Later, they moved inside the family's machine shed, where the youngsters would do battle through the 1960s and '70s -- after their chores were finished, of course.

"We used to get together with the Base boys -- Gene, Brian and Dennis -- and play 2-on-2 and 3-on-3, depending on how many could make it," Ralph said.

Their father, Leland Johnson, was a star player for the Ell-Saline Cardinals in the 1940s. His sons showed similar prowess.

The pickup games were tough, but civil, at the Johnson place in northwest Brookville.

"We played all those years and never did have a fight," said Ralph, 50.

Those rich memories rose to the surface when McPherson author Steven Farney gave him a call about a year ago, while he was doing research for his third book on Kansas basketball.

A passionate fan, Farney, 54, played at Wilson High School in the early 1970s and narrowly missed making the Kansas State University freshman and junior varsity teams in successive years.

Book signing this weekend

Ralph Johnson is featured in Farney's latest work, which chronicles Kansas basketball history -- "Club 50," Vol. 1 of "50-point Single-Game Scorers in Kansas Boys Basketball." It was released in August and will be featured at a book signing from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday at Waldenbooks, in Central Mall, Salina.

"Club 50" is also available at Barnes & Noble and Borders book stores, and online at www.steven mfarney.com, retailing for $24.95.

Johnson reached the milestone on Feb. 8, 1977, when he scored 55 points in the Cardinals' 88-77 loss to Bennington.

"I remember the game," he said. "It's been neat to look back. I'm proud of what I did, but I don't go out and beat my chest over it."

Five years in the making, the hard-back book includes profiles, pictures and statistics detailing the high-scoring games and lives of 72 players from 62 Kansas high schools.

There is a list of 565 players from 272 schools who scored 40 or more points in a single game.

Also included is a question-and-answer story on Danny Heater, who set the national high school single-game scoring record on Jan. 26, 1960, scoring 135 points for Burnsville, W.Va.

Farney said he's visited 27 Kansas towns since Aug. 1 promoting his book, including Brookville and Gypsum. He's a third of the way through a schedule of book signings -- many of them sporting events, reunions and alumni banquets -- that will continue until Labor Day.

Farney's book projects combine his love for Kansas history and basketball, and he's been pursuing both since his junior year in high school.

"I was assigned a term paper, and stumbled on a story about Wilson's greatest basketball team, the 1929 Wilson Dragons," Farney said. "I remember thinking what it would have been like to be on the team, or travel with them."

He's been "digging around" for years, looking for stories of teams, towns, players and coaches.

"That's the template I use. I don't go after the obvious," Farney said. "It's a lot of fun to unearth these stories of players or a great team."

His other titles are "It's Time to Play: Jack Gardner, Basketball and Kansas State University" and "Title Towns! Class BB Basketball Champions of Kansas, 1952-1968."

Asked if the projects have been lucrative, Farney said, "You don't set the world on fire," but he has full support from his wife and "biggest fan," Mary Farney. She works as a microbiologist at Hospira, a pharmaceutical manufacturer in McPherson.

The books have required much research, travel and interviewing subjects, he said, some of whom were skeptical of him at first.

Farney is currently working on books that include girls' basketball. He has documented girls' teams that played as early as 1914.

"Club 50" contains many tales of players from north-central Kansas, including:

nNino Samuel, who scored 54 points for Salina Central High School, on Jan. 21, 1972, in a game against Garden City.

nRoxbury's Loren Lundberg eclipsed 50 points twice in the 1962-63 season.

nSmoky Valley Viking Chase Dippel scored 57 points on Dec. 8, 2007, in an 81-72 overtime win over Chaparral.

nDoug Holloway's 56-point performance with Alton on Feb. 9, 1954, was pivotal in a 91-50 victory over rival Portis. He's now a Salina resident.

"It was a great story, also great to verify the story, exactly as Doug remembered," Farney said.

While researching the book, he was helped by two men in Portis, who were compiling local basketball history. They found the game score book in a basement in Portis and a Salina Journal story.

nGilford Fritz's 50 points for the Gypsum Pirates was part of a 123-14 pounding of the Roxbury Lions on Feb. 1, 1949.

"It was pretty fantastic that as a team we scored 123 points. It was a memorable night," said Fritz, 78, of Salina.

"I hadn't thought about it for a good number of years, until Mr. Farney called me more than a year ago and said he was going to do a book on it and wanted all my stuff from school days," Fritz said. "I dug it out."

He said Farney produced a "great book" that is displayed on his coffee table next to his 2008 Kansas University NCAA championship book.

Farney said he pressed the living players he interviewed, also some of their coaches, opponents and family members, to come up with a fresh angle for each profile.

One common trait, he said, was that "they're all very humble. These guys don't walk around with their letter jackets."

Johnson posted several games with more than 40 points. He went on to play basketball and compete on the track team at Kansas Wesleyan University.

Against Bennington on that night, he admitted to being "in a zone."

The Cardinals were a fast-break team and averaged scoring more than 70 points a game. He was most proud of the "team" aspect.

"Doug Laas and Joe Kejr were teammates who made some great passes to me, and I just didn't feel I could miss," Johnson said. "Everybody on that team passed. Everybody accepted their roles.

"I couldn't have scored that many points without unselfish play."

n Reporter Tim Unruh can be reached at 822-1419 or by e-mail at tunruh@salina.com.

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BHS '77 says....
I remember that game as I played for Bennington. If memory serves correct, in either the second or third quarter, Ralph only scored 1 point. Basically he had 54 points in three quarters.
As always he, and the Cardnials were a class act.
12/2/2009

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