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...

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...

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...

O n February 16, 1984, a famous political candidate and the entire Conval student body inspired a guard on the basketball team with a much needed boost, and a night to remember on the court. The Peterborough Transcript takes it from there… Everyone needs to be told that they’re OK, that somebody really likes them, that they’re good at what they do. Everyone needs to hear those sort of uplifting things from both friend and stranger because, regardless of what kind of gumption we’re made of, we all have days—or weeks—when we are down on ourself, on others, on life in general. But no one ever cheers up when someone tells you to. It’s akin to not feeling much better when someone tells you not to be depressed anymore. It takes more than a “cheer up!” order to snap you out of the doldrums. Someone has to tell us we’re somebody special—and mean it. Democratic presidential candidate the Rev. Jesse Jackson, regardless of what you think of his politlcal views, knows how to make folks feel good. ...