How do you improve on a story about a bunch of country kids – representing a town of 1,000 residents and two high schools and led by a 23-year-old coach – who managed to go undefeated en route to a state basketball championship in an era when only one class existed?

The answer is simple. Fifty years later invite that team back to the state tournament venue, which is exactly what the Minnesota State High School League did last March when it honored the 1960 Edgerton High basketball team at courtside during the final night of the 2010 tournament played in the Target Center.

Even better, the MSHSL also invited the Austin High team that Edgerton defeated 72-61 in the championship game, a mid-court reunion that through the warm embraces, firm handshakes and brilliant smiles reflected a profound spirit of sportsmanship, too often absent from today’s cloudy athletic landscape.

“It sort of reminded me of my daughter’s wedding,” MSHSL associate director and reunion coordinator Kevin Merkle said. “Once it got started, it took on a life of its own . . . it got bigger and bigger as it went along. To be honest, it wasn’t my decision at first to include Austin. If you’d have asked me, I’d have said ‘why don’t we just do this for Edgerton?’

“But as the planning progressed, the better it was, and in the end Austin’s presence really helped make [the ceremony] work. There was so much camaraderie between those teams . . . they were rivals back then, but there they were in the middle of the court, hugging each other. That was cool.”

Sixteen months earlier, the majority of the Edgerton players and several school officials had gathered in the tiny southwestern Minnesota town to celebrate the publishing of “Edgerton: A Basketball Legend,” the book chronicling the celebrated season, as well as the town’s unique basketball history. They signed books for hours in tiny Brovold Gymnasium, the program’s home court until 1976, and at halftime the special guests were introduced and received a standing ovation at halftime of a girls’ game between intra-town rivals Edgerton Public and Southwest Christian.

The homecoming, however, was just the “tip-off” for the 1960 Flying Dutchmen’s 50th anniversary season which culminated in the Target Center, a few miles from Williams Arena where they claimed their state championship before a record crowd of 19,018. They were accorded a press conference, just as if they had won the tournament that day, and the 1960 championship run was deemed prestigious enough for Governor Tim Pawlenty issued a proclamation officially declaring March 27, 2010 as “Edgerton Day” throughout Minnesota.

Attending the team’s Edgerton celebration were the five starters, Dean Verdoes, Dean Veenhof, LeRoy Graphenteen, Darrell Kreun, Bob Wiarda, along with reserves Daryl Stevens, Larry Schoolmeester, Bob Dykstra, Tom Warren, and team manager Doug Vander Beek. They also returned to the marquee reunion in Minneapolis, along with former coach Rich Olson,  reserves Jim Roos and Norm Muilenburg, Bill Fure, the Edgerton superintendent who hired Olson.

The only absences were Darwin Fey, now an Arizona resident, and John Rath, the 1960 Flying Dutchmen assistant who passed away several years ago.

Nine members of the 1960 contingent have remained Minnesotans – reserve Larry Schoolmeester the lone player still live in Edgerton – while Muilenburg flew in from Portland, Oregon; Roos from St. Louis and Veenhof, along with his wife, Judy, making the long drive from up-state New York. The Veenhofs logged nearly 7,000 miles to attend both reunions, but the former All-State center and championship team’s leading scorer considered every mile and hour on the road to be worth the price, particularly for the second trip back to Minnesota.

“It was a wonderful reunion, not only because I had the chance to spend time with some friends and teammates I haven’t seen in many years,” Veenhof said, “but our three daughters, their mates, and my brother and sister were able to share a special occasion with us.

 “As for [MSHSL director] Dave Stead and his staff, they are a class act, and their efforts – along with Dean Verdoes’ assistance – made it a fantastic occasion.”

Verdoes, a long-time Minnesota coach and athletic administrator who has remained active as a MSHSL volunteer, relished the opportunity to spend time with his teammates, his coach Richie Olson, and former EHS superintendent Bill Fure, as well as having the opportunity to reminisce with many fans and former opposing players who have remained interested in the Edgerton story.

And Verdoes waxed delight with high school league officials’ decision to include Austin in the weekend festivities, and equally pleased that Austin embraced the opportunity to share the evening with Edgerton during the Saturday night ceremony witnessed by nearly 8,000 fans.

  “I know that all of us enjoyed interacting with them during the halftime of the [Class 4-A] championship game,” Verdoes said. “It definitely made the night that much more special. It also was very nice to have a couple players from Richfield in attendance. Our overtime game against them in the semifinals was certainly the toughest game for us that season.”

Verdoes was referring to Bill Davis and Bob Sadek, members of a the 1960 Richfield team that was the consensus favorite until being upset by Edgerton 63-60 in an overtime semifinal game that remains one of the tournament record’s classic contests. Davis and Sadek weren’t introduced, but they spent time visiting with the Flying Dutchmen and Packers during the weekend and were close to the floor during the ceremony.

