Bloomfield, Missouri – Bloomfield High School celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the back-to-back Final 4 Basketball seasons of 1965 and 1966 on Friday evening at their Homecoming festivities.
They honored cheerleaders Bonnie Blue, Carolyn Whitledge Brown, Janice Asbell Aslin, and Brenda Graham Johnson. From the 1964-1965 basketball team Mick Aslin, Rodney Bullinger, Danny Gaines, Dennis Gillespie, Phil Johnson, Allen Lafferty, Ron McAdoo, Mike McCollum, David Pounds, Dale Underwood, Ron Underwood, Bill White, Ron White, Mike Wise, Head Coach Tom Hewgley, Assistant Coach Charlie Spoonhour, and scorekeeper Lonnie Hutchison.
This season, the Bloomfield Wildcats finished first in the Bernie Tournament, Bloomfield Christmas Tournament, and the Stoddard County Tournament. In the regional Tournament, they defeated Risco, Bernie, Doniphan, and Richland by an average of 64 points to advance to the Class M State Tournament.
At State, they defeated Ester 77-50, Advance 53-47, before losing to eventual state champion Buffalo by just 3 points 52-55.
The Wildcats responded by defeating Owensville 76-44 to capture 3rd place in State and completing the greatest season in wildcat Basketball History with 34 wins and 2 losses.
Individual honors for the 1964-1965 season went to Dennis Gillespie – All County, Ron Underwood – All County, Mike Wise – All County, Ron White – All-County and 1st Wildcat to be selected to the All-State Team.
The following 1965-1966 roster saw a blend of new and familiar faces. Those honored were Lanny Bell, Andy Bullinger, Terry Chasteen, Phil Johnson, Mike McCollum, David Pounds, Tom Rainwater, Dave Swindell, Doyle Swindell, Dennis Underwood, Don Underwood, Bill White, Don Williams, Glen Williamson, Mike Wise, Head Coach Tom Hewgley, Assistant Coach Charlie Spoonhour, and scorekeeper Lonnie Hutchison.
This season the Wildcats repeated with winning the Bernie Tournament, the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament and the Stoddard County Tournament.
In Regional Tournament they defeated Doniphan, Quilin, Malden, and Greenville to secure back-to-back trips to the Class M State Tournament. Mike Wise also set a 4 game regional record scoring 122 points for an average of 30.5 points per game.
At state they found themselves again in the 3rd place game, eventually losing to Booneville 51-52 to place 4th. They finished the season with 32 wins and 3 losses capping off the greatest 2-year run in Wildcat Basketball history.
Individual honors for the 1965-1966 season went to Phillip Johnson – All District, Andy Bullinger – All District, Donnie Underwood – All County, and Mike Wise – All County, All District and the second Wildcat selected to the All-State Team.
The Wildcats were guided from 1963-1967 by Coach Tom Hewgley and Assistant Coach Charlie Spoonhour. During their tenure the Wildcats complied a record of 112 wins and 19 losses, a winning percentage of .855. They are still the winningest coaches in school history to date.
