1. 1980-81 Central Sabers boys basketball team
Central Dewitt Hall of Fame
Induction Class 2005

2. Inducted for Outstanding Contributions as a team/ group of Central High School

3. Biography
The Boys Basketball team was the first Central squad to reach Des Moines and the IHSAA State Tournament.  Sophomore Coach Joe Utter remembered Head Coach Neil Padgett’s thoughts before the campaign as “having the potential for a special year”.  The Boys BKB team finished in regular season, Big Bend Conference play.  The team’s losses were to Northeast and Maquoketa.  During their state championship run, the Sabers defeated Wilton, Tipton, and Northeast to win the District Championship.  A sub-state win over Mt. Pleasant sent the Sabers to “the barn” in Des Moines. The Sabers dominated their opponents in the first two games, building double-digit leads in both games and eventually winning over Carlisle and over Fort Dodge-St. Edmonds.  The Sabers matched up against Maple Valley of Mapleton and highly regarded Todd Berkenpas in the title game.  Unlike the other games, the Sabers lead early on, but trailed in this game during the second half.  It wasn’t until 1:50 left in regulation time, the Sabers tied the score; a few moments later, the score was and headed for overtime.  Eventually the Sabers prevailed in overtime, 61-57, and earned the 1981 Class 2A State Championship.

4. Article from the Observer
Before the season started, Central’s Hall of Fame boys basketball coach Neil Padgett, who passed away in 2002, had a special feeling about the upcoming season. “Neil felt early on something good was going to happen,” said his long-time assistant Joe Utter. “He felt like we were destined to go to the state tournament.” Coming into the season it is easy seeing why Padgett was so optimistic. Six letter winners, including three starters, were back from a 15-7 team. With four other seniors on the roster, the Sabers opened the season ranked 8th in 2A. The team lived up to its pre-season billing, winning its first seven games. The Sabers proved early on they could win the close games. A three- point play by Mark Kurtz with eight seconds to play gave the Sabers a at Morrison in their season opener. In their next game, Matt Connell scored 24 points as the Sabers escaped Bellevue with a win. It was a while before the Sabers found themselves in another tight contest. They won their next four games by an average of almost 16 points. They downed Camanche 57-46, with Brad Bowman scoring 13 points; Western Dubuque 70-53; Cascade 65-49; and Northeast The double-digit margins ended, but not the wins as the Sabers traveled to Washington for a victory to move to 7-0.

5. The Observer (cont.)
Their win streak came to an end in their next game, losing to Maquoketa. They rebounded with a six-game winning streak starting with a defeat of Pleasant Valley. Next up was a win over Clinton Mater Dei, the state’s topranked 1A team. Connell scored 19 points in the win with Steve Muller adding 18. Jerry Dierickx scored 10 points in a win over Cascade. In that game Padgett proclaimed Brent Petersen “played his finest game ever,” with 17 points and seven rebounds. With Muller sinking two free throws with four seconds to play, a win over Bellevue was next. The Sabers pounded Western Dubuque with Kurtz, Mark Selby, Mike Smith and Joel Wagener doing most of the fourth-quarter scoring. On Parents’ Night the Sabers downed Camanche Hopes of an unbeaten Big Bend season ended with a loss at the hands of Northeast. It would be the Sabers’ final loss of the season. With Dave Delaney and Mark Glesener playing well, the Sabers began a new win streak with a win over Pleasant Valley. A win over Mater Dei gave the Sabers their second Big Bend championship in three years. They ended regular-season play avenging their earlier loss to Maquoketa with a triumph.

