The most devastating Miner basketball loss

By Rex Tuttle

About eighty years ago, on Monday evening, March 9th, 1942, the column headline on the front page of the newspaper at the time stated, “MINERS DEFEATED IN REGIONAL GAME AT MARTINSVILLE.  The sub-headline read “Wiley quintet wins tilt Saturday night by score of 48 – 47.  

How bland and how generic those words look in print considering what had transpired on the previous Saturday night at the Martinsville gymnasium in the Regional championship game of the Indiana State basketball tournament! I was there that night with my father hoping and expecting to see my heroes defeat the Terre Haute Wiley Red Streaks and advance to the coveted Sweet-Sixteen of the state tournament for the first time.  Our Miners had defeated the Regional favorite, the Brazil Red Devils, 55 – 45, to advance to the Saturday night final. 

Wiley had easily disposed of Monrovia, 51 – 25 in their earlier game.  An excerpt from the game summary stated, “Fans from the Linton community today were haling the 1941 – ‘42 high school net season as probably the most successful in the history of the school.  The Miners, playing some of the strongest competition in the state, lost only 5 games, including tournaments.  They won 21 contests.”  Although true, that was little solace to me and Miner fans who refused to accept the official decision that the Miner team had lost the game.  My heroes on that team were starters Bob Arthur, a 6’ 9” center who was a giant in those days, Paul Steele, the team captain and floor leader, Max Woolsey, Jack Woodward, and Phil Gilmour.

Now, I confess I remember very few actual details about the game, and I’ll get to that later.  However, I vividly remember standing on the bleachers with my dad being unable to hold back the tears when inexplicably a game I thought we had won had suddenly turned to defeat.  When the final decision was announced, I recall seeing a Linton fan run across the court and drag a man over the scorers table to the floor and began punching him.  I watched as fans from both schools and tournament officials were engages in a wild melee on the basketball court.  Linton fans and players thought they had been cheated, and perhaps they were.  Maybe there were innocent mistakes made, or maybe not so innocent.  All I know for sure is that this eleven-year old kid was devastated.  Eighty years have passed now and I still remember the crushing disappointment I felt that night.  And yes, I cried.  It just wasn’t fair.

Well, what about the game.  I recall some things people said later about what happened.  But the stories don’t all jibe.  But a few years ago, I was talking to my friend, the late Paul “Buck” Steele, and I asked him about the events that transpired during the course of that contest.  Paul was one of Linton’s most outstanding athletes.  I knew him from a very young age.  He, as I, grew up in the northwest end of town.  He was a few years older than me, and I always admired him.  He was a very quiet person but a fierce competitor on the football field and basketball court.  Maybe even a better baseball player.  Always the team leader too. 

Paul came out of extreme family poverty and became a great athlete, teacher, and coach.  In this memorable game, Paul, a Junior scored 14 points of 5 baskets and 4 free throws.  Steele was not one to exaggerate or say anything that he didn’t firmly believe to be the truth.  He said the officiating was blatantly one-sided from the start of the game, which coincides with what others older than me had later said about the game.  He told me the big mix-up in the scoring was caused by confusion at the end of the first half. 

This “error” by the official scorer would later result in the most bazaar ending and what I believe was the worst travesty in the history of the State basketball tournament.  Max Woolsey scored a basket and was fouled apparently a moment before the gun sounded ending the first half.  After a lengthy discussion, during which the teams had already gone to the locker rooms, the referees declared the basket to be good and two points were added to Linton’s total on the scoreboard.  They somehow forgot about the free throw that Max had coming, and it was not attempted.  This may or may not have added to the “confusion” of the official scorer, but he did not enter the two points in the official scorebook.  The Miners still trailed 29 – 20 on the scoreboard at the half. 

After three quarters, Terre Haute Wiley was still in front 38 – 31.  I think that by this time the official scorer knew there was discrepancy in the scoring. Since it appeared that Wiley was going to win anyway, it wouldn’t matter anyway.  That’s just my opinion. 

