Eastern Montana Normal School played its first intercollegiate basketball game at Dillon on February 21, 1928, just a few months after the school that was to become Eastern Montana College was founded.
According to official records, only nine men enrolled at Eastern in fall, 1927, but by the time Winter Quarter opened, the 1928 annual, the Rimrock reported, "there were just enough men on the basketball squad for two teams." Those two teams consisted of most of the men in the school.
The team was nominally coached by J. L. Hawkes, the social science instructor, but actually received most of its instruction from Oscar Bjorgum, then a YMCA official. A member of the team, Leon Foote Jr., recalls that Hawkes had volunteered his services and been appointed by Dr. Lynn B. McMullen, but Bjorgum had done most of the teaching of the players.
"He put the men through strict training in the fundamentals of the game before any matched games were attempted," the annual reported.Â
The Teachers, as they were then called, played in the City Commercial League and the Rimrock reports they defeated the National Guard 38-19, in their first outing en route to a 5-5 season. Then partly as a reward for the season efforts, Foote believes, President McMullen allowed the team to arrange the game at Dillon with Montana State Normal School, now Western Montana. The Eastern Teachers came out on the short end of a 45-10 score.
Foote says Willard Paulson, another team member, was the team leader. A son of the first head of Eastern's education department, Foote had been in the Army in World War I. He had the most basketball experience although other team members had played in high school. Foote later coached championship basketball and six-man football teams at Denton before moving to Laurel in 1939 as principal of the junior high, and as junior high B-squad coach. He retired in 1966.Â
Oscar Bjorgum became the recognized coach of the team in 1929 and Hawkes was listed as manager and arranged trips and games, among other duties. The Teachers played five intercollegiate games and lost all of them. The following year, they played three college teams and while the overall record for the season was 14-7. they lost to college teams. In 1931. the Teachers played at Dillon, Havre, and Helena, losing all the college games, but placed third in the City Commercial League.
In the opening game of the 1932 season on January 23, the Teachers defeated Intermountain Union College of Helena 40-33, in Billings for the Normal School's first intercollegiate victory. Marvin Klampe, later a teacher at Huntley Project and superintendent of schools at Lockwood, dumped in 14 points to lead but came home for two wins over Billings Polytechnic (Rocky Mountain College), the other school that joined to form Eastern's cross-town rivalry today. Eastern beat the Poly Crusaders 26-23 on March 9 and 39-29 on March 12. Eastern students rode to the second game at the Poly in five bobsleds, the Billings Gazette reported, and later went to dinner at the home of history instructor N.C. Abbott. The 1932 Rimrock said that Eastern placed fifth in the state small college circuit.
At the start of the 1933 season, the Teachers became the Yellowjackets, but lost their sting. They won one outing in 10 college games and followed up the next season with a 2-10 record. Eastern joined with the Poly, Northern Montana College, Intermountain, the State Normal School at Dillon, and the School of Mines to organize a conference.
As the 1936 season opened, the Yellowjackets baptised their new gymnasium, attached to the rear of the single building campus, with a 28-27 victory over the Poly, but that was the only one of ten games they won that year.
The years passed and Eastern teams continued losing more than they won. In 1938-39, the Yellowjackets placed fourth in the Montana Conference. In 1941 they won three college games. The 1942 annual noted that Eastern had some talented freshman and "we're looking ahead to next year."
But for the next few years, most of the men were away in the military or otherwise involved in activities concerning World War II. There may have been some athletic activity during those years, but records have bee misfiled.Â
-story by former MSUB sports information director Farrell Stewart, published in 1977-78 men's basketball media guide.
