Iowa State basketball: The story behind the Cyclones' last Final Four team in 1944

Note to readers: This story originally published in 2016 in the Ames Tribune. The introduction was edited to include information about this year’s Iowa State basketball team. All reporting in this story was done through secondary sources such as newspapers and books. A complete list of all reference material is posted as the end of the story.

The Iowa State men’s basketball program is two wins away from a Final Four. It’s the pinnacle of the college basketball world, even if it takes another two wins from there to be crowned national champions. Programs count Final Four appearances with nearly as much pride as they do titles.

For the second time in three years, the 2-seed Cyclones are one undefeated weekend from cutting down nets in celebration, with its matchup against No. 3 seed Illinois looming Thursday (approximately 9:10 p.m., TBS and truTV). No ISU team has reached the Final Four in the modern era.

But one did when college basketball — and the world — was very different. When war raged in Europe and in the Pacific, when campuses were all but abandoned by men, when the NCAA Tournament sometimes got fewer words in local sports pages than bowling.

It was 1944 when circumstances coalesced for a powerful program to suddenly emerge in Ames and provide the opportunity, through many twists and turns, to represent Iowa State University in the NCAA Tournament that would later grow into a $10 billion industry.

The differences between the game and the country between when Iowa State last played in the Final Four and now are startling and stark. One thing has remained unchanged, however.

The Cyclones have yet to get back.

The world at war

In the fall of 1943, World War II dominated nearly every facet of American life. The United States was fighting across both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Men enlisted in huge numbers after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and more were drafted into service. Rationing and shortages afflicted the American homefront. More than 400,000 U.S. citizens would eventually perish as a result of the fighting.

The war’s impact could be felt at colleges and universities across the country, with seemingly almost an entire generation of men foregoing or at least delaying higher education to enlist in the armed forces. ISU was no different. The school’s civilian enrollment fell from its high of 6,000 to 3,000.

Those who did go to school were not insulated from the war’s concerns. Its impact dominated campus life, and all students were expected in some way to contribute to defense work. That year, ISU students decided that instead of buying corsages for school dances, they would instead buy war stamps and bonds.

While sports were certainly among the most minor concerns, the exodus of young men to the European and Pacific theatres decimated college basketball. Schools struggled to field full teams. DePaul, which was anchored by the first true dominant force in basketball history, future NBA hall of famer George Mikan, feared it may have to cancel the 1943-44 season in which it ultimately went 22-4 and advanced to the prestigious NIT finals in Madison Square Garden.

On the hardwood, some of the top basketball teams in the country were now found on military bases, which during the war would assemble teams and compete against local colleges, often winning by large margins.

This is where ISU had an advantage during World War II.

Possessing a strong engineering program, the school was one of a few that offered naval training programs, allowing cadets to train under its V-5 and V-12 engineering programs. Those cadets would be eligible for ISU’s sports teams no matter their age or if they’d previously graduated from college.

This would provide ISU with an influx of hoops talent, but also create numerous issues for the team, including one that would ultimately contribute to the end of its historic season.

The Cyclones open play

If any of the 10 players who made up the Cyclone roster flipped through the pages of the local newspaper the day of their season opener — Dec. 4, 1943 — they were met with striking headlines telling of the taking of hundreds of German soldiers as Allied troops drove toward Rome and the Japanese’s position in the Pacific waning.

A few pages later told of much more local — and mundane — news, such as “Mrs. Norman Cattell of near Story City went to Des Moines this morning to meet her daughter. They will return this afternoon.”

That night at State Gym, the Cyclones defeated Iowa Pre-Flight (a military outfit), 31-29 behind strong defense of Lloyd Kester, “who three times literally stole the ball from a charging Seahawk.” Despite opening the season with a victory, the Ames Tribune offered a warning that “if the remaining games on the Cyclone home schedule are all like the game Saturday night, there is going to be a big demand for heart stimulants around these parts.”

A few days later, the second anniversary of Pearl Harbor passed and headlines told of an oncoming assault by the Allies on Japan. On Dec. 20, ISU traveled north to face Minnesota, only to find offensive troubles so severe in a 31-28 loss that “it seems eye trouble or something bothered the Cyclones,” wrote the Ames Tribune.

