Fifty-year reunion for Prospect's amazing hoops start

Fifty years may have gone by, but to Dick Kinneman they are still his kids.

Kids who became men now approaching 70 years of age.

Some of them have unfortunately passed on.

But it's a group that still brings out all sorts of emotions in their now 85-year-old coach. Pride. Excitement. And some disappointment not in them but for them.

They were the first varsity boys basketball team in Prospect High School history.

They captivated a brand new school as one of the best teams ever to play in this area ascending to a ranking as high as No. 2 in the 1960-61 state polls.

They won 47 of 51 games they played in the seasons of 1959-60 and 1960-61. All 4 losses were heartbreakers the biggest one under a briefly used sudden death overtime rule the last time they were together on a basketball court.

Tonight, a bunch of them will get together again for a reunion organized by current Prospect head coach John Camardella.

There will be a reception in Prospect's Community Room at 5 p.m. that's open to the public.

Around 7 p.m. they'll take the court again to be honored and remembered with Bob Frisk as the emcee fittingly before Prospect and Hersey play with a share of the Mid-Suburban East title at stake.

"I think really highly about those, I still call them kids," Kinneman said.

"It's something I'm really looking forward to, seeing all these boys together again."

Their two years together on a basketball court were truly magical.

An amazing start

One would expect the inaugural varsity season to be one filled with trials and plenty of errors. But this new group of juniors had talent displayed not only in basketball but football and baseball.

"We felt we were going to have a pretty good ballclub," Kinneman said. "They all came together to make a pretty doggone good nucleus of a basketball team."

That nucleus was part of an undefeated freshman team at Arlington 6-foot-5 Bill Zadel, 6-4 Dick Palmer, guards Fred Lussow and Fred Empkie and Keith Grams and Bob Glaser. Lussow and Empkie could have stayed at Arlington but decided to go along with the others to Prospect.

And then came another addition from Fox Lake. George Pomey, a 6-foot-4 junior who already had two varsity seasons as a starter at Grant, moved to Elk Grove so his parents could be closer to their jobs in Chicago.

"He just added to the group and grew with the group," Lussow said of the future starter on Michigan's 1965 NCAA runner-up. "The camaraderie was great and we really had a strong group that way. Everybody liked everyone."

They had the perfect people to put it together in Kinneman and assistant coach Ted Wissen.

"Dick was quite an outstanding guy," Pomey said.

"I can't think of a better pair of guys to have as coaches," Lussow said. "They were so genuine. It wasn't about them, it was about having a good team."

The start saw the Knights rally from an 8-point deficit in the final 5:48 to beat St. Charles by a point in its first varsity game. They won their first nine games before a late rally fell a point short to unbeaten East Leyden and standout Jimmy Rodgers, who went on to become an NBA coach with the Celtics and Timberwolves.

It was just a small bump as Prospect avenged its only regular-season loss to share the Interim League title with East Leyden. Then came a highly anticipated regional final at Palatine where 3,600 packed the gym to see its game with Arlington.

Lussow hit a 15-footer to force overtime but a Pomey hook shot bounced twice on the rim and off at the buzzer as Arlington won 57-56. Leading the way for the winners with 27 points was George Bork, who would go on to become a teacher and successful golf coach at Prospect.

But they figured it was just a start with everyone coming back the following year.

Near perfection, then dejection

No longer was Prospect an unknown with 11 talented lettermen back from a 22-2 team. There was even talk about a trip in March to Champaign, although Pomey said "I don't know if we ever gave thought to that."

Kinneman said even though the Knights had good guards, he's not sure if their outside shooting was good enough to get there. But all they did was pile up win after win most of them in impressive, double-digit fashion.

They stormed to the Kankakee holiday tournament title where Zadel, Pomey and Lussow were first-team all-tournament, Palmer was on the second team and Empkie was on the third team. They were 17-0 and rose to No. 2 in The Associated Press state rankings behind eventual state champion Collinsville.

But one of the secrets to their success was a group of reserves who billed themselves as the "88ers" and included Rick Bachhuber, Tom Polzin, Mark Thorne, George McRae and Nick Tuttle. Lussow said the name was an offshoot of the Phillips 66ers, a nationally renowned amateur team.

"It was amazing what happened there," Lussow said with a laugh. "It was so funny, we'd get a nice lead and people started yelling for the 88ers.

"Kinneman would empty the bench and there was more excitement for them going in. There was pride in their unit."

It was evident every day.

"It was a lot like it was here for me at Michigan," Pomey said. "We were pretty deep with the famed 88ers. A lot of times we had better competition every day than some of the games we played."

Not so in the 18th game where Wheaton came in and stunned Prospect 62-60. Lussow recalled Pomey draped all over the shooter and forcing an off-balance 24-foot prayer that was answered.

It didn't faze the Knights as they recovered to win the Interim League title, finish the regular season 22-1 and take the No. 4 spot in the final state poll.

They pounded Maryville 98-38 in their regional opener where Kinneman stalled to keep the score from hitting 100. They took care of West Suburban Conference champion Maine East, which had only 2 losses, 60-49 for their first regional title.

That set up a sectional semifinal with North Suburban Conference champion Crystal Lake, which came in at 21-4. It was a night where little went right from poor shooting to foul trouble.

Prospect rallied from an 11-point halftime deficit to take the lead late in the game. Crystal Lake hit a tough shot from the corner forced an overtime that was scoreless.

The next overtime was sudden death where the first team to score 2 points would win. It was an IHSA rule changed a year too late for the Knights.

A foul was called under the basket and a Crystal Lake reserve who hadn't scored hit both free throws for a stunning 59-57 victory.

"We'll all sit and reminisce about what happened in that last game and go over it in detail," Lussow said. "If we played them 10 times we probably would have beaten them nine, but I give them all the credit in the world. If we played like we did against Maine East, I think we would have had some success."

For Kinneman, it's a defeat that clearly still stings. As he recalled it his voice started to crack with emotion.

"That game probably hurt me more than any game I ever competed in," Kinneman said. "I didn't feel as bad for myself as I did for the kids. They did everything I asked for two years. Their one goal was to win a state championship and that ended it."

What Kinneman feels great about is how his team turned out after graduating from Prospect.

"I'm very proud of how the boys conducted their lives after they got out of high school," said Kinneman, who now lives with his wife Pauline in downstate Diamond, which is near Coal City. "To my knowledge, every one of them has been successful in their family life and citizenship."

Lussow played football at Indiana, became a successful football coach at Forest View and Rolling Meadows and still coaches the shot put and discus for the Hersey boys track team. Thorne coached baseball at Forest View and girls basketball at Meadows.

Pomey, who played alongside the legendary Cazzie Russell at Michigan, coached for four years at his alma mater. Pomey's respect for the time Kinneman spent as a coach grew as he decided to go to work for State Farm in Ann Arbor.

Zadel had a successful football career at Army. Empkie passed away but his brother Timothy and sister Stephanie are coming in for the event.

And Kinneman can't wait to see all of his kids who are returning.

"That makes us feel pretty good that people still remember," Kinneman said.

Because it was an unforgettable time at Prospect.

mmaciaszek@dailyherald.com