FHS 1950-51 Class B State Championship Basketball Team Inducted Into Hall of Fame
Coach Mel Entin’s 1950-51 team has been overshadowed through the years by his 1949-50 team that ended up undefeated with a record of 25-0 including the Massachusetts Class B Championship as well as the New England Class B Championship.
The 1950-51 edition still had Bart Leach, playing his final season, and Norris Drew, but Coach Entin had to replace starters Lou Shurtleff, John Hennessy, Dick Norman and George Graves. No easy task. But the younger players stepped up; freshman Biff MacLean, and juniors Vern Gomes, Bob Honahan, John Pina and Walter Silveira, Jr. were equal to the task.
The team started out fast winning their first 13 games, including big wins against New Bedford (50-42), N.B. Vocational (67-55), and a powerful Taunton team (57-42). Their first, and what turned out to be their only loss of the season, was to a powerful Coyle team (47-40). It turned out that Bart Leach had been sick all week, and just wasn’t his usual self for that game.
Finishing the season with a record of 16-1, the Blue were invited to play in the Eastern Massachusetts Tournament in the old Boston Garden. (Note: in those days, teams were invited and all games were played in Boston Garden.) Fairhaven won their first two games, and once again earned the right to play for the state championship, but this time they were the underdog. Their opponent was a heavily favored squad from Matignon High School of Cambridge which was undefeated with a record of 25-0.
Led by Bart Leach’s 37 points (the highest point total of his high school career), the rebounding of Honahan, and the playmaking of their lightening quick point guard Vern Gomes, the Blue pulled off the upset of the tournament with a 64-48 whipping of Matignon. Leach, Honahan and Gomes were each named to the All-Tournament Team.
Coach Entin’s state champions went on to play the New Hampshire State Champion Lancaster High School by a lopsided score of 77-40. Bart Leach ended his illustrious career by scoring 528 points in his senior season giving him a career total of 1,219 points in an era before the three-point shot.