Two days later, the tentacles of the war reached the ISU basketball team when reserve center Leo Schneider received word that he would be called up by the Army and would have to soon report.

The man charged with coaching the Cyclones amid these circumstances was Louis Menze, who served as head coach since 1928. He got them over .500 in his first season at the helm though they were just a year removed from a 3-15 mark. By 1935, they were Big Six champions.

Menze certainly had pedigree. His coach for two years at the Missouri State Teachers College in Warrensburg, Mo., was none other than Forrest (Phog) Allen, who went on to enormous success at Kansas.

“He inculcated in all of us the virtue of never giving up no matter the circumstances,” Menze said years later.

Following his stint in Warrensburg, Menze spent nine years coaching and teaching at Central High School in Kansas City, Mo., before leaving for Ames, where he would coach for 19 years and serve as athletics director for another 13.

Cyclones hit their stride

After news of Schneider’s impending departure and in the wake of the Minnesota loss, Menze was adamant that the Cyclones must improve their offense if they were a team to be reckoned with.

The military delivered a solution for Menze just days after Christmas.

Price Brookfield, who was a two-time All-American at West Texas State, arrived in late December as part of ISU’s V-5 training unit. He had already graduated from the Lone Star State school, but his military training allowed him to join the Cyclones’ squad. He was quickly inserted into the starting lineup against Drake on New Year’s Eve.

Brookfield scored nine points in his debut, but it was Kester, an Ames High School graduate, who led the team with 15 points.

After the turn of the year, Big Six conference play began. In the mind of Kansas coach Phog Allen, whose name now adorns the Jayhawks’ home gym, there was a clear favorite in the race for a league title: the Cyclones.

ISU backed up Allen’s prognostication with back-to-back big wins to begin conference play. Kester scored 25 points in a 42-33 road win over Kansas State. The team followed it up with a 56-24 road victory over Nebraska. The Cyclones did suffer a loss, however, when the Army called Kester, the team’s leading scorer, into service, making the Cornhuskers’ victory his last appearance.

Following its 2-0 Big Six start, ISU split two non-conference games, a win over Ottumwa Naval and a road loss to Iowa Pre-Flight, before losing another player to the war effort on Jan. 20.

“Coach Louie Menze could be pardoned if he snuck up and kicked Uncle Sam in the seat of the pants,” wrote the Ames Tribune, “for that whiskered old gentleman just reached out his strong right arm and plucked Lyle Naylor.”

ISU stayed undefeated in Big Six play with a 41-25 win over Missouri on Jan. 22. A matchup with defending league champion Kansas came next.

ISU brought in extra bleachers to accommodate a larger crowd for the Jayhawks. Attendance during the 1943-44 season was a bit of an anomaly due to ISU’s severely decreased civilian enrollment. In previous years, crowds consisted almost entirely of students, but that season the Cyclones encouraged anyone in the city to attend given the increased availability of seating. It was an offer area residents apparently accepted with vigor.

The Cyclones played the Jayhawks to a stalemate in the first half before exerting their will after halftime, outscoring Kansas 23-12 in the second half. ISU won 40-29 behind 18 points from Brookfield.

That win set up what the Ames Tribune called a “titanic battle” that “may be the pivotal battle of the 1944 Big Six conference season” on the road with fellow undefeated Oklahoma. The Cyclones would again go into that game shorthanded, though not due to military induction but rather because of run-of-the-mill bad luck. Defensive whiz Bob Sauer underwent surgery for appendicitis and was feared lost for the season.

Sauer’s replacement, Jim Myers, would have an immediate and meaningful impact.

In a tight game with the Sooners, Myers connected on the game-winning basket in the waning seconds to keep the Cyclones undefeated and in the Big Six driver’s seat.

ISU followed up with wins against Drake, Kansas State, Nebraska and Missouri, setting up a rematch with the Sooners for a chance to clinch the conference title.

“The Cyclones have just one more river to cross,” wrote the Ames Tribune, “and they will be in the promised land, with the Big Six basketball crown firmly planted on their collective brows.”

