CONVAL HOOP HERITAGE

Senior guard Paul Boule set four scoring records in helping the Cougars to a surprising second season in 1971-72 Sitting with three friends amidst a mob of people at Bow High School last night while watching the D3 semifinal between Kearsarge and Mascoma, one of the friends commented: “Sure is good to enjoy a game with no vested interest.” The longtime parent of a basketball playing family knew the opposite feeling. Tonight, Conval kids weren’t playing. We could relax. Still, we could all relate to the tournament environment, and the tension, and the people who drove a long way from home to support their team. In the chaos, someone asked how the Conval boys made out the other night, and we said they won, and it looked like they might be in this sort of environment, too, in a couple of weeks. Barely alive, but alive nonetheless. Where have we seen this before? And in a moment, there was a flashback to another Conval team that barely got into the playoffs, and the great story they told… ...

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 ...

Undefeated Class B state champs... (front, from left): Harold Clukay, Milt Fontaine, Eddie Blanchette, Robert Barry and Ken McLeod. Back row: Coach John Clark, Carl Erhler, Donald Dupree, Charles Lindsay, Donald Mulstay, Robert Clukay and George Eastman . T he winter of 1935-36 was much like our current winter—bone-chilling cold, snowy and long. But unlike today, when there are so many options, and so many different sports, and so many distractions of every kind, there was just basketball for entertainment and hometown pride. Basketball, boys and girls, helped citizens get through the long winter—if you followed the teams from December until late February or early March, and many did, you made it through the worst of it. And around these parts, you made it in style... For a tiny New Hampshire town, Peterborough was among the kings of basketball. Its boys teams just knew how to win. From 1930 to 1941, they won five state championships—including a three-peat in 1930, 1931 and 1932—and pl...

Conval seniors Jamie Wasserloos (31) and Kevin Proctor (42)—oh hey, we know that guy!—applied a smothering defense on Monadnock during the 1994-’95 season. This was the  “golden era” for New Hampshire high school basketball, which boasted numerous outstanding teams, and players who have become legends of the game. It was also a golden time for Conval High, which the year previously had won the Class I (D2) championship and was a finalist the previous two seasons. The ’94-’95 team almost reached the finals, too. Third-ranked at 16-2, the Cougars, led by 1,000 point scorer Jaime LeFlem , battled back from a 16 point deficit against top-ranked Oyster River in the semi-finals, holding a slim 58=57 lead with 15 seconds left. But another legend of the game, Keith Friel, hit a 15-footer with four seconds left for a pulsating Oyster River 59-58 win. The Bobcats went on to win the title in 1995. What a game, what a season, what an era!

The 2024 Conval Spirit Team is more than just cheerleaders—they’re athletic gymnasts and modern dancers. … Their 1956 predecessors at Peterborough High , however, boasted of something else... “The cheerleaders got busy early in the season and rehearsed old cheers as well as produced some peppy, new cheers. The mascot, Sherry Dube, is a cute little blonde girl of three years, who cheered at all the home games. Sherry had a white corduroy, princess style uniform with white accessories. The cheerleading squad had green corduroy uniforms with white accessories, which made for a very nice appearance.” Members of the '56 squad were: Peggy Shea, Pat smith, Gloria Lammi, Jean Simonetta, Joan Simonetta, Elaine Florre, Betsy Cummings, Joan Hofer and Anne Hill. #timeschange #gocougs

The 1976-’77 Conval boys basketball team finished the season at 12-8 and were eked out of state tournament consideration by percentage points. But they began the year in early December in an unbelievable way—opening at the (old) Boston Garden against eventual state champ Exeter as a preliminary to a Boston Celtics game. The diminutive but scrappy Cougars were no match for the taller and talented Blue Hawks, bowing 63-50, but the memories of playing hoop on the same court as Dave Cowens, Jo Jo White and John Havlicek were unforgettable. Several hundred Conval fans journeyed to Boston, but the late Coach Ray Richard said, “we could hardly tell they were there—the Garden is so big.”  Team members included (left to right): Bill Watson, Ken McTague, Tom Bartlett, Phil Abbott, Jay LaRoche, Scott Slade, Jon Barnes, Kent Richard, Mike McTague, John Tempone, Craig Whitney and John Guidotti . But there was more to this story! Check out: Games We Will Remember: The Garden and the Editorial ...

