State Tournament Baseball Held at the Pioneer Memorial Stadium in Des Moines: Teams: Collins record - 11-5, high school enrollment - 62; Cedar Rapids Franklin record - 12-1, high school enrollment - 975; Thomas Jefferson of Council Bluffs record 22-5, high school enrollment - 858, Van Horn record - 12-2, high school enrollment - 79; Tracy record - 11-1, school enrollment - 40; Graettinger record 12-1, high school enrollment - 137; Lu Verne record 9-1, school enrollment - 76; Mason City record 13-0, school enrollment - 1262.
Collins defeated a much larger school, Franklin of Cedar Rapids, 5-1. Collins put across one run in the first inning, clustered three more runs on five hits in the fifth, and worked a squeeze bunt after two singles for the final run in the sixth inning. The only hit off Vasey was a dribbler down the third base line in the sixth inning. The Clippers had nine hits in scoring their five runs. Gordon Smith pitched the final inning for Collins. Vasey pitched six innings. Runs - 0, hits - 1, strikeouts - (?), walks - (?). G. Smith pitched one inning. Runs - 1, hits - (1), strikeouts - (?), walks - (?). In tournament play, John Vasey has pitched 43 innings, one unearned run, and hits - 10. (Insert 2005: Box score not found)
May 19, 1956 State Baseball Tournament - first round results: Van Horn 2 - Tracy 1; Mason City 6 - Lu Verne 2; Thomas Jefferson of Council Bluffs 4 - Graettinger 2; Collins 5 - Franklin of Cedar Rapids 1.
Commencement - (Insert 2005: Did not find any information concerning the commencement exercises.) Graduating seniors - Rex Morrison, Jerry Nichol, Betty Spooner, Loretta Swaim, Betty Taylor, John Vasey, James Wilson, William Ballard, James Dodd, Marjorie Hickle, George Keagle, Quentin Keagle, Peggy Kloppenborg, Larry Laird, Robert Rice.
Senior Class Day - (Insert 2005: Did not find any article on the programs and the several awards customarily made to students.) Personal contacts provided Valedictorian - John Vasey, Salutatorian - Rex Morrison.
May 21, 1956 State Baseball Tournament. Semi-finals - The Collins Clippers' dramatic baseball journey came to an end in an extra-inning game with a loss to large school Thomas Jefferson of Council Bluffs, 10-4. Council Bluffs scored one run in the first inning and two in the top of the fifth. Collins came back strongly to move in front for the first time with four runs in the bottom of the fifth on timely hits by Ben Clark, Pat Fitzgerald, Larry Laird, and Bill Ballard, the later driving in the run that broke a 3-all tie for a 4-3 lead going into the seventh inning. Collins collected six hits in scoring their four runs with five team fielding errors. Gordon Smith took over pitching duties beginning the sixth inning and had one out in the seventh when he walked two batters. Coach Thompson switched Vasey back to the mound. With runners on second and third, one of John's drop curves hit the dirt and took a crazy bounce away from Nichol to allow the tying run to score. In the eighth inning, with two outs, Vasey whizzed a third strike past the batsman. However, the sharp drop curve again hit the dirt and had a bad bounce away from the Clipper catcher and the batter made it to first to start the six-run spree. Also, in the eighth inning, with two out, Thomas Jefferson continued the six-run parade when a roller directly toward the shortstop hit something as it left the infield grass and bounced far out of the shortstop's reach, allowing two runs to score. Collins was unable to score in the bottom of the eighth inning for the 10-4 loss. (Insert 2005: No box score found)