By Jim Moyes
LocalSportsJournal.com

It has often been said that you save the best for last.

 
That surely is applicable to Walter D. Hansen, one of the last and one of the best, an outstanding athlete and one of the few remaining veterans of World War II that are still with us. However, maybe only his mother called him Walter as the man everyone calls “Stretch” celebrated his 100th birthday on Wednesday. 
 
And what a journey for this great man!

I first met Walter Hansen shortly after I began writing my Moyes’ Memories columns several years back.  After I penned a story depicting the basketball gyms of yesteryear, I got a call from Stretch who wanted to share some of his experiences from his prep days in the early 1940s.  I quickly agreed to meet with this former Hart cager from a long time ago and took a trip to his home in Twin Lake.  It was the beginning of a friendship that now sees this grand ole man reach the coveted century mark.

Stretch was so kind and enthused to show me his amazing scrapbook.  As was the norm during the 1940s, Stretch was not just a one sport athlete, but participated in all four of the major sports of his time and excelled in all.  He wasn’t alone at Hart High.  The entire starting five, on arguably the greatest basketball team in Hart history, were also starters on the Pirates’ football team while Stretch was not only a starter on the baseball team, but was a member of the track team as a high jumper.

I originally thought Stretch played three sports at Hart High, but a proud Stretch was quick to point out: “I also was on the track team and took first place in the high jump in a meet against Muskegon Heights.”

Stretch with Mike Mack.

But, first let’s begin with the Hart basketball team of the 1942-43 season.  Newspaper reports covering this Pirate team always referred to this team as The Skyscrapers, and for good reason.  Walter, who currently still stands at 6-7 was 6-6 in 1943, while his frontcourt mate Stan Kapulak also was 6-6.  The rest of the starting five was comprised of high scoring Joe Mack at 6-2, 6-1 Lyle Burmeister while the lone underclassmen on the starting five, junior Stanley Riley was 5-11.

The Pirates only experienced one bump in the road during the season as they lost but one game while nearly doubling the total score versus their competition, amassing 741 points while limiting their foes to 373.  The one setback suffered by the Pirates took place at Scottville High on the Spartans’ peculiar home court. It was easily the most difficult place to play in both Stretch and your authors time as prep athletes.  

The Scottville’s ceiling was only about 12 feet high, the length of the court was half the size of today’s standard 94-foot court, while one of the backboards was attached to the wall.  To compound the problems, a visiting team faced when entering this chamber of horrors, they had a three-point restraining line that shrunk the postage stamp size court even more.  Hart lost that game by six points. When Scottville returned to play at Hart later in the season, the fired-up Hart cagers thumped Scottville 80-10.

The Pirates were rated as one of the top teams in the state and surely would have been one of the favorites to bring home a state title.  However, that accomplishment never came to pass due to the extreme travel restrictions imposed in war torn 1943. Competition in prep basketball ended following district play. Hart’s final game of the season was their convincing 53-33 victory over Newaygo to win the Class C district championship. It was the only year the MHSAA cancelled postseason competition until the covid year of 2020.

Just a few days prior to Stretch’s big day in reaching the century mark, I had a chance to have a nice conversation with a guy who sounded like one who was in his 60s.  His recollections of the past from more than 80 years past were remarkable.

Stretch was quick to say that a local dentist by the name of Stevens was instrumental in the success of the Pirates.

“There was a small gym floor above his office where he would let us play basketball dating back in the days when we were in Sunday School. Doctor Stevens would personally take us to various towns, and after he retired, he had a barn that he converted the inside into a basketball court that helped us become better players.”

The recent Covid pandemic did impose some tough restrictions, but it paled in comparison to what USA citizens had to endure in 1943.  

Rationing of many items was the order of the day during the midst of the conflict of World War II.  Many goods that we take for granted today in bountiful amounts, including meats, sugar, vegetables, coffee, and tires were rationed. But what affected Americans the most was the rationing of gas. So stringent was the availability of gasoline that households were limited to three gallons a week.  Speed limit on the highways was posted at 35 mph and was strictly enforced.
 
Teams that had away games often used personal autos from parents who saved their gas as team buses were often out of the question. Even spring training for Major League baseball teams was affected as all the teams abandoned their former Spring Training sites in the South to train closer to home. The Tigers perhaps trained the furthest south as they trained in Evansville, Ind., still hundreds of miles from the sunny climate of Florida. The horrific conflict of war was far from settled by 1943 and there was not even a guarantee that the good ole USA would even be on the winning side.  
During a recent conversation with Stretch, I asked how his Pirate teams traveled to away contests with the tough restrictions on gasoline usage. 
 
“We mostly used our parent’s cars to go to the games.”  
When I asked how they got their gas for their travels Stretch said: “We were good friends with the gas station people in Hart,” Walter said with a chuckle.

What Stretch Hansen and the entire starting five of the Pirate Team of 1943 did was typical from those who composed this ‘greatest generation.’ In early July of 1943, just days after receiving their diplomas from Hart High, all boarded a bus to enlist in the Armed Forces of the United States. 

“We wanted to all go in together.  I volunteered with hopes that we could serve in the same unit,” recalled Stretch.  “But that didn’t happen as I never saw my buddies again until I came home (from the war).”

Stretch served in the Pacific Theatre, but it wasn’t all war time duties for Stretch. While stationed in Manila, he played on the 4025 Signal Corp basketball team that advanced to the service championship where Hansen had a game-high 23 points, a two-point loss to a team that was led by Bob Davies, an All-American at Seton Hall who would go on to have a Hall of Fame career in the NBA.

Hansen was active into his 80s. He passed along his basketball knowledge to our area youths as he was still serving as an unpaid assistant at Holton High.

Stretch also was proud of the accomplishments of his two children, daughter, Barb, and son, Pete. His daughter Barb was a two-sport standout at Grand Valley, where she led them to four straight GLIAC titles and was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2014. She later played professionally in the Women’s Basketball League for the San Francisco Pioneers.

Pete Hansen, after a great career at Grand Haven, played for Western Michigan University where his career with the Broncos was highlighted by hitting two foul shots with 16 seconds left to lead WMU to an 65-64 victory over DePaul, a team that was rated No. 5 in the country in 1984.

“I remember that game very well.  I still have the newspaper with the story from that game,“ said a proud father.

Barb and Pete, and several other of his friends, were at the bash to celebrate Stretch’s big 100.  Among those in attendance was Richard Mullally. Thanks to Mullally’s exhausting research over the years, Richard has been able to keep the legacy of World War II vets like Hansen preserved so we all can better appreciate those who served and sacrificed to preserve the great life we currently experience in the greatest nation in the world.

Stretch isn’t the only one of his Hart teammates about to reach the century mark. Harold Tate, who scored two points in the Pirates’ district win over Scottville, will soon also reach the coveted century mark.  
“Harold’s just a kid as he’s younger than me” joshed Stretch.

Moyes’ Memories has certainly had its share of great memories, but those pale in comparison to my good friend Stretch. 

Happy birthday good friend!