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Tom Dix, Kent Clausen, Tim Roby, Cary Hornaman, Harley Zephier and Mark Graeber were members of the Roncalli High School basketball team that, 50 years ago, won the Class A state basketball tournament. In front is head coach Francis Zacher. Courtesy photo.
It’s easy to forget how quickly time passes until you take time to reflect.
For Aberdeen Roncalli, it has been 50 years since the school won its first state championship in any sport.
The Cavaliers claimed the 1975 Class A boys basketball tournament championship, becoming the first parochial school in South Dakota to earn a state title.
That March, they defeated Rapid City Central 50-42 at the Sioux Falls Arena. At the time, there were only two classes of high school basketball in the state, and Roncalli was one of the 32 biggest schools, so it played in the top class.
To some degree, the tone for the ‘75 season was set the previous year.
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The 1974 season ended in heartbreak with a loss against Miller in the sectional round, but it set the stage for something special.
“You know, we were really down in the dumpster. It was a pretty close game that we lost. It was really disappointing, and it just made us work harder and say we could do this…” said Cary Hornaman, a junior during the 1973-74 season.
Starting a championship season
Roncalli benefitted from a new face in the 1974-75 season. Joining the Cavaliers was Harley Zephier Jr., the son of one of Roncalli head coach Francis Zacher’s friends.
“Zephier (fit in) really nice for us. He could score. He wasn’t quite the outside shooter, but he was a lot better driver in one-on-one situations. He was pretty good at defense, and offense was his big one,” Zacher said.
Roncalli’s Cary Hornaman takes a shot during the 1975 Class A boys basketball championship game against Rapid City Central. The Cavaliers won to claim the school’s first state championship. Courtesy photo.
Hornaman said he could tell right away that his senior season was going to be good.
“That first practice felt like a game, it was like a war,” he said. “ We were so intense and fired up, and I remember Ron Feickert, he used to be a reporter for the Aberdeen American News, he watched the practice that day and said, ‘I just think I saw the state champions practice.’”
That early confidence resulted in a dominant 79-45 season-opening win against Webster. Roncalli finished with a 14-0 record in the Northeast Conference. A victory against Milbank late in the season was the Cavs’ 17th straight.
Heading into the final game of the regular season, Roncalli was looking to push the streak to 18. Instead, Miller again stymied the Cavaliers and claimed an 89-82 triumph. Hornaman scored 29 points, but Carl Iverson had 26 for the Rustlers, who took advantage of Roncalli turnovers in the victory, Feickert reported in the American News.
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“It really ticked us off because it was such a good game where both teams played well,” Hornaman said. “We were really upset at the Miller game. That was really a downer when we went back home that night…”
Roncalli’s only other loss during an 18-2 regular season was 66-65 to Watertown in the second game of the year.
The Miller defeat, though, yielded a determined mindset heading into post-season tournament play, Hornaman said.
Roncalli’s first opponent was Redfield, a team the Cavaliers had beaten twice during the regular season. Both teams played tight early in the game as they traded leads, Feickert reported. The Pheasants held Hornaman to eight points, but Tim Roby scored 16 as Roncalli built a 23-point lead halfway through the third quarter and eventually won 68-47.
Roncalli, Central had a heated rivalry
Next up was in-town rival Aberdeen Central with the winner advancing to the state tournament.
Roncalli picked up an 83-60 victory during the regular season, but the rematch in Huron was tighter. In the fourth quarter, Central had a chance to trim Roncalli’s lead to two points, but missed a shot, Lee Weishaar, American News sports editor, reported. The Cavaliers took over down the stretch en route to a 58-49 victory. Kent Clausen made three late free throws to cement the triumph.
Tim Roby was a member of the 1975 Roncalli High School basketball team. Fifty years ago, the Cavaliers were the first team from a parochial school to win a state championship in South Dakota. Courtesy photo.
Hornaman said the Central games resulted in some great memories. It was an era when the Cavaliers and Golden Eagles played regularly, and those battles were highly anticipated.
“The rivalry was pretty bad. During my sophomore year, Central students would throw fish at us and all of a sudden we’re seeing fish flying on the floor. They threw at certain spots and tried to trap us into where that fish was so we would slip and lose the ball. And then Roncalli (fans) were letting sparrows loose because they were the Eagles. In my mind, this is wild,” he said.
