While watching the NCAA Tournament tonight I started thinking about some clippings I saw in my Grandma’s Scrapbooks while looking for Easter Images last night.

The mascot for the High School my father graduated from is the Wildcats.

The Hamburg Wildcat boys basketball team had a very good season the year after my father graduated.

They won the both the Corner Conference championship and also the Corner Conference tournament.

Here is a picture of the team. The team was coached by Garold Walker.

In the regular conference season the team went 8-1 losing only to Sidney. They did get revenge in the conference tournament.

The Corner Conference is in the Southwest corner of Iowa and consisted of ten schools in 1962; Hamburg, Fremont-Mills, Sidney, South Page, Farragut, New Market, Essex, Stanton, Nishna Valley and Malvern.

Here is a picture from the conference tournament. This game is between the Hamburg Wildcats and the Sidney Cowboys. In the number 44 white jersey is Steve Miller of Sidney. He is being defended by two Hamburg Wildcats, #43 Ken Winkler and Jim Parkison.

I decided to see if the Corner Conference was still in existence. Surprisingly it is very similar in composition today. New Market has closed, Hamburg and Farragut play sports together as Nishnabotna, and Malvern and Nishna Valley play together as East Mills. The conference also includes Heartland Christian from Council Bluffs and the Clarinda Academy.

Unfortunately for the Kentucky Wildcats, they did not make it to the final game of the NCAA tournament. I am happy for Wisconsin though as they played a great game and gave the Wildcats their only loss for the season.

My High School had the Bluejays as a mascot, what was your High School’s mascot?

Steven