CONVAL HOOP HERITAGE

Valli (Kaufhold) Hannings (CV ’80) and John Szep (CV ’84) have seen a lot of basketball at Conval over the years while serving as official timer and scorekeeper. Like more than 30 years of home games... In fact, the Cougar alums may be the most seasoned and experienced scoring table duo in the state. Both of them are soccer nuts, with Valli starring for the Cougars in the late ‘70s and then coaching girls’ soccer at Conval and the middle school. John, meanwhile, coached soccer with Valli for many years, and most recently has been the boys’ soccer assistant coach. So how did the two soccer lovers become basketball scorekeepers?  In the offseason, “I began learning from the best, Ron Crowe , in the early ‘80s,” says Val. “I also remember when the scorer’s table was on the other side of gym, and there was this gap between the bleachers.” Val says she kept one eye on Ron and the clock, and a motherly eye on the players waiting to check in, making sure they didn’t disturb her infant ...

F resh off their fourth state championship in six years, one of Conval’s predecessors—the Peterborough High Hilanders—geared up for a 1937 season that won’t soon be forgotten: It was the last year when a center jump didn’t take place after every basket!  Nothing like the old glory days, but we definitely like the “new” rule much better! The Hilanders were coached by the legendary John Clark (pictured far right). They won five championships from 1930 to 1941, and were state runners-up three times. Members of the ’37 team, which would fall in the first round of the invitational tournament at UNH, were the starting five (front, left to right): Charlie Lindsay, Brian Keenan, Donald Dupree, Bob Clukay and Bob Berry . Second row: Norm Davidson, Bob Dart, Gibby Carlson and Roland Myhaver. Back row: Arthur Mosher, Ervin Diamond and John Lindsay .

  In the late 1960s, the Peterborough Recreation Dept. sponsored summer league basketball featuring high school squads representing Peterborough, Antrim, Conant and Hillsborough. A mid-July 1968 contest at the Adams Playground tennis courts (before there was a separate basketball court) featured an intense battle between arch rivals Peterborough and Conant, with the home team prevailing in a physical contest, 35-29. Sophomore Dick Blood (pictured vying for a rebound with a Conant player) led Peterborough to victory with nine points. Fifty-six Julys later, Conval High is one of two D2 teams represented in the D1 Manchester Memorial High summer league, but the Cougs are holding their own against the largest division in the state. They opened with a tight 50-44 loss to Manchester Central and followed it up with a decisive 76-50 win over Merrimack. Concord, Milford, and Memorial are the other participating teams. The league runs through August 8, with games every Monday and Wednesday ...

Another load of "Pete's Treats" is delivered to Avenue A in Antrim. C onval High’s basketball roots have not only had an impact on thousands of fans over the years, they’re reaching deep into our communities far beyond the basketball court. Through the efforts of the Steven W. Crowe Foundation (SCF) and former Cougar hoop star Pete Fontaine (’72), “Pete’s Treats” have benefitted the Avenue A teen and community center in Antrim with truckloads of snacks for hungry students. Tuesday night, a new shipment was delivered by the Foundation and members of the Fontaine family, all Conval alumni—wife Linda and son Chad of Newmarket, and son Kyle   (pictured below) of Peterborough. Son Casey was not able to attend. Pete Fontaine was a valued member of Conval basketball in the early ‘70s when his determination and rebounding skills helped the Cougars when they needed it most. Pete passed away last fall, but his memory lives on with his renowned giving to those in need. Avenue...

Hunter Burgess, in 1989 Class I (D2) championship vs. Merrimack Valley. L ike a lot of high schools , athletic success at Conval has often been associated with family roots that run deep. The mom or dad starred at multiple sports many years ago, and their kids followed in their footsteps. Many of the great family names at Conval High have come, excelled and graduated (at least on the courts or playing field), but one name from the 1980s and his kids are still going strong: Hunter Burgess ’89. Son Casey (’17) ran x-country, baseball and basketball, son Zach ( ’21) was a member of the basketball as well as the state champion boys’ soccer teams of 2018 and 2019, and daughter Allie (’25) is currently a standout for the girls’ soccer squad. Hunter had his own siblings who stood out at Conval, beginning with basketball 1,000 point scorer, the late Todd Burgess in the early ‘80s. Later as a freshman, Hunter and senior brother Clint helped lead the Cougars to the school’s first-ever stat...

