3 years of Hard Work Rewarded as Orleans Nabs Bay State Tourney
(Standard Times New Bedford, Mass. March 17, 1957. The Standard Times Cape Cod Bureau - Orleans, March 16)
Coach Biggers’ Cardinals Top Westford at Tufts for Season’s 16th Win, 42-36.
Three years of hard work to build a winning basketball squad was climaxed for Orleans High’ School Coach Elmer “Doc” Biggers when his Cardinals quintet walked off the floor of the Tufts College gym with the Class D Bay State Tournament championship. The Orleans win over Westford Academy by a score of 42-36 a week ago marked the end of a season which saw the Cardinals chalk up a record of 16 wins against only four defeats.
In addition to the tourney championship the Orleans team was doubly honored by having its three top scorers named to the All-Star Class D team.
Doug Higgins, sharpshooting left forward, who scored a total of 317 during the season, averaged 16 points per game; Pete Norgeot, lanky center, and Bill Livesey, speedy right guard, were named to the All-Star squad.
These three: made the win over Westford possible by scoring a total of 33 points among them. But, Coach Biggers lauded the entire team for its tourney play.
Team Effort Lauded
“During the entire tourney they put out a great team effort,” Coach Biggers said. “If one player was off form the others took up the slack and as a result we didn’t have to depend on any one player.” The team. that won this year’s Class’ D championship was the result of three years of steady work by Coach Biggers. When he came to Orleans three years ago he had to start pretty much from scratch. In his first year at Orleans his squad won only a single game. In the second year the long hours of drill and the precision training of the Coach began to show as the Cardinals, wound up the season with 10 wins against six losses. This year the team received only four losses out of 20 games, and two of these were to its arch rival, Harwich. In the first game Harwich edged out, a 2-point victory in the last second of the game and later in the second-game, played at Harwich, Orleans came from behind in the final period to win by 7 points. Orleans lost a game early in the season to Barnstable by 5 points and was defeated by Provincetown by only 1 point. On Way to Title
The Cardinals worked their way to the championship in the tourney by defeating Sacred Heart of Weymouth, 54-27; Dighton, 64-55; and Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School; 52-39, before trimming Westford. Next season Coach Biggers will have three of his six letter-men back on the court. He will lose Doug Higgins, Jeff Whitmore, and Jack Young from his starting lineup. But he’ll have back two of his top scorers from this year’s squad, Bill Livesey and Pete Norgeot. Livesey has been a member of the Varsity squad since his Freshmen year. Norgeot will be back for his third year and Clark will be playing for the second year. In addition to these ‘three he will have back for the second year Sophomores Ken Peterson, Doug Lai, John Knowles and Jim Kew. Two Seniors who played this year for the first time, are Richard Neese and Edward Brookshire. Both Higgins and Whitmore are honor students. Jeff already has been accepted at Columbia University according to Coach Biggers and Doug is hoping to enter Bates or Amherst. And what about Doc’s predictions for next year? Like all coaches he’s not ready to go overboard but he’s going to be aiming at a repeat performance for the Class D crown.
“During the entire tourney they put out a great team effort,” Coach Biggers said. “If one player was off form the others took up the slack and as a result we didn’t have to depend on any one player.” The team. that won this year’s Class’ D championship was the result of three years of steady work by Coach Biggers. When he came to Orleans three years ago he had to start pretty much from scratch. In his first year at Orleans his squad won only a single game. In the second year the long hours of drill and the precision training of the Coach began to show as the Cardinals, wound up the season with 10 wins against six losses. This year the team received only four losses out of 20 games, and two of these were to its arch rival, Harwich. In the first game Harwich edged out, a 2-point victory in the last second of the game and later in the second-game, played at Harwich, Orleans came from behind in the final period to win by 7 points. Orleans lost a game early in the season to Barnstable by 5 points and was defeated by Provincetown by only 1 point. On Way to Title
The Cardinals worked their way to the championship in the tourney by defeating Sacred Heart of Weymouth, 54-27; Dighton, 64-55; and Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School; 52-39, before trimming Westford. Next season Coach Biggers will have three of his six letter-men back on the court. He will lose Doug Higgins, Jeff Whitmore, and Jack Young from his starting lineup. But he’ll have back two of his top scorers from this year’s squad, Bill Livesey and Pete Norgeot. Livesey has been a member of the Varsity squad since his Freshmen year. Norgeot will be back for his third year and Clark will be playing for the second year. In addition to these ‘three he will have back for the second year Sophomores Ken Peterson, Doug Lai, John Knowles and Jim Kew. Two Seniors who played this year for the first time, are Richard Neese and Edward Brookshire. Both Higgins and Whitmore are honor students. Jeff already has been accepted at Columbia University according to Coach Biggers and Doug is hoping to enter Bates or Amherst. And what about Doc’s predictions for next year? Like all coaches he’s not ready to go overboard but he’s going to be aiming at a repeat performance for the Class D crown.
Photos provided by Marilyn Koch Francis, Pat Chace Bolduc, and William Livesey.
Bay State Champions
Championship Game
Championship Game