Reserved seats were all snapped up two weeks ahead of the game, and the Des Moines radio station KSO decided to broadcast the Oklahoma game due to demand.

The big crowd and huge circumstances, though, couldn’t make up for poor shooting and bad defense. ISU lost the chance for an outright title, falling 44-30 on Feb. 28.

ISU still had a chance to tie for the Big Six championship, though, if it could beat Kansas on the road in the regular-season finale, which it did, 47-25. The Cyclones limited the Jayhawkers to nine field goals while also getting extended time from Sauer, who returned in a limited capacity earlier against Oklahoma from his appendicitis.

The madness of March

On March 6, a blizzard struck central Iowa, crippling transportation. It took one bus 3 hours to get from Des Moines to Ames. Some, arrivals, though, could not be slowed.

On the Boone-Story County line, in the backseat of a car stuck in a snowdrift, Daun Gillett gave birth to her third child, Delores Jane.

Snow and emergency deliveries weren’t the only news that day, though, as ISU decided to decline an invitation to participate in the NCAA Tournament. In 1944, that wasn’t particularly shocking as the tournament played second fiddle to the older, more prestigious and more lucrative NIT. The NCAA Tournament had started only five years prior.

ISU’s decision wasn’t financially based. The Cyclones weren’t sure if they could field a team. Star Price Brookfield, who finished second in the Big Six in scoring, was set to transfer to Iowa Pre-Flight before the tournament. Other members of the team were subject to call-up as well.

There was also the matter of the Navy’s rule that trainees could not be away from Ames for more than 48 hours. The tournament’s first two rounds would be played over consecutive days in Kansas City, which would be doable, but the championship game was to be played at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, a trip that required more time out of town. ISU athletics director George Veenker announced the school had to “decline any invitation to compete since we do not feel it fair to start play when we know we could not go all the way.”

Iowa accepted the NCAA’s offer the day after ISU passed.

“At first the university officials were inclined to decline the invitation,” wrote the Des Moines Register, “but members of the squad protested that they wanted to accept.

“The athletic board and university officials then gave their approval. It was said that the clinching factor in their decision was that all of the squad members are doing good work in their studies.”

The following day, the Cyclone players followed the lead of the Hawkeyes, impressing upon Veenker their desire for ISU to reconsider its position and accept the bid. Brookfield’s impending transfer was also delayed until after the tournament. Also, ISU expected its naval personnel to receive a six-day exemption to travel to New York if the Cyclones made the championship game.

The state was aflutter with the possibility of the Cyclones and Hawkeyes meeting, but the chance evaporated just days later. Iowa bowed out, citing a lack of players. The Big Ten’s top scorer, Dick Ives, sustained a thigh injury, two players were subject to military call-up and three others were “too busy in engineering (courses) to take time out for practices and another trip,” the Daily Iowan wrote.

There was speculation, however, that there was another motive for the Hawkeyes to once again reverse course on their NCAA decision.

“The bitterness and hatred between the two schools in those days was unbelievable,” Harry Burrell, ISU’s longtime sports information director, said. “Once Iowa heard we were going to be in the regional after all, they decided not to accept the NCAA Tournament berth.”

Whatever the reason, Iowa was out and Missouri was in, joining ISU, Pepperdine and Arkansas in the field.

Tragedy and uncertainty strike

Arkansas coach Everett Norris and Razorback players Ben Jones and Eno Nichols were returning home from Fayetteville, Ark., after an exhibition at Camp Chaffe. During a driving rainstorm, a tire on their station wagon blew out atop a hill on Highway 71.

The three got out of the car in the pouring rain to change the tire when another motorist roared into the back of the station wagon, pinning the three up against it.

Norris was killed almost instantly. Jones broke both his legs while Nichols broke one. A specialist was later called in to assess the possibility of amputation for both.

Arkansas immediately withdrew from the NCAA Tournament.

The next day, the committee tabbed Utah to replace the Razorbacks in the tournament, once again filling the field that fate seemed hell-bent on keeping incomplete.

