By: Donovan W. Mann – [email protected]
Humboldt, IA – Though they never made it to the state tournament the 2006-07 Humboldt High School boys’ basketball team is still coined as the Dream Team by the fans.
As a team built on a large number of “pure athletes” they would come close to making it to the State Tournament in both 2006 and 2007 but lost both Substate Finals in a heart breaking manner. A player for those teams Tyler Nielsen says that both years they lost in overtime on “essentially last second shots.”
The 2006-07 season was a special one for Humboldt and their dream team. Their Head Coach was Craig Orness who navigated his teams to a 23-1 overall record and District Title. They won the North Central Conference Championship by going undefeated in their conference play at 18-0.
However, what could have been a story book season closed in a heart breaker during the Substate Finals. The Wildcats played Carroll in Fort Dodge for the chance to go the State Tournament. In overtime Humboldt would fall and their season came to a close.
The 2006-07 Wildcats basketball team was led by First Team All-State Selection Alex Tatman and Second Team All-State Tyler Nielsen. Tatman went on to play college basketball at Coe College and Nielsen went on to play football for the University of Iowa.
Other athletes from this Dream Team who continued athletics in college include Mike Vought also went on to play college basketball at Coe College. Nick Nielsen joined Tyler as a Hawkeye for football. Jarrod Beebe and Sam Eischen both went on to play football at the University of Northern Iowa.
Tatman is the last Wildcat boys basketball player to be named First Team All-State. The team put up 100 points in a victory over Manson NW Webster and is the last Humboldt team to have broken the century mark in a game. Their 23-1 record ties the one from the Coach John Westphal led 1995 team that placed third in the state tournament.
While Tyler Nielsen admits that his memory from high school basketball has “suffered” over the years he does have some good memories. One he remembers from the Dream Team season was when the team was facing Clarion-Golfield on the road.
He says that during one play he got a steal and on the fast break got a dunk. The hometown crowd got hostile because he hung on the rim and could have received a technical foul. The very next play Nielsen’s brother got a steal and fast break dunk as well which really got the hostile crowd fired up.
While the 2006-07 Dream Team might not have made it into the state tournament they were still a fun group of athletes that provided the community with plenty of memories.