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| Lyle Weyand (Joel Weyand's grandfather) was the coach of the 1938 Bethany team that won a third straight title. Coach Weyand also led Lincoln High to five state titles including back to back championships in '42-'43 and '58 - '59. |
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| 1990 Class B Bracket |
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| With the #1 seed, Wahoo drew a first round game against Schuyler at 9:30 a.m. The other top two teams in the tournament, York and GINW were on the other side of the bracket. |
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Back to Back to Back
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the record
Going into the 1990 State Tournament, the Wahoo team was proud of its accomplishments to date: the Conference and District Championships, the Class B record win streak, the All Class ranking, and even the Class B scoring record. There was one record that now had their attention -- a third consecutive State Championship. Winning three in a row would clearly put Wahoo in an elite group. At that time, only four other teams had done it. Since 1984, the tournament had been divided into six classes and for the first four years of the D2 classification, Clearwater won the championship and still held the record of four consecutive titles. In the early years, teams didn’t qualify for the tournament -- if you were willing to travel to Lincoln, you were in the tournament. Hardy had won championships from 1917 - 1919 in two different classes: Class B in 1917 and Class C in 1918 and 1919. In 1917 there were only three classes, but 96 teams entered the tournament. The number of classes was increased to eight in 1918 (104 entrees) and 1919 (120 entries). During the 1920’s the tournament had become a kind of alphabet soup. Goehner claimed three titles from 1927 to 1929 in three different classes: Class M in 1927 (16 classes / 252 teams), Class K in 1928 (17 classes / 263 teams), and Class F in 1929 (8 classes / 124 teams). In the 1930’s the number of teams was reduced and Bethany was able to claim the Class B title for three consecutive years, 1936 - 1938 -- each year there were three classes and 16 teams in each class. Ironically, Wahoo had a connection to that team as Lyle Weyand, freshman Joel Weyand’s grandfather had coached the 1938 Bethany team. In an interview during the 1990 tournament, Coach Weyand (then 81 years old) reflected that not much had been made of the accomplishment at the time. It was his first year coaching at the school -- Bethany qualified for the tournament the next year and according to the coach, “should have won it.”
Wahoo didn’t want to end up in that “should have won it” category in 1990. But the fact that no team had put together a trifecta in Class A or B in fifty years showed just how difficult that was. In fact, winning back to back championships in the same class wasn’t that common. In Class A, in 79 years, it had been done 13 times; in Class B, only 3 times, and a total of 31 times in classes D and above. In 1990, Grant would become the first team in Class C2 to win back to back titles. Millard South had joined Wahoo in the winners’ circle, claiming the Class A title in 1988 and 1989, but had failed to make the 1990 tournament. Sutton was going for back-to-back titles in Class C1. Falls City Sacred Heart was on the same track as Wahoo, looking for a third consecutive title, but had dropped down from Class D1 to Class D2 in 1990. Something would have to give as Hampton was the returning D2 Champion, looking to post their third consecutive championship in that class.
There were seven teams that stood between Wahoo and the three-peat. Of the Omaha World Herald Class B top ten, the top three (Wahoo, Grand Island Northwest, and York), plus #6, Lexington, #7 Norris, and #9 Lincoln Pius X had made the tournament. Schuyler, and Elkhorn Mt. Michael were the other two teams. Wahoo had the top seed and this put GINW and York in the opposite bracket. Wahoo was the only undefeated team in the field. Nevertheless, Coach Anderson admitted that “this may be the most difficult task of all, trying to win it three years in a row.” Omaha World Herald sports writer, Larry Porter, predicted a Wahoo - Northwest final. Some were looking forward to another Wahoo - Pius matchup in the semifinals. The Wahoo coaches continued the mantra and the team prepared for their first game. Coach Anderson: "Right now, all we're thinking about is Schuyler."
part 3 -- hard sell |
| Consecutive Titles in the same Class (as of 1990) |
| Class A |
| Lincoln High |
'14-'15 |
| Lincoln High |
'17-'18 |
| Omaha Tech |
'27-'28 |
| Omaha Creighton Prep |
'35-'36 |
| Lincoln High |
'42-'43 |
| Grand Island |
'47-'48 |
| Lincoln Northeast |
'49-'50 |
| Lincoln High |
'58-'59 |
| Boys Town |
'65-'66 |
| Lincoln Northeast |
'67-'68 |
| Omaha Central |
'74-'75 |
| Millard South |
'83-'84 |
| Millard South |
'88-'89 |
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| Class B |
| Bethany* |
'36-'38 |
| Seward |
'48-'49 |
| Syracuse |
'59-'60 |
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| Class C |
| Thayer |
'40-'41 |
| Atkinson St. Joseph |
'46-'47 |
| Pawnee City |
'70-'71 |
| Howells |
'73-'74 |
| Howells |
'77-'78 |
| Grant |
'81-'82 |
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| Class C2 |
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| Class D |
| Western |
'54-'55 |
| Polk |
'61-'62 |
| Beaver Crossing |
'54-'55 |
| Filley |
'79-'80 |
| Hordville |
'81-'82 |
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| Class D1 |
| Falls City Sacred Heart |
'88-'89 |
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| Class D2 |
| Clearwater** |
'84-'87 |
| Hampton |
'88-'89 |
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* three consecutive titles
** four consecutive titles |
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| 12/26/09 |
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