March 16, 2019 at 02:34AM
This weekend's State B isn't the first South Dakota basketball tournament to be disrupted by a blizzard.
In March 1988, Roncalli and seven other Class A schools sent their most gifted athletes and supportive fans to Rapid City for the boys state basketball tournament. Those folks didn't know that they'd be settling into the worst blizzard a state tournament had ever seen, at least according to memory.
"When we arrived out there (on Wednesday, the day before the tournament) it was 75, and we were all wearing shorts and T-shirts, having fun enjoying the weather. The next day we woke up. It was snowing really heavy," Todd Imbery said. "We played Custer the first night. During the game the lights shut off three times, and every time it shut off it took 15 minutes for the lights to heat back up. It was one of the craziest games — you know in sports you've got your momentum revved up."
Imbery was a senior forward for the Cavaliers.
By the time the team left the Rapid City Civic Center that night, there was ankle-deep slush. The next morning, it was a complete whiteout, and the electricity in the hotel was out. Second-round games were postponed a day, so teams played twice on Saturday.
Coaches, players and cheerleaders were at one hotel, parents and fans at others.
The single vending machine in the hotel the Roncalli team stayed at was emptied within an hour that morning, Imbery said by phone Thursday.
He and his wife Shannon (Westra) Imbery were reminiscing during this week's blizzard, which caused the start of the State B boys tournament at the Barnett Center to be delayed two hours.
Shannon Imbery was a senior cheerleader for Roncalli in 1988.
The two were quintessential high school sweethearts. The 1988 weekend gets brought up every couple of years amongst friends and alumni, they said.
"The one thing I remember is just how dark it was. The first floor was almost under snow. The hotel gets so dark. I remember there being very few coaches and a lot of kids," she said.
She also remembers parents being a bit panicky at first, planning in vain to "rescue" their children who were safe by all accounts, just stuck.
The parents made the best of it with some little kids, taking over the hotel restaurant kitchen and hosting a spontaneous sock hop, Shannon Imbery said.
"Our cheerleaders were also in the motel with us. We all sat in a room together, lit our candles and told stories," Todd Imbery said. "It was a long, cold day in a motel."
"A lot of it, we just hung out, played cards. There wasn't a whole lot to do in the hotel. Someone must've had flashlights or candles" said Charles Kornmann, a junior guard for the Cavaliers that season.
Another team — Cheyenne- Eagle Butte — had players who jumped out of a second-story window of the hotel to run to a gas station, the Imberys recalled.
The Rapid City Ramada Inn had its roof blown off by 7 a.m. that Friday. Winds were gusting 60 to 70 mph, according to archived accounts, and at least a foot of heavy snow blanketed the area.
In a March 13, 1988, column, former American News sportswriter Tim Larson gave a report on being stationed at the Super 8, near the Ramada that was damaged.
"Although the Ramada was about two blocks from the Super 8, we heard the news about 4:30 p.m.," Larson wrote in the column.
The conditions were reportedly blinding as some of the Super 8 crew decided to brave a 60-yard dash to a Happy Chef restaurant to eat. Larson suspected gusts were 75 mph as cheerleaders gripped each other for stability, while others gave up and buried each other in the snow for a brief comedic break. A couple adventurous souls decided to jump about 15 feet down into the Super 8 parking lot below, according to Larson's report.
"We stayed in, I think, downtown. We weren't close to the civic center. We were fortunate enough to have a restaurant and bar in our hotel," said Ann Lacher a 1984 Roncalli graduate who'd attended the 1988 tournament. "It was pretty boring. I know there wasn't a lot of people leaving their hotels because there was no place to go."
At another hotel, parents grabbed food and drinks from a nearby grocery store in the morning, filling a bathtub in one room with ice and beer and riding out the Friday storm.
The Imberys remember the National Guard was sent in that night with pizzas, homemade in the area, along with cookies. Shannon Imbery remembers some of the boys asking if it was OK to eat pizza because it was topped with meat and it was Lent.
Roncalli is a Catholic school.
"They had to double up the games on Saturday," Lacher said. "The winners played in the civic center arena and the losers played in one of the high school gyms."
The consolation bracket was Rapid City Central High School near the civic center.
The Cavaliers won their opening-round game against Custer Thursday during the blizzard's onset. On Saturday, they lost in overtime to Vermillion, then fell to Pine Ridge in another close game to finish fourth.
Follow @Kelda_aan on Twitter.
