Fred Matters, 1944, set a Story County Tournament record for making ten consecutive free throws in the 1944 County Tournament. We can find no evidence that this record has ever been beaten in the Story County Tournament.
Dale Hughes, 1955, in a regular season game, made eleven consecutive free throws, and ended the evening with 15 points scored from the charity line. He also scored 11 field goals for a career high total of 37 points. Coach Cochrane pulled him from the court with about 2-3 minutes left in the game because of the fear he would be injured as the opponents were becoming a little too vigorous with their defense. Milford Twp won this game.
Jurine Borton, 1956, holds the overall record for shooting free throws in a conference game. This occurred in the 1955-’56 season while Milford was playing at the Gilbert facility. She made 22 straight charity tosses and ended the evening with 22 of 25 made. She missed her first two, and last, tosses. (Also page 303)
Hazel Horness, 1956, represented Milford Twp in the District Tournament after winning 2nd place in the sectionals. She remembers throwing at the Drake Fieldhouse for the State competition.
Karen Thompson, 1964, represented Milford Twp in the District Tournament after winning 2nd place in the sectionals. After the 1961 closing she went to Roland and played in the IGHSAU State tourney as a sophomore in 1962 and also her senior year in 1964. See pages 202, 206.
The big story of the 1944 Milford Twp boys basketball team is they finished second in the Story County Basketball Tournament.
Milford defeated Slater 39-27, then Roland 3723 and lost in the finals to the pre-tournament favorite Huxley, 29-27. Fred Matters, in the game against Slater, had quite a game and perhaps the paper writes it best- as follows;
“Paced by Fred Matters, guard, Milford’s big red outfit could not lose last evening with Matters setting a record that has never been equalled in this or any other Iowa high school tournament, as he dumped in ten for ten charity shots and added three field goals to make his total points sixteen for the game. It was the greatest demonstration of cool, relaxed coordination of mind and body, that has ever been given on the local floor and may be a new Iowa high school record in this department.
Milford led 11-7 in the first period, 23 to 11 at the half, 33-20 in the third quarter and broke away to show real power in the final quarter, to win 39 to 27.”
The players on this squad were-- Roger Harper, Wally Tjelmeland, Merril or Howard Johnson, Fred Matters, Russell Clark, Gordon Bivens, Richard Stevenson, Marvin Sorensen, Russell Morfey, Don Morfey, Joe Harper and Curtis Grimsley.
Following the tournament the paper had this interesting bit of news--
“Grossing $1,071.16 the Story County Boys’ Basketball tournament held in the Nevada field house last week set a new all-time record for attendance according to school officials late Saturday night.
Of the $1,071.16, $120.09 went to the Federal government for tax leaving a net for the tournament of $951.07.”
The tribute in the paper to Fred Matters is very strong and Fred went on to play Independent League baseball and did very well.
Jurine, in 2004, attended a Ballard game and just happened to be seated next to an older gentleman who, after they started visiting, turned out to have been a player on the 1944 Huxley team. He talked at length, 60 years after the game, of this game and he well remembered Fred’s feat and speculation was that his record of ten for ten charity tosses still stands.
Fred Matters, one of the best athletes to have graduated from Milford, graduated in 1944. He’s shown here from the 1943 team photo, The blip on his right arm is the top of a trophy (1 of 2) the team won that season. He won 8 letters at Milford which is the maximum that can be earned at our School. He went on to play third base for the Ames Moose Lodge softball team which was runner up in State Top Softball Tournament. In this tournament he was cited for “outstanding play”. He played third for the Story City city baseball team. He played basketball for the battalion team while in the Army in Japan where they played exhibition games in Japan and Korea 1945-’47. That’s Glen Egland‘43, number 44 just behind Fred. Team photo on page 139. Also, pages 201, 203-4.