Unbeaten, untied, five shutouts and a 27-21 victory over Omaha Creighton Prep in the high school game of the year. Those were the Swedes of Gothenburg and Coach Dutch Zorn in 1945, the winner of the Hall of Fame’s first Golden Anniversary Team Award, announced at the 1995 Hall of Fame banquet.
Gothenburg’s 10 wins came in this order: Curtis Aggies 18-0, Holdrege 25-0, North Platte 34-0, Callaway 59-6, Cozad 31-6, Gibbon 46-0, Cambridge 51-0, Creighton Prep 27-21, Broken Bow 19-7 and Lexington 19-7.
The key win was in Omaha on Nov. 10 against No. 1 rated Prep. The game was a during-the-year arranged contest between outstanding teams, a regular occurrence in the years prior to the football playoffs. A crowd estimated by a World-Herald writer at 2,000 watched the Swedes jump to a 20-7 lead that, despite a rousing comeback at the end, Prep was not able to overcome.
Gothenburg Roster – 1945:
51 Dick Arnall 155 B Jr.
81 Kenneth Bauman 170 G Jr.
62 Douglas Beath 155 T Jr.
32 Dale Block 134 G Jr.
55 Bob Bullock 141 G Jr.
79 Corky Campbell 185 T Jr.
.20 Dale Clark 129 C Sr.
41 Robert Clark 114 G So.
70 Harold Cumpston 134 B Sr.
71 Jim Cunning 170 E Sr.
88 Don Dyer 168 G So.
75 Keith Gruber 186 T So.
89 Jim Gustafson 220 T So.
85 Ted Haney 134 B Jr.
50 Wade Haynes 135 HB So.
46 Melvin Hicken 130 E So.
77 Jim Holmes 172 B Sr.
61 Ermal Jones 176 G So.
60 Tom Loutzenheiser 155 E Sr.
50 Don Mann 113 B So.
52 Jack McKim 129 B Jr.
52 Bill Mundell 187 E Sr.
22 Jack Ostergard 131 G Sr.
53 Duane Peterson 130 E Sr.
80 Glenn Peterson 168 T Sr.
43 Clark Reeves 116 B Jr.
55 Bill Rubenthaler 119 E Jr.
66 Virge Schulz 134 E Jr.
54 Dale Smallfoot 126 G Jr.
40 Virge Stebbins 126 B So.
62 Paul Sulc 135 B So.
69 Tom Swancutt 114 B Jr.
43 Don Turner 111 C So.
59 Elliott Wagner 134 C Jr.
35 Scott Ward 142 E Jr.
65 Jim West 131 E Sr.
33 Jim Williams 130 B So.
42 Bud Wilson 150 B Jr.
Manager-Clark Seaquist
Coach-Dutch Zorn