This weekend's State B isn't the first South Dakota basketball tournament to be disrupted by a blizzard.
In March 1988, Roncalli and seven other Class A schools sent their most gifted athletes and supportive fans to Rapid City for the boys state basketball tournament. Those folks didn't know that they'd be settling into the worst blizzard a state tournament had ever seen, at least according to memory.
"When we arrived out there (on Wednesday, the day before the tournament) it was 75, and we were all wearing shorts and T-shirts, having fun enjoying the weather. The next day we woke up. It was snowing really heavy," Todd Imbery said. "We played Custer the first night. During the game the lights shut off three times, and every time it shut off it took 15 minutes for the lights to heat back up. It was one of the craziest games — you know in sports you've got your momentum revved up."
Imbery was a senior forward for the Cavaliers.
By the time the team left the Rapid City Civic Center that night, there was ankle-deep slush. The next morning, it was a complete whiteout, and the electricity in the hotel was out. Second-round games were postponed a day, so teams played twice on Saturday.
Coaches, players and cheerleaders were at one hotel, parents and fans at others.
The single vending machine in the hotel the Roncalli team stayed at was emptied within an hour that morning, Imbery said by phone Thursday.
He and his wife Shannon (Westra) Imbery were reminiscing during this week's blizzard, which caused the start of the State B boys tournament at the Barnett Center to be delayed two hours.
Shannon Imbery was a senior cheerleader for Roncalli in 1988.
The two were quintessential high school sweethearts. The 1988 weekend gets brought up every couple of years amongst friends and alumni, they said.
"The one thing I remember is just how dark it was. The first floor was almost under snow. The hotel gets so dark. I remember there being very few coaches and a lot of kids," she said.
She also remembers parents being a bit panicky at first, planning in vain to "rescue" their children who were safe by all accounts, just stuck.
The parents made the best of it with some little kids, taking over the hotel restaurant kitchen and hosting a spontaneous sock hop, Shannon Imbery said.
"Our cheerleaders were also in the motel with us. We all sat in a room together, lit our candles and told stories," Todd Imbery said. "It was a long, cold day in a motel."
"A lot of it, we just hung out, played cards. There wasn't a whole lot to do in the hotel. Someone must've had flashlights or candles" said Charles Kornmann, a junior guard for the Cavaliers that season.
Another team — Cheyenne- Eagle Butte — had players who jumped out of a second-story window of the hotel to run to a gas station, the Imberys recalled.
The Rapid City Ramada Inn had its roof blown off by 7 a.m. that Friday. Winds were gusting 60 to 70 mph, according to archived accounts, and at least a foot of heavy snow blanketed the area.
In a March 13, 1988, column, former American News sportswriter Tim Larson gave a report on being stationed at the Super 8, near the Ramada that was damaged.
"Although the Ramada was about two blocks from the Super 8, we heard the news about 4:30 p.m.," Larson wrote in the column.
The conditions were reportedly blinding as some of the Super 8 crew decided to brave a 60-yard dash to a Happy Chef restaurant to eat. Larson suspected gusts were 75 mph as cheerleaders gripped each other for stability, while others gave up and buried each other in the snow for a brief comedic break. A couple adventurous souls decided to jump about 15 feet down into the Super 8 parking lot below, according to Larson's report.
"We stayed in, I think, downtown. We weren't close to the civic center. We were fortunate enough to have a restaurant and bar in our hotel," said Ann Lacher a 1984 Roncalli graduate who'd attended the 1988 tournament. "It was pretty boring. I know there wasn't a lot of people leaving their hotels because there was no place to go."
At another hotel, parents grabbed food and drinks from a nearby grocery store in the morning, filling a bathtub in one room with ice and beer and riding out the Friday storm.
The Imberys remember the National Guard was sent in that night with pizzas, homemade in the area, along with cookies. Shannon Imbery remembers some of the boys asking if it was OK to eat pizza because it was topped with meat and it was Lent.
Roncalli is a Catholic school.
"They had to double up the games on Saturday," Lacher said. "The winners played in the civic center arena and the losers played in one of the high school gyms."
The consolation bracket was Rapid City Central High School near the civic center.
The Cavaliers won their opening-round game against Custer Thursday during the blizzard's onset. On Saturday, they lost in overtime to Vermillion, then fell to Pine Ridge in another close game to finish fourth.
Follow @Kelda_aan on Twitter.