1943 National Champions hit the big screen.
Most people may not know that the University of Wyoming was the first basketball team to win the NCAA Basketball Championship. The 1942-43 Wyoming Cowboy basketball team posted a record of 31-2 despite playing just nine home games during the year.
A new movie about the Cowboys epic year and their victory over St. Johns University in the revered Madison Square Garden premiered last week at the Wyo Theatre.
The Cowboys not only won most of their games that year but they outscored their opponents by an average of 20 points per game and they became the first Wyoming team to score over a hundred points in a game. Immediately after their triumph almost the entire Cowboys team started training for an even bigger fight: WWII.
The 61-minute documentary includes interviews with Kenny Sailors, the last surviving Cowboys player in the game; Sailors is also considered the inventor of the modern day jump shot and was National player of the year in 1943. There are also several interviews from players Jimmie Reese and Tony Katana and the children of Cowboys players Milo Komenich, Floyd Volker and Lew Roney.
Former U.S. Senator Alan K. Simpson is interviewed; he drove for miles with his parents to listen to this historic game on the radio, and then later played for the Cowboys a decade later. Daughter of a former Wyoming governor Jim Brandenbury, Marialyce Barrett Tobin attended the game and is also featured in the film along with Tracy Ringolsby, Hall of Fame sportswriter, and Ken Cook, former Wyoming football player.
The film is narrated by Dave Walsh, in his 30th season as the voice of the Cowboys basketball and football, and directed by Kim Komenich, son of star Cowboys center Milo Komenich.
Alan Johnson recalls the historic event in an interview with Wyoming Public Radio.
“It was truly the first unified national basketball game,” he said. “Before 1938 there were no champions they were just awarded by the Associated Press through a media vote. Kind of the way football was before the BCS and the NIT started in 1938…and then the NCAA in 1939”
He continued saying, “the team was unique—almost the entire team was Wyoming born and breed. No one thought they stood a chance, nobody had even heard of Wyoming. The Cowboys were a team from the west and at the time all the media was in the East. However, Wyoming quickly became a fan favorite. Not only because they were winners but also because they were very entertaining to watch. Coach Everitt Shelton was also a key component to their success. Ironically many New Yorkers started rooting for the Cowboys.”
The American Red Cross raised $28,000 as proceeds from the game that year.
“This Cowboys movie was obviously a labor of love for me because that team was very important to my dad,” Director Kim Komenich said. “But everyone we talked with is really happy this story is now a documentary film! There is Cowboys’ Pride everywhere in Wyoming.”
