Iowa Girls 6-on-6 Basketball: The 1967 Mediapolis Bullettes

After losing in the 1966 state finals, the Mediapolis Bullettes girls basketball team came back the next year to win the state championship. In this video feature from Iowa PBS's 2017 Girls High School Basketball coverage, members of the 1967 team recount their championship season.

Kathy Schmeiser-Haltmeyer, Senior forward 1967 Mediapolis Bullettes: We're going to state and we're going to win. We decided that in the locker room our junior year. 

Nancy Sheridan-Gilbert, Senior guard - 1967 Mediapolis Bullettes: We lost and we all looked at each other and said, okay, we'll be back, we're coming back next year. This time we're going to do it. 

Joyce Campbell-Messer Senior guard - 1967 Mediapolis Bullettes: It was just almost like a fairy tale because we just had so many good things happen to us in our journey to the championship. 
Announcer: Now the big moment has finally arrived, the championship game between South Hamilton and Mediapolis. Mediapolis is an all-veteran team that ripped through 28 straight opponents getting to the championship tonight, winning by an average margin of 33 points a game during the regular season. 

Mary McElhinney-King, Senior forward - 1967 Mediapolis Bullettes: We were 17 years old, we had a lot of confidence. 

Sheryl Wischmeier-Lonergan, Junior guard - 1967 Mediapolis Bullettes: Yeah we did. 

Kathy Schmeiser-Haltmeyer, Senior forward 1967 Mediapolis Bullettes: We thought we had the world. 

Sheryl Wischmeier-Lonergan, Junior guard - 1967 Mediapolis Bullettes: We thought we did. 

Mary Jo Wiegand-Metzger, Senior guard - 1967 Mediapolis Bullettes: We thought we were pretty good. 

Joyce Campbell-Messer, Senior guard - 1967 Mediapolis Bullettes: Yeah, and then they had the state of Iowa is outlined and then the lights go out for each team that gets defeated. And you could look up there even during the game and see our light flashing and think, it just gives me chills today, just remembering back that feeling of how it was. 

Mary Jo Wiegand-Metzger, Senior guard - 1967 Mediapolis Bullettes: We had great fan support. For the girls basketball games they just packed the gym. They loved us. 

Mary McElhinney-King, Senior forward - 1967 Mediapolis Bullettes: And not only Mediapolis but a lot of other towns around too. 

Sheryl Wischmeier-Lonergan, Junior guard - 1967 Mediapolis Bullettes: When we went to the state tournament the town pretty much shut down. Our names were written all over town on the windows and go Bullettes and they really loved us and we loved them. I remember coming home in the caravan and we'd go through all these little towns and they'd be cheering and yelling and it was like, we felt like we were princesses. 

Announcer: Mediapolis -- underneath back out to Sheridan. That one didn't even look like it was going to clear the ring but it dropped right through like a bomb. 27 to 16. 

Joyce Campbell-Messer, Senior guard - 1967 Mediapolis Bullettes: And we didn't have a standout player. All of the forwards worked together. It was not just one person making all the shots. 

Nancy Sheridan-Gilbert, Senior guard - 1967 Mediapolis Bullettes: I think we had balance and I think that was a huge strength for us. 

Sheryl Wischmeier-Lonergan, Junior guard - 1967 Mediapolis Bullettes: Of course Bud knew all of their plays and so did Joyce so when South Hamilton would signal in, the coach would signal the plays to the girls, he also signaled them to us. So we pretty much knew what they were going to do and how to stop them. We always felt that as long as we listened to Bud we would be okay. 

Joyce Campbell-Messer, Senior guard - 1967 Mediapolis Bullettes: He was a fabulous coach. 

Sheryl Wischmeier-Lonergan, Junior guard - 1967 Mediapolis Bullettes: He really was. 

Joyce Campbell-Messer, Senior guard - 1967 Mediapolis Bullettes: And he had so many girls that he worked with that changed their lives. 

Kathy Schmeiser-Haltmeyer, Senior forward 1967 Mediapolis Bullettes: But it was a tradition and he built on that tradition and the fundamentals are what got us, the quality of play and the players that he was able to produce and that was part of that tradition and the hometown support was fantastic to go along with it. 

Nancy Sheridan-Gilbert, Senior guard - 1967 Mediapolis Bullettes: I remember one time during an interview, I'm not sure what the question was, but his response was I'm so happy for the girls, as a coach you get many chances to win a state tournament but this is probably their only chance. And he was really happy for all of us too. And I think something we didn't really realize was going on at the time, but a lot of the way he coached us really prepared us for jobs later on, commitment, responsibility and teamwork. 

Mary Jo Wiegand-Metzger, Senior guard - 1967 Mediapolis Bullettes: Perseverance. 

Nancy Sheridan-Gilbert, Senior guard - 1967 Mediapolis Bullettes: So he was phenomenal really. 

Joyce Campbell-Messer, Senior guard - 1967 Mediapolis Bullettes: Looking back he taught us so much more than what was on a basketball court, how to live our lives. 

Announcer: Three, two, one, zero and South Hamilton and Mediapolis battled it out, Mediapolis wins 51 to 35. And the jubilant girls from Mediapolis who made up their minds early in the season they were good enough to go all the way, then went on and proved it. 

Joyce Campbell-Messer, Senior guard - 1967 Mediapolis Bullettes: But I think we set a legacy for the teams after us that you can do it. If I was going to say what our team did as a unit, that would be teamwork. You can't do it by yourself. You always need somebody else to help you along the way. 

Kathy Schmeiser-Haltmeyer, Senior forward 1967 Mediapolis Bullettes: As I've traveled around Iowa and other states I must say, I would mention where I'm from, well Mediapolis, that's the girls basketball town. I said, it certainly is. Being on this team was, as I look back, a privilege, it was a sense of pride and privilege in the fact that we got to represent Mediapolis, Bud McLearn and this school. 

Joyce Campbell-Messer, Senior guard - 1967 Mediapolis Bullettes: It was just super, the whole year was just super. We couldn't have asked for a better year or a better season.