With 15 seconds remaining in the basketball game, Richland Bomber reserve forward John Cowan softly floated in a 5-foot jumper to cap off and more than secure the Bombers’ 36-point victory.

The hit by the 6-foot, 3-inch senior 70 years ago on Dec. 29, 1955, also secured a place for the Richland Bombers in the historic annals of Washington state high school basketball.

The 101-65 victory for the Bombers on their home court over the Hermiston Bulldogs in a non-conference affair was the first time ever that a Washington state high school basketball team had broken the century mark by scoring 100 or more points in a game, according to accounts at the time.

When I was a sixth-grader in Kennewick, I got up to read the story the morning after this achievement in the Dec. 30, 1955, edition of the old Columbia Basin News, a morning daily newspaper published in Pasco from 1950-63, and I just marveled at it. 

I had always hoped to do a story on it from a historical standpoint, and have this opportunity to share it today – for the game’s 70th year anniversary. It’s something that fascinated a little boy and stayed with me.

The Bombers in the game were led by two brothers who combined for 50 of the team’s 101 points. Norris Brown, a junior forward, led all scorers with 31 points. His brother, C.W. Brown, a sophomore, scored 19 points. Most of the 31 points scored by Norris were on his patented left-handed layup observers at the time called “The Touch” for its graceful look. 

C.W. tallied most of his points off jump shots. Hermiston’s Don Carpenter led the Bulldogs with 13 points.

In the blowout of Hermiston on that Thursday night early in the 1955-56 season, all five Bomber starters scored in double figures. They included 12 by Darald Mitchell, 11 by John Meyers, and 10 by Tilbert Neal, the Bombers’ only other senior.

Hermiston led briefly early in the first quarter, but when Norris made a layup to give the Bombers a 12-10 lead, it was all Bombers for the remainder. They scored 20 or more points in all four quarters, starting out by taking a 22-15 first quarter lead.

By halftime they extended the lead to 46-36 before scoring an eye-popping 35 points in the third quarter to take an 81-51 advantage into the final stanza.

On the edge of making history in the final minutes of the game, the Bombers seemed content to miss what would become their place in history. Legendary Bomber coach Art Dawald appeared more intent on mercy than on achieving an historical first.

With five minutes remaining and Richland leading 91-55, he pulled the last starter from the game, joining four fellow starters who were already benched.

The all-reserve Bomber cast slowly edged closer to the century mark, but doing so in a fashion agonizing to hysterical Bomber fans shrieking and screaming their voices hoarse over the delirious prospect of their team scoring 100 points, according to accounts. 

The reserve quintet got offensive rebound after offensive rebound and sometimes put up five, six and seven shots in a row, only to miss each one as time dwindled down. 

With 21 seconds remaining, the Bombers were tantalizingly close with 98 points and reserve guard Russel Burks, the smallest Bomber on the team, stood at the free-throw line. His first shot hit all net and 99 went up on the scoreboard as the frenzy accentuated in the stands. In a breath-catching moment, his second shot bounced off the rim. 

History was left to Cowan just a few seconds later. Reserves coming off the bench accounted for 18 points in the Bombers’ historic achievement. 
 The 31 points by Norris in the game were just two shy of the 33 he scored a week earlier in a 72-56 win over Walla Walla. The 33 at the time tied the Yakima Valley record for most points ever by a high school player in a game, a record first set by an earlier Bomber, Dave Brusie, in 1951.

The Bombers hit 45.8% of their field goals, by making 44 two-pointers of the 96 they shot. The 3-point shot did not then exist. Hermiston hit 19 of 54 for 35.2%.

Art Dawald’s team in that season seven decades ago was one of his best in 22 seasons coaching Bomber basketball from 1948-70 after leaving Colfax where he won back-to-back state championships in 1946 and 1947. He missed coaching the 1958-59 season recovering from a heart attack, and the helm was taken over by Ray Juricich, another longtime Richland educator and Bomber coach. 

The Bombers finished the 1955-56 season with a 24-5 record after placing third in the state 70 years ago this month by beating Puyallup 55-53, Aberdeen 63-53, and Highland of the Yakima Valley town of Cowiche 70-61. They lost only to the Lincoln Lynx of Seattle 73-69 in the semi-finals, the eventual state champion. Games were played in the Hec Edmundson Pavilion in Seattle.

The Bombers’ illustrious roster included the Brown brothers who had distinguished high school basketball careers in an era when only sophomores through seniors played high school ball. The Browns helped the Bombers earn state-placing trophies all three years they played, two coming on teams in which they were teammates, including a 1956-57 season in which the Bombers went 20-0 for a perfect regular season.

Both also received first team all-state honors, and C.W. was on the Bombers’ state championship team in 1958 a year after his brother graduated, just the second by a Tri-City high school basketball team. 

The Pasco Bulldogs won the state championship in 1947.

John Meyers, a teammate of C.W.’s on the ’58 state championship team, went to the University of Washington on a basketball scholarship, but was also recruited to play on the Husky football team where he was on two Rose Bowl championship teams. As a defensive tackle, he played for the Los Angeles Rams, the Dallas Cowboys, and the Philadelphia Eagles in the National Football League. He had been All-State in football and All-State and an All-American in high school basketball at Richland.

Gale Metcalf of Kennewick is a lifelong Tri-Citian, retired Tri-City Herald employee and volunteer for the East Benton County Historical Museum. He writes the monthly history column.