1969 TEAM PHOTO

The 1969 Bishop Baraga High School varsity basketball team posed for this team photo in their school gym after winning the 1969 Class D basketball state championship. Included in front are four of the trophies they earned that season, from left, the Class D district tournament trophy, the Upper Peninsula Team of the Year, the state championship trophy and the Class D regional tournament trophy. In the front row from left are team manager Bob Maloney; players Dan Hamari and Elwin Bell; head coach Gordy LeDuc; players Dale Hamari and Jay Dorais; and manager Pat Gingras. Top row from left, assistant coach James Quayle; manager Bob Polzin; players Steve Hampton, Bill Houlmont, Fred Huffman, Russ Oliver, Steve Richer, Brian Hicks and Bob Leanes; and team chaplain the Rev. Terence Vallier. (Photo courtesy Marquette Regional History Center)

CURRENT PHOTO

From left, Dale Hamari, Dan Hamari, head coach Gordy LeDuc, Fred Huffman and Pat Gingras gathered for a reunion and dedication of their state championship trophy for winning Michigan’s Class D boys basketball title in 1969 at Bishop Baraga High School in Marquette. The gathering took place at the Marquette Regional History Center near downtown Marquette, where the trophy will now be permanently displayed. The state trophy is shown here behind these men at top left. (Journal photo by Annie Lippert)

From left, Dale Hamari, Dan Hamari, head coach Gordy LeDuc, Fred Huffman and Pat Gingras gathered for a reunion and dedication of their state championship trophy for winning Michigan’s Class D boys basketball title in 1969 at Bishop Baraga High School in Marquette. The gathering took place at the Marquette Regional History Center near downtown Marquette, where the trophy will now be permanently displayed. The state trophy is shown here behind these men at top left. (Journal photo by Annie Lippert)

MARQUETTE — The trophy from a feat accomplished long ago was recalled by players, their coach and all their families at the Marquette Regional History Center last week.

Members of the 1969 state championship basketball team from Bishop Baraga High School in Marquette, including head coach Gordy LeDuc, descended on the history center near Marquette’s downtown to celebrate and reminisce.

The school actually closed in 1969, the same year the championship was won, so they didn’t have a building of their own to display the trophy for more than a few months after the title.

For years, it sat in the house garage of the Roman Catholic bishop of Marquette, forgotten with a tool belt even hanging from it.

After being found and rescued, the trophy enjoyed time displayed at Donckers restaurant downtown and at Lakeview Arena, also in town, before it ended up in Coach LeDuc’s basement.

Now, thanks to the work of Bob Mercure, a frequent volunteer at the Marquette Regional History Center, it sits prominently displayed in its permanent collection, where it can be admired by generations to come.

Earning a state championship was quite a feat for a team that had, up until the tournament, been having a bit of a rough season, some of it due to multiple injuries to players. The team entered the tourney with a modest 8-10 record.

But with the motivating news that their school would be permanently closed at the end of that school year, and with the guidance of LeDuc, the players went on to win eight games in a row to earn the state title.

They won games at the district level, regional level, then in the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finally, the state title tilt.

The event culminated in a 69-53 win against Detroit St. Martin’s, a powerhouse team that had been ranked No. 1 in Class D basketball for two years running. A Detroit Free Press reporter at the time called it the “greatest Cinderella story” he’d seen in his career.

The team was greeted at the Mackinac Bridge by a massive crowd holding signs and banners of congratulations. In Munising, the whole team was put into convertibles and driven around parade-style, ending at city hall, where a crowd of thousands of people also amassed.

“We didn’t have to buy breakfast for six months after,” said Fred Huffman, one of the 1969 players who was present at Thursday’s reunion.

Four of the players from the team have passed on, and several more could not make it to the reunion. However, former players and managers Pat Gingras, Fred Huffman, and Dale and Dan Hamari were there to celebrate their coach and to remember that fateful season.

“The fact that the school was closing in that year maybe gave us a little added incentive,” LeDuc said. “Well, we just came together, played well, and I’m very appreciative.

“There’s no school to keep the trophy in, with the school closing, so I wanted to place it here, where people can see it and enjoy it…. I’m just thankful that God put me where he did.”

LeDuc, now 86, was only 29 years old at the time of the state championship. He went on to have a successful, decades-long career coaching high school basketball across the Upper Peninsula, including at Marquette Senior High School and for Michigan State University basketball coach Tom Izzo.

A two-time U.P. coach of the year as named by coaches and three-time honoree by the U.P. Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association, LeDuc was inducted into the Northern Michigan University Sports Hall of Fame in 1993 and the U.P. Sports Hall of Fame in 1994.

Annie Lippert can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 550. Her email address is alippert@miningjournal.net.