had two high schools in the earliest days of the town. Perhaps even more eye-opening is that in the 1940s and early 1950s, a singular and very tiny Hancock High (pictured, on what is now the elementary school grounds) was known for remarkable basketball excellence. The girls’ teams had a winning streak that extended more than 30 in a row at one time, and in 1948-49, the boys were the “Hoosiers” of our region.

With only 16 boys in the school—believed to be the smallest enrollment of any high school in the state—seven Hancock boys were on the basketball team that finished the regular season 9-3. Its tiny sunken court was about the size of a large swimming pool. Substitute players came from the junior high.

They became the first-ever Hancock team to qualify for the state Class C (small school) tournament, but according to local reports, “they were almost forced to pass up the tourney as mumps spread throughout the school. Practically the entire first team was affected.” However, the boys recovered in time to face highly-rated Austin-Cate Academy (Center Strafford) on February 23, 1949 in the tournament’s first round held at Dartmouth College.

Down 21-9, Hancock put on a furious late rally that brought the crowd to its feet, but Austin-Cate held on for a heartbreaking 31-29 victory. Members of the little-engine-that-could team were: Almon Senechal, Richard Higgins, Herbert Werden, Bruce and Donald Kierstead, Richard Quinn, and junior high players William Stearns and Robert Brooks. Hancock High also qualified for the state tournament in 1952 before sending its students to Peterborough High in the mid-1950s and eventually to Conval High in 1970.

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