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...

Antrim High's Ed Coughlan, December 1965...more than a force on the court. P erhaps it’s a rural New Hampshire thing, but the nine towns that send students to Conval High—the Contoocook River bending its way around several of them—have long been interconnected. Each town is unique in its own way, and yet there is this sense that when you cross the town line from, say, New Boston to Francestown, you have entered Cougar Country as much as you’ve entered one of its nine towns. Last year’s boys’ basketball starting five, for example, represented five different towns. And when you explore our region’s hoop history, those interconnections keep popping up. In 1964, for example, when Antrim High was alive and well, little would Conval fans realize that Antrim’s long-time basketball coach, Chick Hamel, would one day become CV’s first assistant principal. (See “Paving the Way” ). And one of Chick’s star players in 1964 would one day become a legend in Hancock for many years. “You don’t have...

Coach Ray Richard, pictured with co-captains Bill Bishop and Kevin Keenan of the final Peterborough High School team in 1969-'70. R ay Richard, Conval High’s first boys’ basketball coach and the first to reach 100 wins, will be recognized at halftime of tonight’s game with John Stark. The ball from that 100th victory in the 1973-74 season, signed by Coach Richard’s players, will be placed in the school’s trophy case. The following article on Coach Ray’s retirement from coaching is adapted from a 1978 column in The Peterborough Transcript: T he buzzer sounded and Ray Richard stood with fingers locked behind his neck, his elbows covering a disappointed face. His players, those who were on the bench, sat glassy-eyed and hunched over. The starters, drained physically and emotionally, dragged themselves to the sideline. Laconia fans cheered, knowing their team had won, 50-45. Richard walked over to shake hands with winning coach Rick Knowles, took another look at the scoreboard, and pu...

The ’92-’93 team (front, from left): Veronica Jutras, Kendra Bergen, Nicole Keil, Cathy Brennan and Amy Card. Back row: Assistant Coach Jane Weymouth, Jenny Brennan, Christine Jutras, Kristen Carroll, Natalie Jutras, Michelle Jutras and Coach John Reitnauer. I n late December 1992, Conval hosted the second of what was considered one of the premiere girls’ basketball tournaments in New England—the Conval Cougar Holiday Classic. The eight-team holiday tournament featured some of the strongest girls’ programs in New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New York. The defending New York Class C state champion Our Lady of Lourdes from Poughkeepsie, which returned nearly all of its (tall!) starters and bench, proved to be too much for the hometown Cougars in the first round, but not without a fight. Coach John Reitnauer ’s young team went on to make its presence known by defeating Keene and Manchester Memorial—momentum that propelled Conval to one of its finest regular seasons in history...

Photo: The old Boston Garden; fromtheseat.co m D id you know that Conval once played a regular season game at Boston Garden? On December 3, 1976, the Cougars opened their season by taking on Exeter High in the old Garden (pre-TD Bank Garden) on Causeway Street. The game was arranged months in advance through the efforts of the Exeter athletic department. Three busloads of spectators plus numerous cars traveled to the game, which was a prelim to the Celtics game that night against the Chicago Bulls. Coach Ray Richard noted afterwards, “ We could hardly tell they were there because the Garden is so big.” It was an exciting experience for all, but Coach Richard said afterwards he was glad the Cougars didn’t play there every game—it was difficult to communicate with players in such a cavernous facility, the perception of the basket in a large building affected outside shooting, and then there was the infamous irregular bounces produced by the ancient parquet floor. The much taller Exeter ...

Mighty Warriors from Antrim, 1967-68 (front, from left): Dennis Huntington, Richard Brzozowski, Gary Cole and Bruce Davies. Standing (from left): Coach Chick Hamel, Fred Doleac, Jeff Barsanti, John Doleac, Robin Rockwell, Dave Jones and Bill Davies. Missing from photo: Steve Brzozowski and Bruce Chesson. W hen Antrim High School joined Peterborough High School to form Conval Regional High School in 1970, it’s not surprising that two winning basketball traditions helped to immediately put the Cougars on the map. While Peterborough was the team of the decade in the 1930s and produced champions in the late 1920s and early 1940s, Antrim High was among the cream of the crop throughout the 1960s. From 1962 to its final season of 1970, Antrim was a perennial participant in the Class S (D4) state tournament and among the best in the state near the end of the decade. But the season everyone in Antrim will long remember is 1967-68 when the Warriors were on the edge of reaching the pinnacle of hi...

  Legendary hoop coach and educator John Clark, in front of the old Peterborough High School C onval High’s outstanding hoop heritage has been sustained through the decades thanks in large part to several outstanding coaches who have made their mark on teams, players, and the game they love. Perhaps the most noteworthy of them all has been John Clark, who led Peterborough High School to four state titles in 1931, 1932, 1936 and 1941. But “Mr. Clark,” as he was respectfully known by many students and players, was more than a great coach. He invested in students’ education by serving in the classroom and later as principal, and was invested in the game of basketball by being a leader in promoting girls’ and boys’ basketball in New Hampshire, and was a pioneer in developing quality officiating. Born in Scotland, Mr. Clark starred at Manchester Central where he set an early state tournament record with 44 points in three games. Later, he was a three-sport standout at UNH before coming ...