Way Back Wednesday: A Lunch With High School Basketball Royalty in Hebron
If you are passionate about Illinois high school basketball and its history the story of Hebron’s 1952 state championship never gets old.
Some consider it the Illinois equivalent of Hickory in the movie “Hoosiers.” In many ways Hebron’s story is better than the silver screen version as the small school of 98 students takes on and topples the big boys in a one-class state tournament. When Milan won the Indiana title in 1954 it had more than 160 students.
The significance of what the Hebron Green Giants accomplished hasn’t been forgotten in the McHenry County town of 1,100 just a few minutes south of the Illinois-Wisconsin border. The famed basketball water tower just got a fresh paint job a few years ago and local businesses are advertised on small backboards on the light poles and telephone poles in town.
So, when the opportunity arose to have lunch a year ago with the team’s two stars, twin brothers Phil and Paul Judson, it was the equivalent of being the little kid lucky enough to have a ticket to see Hebron in Huff Gym in 1952.
Retired coach Bruce Firchau, whose stops included Harvard, Dundee-Crown and Westminster Christian, is doing great work for the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA) and making sure its history is preserved. I have been helping with updating IBCA Hall of Fame biographies, and when we needed to exchange some materials, Bruce asked if I wanted to meet him and the Judsons at Crandall’s in Hebron for lunch. He didn’t need to ask twice.
I’m not much on autographs anymore. But in this case I brought my copy of one of my favorite books, “Once There Were Giants,” about the Hebron story and written in 2002 by retired IHSA historian Scott Johnson and his wife Julie Kistler. I got a picture with the Judsons, autographs with a note in my copy of the book, a business card from Phil (also known by many as “Swish”) and then the joy of listening to their fantastic stories for more than two hours.
Hebron, as Elgin High grads Johnson and Kistler pointed out in their book, was no fluke. The Judsons went to play at Illinois. Big man Bill Schulz and Ken Spooner got scholarships to Northwestern. Don Wilbrandt, the other starter, played at Valparaiso. They were ranked No. 1 in the state in the final regular-season state poll by the Associated Press and their only loss in 36 games was by 3 points at midseason to Crystal Lake.
The Judsons said they wished they could have pulled off a perfect season. But one loss didn’t diminish the interest they received from fans and media from across the state. Their games were events before standing-room only crowds everywhere they went that season.
The title victory at U of I’s Huff Gym was so big the Champaign News-Gazette gave it a banner headline on the front page, “HEBRON GIANTS REIGN SUPREME,” while Illinois’ trip to the Final Four got a small one-column headline “Illini Win! Kentucky Defeated!” On the trip home, the Judsons and Hebron were celebrated like movie stars before a big turnout in Woodstock’s famous town square, decades before Bill Murray in Groundhog Day.
Because of its size, Hebron had to start the postseason in a District tournament for small schools and win 11 games to claim the biggest prize in Illinois high school sports. The Green Giants rolled along, even though the Judsons said they didn’t play their best basketball at the end of the year, and beat powerhouse Quincy in overtime for the title. It was the first IHSA championship game shown on TV and one of the broadcasters was a young guy from Aurora named Chick Hearn. He did pretty well for himself calling the games of the Los Angeles Lakers, from Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain to Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, for more than 40 years.
The Judsons reminisced about how they were friends for years with Quincy coach George Latham, who eventually moved to Waukegan to become a high school principal and administrator. Quincy star Bruce Brothers also went to U of I to become a teammate and frequent road roommate with the Judsons. The three of them would drive together to Champaign to watch Fighting Illini games.
It was also fun to hear them talk about how they played with a group of U of I alums that played against the Harlem Globetrotters and spin-off teams such as the Marques Haynes All-Stars and Goose Tatum Magicians. And they would play in front of full houses from high school gyms in Taylorville in southern Illinois to facing Wilt and the Globetrotters in the old Chicago Stadium before 21,000 people.
They both became successful high school coaches and teachers and had sons who are still coaching. Rob Judson was a head coach at Northern Illinois and is back at Illinois State as an assistant and Gary Judson has been a long-time assistant coach at Prospect.
Paul and Phil Judson are fantastic storytellers who truly embrace and enjoy their place in what is arguably the greatest story in Illinois high school basketball history. They received significant attention again last year for the 70th anniversary of their special championship. IBCA Hall of Fame sportswriter Joe Stevenson of the Northwest Herald, who has talked to the Judsons numerous times for stories on the 1952 Hebron champions, calls them “treasures.”
Indeed they are because Paul and Phil Judson starred in a story that was no fiction writer’s tale.
All of those Hebron guys are just a treasure. Unfortunately, we lost Bill Schulz a year ago. I had the same good fortune as you, Marty, back in 1999 as we did a bunch of end-of-the-century stuff at the Northwest Herald. I had lunch with the Judsons, Schulz and Ken Spooner. I still remember that day, it was in a Baker's Square in Libertyville, and the stories those guys could tell. They never need to embellish, their original stories are so wonderful. It will always be a highlight of my career to have spoken so many times through the years with guys who did something six years before I was born. I'm old, but I did not cover that Alden-Hebron title team in person. But it is the story I've written the most about in my career and it is always a blast to talk with those guys. Well done, Marty.
Awesome story about the Hebron Green Giants. I am very familiar with the Judson name although in my case it would be the 2nd generation, their sons. Thank you and I look forward to many more stories from you.