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 ...

L ast night, forward Max Cail fell hard while going for a rebound. Quickly, Conval athletic trainer Chris Lundsted ('10) took him into the locker room to be evaluated. Fortunately, Max was able to continue. But stories like this one at Spaulding High in Rochester make us grateful that Chris is seen on standby at every home game, and just about every sport, year-round. Because you never know. Not every school has this benefit. Thanks, Chris and Conval, and kudos to Spaulding High athletic trainer Jon Mousette . Prayers for complete healing to athlete Matt Gould !

L ike 2024, as the season wound down in 1951’-52, hopes for the following year were high in Conval Nation... The Peterborough Hilanders (pictured)—with players who would be elderly grandfathers today— had a rough go of it, finishing the regular season at 4-13. But these young guys would improve the following year and be among the elite in Class B in 1954 and 1955. Teaming with a one-loss JV team from 1951-’52, Peterborough High would be sparked by freshman sensation Dave Gavitt —a player remembered for giving his all and his leadership. including rallying his teammates for a shoot-around after losing the 1955 tournament game. Shown in the photo are (front, from left): Phil Bailey, John Twomey, co-captains Jack Harris and Jimmy Yakovakis, Eddie Wheeler and Dave Gavitt. Second row: Coach Dick Snow, Harry Clough, Tom Lawrence, Buddy Charest and assistant manager Tod Hofer. Back row: Bob Durkee, Don LaFontaine, Bill Taylor and manager Phil Petts . Yakovakis, Clough and Taylor were all f...

Key to a shocking 1974 quarter-final win over Lebanon was Ray Abbott's (25) work on Raider big man Doug Murphy (21). Photo: Ernie Hebert, Keene Sentinel O ur Conval Hoop Heritage has had more than its share of highs and lows come tournament time, but in the history of the Regional, few tournament games will ever match the 50th anniversary drama of the 1974 Class I (D2) quarter-finals against Lebanon.   The 1973-’74 Cougars, coming off a 12-8 season in which the returning players felt “never gelled,” was loaded with speedy, athletic, good shooting veterans: Ray Abbott, John “JD” Davies, John Cuddihee, Ed Lennon, Paul Krulis, Joe Reilly, Mike Crowe and Marshall White . But small—very small. Among the starters, senior Ray Abbott was the tallest of the bunch at 6’2” and sharp-shooter John Davies was next at an even six feet. Newcomers to the team were Ted Davies, Mark Sizemore, Peter Jennson and Doug Smith . The task ahead against a brutal Class I schedule seemed formidable, but Coa...

Adam Adkins (left) and CJ Sullivan celebrate Cougars' stunning upset over Pembroke in 1989. A college basketball commentator said recently that the most dangerous team come tournament time is not the one with the best record but the one that is on fire.   The 35th anniversary of the Conval Cougars basketball team and their unlikely pursuit of   the Class I (D2) championship fit that description… and was the stuff of which makes basketball fans’ blood boil with excitement and wonder. Coach Frank Davidson ’s Cougars began the 1988-’89 season in relative obscurity, playing close to .500 ball in a gym that was half closed. Unbeaten Merrimack Valley with eventual New Hampshire basketball standout Scott Drapeau , and highly-ranked Pembroke with shooting sensation Matt Alosa , had captured everyone’s attention and were early season favorites to meet for the Class I title in three months. But a Christmas tournament at Bishop Guertin High in Nashua suddenly changed that focus. “Who is...