Everett James Senske was a very relieved man Saturday night.

Gone were 15 years of frustration, a near case of ulcers and whatever else basketball coaches experience when they just can’t fetch that district basketball title.

All season long, Jim Senske the coach was tense, reserved in his comments about the team and always fretting about “the next game…” After Saturday, though, it was like talking to a new person.”

Before the district title game against Gibbon, Senske was quoted as saying he would do cart-wheels down main street if New Ulm won. After the big win,Senske was trying to back out of it, but New Ulm rooters still want him to live up to that promise -even if it means a practice session or two under the gymnastics coach Jim Schmidt.

SENSKE, a St. Paul Wilson and Hamline U product, came to New Ulm in the summer of 1960 as a social studies teacher and assistant coach in several sports.

In 1964,he replaced Vern Zahn as head baseball coach. Under Senske, the Eagles won the District 10 baseball title 10 of 11 years, missing only in 1965.

In basketball, Senske coached a few years in junior high system before being named “B” team coach, a position he held seven years when Dick Werdahl was head coach. When Werdahl became the fourth basketball coach to resign here since the 1949 district champions, Senske was given the job.

This is Senske’s sixth year as head basketball coach, but 15th in the local system.

Even before Senske took over the head coaching job in basketball, there was “pressure” from all levels to hatch a district champion in the district’s biggest school. Once in 17 years was average, but New Ulm was at 20 when Senske took over. That string of championless years went to 25 a year ago-the silver anniversary of the 1949 champions. People around District 10 already were beginning to feel sorry for “poor ol’ NUHS.”

Nobody wants to win more than Senske. He kept molding championship teams in baseball, but these same athletes found the roundball sport much more difficult.

It was frustrating to Senske who spent many restless nights dreaming about a district title in basketball. It got to a point the past year that Senske cringed when somebody mentioned the fact that New Ulm hadn’t won in 25 years. He felt it was almost like a jinx to keep bringing up New Ulm’s loss string in the district. To that end, the Journal sports page the past month avoided mention of the 26-year drought.

AFTER BEING very tight physically and emotionally Thursday, the Eagles were “loose”against Gibbon Saturday. Except for a season-long problem in ball handling, the Eagles played well Saturday and won handily.

The outcome was settled early in the second half and New Ulm followers had time to “let it sink in” that the Eagles indeed had a district cage championship in the bag. The post-game hoopla was more one of emotional relief than ecstatic happiness.

Coach Senske’s frowns and tenseness turned into superior smiles. The players were laughing and joking and saying how sweet it was.

This was a close knit group of players. The team had no super star, although 6-7 center Ken Hagg was a key figure throughout the season. His presence Saturday perhaps was the difference between a very close game and a New Ulm rout.

It took a while to unwind Saturday night, so Senske had the coaching staff come to his house where they chewed the basketball fat until 3 a.m. Then some parents of players, still celebrating the victory, came by the Senske house.

It was 4 a.m. when the Senskes got to bed. At 8 a.m., the phone rang. On the other end was Mar.shall McKenzie, a former New Ulmite who was a close family friend and a staunch Eagle follower when he lived here. McKenzie, too, was elated.

Sunday night, the NUHS team and coaching staff were guests of Harvey Starke at a dinner at the Tropicana. Starke, who operates a service station and New Ulm Motel, is the father of Ron Starke, starting guard.

Speaking of elated people, there is none more elated than the coach’s wife. Katie Senske was almost voiceless Monday; she didn’t know if it came from yelling at the district games or from a cold.

“Winning the district basketball title meant more than any of the district baseball titles,” said Mrs. Senske. “I never felt excitement like this before.”

What a fitting way for New Ulm High School to conclude its last District 10 basketball tournament -bowing out a winner.

New Ulm Daily Journal

March 10, 1975