Ruskin High Class of 1948 helped to build gymnasium

Class of 1948 help build the Ruskin Gymnasium

 


The Ruskin Alumni banquet was a wonderful event. I was asked to share my dad’s (Keith Schultz) story about the Class of 1948 and their connection to the gymnasium built in 1949. Here is his story in his words:

School Memories

By Keith Schultz

The Class of 1948. We were the last class to play basketball and volleyball in the little gym in the school house. I’d like to tell the story of how we became an influence on getting this building built.

In 1946, we had an administration change. JF Hunter left Ruskin and hired a major fresh out of the army to be our superintendent. Mr. Dickersen came every day with his suit, vest, tie and….Brogans, Army issue big combat boots that would shine like the sun!

The girls played volleyball and we had some success in basketball. Mr. Patrick was assigned as our basketball coach in 1946. He said he didn’t know anything about basketball so we asked if we could find someone to help us and coach our team. We got permission and we found Lawrence Jensby. He came every day to coach us and to help us however he could. We became known as the team with the farmer coach.

Mr. Jensby played basketball in the 1920s and was on the team that competed at the state basketball tournament. In that time, they jumped center on possession which was different than the style of basketball we were playing in the 40s. Our team could beat Hardy and Chester on occasion which was a really big deal. These were the power teams at the time.

In our senior year of 1948, our team, Willard Christensen, John Krogh, Jim Krogh, Ellis Petersen and myself, Keith Schultz, beat Chester for the right to go to districts. We beat a team coached by Reuben Schliefer, who many of you have heard of. This was the start of the Rueben Dynasty in Chester.

The regionals were held in Holdrege and we beat the town of Edison on the first night. The second night we went against Hildreth. This was the first time I had ever seen anyone shoot basketball from a jump shot! All we knew was the set shot. We were tied at half time but they beat us in the end and went on to win state that year and for three or four years after that.

During this game, a terrible snow storm moved in. All the town of Ruskin had come to watch the game. I suppose at the time weather predictions weren’t as good and the storm snuck up on everyone.

Going home people from Ruskin were stranded all along the way. We as a team stayed in the hotel in Holdrege, which was an experience for all of us.

Eli and Gertie Skinner stayed at a farmer’s house who helped them get going again the next day.

My folks made it back to Ruskin but they couldn’t get home to the farm so they stayed in town overnight.

Our neighbors to the south, Torvil and Ethelyn Morgensen, made it as far as my folks place so they went in and went to bed in our house. The next morning, Torvil milked Dad’s cows, separated milk, and fed the chickens. He took care of all the chores. Ethelyn cooked them breakfast. After that, they decided to try to get home. Most of the east and west roads were blocked. They made it to within a mile from home and had to walk the rest of the way. My folks got home that afternoon.

That was the snowstorm of 1948.

Because the community became interested in basketball watching us play, we gained the right to say we helped build this gym. The people of Ruskin took up a collection and got enough money for the building.

They hired Walter and Andrew Summers from Hardy to build the gym. It was all done with volunteer labor except for the two carpenters. I worked on it all that summer. The next year, 1949, they had their first basketball game there. It was pretty crude but so much better that what we had.

In 1949, Ruskin hired a basketball coach. This was when Thork Kastrup came to town. Thork married Lorraine Christensen and the Kastrup boys all went to school and graduated from Ruskin. Most of that family left Ruskin and Thork and Lorraine passed on, but they left us Roger to put up with!

I went on to school at Kearney. I didn’t like school very well and the draft was breathing down on me. I didn’t want to be a foot soldier, so I enlisted in the Air Force. I was trained to be a gunner on a B-29 bomber crew and stationed in Savannah, Georgia.

So in closing, the claim to fame for the Class of 1948 was to inspire the community to build this gymnasium and bring a basketball coach to Ruskin. And that, as they say, is history!

~Keith Schultz - Class of 1948

 

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