Lyle Behrns Remembers 1948-49 T-town Basketball Team

Teutopolis went 28-1 during the 1948-49 season, winning the Paris Tournament and the NTC Tournament.

If you think Teutopolis High School has had a lot of success in basketball, you’d be right. But, have you got any idea how long ago the dedication to that sport started?

Well, I recently talked with Lyle Behrns and we chatted about his playing days for the Wooden Shoes back during the 1948-49 season! People talk about the good old days and what people had to go through and Behrns made me realize there’s truth in what they say.

Behrns attended Dieterich High School. Back then, a lot of high schools only went three years. So, to finish out his senior season, he came over to Teutopolis and attended school.

“I played for the Black Cats in Dieterich and we only lost two ballgames in two years,”’ said Behrns. “In grade school, there was a dirt floor we played basketball on.

“After my three years at Dieterich, I could go to Newton, Teutopolis or Effingham to finish out my final year,” said Behrns. “I went to Teutopolis because my brother Wayne had gone there several years before and liked it.

“Dieterich supplied the buses and would pick us up in the mornings and bring us home about 4:15 p.m. I would get to T-town around 8:15 a.m. and go to the typing room and do some study work. Coach J.H. Griffin had a small room next to it. Sometimes I would go and talk with him in the mornings before school began. I made the basketball team and Coach suggested that I make a scrapbook during the basketball season and I did.”

Behrns gave up a lot of time to play on the team. After he rode the bus to school, practice was too long, so he had to find another way back to Dieterich.

“I wouldn’t get out of practice until about 5 so the buses had already left. I would hitchhike to Effingham then from there hitchhike to Dieterich. Then I’d walk another 2 ½ miles to get home. It would probably be around 6:30 or 7 before I finally got home. Sometimes I stayed with other players and their families in Teutopolis.”

Later in life, Behrns was on the Dieterich School Board.

“I was on the school board and they were taking the boys home from basketball practice and after all I went through trying to get home, I laughingly asked them, if they were going to put them to bed too!”

The day of the first basketball game, Behrens made the starting five and his assignment was to guard the opponent’s highest scorer. If he did a good job, he would start the next game.

“I did and I started every game after that.” said  Behrns. “Coach tested me. The guy he put me on was scoring 28 points and we had him down to eight points when I fouled out with three minutes to go and he scored some then.”

The Wooden Shoes had a successful season, finishing the regular season with a 27-0 record, winning the Paris Holiday Tournament beating Crystal Lake (70-25), Spring Valley (59-40), Paris (42-40) and Danville (61-53) and the National Trail Conference Tournament by beating Neoga (57-32), Altamont (70-31) and Brownstown (62-34).

“They called the Paris Tournament the little state tournament,” said Behrns. “The best game I played, I never scored a point. But it was because I held their big scorer down.”

Behrns did have some big scoring games as he tallied 22 points against Windsor.

“Eugene Runde, Tom Burford and John Nieman were the big scorers. Nieman was the big, tall center. I didn’t do much scoring as a guard. We were a run and gun team and scored around 60 points a game.”

As a matter of fact, the Shoes were ranked No. 3 by the Associated Press and averaged 65 points a game. Coach Griffin was in his 24th year as a teacher at T-town and his 20th season as the Shoes’ coach.

“J.H. never played a basketball game in his life,” said Behrns. “He learned coaching from a book. We couldn’t talk to him during a game and we had to stay out on the floor. One game we were so far behind at halftime, he wouldn’t come down and talk to us. We ended up winning the game.

“He had several rules, no booze or smoking. And then he had other things we had to do like run a mile a day, do so many pushups and a few others things.”

T-town’s official name was the Wooden Shoes but they also were called the Dutchmen and reporter Bob Russell from the Chicago Daily News, called them the Sabots which is a type of wooden shoe worn in certain European areas.

T-town made headlines in a lot of newspapers that year such as this editorial: Orchids to the small, but mighty town of Teutopolis for having such a fine basketball team, excellent coach, wonderful school and superb fan loyalty. 

The Shoes were on a roll and opened regional play with a 67-49 victory over Noble. Then they had to face Effingham in the regional semifinals, a team they had beaten twice during regular season play, 54-46 and 66-64.

But as every basketball fan knows, if you play a team too many times, bad things tend to happen.

The local paper reported 1,400 tickets were sold for the regional semifinal and the school was planning to erect bleachers on the stage to accommodate more. EHS, as the visitors, were allotted 110 reserved seat tickets. Fans jammed the lobby of the gymnasium but only 55 fans got tickets because they were entitled to purchase two tickets each.

The third time was the charm for Effingham as the Hearts ended up toppling the Shoes, 65-40. It was reported that Teutopolis fell behind in the first quarter 17-5 and never recovered. Effingham was on top at the half, 38-18.

The Shoes’ Johnny Nieman had a minor illness and only tallied five points. Roger Dettro, Effingham guard, paced the Hearts with 28 points hitting 12 of 17 free throws.

“We beat Noble and then faced Effingham,” said Behrns. “We lost to them. One bad game and that’s all it took,” said Behrns.

After that the Hearts fell in the regional championship to Olney, 53-45.

“I enjoyed basketball so much and I would not have done it any other way. I made the team and started every game and boy, what a season we had!”

From high school and basketball, Behrns went to help on his parents’ farm when his father got sick.

“I helped farm the first two years,” said Behrns. “Then on the day before my wedding, December 1, 1951, I was drafted. I got to stay home until January 29, 1952 and I left for the Army. I had to train in St. Louis first then go to Michigan then to Camp Chaffie, Arkansas.

Lyle Behrns serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War.

“I got to come home for 30 days to be with my wife Marian before flying to Kansas City and then on to California. We took a ship to Japan and then another ship to the Korean War.”

Behrns served 18 months, reached the rank of sergeant and when his duty was over, he had won the Bronze Star medal for meritorious achievement in ground operations against the enemy.

After serving in the Army, he came home in September of 1953 and started helping his father the next year. They had 240 acres to work with. He also worked at Norge factory for a year and a half.

During his lifetime, Behrns was the treasurer at Grace Lutheran Church in Dieterich, church vice-president, on the Illinois Soybean Association board, on the Dieterich School board and was the president for a while.

Behrns was co-owner of Behrns Grain Company. His favorite job . . . being a farmer.

Behrns and his wife Marian had a son Mark and a daughter Jane and six grandchildren. He is now 90 years old.

Lyle Behrns wore No. 10 during his playing days for Teutopolis.

Teutopolis coach J.H. Griffin.