PUXICO INDIANS CHANGED THE WAY BASKETBALL WAS PLAYED; COACH ARNOLD RYAN WAS ONE OF FIRST AT ANY LEVEL TO INSTITUTE A FULLCOURT PRESS

For a short time, Puxico was big time.

Bigger than Scott County Central or Charleston ever was.

For the Puxico Indians weren't just great at basketball. They changed basketball.

When it comes to one school or one team having an impact on a particular sport, coach Arnold Ryan's Puxico teams of the late 1940s and early 1950s have made a bigger mark than any high school team in Southeast Missouri and perhaps the state. The Indians actually drew national attention for their dominance in 1951.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch once devoted two full picture pages in its weekend magazine to the blooming team from Puxico.

"They were known all over the country," said Bob Gray, who worked for the Daily American Republic, in Poplar Bluff at the time of Puxico's dominance. "It was unvelievable. No one ever saw anybody play like that. Run-shoot-run is what they called it then and that's what they did.

"I used to correspond for the Post-Dispatch and the Globe Democrat. I would just write a roundup and call it in. They couldn't believe the scores they were running up."

According to author Matt Chaney who literally wrote the non-fiction book on Puxico ("My Name is Mr. Ryan", which has sold 3,300 copies in at least 30 states), Ryan's breakthrough was basically the basketball equivalent to man discovering that the earth was round.

Puxico, which played in a tiny log cabin gymnasium, was one of the first teams on any level to use a fullcourt press.

Other teams had the fast break, Chaney said. And other teams had developed the first outside shooters.

But Puxico had something completely revolutionary.

"(College coaching legend) John Wooden later made headlines with the fullcourt press in the late 50s," Chaney said. "Puxico was doing it well before that."

"They were one of the first teams to put the three elements (shooting, fast break and fullcourt press) together," Chaney said. "But the key was the fullcourt pressure. That's what just demolished people. And they would just demolish people today. You could put them against Kansas City Pembroke Hill and they would win."

Puxico first used the "rush defense" -- as it was called then -- to get back into games when it was behind, but soon the team used it from the opening tip.

Puxico went 40-0 in the 1950-51 season and averaged 89 points per game. It won state titles in 1950 and 1951. Those Puxico teams spawned many NCAA Division I players and even an NBA player, Win Wilfong, who played for the St. Louis Hawks.

Forest Arnold, another Puxico player, was selected in the first round of the NBA draft, but turned down the offer to go into the ministry.

Ryan was clearly responsible for creating interest in basketball in the rural town and getting the most out of what Puxico had to offer.

But what's fascinating about Ryan was that he was not really a basketball man.

He was a grade school teacher who enjoyed sports, particularly football and baseball and was a basketball referee. But he'd never coached basketball.

But more important than Ryan's knowledge (or lack thereof) of basketball was his logic for basketball.

"There used to be a gentlemen's agreement not to try to steal the ball on an inbound play," Chaney said. "It was just a silly protocol which was thrown out after the war. (Fullcourt pressure) was going on in pockets spurred by sheer logic."

Ryan wasn't just logical. He was demanding.

"It was his way or the highway," Chaney said. "This was a team that had never even won the Stoddard County Conference. He goes in the first day and says `I want to win a state championship and anyone who isn't into that can get out.' "

As intense, demanding and disciplined as Ryan was, Chaney said no one ever heard him use foul language.

"The game was a tool for him," Chaney said. "He was a moralist who really believed in traditional thinking. That's what he was after. He was really just trying to influence young people."

Ryan ended up influencing more than just young people.

Puxico drew national attention and Puxico's players were as recognizable in this area as any college athletes.

To prove the team's fame, Gray told a story of his son's chance meeting with Dean Smith, one of the best coaches ever at the college level:

"My son was at an airport one day," Gray said. "And Dean Smith was there. (Smith) asked my son where he was from and he said `I'm from the midwest, a town you've probably never heard of.'"

Gray's son told him he was from Poplar Bluff and Smith told him, "Oh, yeah I know where Poplar Bluff's at. I went there one time to watch Win Wilfong play basketball when he played for Puxico."

The Puxico dynasty ended when other teams figured out how to break the press. Opponents started using three-guard lineups and instituted fullcourt presses of their own.

Ryan died in 19XX after a bizarre accident where he was hit in the head with a thrown baseball.

But Ryan's legacy will live in Southeast Missouri as long as there are people to pass on the story.

"This is truly a genuine sports legend," Chaney said.