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Even after the 1975 sectional game ended, things were spirited.
“We’re getting ready to take the picture for the team that’s going to state. Some girl from Central nailed Kent Clausen in the groin, and he could barely stand up in the picture, then they were grabbing my hair,” Hornaman said. “That’s when the coach was telling us to get out of here. We’re gonna get killed.”
Facing familiar foes
Roncalli was 20-2 entering the state tourney, inching closer to history, but the two teams they lost to in the regular season — Watertown and Miller — had also qualified for the Class A field.
Fans were fired up about the Cavaliers’ third-ever trip to the state tournament. They quickly snapped up the school’s allotment of tickets, and many others waited at the Sioux Falls Arena box office to get theirs, Hornaman said.
“We’re sitting in the locker room, and the noise was just unbelievable, everybody is screaming and yelling. You know, from everywhere, not just our team. Not just our section. We even had Milbank, a team we played against, sitting behind our bench cheering for us,” he said.
Hornaman said he liked to arrive about three hours before a game to warm up, and when he got to the Sioux Falls Arena, there were already people lined up outside waiting to get in.
The Sioux Falls Arena was packed in March 1975 when Roncallii defeated Rapid City Central 50-42 to win the first state championship in school history. Courtesy photo.
In the quarterfinals, the Cavaliers got revenge against the Arrows with a tight 66-63 victory.
Clausen and Zephier led the Roncalli offense, while Roby was great on defense, Weishaar reported. Tom Murphy scored 38 points for the Arrows, but it wasn’t enough.
In the semifinals, Miller loomed, and the battle was fierce, but the Cavaliers prevailed 54-52.
Roncalli led by eight at halftime before the Rustlers rallied behind the play of Greg Hamiel and Iverson, according to an American News story.
For the Cavaliers, Hornaman finished with 20 points, many from long range, while Mark Graeber was great on defense and Zephier made three steals in the final 48 seconds.
Miller was a powerhouse at the time and went undefeated in winning the 1972 Class A title, so the victory was special for Roncalli.
“When we won against Miller in that semifinal, we were so happy and celebrating it and it felt like it was our championship,” Hornaman said. “Coach is then telling us that we still haven’t won anything and we still have to beat Rapid City Central. But we were so happy to win and avenge that loss.”
The buzz in the Aberdeen area was intense as more fans flocked to Sioux Falls to watch the Cavaliers in the title game, he said.
Roncalli rallies in championship game
Things were tight in the first half as the Cobblers built a five-point lead and were up 26-23 at halftime. Roncalli pushed back in the third quarter, but never led by more than three points as Rapid City’s defense held tight, Weishaar reported.
Fifty years ago, Roncalli won the Class A boys basketball state championship, defeating Rapid City Central 50-42 in Sioux Falls. Courtesy photo.
There was no shot clock at the time, allowing the Cobblers to slow down the game with deliberate offense.
“I told those guys at halftime that we were kind of tight, I thought just loosen up and play,” Zacher said. “Hornaman was fired up out there. … I said, ‘Harley, go one on one and beat those guys up there.’ And the second half we played really, really well.”
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The Roncalli offense got going during crunch time, scoring nine straight points in the middle of the fourth quarter to build a cushion, according to the American News.
Hornaman hit from long range to push the lead to eight, then sank two free throws with 30 seconds left. He and Roby finished with 12 points apiece.
The Cobblers missed three free throws late in the game, helping the Cavaliers maintain a lead and claim the championship.
“I kind of felt that, you know, none of the other schools actually respected our defense, but our defense was very good. We had some offensive power also, some outside shooters,” Zacher said.
The Cavaliers played only man-to-man defense, he said.
Rick Kline, a Roncalli graduate who is now the school’s development director, was in fifth grade at the time. He remembers how he and other kids looked up to the varsity players who won it all.
“Absolutely —Cary Hornaman, Harley Zephier, Tim Roby, Kent Clausen, Mark Graeber. When we all played at recess time we all pretended to be one of them. They were larger than life to the elementary kids,” Kline said.
The Roncalli Gym was packed when the Cavaliers got back to Aberdeen after winning the Class A high school boys basketball state championship in 1975. Courtesy photo.
