The Chadron State College1966-67 men's basketball team was inducted into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame on Friday during its reunion at the college.
 
The Eagles had a 22-6 record and won both the Nebraska College Conference and NAIA District 11 championships that season. They also won their opening-round game at the NAIA Tournament in Kansas City.
 
Eight team members attended the reunion. They are Jerry Bartak of Newhall, Calif., Larry Baumann of North Platte, Rex Brown of Newcastle, Wyo., Lee Dick and Rod Ehler, both of Scottsbluff, Marlin Green of Shenandoah, Iowa, Don Reel of Hawthorne, Calif., and Jim Rhodes of Indianapolis.
 
Just three Chadron State teams—the football teams of 1948, 1958 and 1978—were previously inducted into the Hall of Fame.
 
Reel, who was one of the primary organizers of the reunion, said it was "beyond belief."
 
"Several of us had not seen one another for more than 40 years," Reel said. "Getting that many guys together after so many years is pretty unique. The reunion exceeded my expectations. We had a great time."
 
Ehler, another of the instigators of the reunion, said the players quickly revived their friendships and had lots of memories to share.
 
"After this weekend, I felt the old statement that college friends make life-long connections is true even if they haven't seen one another for a while," Ehler said.
 
Also in attendance were Don Bartholomew of Broken Bow, the team's student manager and also a CSC baseball player; John Smith of Crawford, who joined the Eagles the following year (1967-68) when they went 18-5; and Cheryl Greenwald Grandstaff of LaGrange, Wyo., a cheerleader during the CSC basketball program's glory years.
 
Several spouses also attended.
 
Besides getting reacquainted, those in attendance toured the Chicoine Events Center, the college's new basketball facility that is under construction and is expected to be ready when the 2014-15 CSC teams open the season in November.
 
The championship team was coached by Mack Peyton, who was the CSC basketball mentor from 1960 through 1974 and the college's athletic director from 1970 until his death at age 57 in 1980.
 
The players said Peyton was extremely helpful in making it possible for them to attend college and had a knack for integrating their talents into a winning team. They added that even though he was in his 40s when he coached them, he could often beat them in one-on-one matchups.
 
Peyton had been both a basketball and a baseball standout at the University of Wyoming in the late 1940s after serving 46 months in the Army during World War II.