Home or away ("here" or "there"), Conval High fans live and die with their team...including Ryan Wilson at right, now a member of the CV varsity. I t was late fall in 1941, and local basketball fans could hardly wait for what might be next... That spring. legendary Peterborough High coach John Clark had led the Green and White to a pulsating state championship over Lebanon . It was the fifth and final state title for Peterborough, which under Clark and others helped make this the mecca of high school basketball in New Hampshire. But in the fall, Clark had moved on to become a teacher at Manchester West High School (he’d be back later to PHS, in a different capacity), and a four-year coach from Danielson, Conn., Earl Leach , had assumed responsibility. “Mr. Leach has had his squad out practicing since the first of the month but, like all newcomers, has had to spend considerable time getting acquainted and making the required adjustments, so he is careful not to say ...

Cougar grads and aspiring basketball coaches Owen Michaels '22 (left) and James Cook '21 helped lead this week’s Basketball Development School camp at the high school. W hen the Nashua-area Basketball Development School (BDS) brought its youth clinic to Conval High this week, it was more than just another kids’ sports camp.  ... “We’re hoping to bring basketball to the forefront in the Conval community,” says BDS co-founder and co-director, and former Cougar head coach,  Leo Gershgorin . For several seasons at the end of the last decade, Gershgorin helped rebuild a once-powerful Conval basketball program that had fallen on difficult times, coaching the Cougars to the Division 2 Final Four in 2019 and to a state co-championship in the COVID-shortened 2020 season. His coaching staff included current Conval head coach Jason Starr . Even though Gershgorin is now leading a similar hoop revival at Alvirne High School in Hudson, his love for the Conval program and community runs stro...

C ongrats to senior Joe Gutwein (l), sophomore Ryan Close (c ) and freshman Brayden Boice (r )   for being co-champions of Conval Hoop Heritage’s just-for-fun Bracket Madness challenge. Across the country, just about everyone’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament brackets crumbled thanks to early round upsets. But Joe, Ryan and Brayden were equally successful in getting their favorite teams to the Sweet Sixteen. (Unfortunately, no girls participated in Madness this year.) Thanks to the generosity of Conval basketball alumni, the guys received a Wilson EVO Nxt basketball as incentive to keep playing hoop all year long. Joe, a NH Basketball Coaches Organization first team all state selection, led D2 and the Cougars in scoring this past season. He is currently playing with the New England Jayhawks AAU team, and is also a starter on Conval’s baseball team. Ryan, a starting guard on this year’s varsity, and Brayden, who played on the Reserve/Freshmen team, are both playing ball this off...

W e took a lot of photos at last night’s tournament game, just to have them in the Heritage archive. But none of them told the story that matters. Except for one. This one, which we took by accident. To us, it says: Whether you win a championship or lose in an earlier round (or don’t even make the tournament), every year, the season comes to an end too quickly, too suddenly. Win or lose, you crave for one more shot, one more drive to the hole, one more chance to be better than you were last time…one more time to shout and experience as community nothing-like-basketball’s extreme highs and lows, unfair near-misses, and exhilarating buzzer-beaters—all within 32 fleeting minutes. Until you remember that while every season is too short, the beauty of the game is that we can’t-hardly-wait ’til next season. And it says: When the shots go in, and even when they don’t, the ball is heading in the same direction—to the floor where there is always the promise of bounce-back... Basketball can hurt...

B ack in the summer of 2013 and 2014 , the Steven W. Crowe Foundation along with area businesses and alumni sponsored a. Conval Alumni Basketball Tournament. (Pictured is the program cover.) Featuring boys’ and girls’ teams players from Conval’s hoop history, games were played at the high school and South Meadow School in the morning with championship games played in the afternoon. In this "passing the torch" event, all proceeds were used to benefit Conval’s current and future hoop program, including uniforms, basketball camps and scholarships. Just about every generation of Cougar bball was represented in this fun event, and Mike Crowe (‘75) remembers, “We went through a lot of ice for the older players!”