Team, fans, community celebrate success
The Cavaliers were greeted by joyous fans even before they got back to Aberdeen, Hornaman said.
His memory is that the first supporters the team spotted on the ride home were south of Redfield. North of Redfield, vehicles were parked all along the road, he said.
Kent Clausen of Roncalli High School takes a shot during the 1975 Class A state boys basketball tournament in Sioux Falls. The Cavaliers won the first state championship in school history 50 years ago. Courtesy photo.
“They were out yelling and had signs saying congratulations as we went down. It took about three hours to get home from Redfield because we would stop and we would wave and shake hands,” Horamen said.
In Sioux Falls, O’Gorman High School hosted a celebration for the Cavaliers, one Catholic school happy for the other’s success.
When players and coaches finally made it back to the Roncalli Gym, it was packed, Hornaman said. Zacher spoke to the crowd, as did some of the players.
“You are indeed No. 1,” then-Mayor Jeff Solem told the team, according to the American News.
Roncalli didn’t have classes the Monday after the state tournament as the celebration continued.
“Anytime a state championship is won in a city, it is a big deal,” Kline said. “I’m not sure at the time the Central fans were as excited as the Roncalli fans because we were in the same class. A few years later, the Golden Eagles won the state tournament and the same thing could probably be said about the Roncalli fans.”
Reflecting on the championship 50 years ago, Kline understands the gravity of the accomplishment.
So does Hornaman. For days, students and fans had a hard time talking about anything else, even when classes resumed, he said.
The unity was special and he said he had chills talking about it even after five decades.
“It wasn’t just a team victory, it was a Roncalli victory, an Aberdeen victory,” Hornaman said.
How has it been 50 years?
Zacher said it doesn’t seem like the championship was that long ago. But he said he’s 87 and some of the players are now drawing Social Security.
Zacher
“I had a really good experience I’ll never forget. Some of the things that I was able to accomplish, I think the good lord was looking out for me and giving me advice. I didn’t have an idea what I thought it was going to be like, but everything really turned out well for me. I couldn’t be happier than what happened to me at Roncalli,” Zacher said.
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He left the school after the 1976 season to pursue a career in banking, which provided a better future for his four kids. Zacher said he did that for 35 years before moving to Arizona for 10 years. He now lives in Gettysburg.
Hornaman went on to play basketball for Northern State, which was his childhood dream. He also played baseball for the Wolves and in the minor leagues for the Cincinnati Reds organization. He later started teaching, working in South Dakota for a year before moving to Tampa, Fla., for another 35 years in the classroom. He still lives in Florida.
For more than 25 years, the 1975 championship was Roncalli’s only state title. That changed in 2002 when the volleyball team won the Class A tournament.
It was 40 years before the Cavaliers won another boys basketball state championship. That came in 2015 when they beat Dell Rapids 53-50.
The 1975 Roncalli High School boys basketball team, which won the Class A state tournament, was inducted into the Roncalli Hall of Fame in 2024. Courtesy photo.
1975 team inducted into Roncalli Hall of Fame
In 2024, the 1975 squad was inducted into the Roncalli Hall of Fame. That gathering was the first time some of the players had seen each other since high school.
“You know, we hugged each other. Some of us kind of sobbed. It was like, ‘We should just go out and practice right now.’ The cheerleaders were there, all the coaches were there, too, Hornaman said.
Roncalli High School won the Class A boys basketball in 1975. Courtesy photo.
Four of the five 1975 starters were at the event. Two players on the roster, Graeber and Don Dix, died before 2024.
Kline remembers meeting Roby for the first time during that year’s all-school reunion.
“The team could not have been any nicer. Great players, but even better people.” Kline said.
Hornaman said it feels like Roncalli was the Hickory team in the 1986 movie “Hoosiers” because of all the support the Cavaliers had while taking on the biggest schools in the state.
“It was the best teaching, learning experience of my life. It taught me about unity, about teamwork, hard work, what it can get you and where it can take you,” he said. “I wasn’t an honors student, and this Roncalli team put us on a map. It got me to where I was going. That was the moment in time that forever changed my life. If I wouldn’t have had that senior year, I don’t know where my life would’ve went. I’m sure it would’ve been a lot different.”