The Final Four

ISU also received unwanted news that week, though it paled in comparison to the tragedy with Arkansas.

Despite receiving word the Cyclones would be given permission to leave campus for six days to play in the NCAA Tournament final, the Navy reversed course and said it would not allow the players to be absent from campus for more than 48 hours.

Veenker immediately informed the players and tournament officials. He presented them with three options: Withdraw, take a civilian team to New York or play in Kansas City, but forfeit should they qualify for the championship.

The players and tournament officials both agreed that the third option was the preferable one.

So the Cyclones would play in the four-team field at Municipal Auditorium, though their opponents did not initially know their predicament should they be the Western district champion.

The rest of the field arrived well ahead of the first round Friday, but the Cyclones were still restricted by the Navy’s 48-hour rule. The Cyclones couldn’t leave Ames until Friday to ensure they could play two games within their Navy-approved absence.

At 8 a.m. on game day, Menze and his team hit the road, in what the New York Times called that day “the far off Sunflower State,” apparently unaware that Municipal Auditorium is in Missouri, not Kansas. The Cyclones didn’t arrive at the Continental Hotel until seven hours after they left Ames and just six hours before their game against Pepperdine. The first time any of them stood on the Municipal Auditorium floor was during pregame warmups.

Pepperdine jumped on the road-weary Cyclones and took a 19-15 lead into halftime. The Cyclones found their rhythm and took a lead quickly in the second half. They closed out the win without starters Ray Wehde and Gene Oulman. Both fouled out with over 9 minutes to play.

Pepperdine pulled within two points with 6 minutes left, but Roy Wehde, Ray’s twin brother, connected on a left-handed shot underneath the hoop and Myers followed with another layup to give the Cyclones all the cushion they’d need in a 44-39 victory. They would face Utah in the Western finals while the Eastern finals pitted Dartmouth against Ohio State.

This round of the NCAA Tournament would later be known as the Final Four.

The morning of the game, the Utes were informed that win or lose, they’d be moving on to Madison Square Garden regardless of the outcome.

“Naturally our players were disappointed with the turn of events and so were we,” Veenker said in the Des Moines Register. “But we entered the Kansas City meet in good faith and in the belief if we won we would have six days for the trip to New York. However, Navy rules are rules and although we want to see the NCAA Tournament continued, it is of no importance in comparison with the job that confronts the Navy and everybody else.”

Still, there was a game to play. The Utes led 19-16 at halftime, but the Cyclones managed to edge out ahead on a Bill Block basket early in the second half. The ISU offense, though, couldn’t find its footing, especially with its star, Brookfield, struggling. The former All-American didn’t score in the second half. With a late lead, “the Utes pulled a fancy stalling game,” wrote the Ames Tribune, “which made the Cyclones to come out after them, and as a result many fouls were called on the Cyclones.”

Eventually, Utah prevailed, 40-31, and went on to defeat Dartmouth in the championship game. The Utes, who had actually lost in the first round of the NIT before joining the NCAA Tournament, then defeated NIT champion St. John’s in a game put on by the Red Cross, to earn the mythical national championship of 1944.

Following their loss, the Cyclones again hit the road, driving through the night to be back in Ames before 8 a.m. to ensure compliance with the Navy rule that ended their tournament run before any opponent ever could.

Bibliography

• Daily Iowan
• Des Moines Register
• Ames Tribune
• Iowa State men’s basketball 2004-05 media guide
• Ossian, Lisa. The Home Fronts of Iowa, 1939-1945. Columbia, Mo: University of Missouri Press. 2009.
• Wilner, Barry and Rappoport, Ken. The Big Dance. Lantham, Maryland: Taylor Trade Publishing. 2012.
• Schwieder, Dorothy and Van Houten, Gretchen. A sequential history of Iowa State University: Tradition and Transformation. Ames, Ia.: Iowa State University Press. 2007.
• Halstead, Alex and Montz, Dylan. 100 Things Iowa State Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. Chicago: Triumph Books LLC.
• Shumaker, Michael. Mr. Basketball: George Mikan, the Minneapolis Lakers and the Birth of the NBA. New York: Bloomsbury.