The Cobbers’ season began with a bright outlook in 1967, with a trio of experienced seniors and young talent behind them, and the sunny predictions of The Concordian came true, as the team came together to set records that still stand, 55 years later.
The memories, friendships, and Cobber connections still stand, too, as former team members, friends, and unofficial team mom Marcella Gulsvig found recently when they reunited online.
These days, all of them could qualify as “experienced seniors,” but in some ways they haven’t changed much. Point guard Jim Herhusky functioned as a playmaker on the court, and as one of the driving forces behind the virtual reunion, he’s still bringing the team together.
“You spend that much time together and you get to build relationships that are lasting. And you get to know each other very well. You travel with them, you room with them, you do a lot of those things and so you build these bonds,” Herhusky recalled. “And even if you don’t see them for 30 years, when you do connect, it’s like time hasn’t passed and you’re right back to the guy you remember way back in the ’60s.”
Though no scholarships were offered, it was still that allowed Herhusky to afford going to college, as he was recruited, and then provided with a combination of grant work and loans. In Herhusky’s case, that meant working for the athletic department doing glamorous tasks like keeping statistics and washing socks and jocks for the football players.
The job allowed him to travel with the football team in Herhusky’s freshman year. It was an iconic team that fought its way to nationals and took the championship, and nearly 60 years later, recalls the experience as “great fun.”
At the time, Herhusky was a two-sport athlete, as he was also on the baseball team. Similarly, his basketball coach, Sonny Gulsvig, also coached the football team’s offensive line. Given the time and level of involvement with Å·ÃÀÊÓƵ, Sonny’s family, including his wife Marcella and their children, became a kind of extended family for Coach Gulsvig’s players. The family legacy has continued, with Sonny and Marcella’s granddaughter, Rachel Bergeson, who serves as athletic director for Concordia.
Bob Laney was starting his fourth season as a Cobber cager back in 1967, playing center and leading the scoring chart. These days, he’s retired, and spends his time fishing, golfing, and enjoying life.
At the mini-reunion, Laney asked Marcella how she was doing.
“I’m fat and sassy,” she answered, grinning.
She still remembers Laney living in a little basement apartment on Fourth Street as a senior at Concordia.
Jim Peterson, who assisted Coach Gulsvig in the 1967-68 season, had captained the squad the year before, and decades later, remembers Laney for a different reason.
“He had the best hook shot I’ve ever seen,” Peterson said.
“That was Sonny Gulsvig,” Laney said.
Coach Gulsvig just walked up to him before practice one day and told him to try a hook shot. He was to practice it on a backboard every night for 15 or 20 minutes, alternating between his left and right hands.
“So I kept doing that, and then, every time, I kept moving a little bit further away from the basket,” he said. “And I can remember the first game I tried it. I think I missed two or three in a row, and I was ready to give up.”
Gulsvig didn’t let him.
“He came back and said ‘You’re not done yet. Go out and keep shooting; it’ll start dropping.’ And he was right,” Laney said. “And then I played for 16 years in Michigan doing a hook shot.”
Laney still tops the scoring chart for Cobber men’s basketball with 1,847 points — a feat made all the more impressive because in his era, there were no three-point shots.
Herhusky’s on the list too, with 881 points.
So is Bob Moe, who played forward for the 1967-68 team and racked up a total of 898 points. He retired a few years ago, but got restless and returned to the classroom to teach.
“At our 50th reunion, Bob (Moe) and I had the pleasure of going out on the new court and throwing up a few shots, and he can still hit it from the corner,” Herhusky said. “Those would be three-pointers now, so he might be chasing Bob (Laney’s) total — but no one’s going to catch that for a long time.”
Laney wouldn’t mind if they did, though. When another player beat a record he set in Proctor, he made a plaque for her and congratulated her personally, and he’d like to do that for a potential Concordia record-setter too.
Current Head Coach Tyler Bormann isn’t sure anyone will ever beat Laney’s record, given that it’s almost 400 points ahead of the second-place finisher.
“I tell you what, if we get anyone who scores like that, I don’t know if we can keep them here,” Bormann joked.
“Find somebody six-foot-three who shoots three-pointers, it won’t take long,” Laney shot back.
The rules may have shifted a bit, but basketball is still basketball, and the Cobbers are still Cobbers, too. When the team went to Las Vegas for a tournament, Bormann invited Herhusky to a practice.
“And then they huddled up and I had a chance to talk to them,” Herhusky said. “And that was one of the things they couldn’t believe that we didn’t have a three-point, or we couldn’t dunk, because every one of them could dunk, my gosh!”
The players, he added, are bigger, faster, stronger, and better athletes, though they shoot about the same percentage as the ’67-68 team did, Herhusky said.
As a longtime student of the game, he would know. Even after college, Herhusky kept playing basketball, in the military and in recreation leagues, and then coached in Montana.
“I enjoyed their team spirit, their cohesiveness and how they pull for each other,” he said. “You can tell a lot about the team and the coaching by how the players support each other, and how they’re all out there for greater glory than themselves, and to win the game and to help each other play better and be successful.”
That was certainly true of the 1967-68 team.
“Anything that happened to any one of us was because of all of us playing together as a team. No accolades for anybody, except from everybody playing as a team,” Laney said. “We all know that.”
That made for a fantastic experience, even for then-junior Ed Dahlberg, who went into hospital administration after graduating and then serving in the U.S. Air Force.
“I always had a favorite group that I played with. That was you guys. Unfortunately, it was short, because of blowing out my knee and not getting to spend a lot of time with you in my junior year,” he said. “But being around you guys was special.”
“You were a big part of the team, and we missed you when you went down, that’s for sure,” Herhusky said ruefully.
Herhusky’s Concordia roommate, Larry Gullickson, came along for the chat.
“I ended up going to Concordia to play football, but I had a love for basketball too, so I said ‘I want to go out for basketball too,’” he recalled. “And then when I went out for basketball, I was always competing against a pretty good forward. In fact he’s to the right of me, think his name is Bob Moe!”
The two sports proved to be a little too much for Gullickson, who left the basketball team after his freshman year, but kept watching and enjoying the games. He also kept playing football, as he wanted to be a football coach. Then Gullickson was drafted and flew planes for the U.S. Navy for 14 years.
The group spent time reminiscing, recalling friends who had since passed away, and also remembering fellow Cobbers who weren’t present. That included Peterson’s twin brothers, Dick and Bob Peterson, who at 6’5” gave the 1967-68 team extra reach, resulting in extra points and rebounds. (The twins rank #2 and #3 on the all-time scoring list, just behind Bob Laney.)
“We all look older for some reason!” said Dave Heide, another Concordia football player, friend, and classmate of the Cobber cagers.
“Cobber athletics, and specifically, men’s basketball, has been pretty important to our family,” Bergeson said. “And I’m lucky enough that I get to be here and support it.”
She praised Bormann’s efforts, which have reinvigorated men’s basketball at Concordia.
“I know my grandpa would be so proud of the work that Tyler has done in this program,” Bergeson said. “He works hard. He holds his guys to a really high standard on and off the court. The one thing that I want all of you to know is that I am so confident in the work that Tyler does, and I believe in what he and his coaching staff are doing for our program.”
Bormann thanked Bergeson, and then thanked the alumni for their support, which has included emails, conversations, and plenty of encouragement.
“It’s meant a lot to me, because the history of this program means a lot to me,” Bormann said. “I talk to our guys all the time about how this program was here long before I got here, and it’s going to be here long after I’m gone. And so for all of us, I truly feel like we’re stewards of this.”