Now, back to the newspaper’s account: “The Miners outscored their opponents in the fourth quarter with Bob Arthur, towering Linton center, leading the way and with Woolsey and Steele also connecting for the Lintonians.  With only seconds of the game remaining, the scoreboard showed the Linton squad ahead 47 – 46.   The Linton lads immediately began playing a defensive brand of basketball, but in a short time the official scorer announced that an error had been made and the Wiley Red Streaks were in front.” 

So, Woolsey’s two points that were declared good at the end of the first half by the referees, but apparently denied by the scorer and were removed from the scoreboard.  Can you imagine the crowd’s reaction on both sides of the gym by this turn of events? So now, bedlam reigns in the Martinsville gymnasium with Linton trailing, 46 – 45. 

From Steele’s account the Miners were understandably rattled and confused. In the final seconds Linton lost the ball and Wiley scored making the score 48 – 45, but Linton quickly answered with a basket by Arthur.  Woolsey stole the in-bound pass and scored what was obvious to Steele and the Miners, all Linton fans, and I’m sure, including me, the winning basket before the gun sounded.  But hold on.  The referee waived off the basket claiming that Woolsey was fouled before the shot.  At least there was still hope for a tie — and overtime — but Max missed the free throw.

Again, from the newspaper’s account, “After the game ended there was a considerable bit of discussion about the score.  The conclusion was that the score was correct, and the Miners had lost by one point.  Whether or not this was true — and the official scorebook said that it was — it is true that Linton had lost valuable time when they thought they were ahead and were actually behind by a point.”  And we wonder, why did the official scorer wait until it appeared that Linton had the game in-hand before he “discovered” that the scoreboard was incorrect when in actual fact, it was correct.  And we wonder, too, what if Woolsey would have gotten his forgotten free throw at the end of the first half?  Would he have made it?  Would it have made a difference?  

And so, it is recorded in history that the Linton Miners lost to the Terre Haute Wiley Red Streaks, 48 – 47, in the 1942 Regional championship game at Martinsville, Indiana.  You can look it up on the John Harrell Indiana Boys High School Basketball website. Go to Linton’s tournament history, and there it is.  The 1942 Regional.  Terre Haute Wiley 48 and Linton 47.  Wiley moved on to the Vincennes Semi-State, and they were defeated by the Bedford Stonecutters, 37 – 25.

Four years later, in 1946, when I was a Freshman at LHS, Linton did finally get over the hump and won their way into the Sweet Sixteen for their first and only time in the days of single-class basketball.  We lost to Evansville Central, 38 – 27, at the old Indiana University field house.  Of course, I was there too.

Was that game the most devastating loss in Miner basketball history?  That’s hard to say.  There are several of those to choose from.  But given the circumstances of what transpired on that Saturday night in 1942 and what was at stake, that game is certainly a top contender. 

That was Bob Arthur’s final game as a Linton Miner.  He was also an end on the football team. Two other Seniors appeared in the game, Phil Wible, who was the school superintendent’s son and also a football player and Junior Trusty.  The rest, Max Woolsey, Paul Steele, Jack Woodward, and Phil Gilmour went on to have another great season in 1942 – ‘43, but lost to Brazil in the Bloomington Regional by a score of 29 – 27. 

Although I was five or six years younger than those boys, I knew them all well since they were classmates of my sister. Since I lived very close to the school, I always hung around the football field and gymnasium and in the locker rooms, as well.   The recent passing of Max Woolsey at age 96 ended that era of special Linton high school athletes.  Most, if not all of them, went directly from school to service in World War II.

The final chapter of the story did not end with the firing of the timers’ gun.  The IHSAA held hearings about what took place in Martinsville that night.  Most of what I heard about the decisions is handed down, I can’t verify as being accurate, but I remember hearing that the referees’ licenses were suspended for life.  I also heard that the gentleman who was the official scorer was barred from ever acting in that capacity again.  I don’t know if any of that is true; however, I do know for fact that Linton and Terre Haute Wiley were barred from playing each another in any sport for five years.

So, now I can close the book on what may be the darkest night in Linton High School sports history.

Featured photo by Austin Gordon Photography.