Hoops rivalry strong

The rivalry between the neighboring communities of Marathon and Edgar goes back a long ways and has always fascinated me. It was probably the most evident in the varsity boys basketball games when I was growing up.

Back in the 1940s and 50s, the friendly rivalry was so intense that fans from both sides would be waiting in line to get into the gym long before the games began. I remember one time when Edgar was playing at Marathon. There was a group of kids waiting outside wanting to get in to see the game but they had no money. One of the city officials came along and paid the kids way into the game and jokingly told them they now had to cheer for Marathon.

The basketball games in the 1940s tended to be low scoring. In 1940, Marathon defeated Edgar by a score of 22-20 in overtime to win the conference championship. In 1942, Edgar got revenge by upsetting Marathon, the conference champions, by a score of 34-26.

By the 1950s, the basketball game scores nearly doubled. In 1951, it was Marathon beating Edgar 53-33 in the teams’ second meeting. In 1958, Edgar beat Marathon 62-56 and 72-59 in the rematch. And so the rivalry went and still continues today; like a volleyball going back and forth across the net.

There were many great players from both teams throughout the years and often several members from the same family carried on the basketball tradi- tion. Some standout Marathon boys basketball players from families that stand out from my memory are the Szymanski family including members Stanley, Joe, Frank, Alex, Eddie, Wally and Ray; the Buchberger family consisting of members Claude, Pat and Eddie; the Heindl family including members Larry and Jerry and the Seubert family with members Claude, Frank, Paul and Phil; the Hankes and the Koehlers, to name a few.

There were also many standout individual Marathon boys basketball players that come to mind including Bill Fisher, Ivan Wadzinski, Rufin Wilichowski, Calvin Lensmire, Don Schneiders, Alan Dreikosen, Dennis Cramer, Randy Krautkramer, Joe Westfall and Tim Sonnentag.

Standout Edgar boys basketball players from families that come to mind are the Fergot family with members George, Roy, Gordie, Bill, Sam and Todd and the Bauman family. Some individual standout Edgar boys basketball players that I remember are Bob Uekert, LaVerne Grosskreutz, Dave Warosh, Tony Thurs, Rodney Hilmerhausen, Jeff Reiche and many more. I apologize for the standout Edgar and Marathon boys basketball players I left out, as I’m sure there are many of them.

Even though Edgar and Marathon are rivals, long-lasting friendships developed among the players on teams over the years. To this day, boys basketball fans in these towns don’t look forward to watching any games more than the Edgar and Marathon rivalry.