CONVAL HOOP HERITAGE

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...

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

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 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...

T his pic of the 1911 Peterborough High basketball team is believed to be one of the earliest basketball team photos ever published in Conval Nation. Although area high schools had been playing for at least seven years, this week in 1913 saw one of the first reports of games in the local newspaper. Photos in early newspapers were rare, and text dominated the four-page Peterborough Transcript on February 13, 1913. The paper, however, did document the weather that week: “Ten below zero Monday morning, and winter ever since. The slight, soft snow of Tuesday helped out the sleighing some, although it is thin over the hills. Ice has formed rapidly during the past few days, and it is being harvested in all directions at present, and is being hauled on sleds.” Wow!   As for one of the first-ever local “basket ball” news items, the Transcript reported: “There will be two games at the town hall, Friday evening, Feb. 17, when the Wilton High and the Peterborough High will meet for the first ...

1964, the first of a several state championships in cross country and track for Peterborough High. B efore its merger into Conval High in the fall of 1970 , basketball was king at Peterborough High—with five state championships, and no other sport coming close. Until the fall of 1964. Led by the determination and expertise of Coach Bill Yeo (pictured at right), the Hilanders won their first of four consecutive Class M-S (D3-4) cross country state championships. It marked the first time since 1941 that a state championship, and other than basketball, had come to Peterborough. Participating in the 1964 trophy presentation were (pictured above, from left): Ken Taylor, Coach Yeo, Murray Latti, Nat Mason, Steve Gorski, Jack Thibeault, Jim Kearney and Ken Sutcliffe . Coach H. William “Bill” Yeo, who served as a science/biology teacher at the high school since 1959, was instrumental in igniting the most successful sports program in Peterborough High history. He recruited in the hallways, an...

I n 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). Co...

T he 1967-68 Peterborough High girls not only finished with an outstanding 13-1 record, they handed Nashua High its first loss in five years, 35-26. Wow! The Hilanders’ only loss was a squeaker to Nashua, 25-24.  Standing (back row, l-r): Coach Sharon Derby, Sherry Carbee, Becky Morgan, Mary Ann Cuddihee, Joyce Tilton and Joyce Jarest . Front row: Jane Stevens, Janie Hayes, Janet Newton, Kathy Descher, Wendy Peters and Wendy Carney.

1927-28 Peterborough High School squad began a string that may never be duplicated…Front from left: Joseph Emery, Assistant Coach Philander Mann, Harold “Jim” Clinton, Lawrence Carll, Coach Gordon L. Fox, Warren Smith. Back row from left: Lester Smith, Merrill Dole, Paul Myhaver, Robert Paquet, Wallace Flood, Arthur Smith, Harry Brenner. W e’ve run this photo before, but its message is more timely than ever. Because the destiny of this Conval hoop heritage team had Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots written all over it—a legend that began 95 seasons ago, and not on an NFL football field but on small town basketball courts… On February 19, 1928, the Peterborough High boys scored what the local paper described as: “Probably the greatest victory in the history of basketball at the local school”   when it went on the road and won 18-15 over Keene High. “It was undoubtedly the best game of basketball that has been seen on the Keene floor this year, and was attended by the la...

I n the 1963-’64 season, the Peterborough High girls basketball team quietly compiled its second straight 7-2 season. A remarkable achievement that was so quiet, unlike today, hardly anyone noticed. Coach Barbara Rowe felt her team was “entitled to at least an athletic energy” for the performance. Yet, as the Peterborough Transcript reported, “the girls play to minuscule audiences, and have none of the fanfare, publicity or public attention that go to other sports and activities. There are no dramatic reverberations when the team takes off quietly for the away games, or when it is playing at home.” What happened? Unlike today, girls’ basketball up until 1970 hardly resembled the fast-paced five-on-five style exhibited by the boys. The girls’ game was six-on-six, with three forwards who could score on one half of the court while three defensive guards stayed on their own half of the court until the opposition crossed it. One player for each team was considered a rover and could travel...

S ixty years ago tonight, December 13, 1963, will live in infamy for Peterborough High basketball —the Hilanders scored in the wrong basket with nine seconds remaining, dropping a heartbreaking 44-43 decision to Appleton Academy of New Ipswich (pre-Mascenic Regional days). As shocking an ending as it was, it was nothing like the urban legend that the story turned out to be, exaggerated over the years like a game of telephone. According to legend, the basket was “credited” to the wrong player, it occurred near the end of the season, and it cost Peterborough High a tournament berth. Let the record show, however, that the player was “aggressive junior forward” Gary Vickery —now a reputable NHIAA basketball official—that the game took place in mid-December, and that PHS had a non-tournament-friendly record of 0-5 (and finished 6-14). Urban legend, though, is more fun! According to published reports, “the wrong-way shot originated from a [confusing] out-of-bounds play under the Appleton ne...