A Glorious Ending

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In the winter of 1954, “Attn. Coach Snow” was the local newspaper’s prompting of Peterborough High coach Dick Snow to pay attention to this hot-shot junior from Hancock High, Bud Adams.

It marked the last year that Hancock High would field a team as the town opted to join Peterborough in the fall of 1954.


“The Friday triumph scored at the expense of arch-rival Antrim stands a chance of becoming one of the most glorious in the school’s history,” wrote the Peterborough Transcript. “Bud Adams, clever HHS guard and a good hoop prospect for any schoolboy squad (he’s only a junior) scored no less than 31 points as his team set back Antrim on the latter’s court, 59-41. This was Hancock’s tenth game of the season, and their lone victory.”


The last Hancock High squad was a young one, with only one senior, guard Forrest Weston. The others were sophomore forward Gale Hennessey and seventh grader (!) Butch Kimball, and center sophomore Bob Kierstead (who scored 18 points against Antrim).


Coach Snow, meanwhile, was preoccupied with his Hilanders and sensational guard Dave Gavitt (later a legendary coach at Providence College and a founder of the Big East conference), which was preparing for its first state tournament appearance in nine years.


For those who long for the days when newspapers published the box score, here you go…




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