Roseary’s First Basketball Team: Coach Bob Clifford, Martin Shangreaux, Louis Wright, Henry Jumping Eagle, Benny Clifford and Noah Kills Enemy. Photo courtesy Red Cloud Indian School.
On July 15, 1971, a car crash took from the world a person who would leave a lasting impression not only on the basketball court, but among those who also knew him as a teacher and helper around the school. Bob Clifford’s first foray into sports would find him assembling a small team of basketball players, back in 1925. This first squad, made up of Martin Shangreaux, Louis Wright, Henry Jumping Eagle, Ben Clifford and Noah Kills Enemy, would not take long to both learn, but also develop a handle for this game. Soon, the team would win their first trophy, the Duhamel Class B tournament trophy, in Rapid City against Pine Ridge in 1929. As his players developed and tweaked the game, learning to move the ball faster, stealing passes and bringing about a new style of play, Clifford in 1937 would make a short move to St. Francis. Even with the change of location, his lessons continued to work, as a new tournament, the State Catholic League Tournament, was born. Clifford, coaching the Warriors would travel to Salem, and upend Sioux Falls Cathedral for the first title. A second win, the following year would see Clifford return to Holy Rosary Mission, and more basketball lore to be made. The first squad out of Holy Rosary to win it all in 1941 was led by Orville Cuny and Clement Crazy Thunder getting past Sioux Falls Cathedral, 43-15 in a semifinal match, they met Clifford’s old squad, the St Francis team, in a 25-24 win for the Crusaders, followed by a 27-26 win the following year over St Francis, in 1942. By 1947 another team of talent had arrived at Holy Rosary, this time with Tim Red Wolf and Willard Cuny with a win over Mitchell, Notre Dame, 44-42 to take the title, following it with a win in 1948, in Sioux Falls at the Coliseum. To win, however this team would need to get past Notre Dame, Marty Mission and the Cathedral Irish of Rapid City. By 1950, Clifford would find himself coaching more than just Boys Basketball. A Boys football team would be formed, with Leo Her Many Horses, Mark Clifford, Joe Pourier and Richard “Red” Tapio. Several of these players would also make up Clifford’s basketball club, as the school would simply trade the pigskin for a basketball as one season would end, another would begin. As the Boys continued to produce winning seasons, the girls were able to form a team as well, with results that bordered on shocking. For 15 seasons, Clifford was able to produce perfect seasons. Handling three different teams, two different sports and multiple tournaments, Clifford also had time on the side for the teaching aspects, helping set examples the best way he could, on a one-to-one basis. Tim Giago, who was a freshman at the time met “the Coach” when he was assigned to an afternoon job. “I reported to a room across from the shower room located near the end of the long tunnel, which connected the Little Boy’s Gym' and the regular gym and went to work training as the school barber,” Giago would relate. “With infinite patience, my teacher, Coach Bob Clifford taught me how to cut hair. I remember that my first customer, the one I got to trim all by myself, was Pat Garnette. Of course, back in those days, there wasn’t anything fancy about our 'Mission haircuts.' You simply took the clippers and went around the customers head, usually leaving a nice set of 'white sidewalls' in the process.” “The Coach stayed with me for several days until he felt that I could do the job on my own, and then he only helped out on exceptionally busy days. It was during this time, as I learned the barber’s trade that I got to really know – and respect – Coach Bob Clifford," Giago recalled. "He was kind enough to let me learn how to cut hair very well before turning me loose on the seniors. The big guys were much fussier about their hairdos than the little guys.” Probably his strongest feature was what he felt, away from the court. Chuck Cuny, who knew him well and later became principal of the school now named Red Cloud High School mentioned: “He urged all his students to use their God-given ability as best they could. To work hard with what they had. To win or to lose was secondary to taking your talent as far as you can. I never heard a negative comment about him.” Giago, also had this to mention about Clifford: “It’s too bad that many of the younger students at Red Cloud never got to know Coach Clifford. He was truly a unique Lakota man. The children of today would have respected him as much as most of us oldtimers did. I hope that his name, and the good things he stood for are never forgotten.” Thanks to Tim Giago and Ron Hoffman for contributions to this article. (Contact Joseph Budd at joseph@rapidnet.com)
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