6. The Observer (cont.)
The win over the Cardinals gave the Sabers a program-best 16-2 regular-season record. Tournament play opened with a win at Wilton. Up next was Tipton, which fell to the Sabers. A pair of program records were set in the game with Muller totaling 41 points on 16 field goals and a 9- 9 effort from the free-throw line. Muller’s scoring total eclipsed the old record of 37 set by Kevin Ellis, a member of the Central 2004 Hall of Fame class. The 18th win was also a program record. For the second time the Sabers avenged an earlier loss when they downed Northeast, 65-41, winning a district championship in the process. Petersen recorded a double-double in the game with 15 points and 12 rebounds. That sent the Sabers into the sub-state final against Mount Pleasant. A win meant the Sabers were headed to the program’s first-ever state tournament. With Muller and Petersen each scoring 13 points and Tom Driscoll adding 10 the Sabers qualified for the 2A state tournament with a win over the Panthers. “That was the loudest gym I was ever in,” Utter recalled. “It was absolute bedlam. It was after that game that we started using signs to communicate offenses and defenses because it was so loud.” If the Sabers

7. The Observer (cont.)
were nervous in their first state tournament they didn’t show it. In their first-round game they rolled to a 20-point lead before settling for a win over Carlisle. Muller, Petersen and Connell scored 18, 17 and 16 points respectively, with Petersen grabbing 12 boards and Muller nine. The win guaranteed the Sabers a fourthplace finish, but they didn’t come all the way to Des Moines to place fourth. Awaiting the Sabers in a semi-final matchup was Fort Dodge St. Edmonds. Leading the way for the Gaels was future Iowa State player Tom Petersen, who led the 2A state tournament field the previous year in scoring. On the strength of a strong third quarter, the Sabers built a 16- point lead, 46-30, heading into the final period. A stretch where the Sabers missed five consecutive free throws, including the front end of four one-andones, helped St. Eds pulled within with 40 seconds to play. A pair of Driscoll free throws gave the Sabers a four- point lead, before Tom Petersen pulled his team within two scoring on an offensive rebound. After a time-out with 10 seconds left on the clock, the Sabers had the ball under their basket. On the inbounds play Brent Petersen rifled a pass to Connell on the opposite end of the floor. Connell caught the pass, made a

8. The Observer (cont.)
lay-up and was fouled. His free throw gave the Sabers a lead. During a time-out after the play, Padgett sent his players to a corner on the court and told them, “If any of you move out of that corner, I’m going to deal with you in an unpleasant way after the game.” That didn’t stop Brad Bowman from intercepting the St. Ed inbound pass, sealing the win for the Sabers. All that stood between the team and its first-ever state championship was No. 1 ranked Maple Valley of Mapleton led by the state’s all-time scoring leader and University of Iowa recruit Todd Berkanpas. The Sabers got off to a quick start, building a seven-point first- quarter lead. Getting outscored in the second quarter the Sabers trailed at half-time They continued to trail for most of the second half. It wasn’t until Connell drained a jumper with 1:50 left the Sabers pulled even at By that time Berkanpas was sitting on the bench with five fouls. Another Connell jumper tied the game at which is where the score remained at the end of regulation. Connell continued his hot shooting with another jumper giving his team a lead with 69 seconds on the clock. A Driscoll lay-up increased the margin to four, A Connell free throw and two from Driscoll

9. The Observer (cont.)
accounted for the Sabers’ final points in the historic win. At a pep rally in the Central gym the next day, Padgett read from a poem sent to him from his mother. “Things we dream about will happen only if we work and prepare,” he said, then added, “and believe you me, that’s what these guys have done.” This season marks the 25th anniversary of the program’s first and only state championship. Padgett, the architect of the team, will not be around to share in the hoopla, but the memory of his contributions live on. “Neil out-worked other coaches,” Utter said. “It was 24-7 with him. He structured his practices down to the minute. He would literally spend hours to perfect a drill to get the most out of it. He lived for practices. He would have gone on for hours if they would have let him.” Utter has a hard time believing it’s been 25 years since the state championship. “It really doesn’t,” he said when asked if it feels like 25 years have passed. “If you sit around and think about it, you can almost recapture the feelings of those times.” This week when the members of that remarkable Saber hoops team – Connell, Driscoll, Kurtz, Muller, Petersen, Bowman, Doug Bowman, Dan Burke, Tom Christoffersen, Delaney, Dierickx, Curt Flathers, Glesener, Greg Henningsen, Neil Paarmann, Selby, Smith and Wagener – get together, there will be plenty of talk of all the special times they had during the championship season.