By Tom Hintgen

Otter Tail County Correspondent

The Henning boys basketball team participated in the state tournament in 1965, a real accomplishment considering that 60 years ago there was only one class of high school basketball in the state of Minnesota.

Henning defeated Detroit Lakes in the Region 6 finals in 1965 and downed Crosby-Ironton a year later, in 1966, to return to the state classic. Team captains for Henning in 1965 were seniors Rick Thiel and Galen Bodas.

The defining moment for Henning, led by twins Bob and Dick Peterson, came about in March 1966 in a state tournament semi-final basketball David versus Goliath game. Henning played Edina, a large school located in the western suburb of Minneapolis.

Small-town Henning played Edina in front of 18,000 fans at Williams Arena on the campus of the University of Minnesota. The Hornets came up just short, losing in triple overtime to Edina.

Henning won the hearts of basketball fans across the state of Minnesota. This was six years after small-town Edgerton won the Minnesota state title in 1960. Edgerton’s population was 1,020 and Henning had 980 residents in 1966. 

Dick Peterson later was head basketball coach and taught at Freeborn High School near Albert Lea in southern Minnesota. His twin brother, Bob, coached junior high and taught math in Red Wing. 

Henning’s 1966 starting guard Neal Oscarson returned to Henning and was a teacher and head boys basketball coach. Fellow guard Gerald Brutlag worked for a pipeline company at Grand Rapids. Forward Dean Greenwaldt was a teacher near Mankato and in Morris, later working for Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Moorhead. 

Ashur Cordes was the first forward off the bench. He continues to farm and raise cattle in Henning and was a starter for two years at Fergus Falls Junior College. Another top reserve player for Henning was the late Terry Hagen who worked for IBM in Arizona and later in Rochester, Minn.

Brutlag, Cordes and Bob Bjorklund, a freshman on the 1966 Henning team, became starters the next season for the 1966-67 Hornets.

Bjorklund later coached the Fergus Falls boys basketball team, leading the Otters to state tournament appearances in 1984, 1986 and 1990. He went on to coach men’s basketball at Bethel University in the Twin Cities and also served as Bethel’s athletic director.

Henning native and retired Forest Lake, Minnesota, newspaper editor Cliff Buchan wrote a book, “Orange and Black,” about the history of Henning basketball.

“When sports fans think of high school basketball in Minnesota, many of them find it fascinating that small towns have deep roots with family connections to their teams,” Buchan said.