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Win streak ending means end of era

By the time this column appears in Wednesday’s paper, the streak achieved by the Chassell High boys basketball team in 1958 will have been tied.

In all likelihood, North Central will have won its 65th straight game (North Central did beat Mid Peninsula 76-24). The powerful Jets can set the new record with a win over Bark River-Harris at home on Friday.

I suspect just about every sports fan knew that the record set by Chassell almost 60 years ago would fall someday.

But I, for one, wasn’t sure. At least not until I saw North Central play. The Jets are a legitimate powerhouse, packed with outstanding athletes.

They would not have won two straight Class D basketball championships in a row, or two consecutive eight-person football titles, if they weren’t.

In the time since the Panthers set their mark on a March evening in 1958 against Owosso St. Paul, many good teams have come and gone on the state hoops scene.

Only Flint Northwestern with 61 wins in a row and Saginaw Buena Vista with 60 have even been in the neighborhood. Those streaks came in the 1980s.

But the end of the streak, arguably Michigan’s most glamorous, means something else: It’s the end of an era.

So many things have changed since Chassell carved out that sports niche.

For one thing, America was a much gentler place back then.

Sure, the turbulent 1960s with its assassinations, civil unrest and the Vietnam War, were just around the corner.

But 1958 was still a good time to be living in.

Personally, I look back on those days with affection. You could buy a bag of candy with ten cents. Gas only cost 22 cents a gallon. You could actually understand the music on the radio. You didn’t have to lock your doors at night.

I had the chance to watch the Panthers of that era many times. Sure, they were the chief rival of my school, but they were so good they caught the attention of everyone.

Chassell, which played on the tiny Community Hall in town, had to change some of their home games to Sherman Gym on the Michigan Tech campus. That was done to accommodate the many fans who wanted to see them play.

CHS guard Don Mattson was worth the price of admission alone. Mattson, one of the first prep All-Americans, controlled the pace of every game he played in with his leadership and court savvy.

His shooting range ranged to half-court at Sherman Gym — a shot that would dwarf the NBA three-point line of today.

I later got the chance to know Mattson and many of the players on those teams. They all agreed the experience of those years affected their futures in a positive way.

When North Central breaks the record this week, it will end an era. And for a few of us, that means something.

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