Merkle said it would have been nice to invite Richfield, too, but he reveals that initially he was a little nervous about Austin’s response to the MSHSL invitation. He wondered whether they’d attract enough Packers to participate, but his concern quickly diminished long – the final Austin commitment list including 13 names.

Clayton Reed, one of Austin’s mainstays, said he thought it was a good idea, but admitted that the idea wasn’t immediately embraced by everyone.

“Certainly, you don’t celebrate losing, but as we talked more about it we agreed that it would be an excellent opportunity,” he said. “Fifty years ago, we were extremely disappointed at losing, but looking back 50 years it was a great way to celebrate having been a part of something special.

“And we were fortunate to have had a special high school run. In 1958 we were state champions, we finished third the next year, and second in 1960. Our football teams also had only one loss in that span.”

One of the first Austin players to commit was Earl “Butch” Butler, a Packers reserve who now is president of Butler Amusements, a large California-based company that specializes in directing and organizing major fairs and concerts.

“It was a great chance to renew our acquaintances with the Edgerton players, who are a great bunch of guys,” Butler said of the Packers’ enthusiastic response, “but getting our guys back together to relive one of the highlights of our life was special in itself . . . there’s only one member of that team who lives in Austin, the rest are all scattered around the state and country.

“We had a gathering that Friday night [in Austin] in which we had a fire truck come and take us down Main Street to George’s Pizza, where we hung out when we were much younger. We had 200 people there, taking pictures, and we had TV cameras, radio and newspaper people there asking us about that year and how important the season was to the team.

“We had a high school chorus who sang our fight song and some of the cheerleaders from back then, were there doing the cheering. It was a great feeling. You looked around and saw that everyone was 16 and 17 again.”

It was Butler who added a little extra to the reunion for both the Packers and Flying Dutchmen. He ordered white cardigan school sweaters, embossed with a big red “A” for the Austin players and designed commemorative basketballs for both teams, a ball with a white section which contained a team picture, the school name and nickname printed in red letters, and a golden 50th  logo with the word “anniversary placed in the logo’s center.

So proud was Butler of the white Austin sweater he had one made for each of his 12 grandchildren and on Fathers Day had them gather around him, donned in the coveted attire, and had a picture taken.

Edgerton players were as proud of the commemorative basketball as was Butler was of the sweaters. In Kreun’s career as a player and a coach, he earned myriad memorabilia, but the former sharpshooting guard and Minnesota Hall of Fame basketball coach has given the ball a special spot in his Big Fork home.

“I have received a lot of plaques and awards,” the retired coach said, “but [the ball] is definitely a special reminder. We’ve got it in the living room, on the mantle of a book shelf. I see it every day and it takes me back 50 years.

“The reunion turned out to be much bigger than I ever imagined. I figured we’d just go down there, be introduced, and that would be it, but it definitely was so much more.”

Merkle said the reunion also provided a history lesson for many in the state, explaining that many youth and even their parents had no idea that until 1970-71 the MSHSL sanctioned only one class for the entire state, which in 1960 had nearly 500 schools. And while Sherburn was a small town that won the final single-class championship, Edgerton was the smallest school ever to triumph in that era and remains the Cinderella poster team.

But the crowd’s reaction in the Target Center let players on both sides know that many still remember or have been told of the amazing Flying Dutchmen and their championship run, and Merkle revealed there was an enthusiastic post-tournament response from fans and players.

He said that even some individuals involved with the reunion planning didn’t fully comprehend the magnitude of the celebration until tournament time began.

“A classic example involves a woman with Target Center events management,” Merkle explained. “She was involved in much of the planning, but I don’t think it was until the tournament that everything made sense to her. At one point she suddenly said, ‘So, you mean to tell me there was only one class back then?’”

After 50 years, the Flying Dutchmen’s legend continues to keep writers digging into the tournament archives. Hopefully, the reunion between Edgerton and Austin will not only keep the legend alive a few years longer, and even better that the courtside reunion between the two former rivals will provide impetus to a re-generated spirit of sportsmanship.

Those wanting an in-depth look at the season and the town, there is always the book, “Edgerton: A Basketball Legend,” published less than two years ago. A limited number of the books, signed by the five starters and most of the reserves, are available. The 277-page easy read has been endorsed by both the Flying Dutchmen players and even a share of their opponents.

“Someone sent the book to me in California and when I started reading I couldn’t put it down,” Butler said. “It took me back, and when I was done I started calling people, looking back at a special season.”

Verdoes believes that the book served as a “catalyst” for the reunion, beginning in December 2008 during the team’s first signing session in Edgerton.

“We had a lot of fun in the Edgerton signing,” he explained. “We had talked about doing something for our 50th Anniversary, but it wasn’t until the signing that the planning began in earnest.”