1942-1943
Kirkwood Pioneers
Coach: Denver Miller
Varsity Team
D. Scott
H. Christmann
D. Clinite
N. Schwartz
G. Collins
J. Bergmann
D. Schulte
D. Redman
J. Heimburger
E. Hartmann
B. Dintlemann
H. Schrader
L. Agnew
Suburban Conference Champions
8-1
From the Kirkwood Pioneer
One of the best basketball teams in Kirkwood High School has ever produced finished a most successful season in February. The Kirkwood cagers won the Suburban Championship with a record of eight out of nine wins. Their only tournament defeat was received at the hands of Wellston. The Pioneers later avenged this defeat. All non-league suburban games were won by Kirkwood.
After the start of the season, Dan Scott, one of the outstanding players, became ill and was out for about three weeks. The team was fortunate in having enough substitutes to fill in his spot on the court during his absence.
During the Christmas holidays, the Millermen entered the annual Normandy Tournament. They won from Chaminade in the opener and then took an easy victory from St. Charles. In the semi-finals, Kirkwood gained another victory over Clayton. This advanced them to the finals with Soldan. In a high scoring game, Soldan won over Kirkwood. This gave the Pioneers second place in the Red Division. During the tournament, Bob Brown was the high scorer for the team. These were the last games he played before his graduation in January. During the remainder of the season Dick Clinite successfully took over his position.
As the season drew to a close, Kirkwood went to Maplewood for the sub-district tournament in which Kirkwood was seeded first. They first played Country Day, which was an easy match for Kirkwood. In the second game Ritenour went down in defeat. In the finals, the Pioneers downed Maplewood, which enabled Kirkwood to participate in the District Tournament held at the Arena. Kirkwood was seeded third and drew St. Louis University High School as their opponent in one of the opening games. It was a fast moving game, but our team, unfamiliar with the court, was not hitting as well as in previous games and so was defeated. This eliminated the team from the State Tournament held at Springfield.
During the past season they had, for the first time, several scheduled games with some of the schools from the City league. Although they lost, they made a good showing against Central, Southwest, Cleveland, and Beaumont. Bob Brown, Dan Scott, Ed Hartmann, John Heimburger, Dick Clinite, Harold Schrader, and Henry Christmann were nominated for District All-Star Teams.
Coach Miller, proud of his best team in years, looks forward to an equally successful season next year.