PORT ANGELES — Two legendary Port Angeles High School basketball teams will be honored at an all-class reunion Saturday.
The 1952 Roughrider boys and 1986 girls teams will be recognized for their respective state tournament seasons at the 7:30 p.m. reunion at the Vern Burton Community Center, 308 E. Fourth St., during the Festival of Trees.
The reunion will be preceded by the inaugural All-Class Port Angeles High School Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament at the high school, 304 E. Park Ave.
The tournament will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday.
Any classes or combination of classes can enter the tournament. Players must be Port Angeles High School graduates but need not be varsity letter winners.
The $10 fee for playing in the double-elimination tournament also provides admission to the reunion that night.
Otherwise, admission to the reunion is $20.
Teams must pre-register with the OMC Foundation by phoning 360-417-7144 or going by the office.
1952 team
Dick Kent of Port Angeles was a junior guard on the 1952 boys team that posted a 25-2 record and placed fifth in the state tournament.
Kent, who came off the bench in ’52, said the team “rebounded well and shot well.”
“It was an exciting time,” he added.
“We had big crowds and good school enthusiasm. It was a fun time, looking back on it now.”
Led by all-state center Ken Fuhrer, the 1952 squad was the top-ranked team in the state. Its only regular season loss came against the University of Washington freshmen squad, Kent said.
Fuhrer, who went on to play for Seattle University, said the 1952 team had “a lot of good guys and a lot of good players.”
The Poulsbo man said he won’t be able to attend the event because of prior commitments.
“I’m sorry I can’t make it,” Fuhrer said. “I would love to see everybody.”
‘Buzz defense’
Led by future Duke starting point guard Leigh Morgan, the 1986 Roughrider girls were known for their tenacious “buzz defense,” a zone press that was rarely used in those days, longtime assistant coach Bill Tiderman recalled.
“It was a swarming in-your-face defense,” Tiderman said.
“Girls at that time weren’t ready for that.”
The 1986 Roughriders came out of relative obscurity to claim second place at the state tournament, falling to a much larger Seattle-area team in the championship game.
“When we went into the tournament, nobody knew who Port Angeles was,” Tiderman said.
“We weren’t on anybody’s radar.”
Tiderman said about 70 percent of the fans at the championship game in Seattle were from Port Angeles.
“We drove home in a line of cars,” he added.
The ’86 team was coached by the legendary Curt Bagby, who retired in 2001 after coaching women’s college and girls high school basketball off and on for more than 20 years in Port Angeles.
“He did a great job with kids,” Tiderman said.
He said the starters and the reserve on the 1986 team had good dis cipline, played within themselves and “stuck with the team concept.”
“It was a great run,” Tiderman said.