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Legends: No secret to Caudill’s success

EWEN — As far as Tom Caudill was concerned, the secret to winning games was simple: Have good talent on hand.

The former Ewen-Trout Creek High School basketball coach did a lot of winning in his 31-year career at the Ontonagon County school.

“I was very fortunate to have a large number of really talented kids,” he said in an interview in 2008. “Without those players, you just won’t win as often as we did.”

His record of 558-149 ranked No. 1 for all-time wins among Upper Peninsula male coaches until Irv Dieterle of Westwood surpassed him a few seasons ago.

A Watermeet product, Caudill played sports in high school. He had the chance to see late Trout Creek High scoring ace Jim Manning up close.

“(Manning) could do everything on the basketball court,” he said. “He could shoot, rebound and handle the basketball. A great all-around athlete.”

Caudill had the opportunity to take a job in the E-TC school system and also to coach in the lower grades.

When Ewen and Trout consolidated in 1966, the Panthers became even more formidable.

Under coach Rudy Perhalla, the Panthers won a state championship in the 1971-72 season.

Led by such players as Gary Fors and Bob Bessen, E-TC went unbeaten and was seldom challenged in going 25-0.

When Perhalla retired soon afterward, Caudill was tabbed for the job. The rest, as they say, is history.

In his tenure, the Panthers won 20 Porcupine Mountain Conference crowns, 13 district titles and three regional championships.

That included a state runnerup in 1982 — a season that was one of the highlights in Caudill’s career.

“We had Dave Besonen, who was a great player,” he said. “But our tallest guy was Bryan Brown, who was about 6-foot-1 and Whitey Anderson, who might have reached 6-0. We were smaller than every team we played in the tournaments.”

The E-TC run actually started a year before with a 65-48 win over undefeated Dollar Bay before a record crowd of 3,507 at the MTU Student Development Complex.

In the 1981-82 districts, the Panthers had to overcome tough tests from Chassell and Baraga to advance.

After winning the U.P. title in Marquette, the Panthers faced a tall task in the state quarterfinals at Petoskey versus a tall Harbor Springs.

The downstate team — playing just 12 miles from home — featured a front line of 6-4, 6-5 and 6-6.

Besonen took early control of the game and scored 36 points in a 76-69 win.

“I never saw Bessie (Besonen) play any better of a game than he did that night,” Caudill said. “Unless it was in the finals against Covert.”

Against the state defending champs, E-TC found itself playing a tall and talented Covert team that would throw down 11 dunks in a 105-94 verdict.

But Besonen kept it close by scoring 38 points and drawing a standing ovation from the crowd at Jenison Fieldhouse.

Caudill would continue to produce winning seasons, relying on such standouts as Mike Ojala, who would later coach at Calumet High.

He also produced more 1,000-point scorers than any other coach in the U.P.

The late Jim Bronczyk, of Dollar Bay, who battled Caudill in numerous big games, always gave full credit to his coaching rival.

“You don’t win that many games without knowing the game,” Bronczyk once said. “Tom Caudill knew his X’s and O’s as well as anyone.”

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