Two weeks ago, the joint girls and boys State basketball tournament was cut short in the face of the coronavirus emergency – the first time the Montana High School Association had ever done so. The decision came on the Friday night, before Saturday’s finals – so, also for the first time, the semi-final winners were named co-champions.
That distinctive outcome caused me to reflect on championships past. The records for organized basketball in Montana go back to 1911; in that year, when there was just one classification, Billings beat Anaconda 27-20 for the title. Anaconda came back the next year to top Flathead, 49-13, for the championship; and Sweet Grass County took the third crown, 26-14 over Billings. (Scores were much lower in those early years than now: In 1923, Custer County beat Missoula by all of 11-6 for the title.)
In 1933 the State was split into two divisions. Park beat Bozeman 42-27 in Class A that year, and Butte took Anaconda 21-19 for the Class B trophy. Then, in 1950 the State expanded to three classes. In Class A, Butte Central beat Helena, 63-59, while Fort Benton beat Fairfield, 59-51, in Class B and Nashua edged Whitehall, 40-39, for Class C.
