Author Description

The Southeast Nebraska countryside was shocked in the winter of 1958 by the killing spree of Charles Starkweather and his young girlfriend, Carol Fugate. The other headlines that dominated the local news were from the Clatonia Cardinals boys' basketball team. An amazing collection of talent and a first-year, hard-nosed coach barreled their way to a perfect season and a Class D championship. Twenty-five years later, much had changed. The internet was invented during the winter of 2983, although it wouldn't become a household name for several years. Clatonia High School had consolidated with the Wilber School District. The old Clatonia school had been torn down, but the gym was spared. Changes were everywhere, but the dominance of the Wilber-Clatonia girls' basketball team was eerily similar to the 1958 Clatonia boys' team. The Wolverines would earn a Class C championship. This is a story of championships, individual triumphs, and tragedies that characterized the 1958 and 1983 basketball teams. It tells of the common threads between the two teams from the same school this story is shown through the eyes of the author, who was emotionally attached to both teams, but in much different ways.