Jim Anderson ’63
Coach Applebee arrived in Murdo my senior year in the fall of 1962. I did not have him in class as a teacher, but I got well acquainted with him on the football field, the basketball court and on our square cornered track around the football field, located just south of the old high school.
The Coyotes had graduated an outstanding senior class that spring—conference football champs, sixth place in the State Basketball Tourney in Sioux Falls, BUT Murdo had not medaled in the State Track Meet since 1957. That spring, Ken Poppe, and believe it or not, Jerald Applebee from Bonesteel, placed in the high jump and Duane Brooks, Ken Poppe, Doyle Elwell, and Mike Cressy placed 4th in the medley relay.
I went out for football when I finally got up to 100 lbs my junior year. I was about 135 lbs my senior year, so I did not have a fun time getting knocked around by the heavyweights. We went 4-4 from the information I have in my annual. I was the 6th/7th man on the basketball team my senior year, did not see a lot of action but we were several games over .500 for the season. But come spring, I was looking forward to the track season. I had above average speed, good legs, and had qualified for the State Track Meet (along with several others) the year before ( held at Watertown, where all of the first day events were canceled due to rain and all events were finals the following day) —but no one came home with a medal.
From day one of the 1963 track season that spring we knew that Coach Applebee was determined to get us in shape if we did not die or quit the team first. Where he came up with those torture-conditioning drills, we were not sure, but practice was completely different from the year before under coach John Pierson. None of us had ever been worked that hard before. There was a lot of talk of quitting!!
And then there was the matter of Roger Strait, probably the best all around athlete at MHS. As a senior, he had been caught drinking beer at the State BB tourney earlier that spring. The punishment for this infraction of the rules—only Superintendent Madigan, coach Applebee, and maybe the school board knew for sure—the rest of us were in the dark. Finally, rather that ruin the track season for everyone, it was decided that Rodger would sit out the first couple of weeks before joining the team. It appeared the season had been salvaged if we could survive practice!
There were not many of us left on the track team come regional meet time at Hot Springs. Many of those who thought about quitting followed through- to end the agony/hurt/torture inflicted at practice.
Those of us that survived were rewarded by qualifying in several events at the State Track Meet to be held in Mitchell. I recall that our track ( if you could call it that) was mud the week before the state meet, so we played volleyball to keep limbered up—we were relaxed and ready for the cinder track at Mitchell.
The five of us (Jim Anderson, Roger Strait, Ron Tedrow, Bob Brost, Jim Bares) placed 3rd in the Mile and Medley relays and Bob Brost placed 5th in the 180 low hurdles—and this was when there were just two classes.
It is a wonder what a small piece of metal will do for your self esteem. Coach Applebee achieved what he set out to do. The medals were the minor part of the plan. The self confidence instilled in all of us that spring— finding out what we were made of—putting some steel in our legs, fire in our belly and heart, sticking with a tough–go–until–the–end, we carried for the rest of our lives. I knew that when the going got tough in army basic training, in Viet Nam, in dental school, in life, I could reach back for that toughness Coach Applebee gave us in the spring of 1963.
THANKS COACH
Those 70ish Girls 