Quiz Results

It’s been awhile since the historical quiz was posted and it's time to get into the answers and explore the programs involved. If you haven’t taken the quiz and want to challenge your small school knowledge, don’t click through on this post.

Unless of course you want to cheat!

The first two questions go together so we’ll combine them into one answer.

Question 1 – Which team has the most trips to the state tournament in Oregon history?

Question 2 – Which team is second?

a. Elkton
b. Alsea
c. Condon
d. Powers
e. Wallowa

Answer – Your choices are all powerhouses of small school basketball history. The schools mentioned above are all top-5 in terms of trips to the state tournament in history, with Condon tied for 5th with Mohawk at 14. Wallowa was the first of the group to make the state tournament, back in 1925 , when it was a single class tournament and Elkton was the last of the group to make their first, back in 1956. Powers earned their first trip to the state tournament in 1942, which was the first of three straight trips and culminated in their first ever state championship in 1944.

Powers holds the lead with 24 trips to the state tournament to their name, their last coming in 1999 when they won the state championship over Christ’s Center.

Second place belongs to Elkton with 20 who are looking to make it 21 in the second round of the substate tournament tonight. Elkton waited until 1956 to make the first trip to state and have been a tournament staple ever since.

Question 3 – What team made seven straight state tournaments in the 1950’s?

a. Powers
b. Elkton
c. Knappa
d. Pleasant Hill
e. Lowell

Answer – A bit of a trick question because the correct answer isn’t technically in the smallest classification any more. The distinction belongs to Knappa, who made seven straight state tournament trips from 1951 to 1957. Led by Bob “Pudgy” Hunt, the Loggers owned the mid-1950’s but curiously only won one state championship during the run. Hunt was the state’s all-time leading scorer until 2007, when Lake Oswego’s Kevin Love eclipsed Hunt’s mark of 2,584 total career points.

Question 4 - Which team had the longest gap between their first and second trip to the state tournament?

a. Wasco County
b. Pilot Rock
c. Helix
d. Sherman County
e. Chemawa

Answer – On second reading, this question is a tad unfair and most were probably forced to guess. Unless you know your Helix/Griswold high school basketball history, in which case you would know that the correct answer is C. Helix went 43 years between trips to the state tournament, making their first trip in 1940 and their second in 1983. After the 1983 campaign, Helix went on to make four out of the next five state tournaments and won the 1986 state championship over North Clackamas Christian.

Question 5 - Which team was the first to qualify for a state tournament?

a. Butte Falls
b. Mohawk
c. Mitchell
d. Alsea
e. Powers

Answer – Another tough question unless you are a keen historian of Mitchell high school basketball. Indeed, it was Mitchell, way back in 1934, who was the first of this group to qualify for the state tournament. It remains their only trip to the state tournament to date and it almost didn’t happen at all. After losing to Burns in the opening game of the district tournament in Prairie City on a Monday, Mitchell responded by defeating Fossil 35-27 on Tuesday morning and Crane 49-33 that same evening. Wednesday morning, Mitchell returned to the floor and eliminated the hometown favorites Prairie City with a 28-26 victory. The win over Prairie City propelled Mitchell, now on a three game winning streak in the span of 24 hours, into the district finals against undefeated Burns, who were also the two time defending district champions. Locals sat poised by their phones waiting for word from Prairie City on how the boys fared. Needing two wins against Burns to win the cup, the possibility remained that Mitchell could play three games in one day. The Loggers won the opening game 29-25 to force a deciding game. The start time for the penultimate game was 10:00pm and Mitchell was playing their fifth game in less than 48 hours. The Loggers prevailed by four again, 25-21, to shock Burns and earn their first, and only trip to the state tournament.

Question 6 - Which team has the most state tournament trips?

a. St. Paul
b. Prairie City
c. Condon
d. Mohawk
e. Alsea

Answer – All five of the teams made their first state appearances reasonably close together. But It was Alsea who made the first appearance of the group above. The Wolverines made the first of their 17 trips to state in 1941 after winning the district tournament over Monroe at Junction City. Mohawk earned their first ever trip the following year with a district 3 championship victory over Oakridge in front of 3,500 fans at MacArthur Court at University of Oregon. St. Paul first appeared in 1946, when they lost in the semifinals to Clyde DeWitt and Reedsport. Both Condon and Prairie City earned their first trip in 1950.