The story of coach Jack Adams and the 1957 Mead High School boys basketball team had pretty much faded from memory. Record books show that Mead won the Class B state championship 54 years ago, taking its place with Wellington in Class C, Jefferson in Class A and Greeley in Class AA. But the official record doesn’t come close to providing enough information on an unusual team and why memories of the school, coach and team members faded away long ago.
Adams put a team of starters on the floor that included four brothers — triplets Ronald, Richard and Roland Newton, along with younger brother David Newton — and “outsider” Lyle Schaeffer.
Just four years after the state championship, Mead High School closed its doors. Its students were sent to Longmont as part of consolidation.
In late summer 2009, a new Mead High School opened. Memories of the 1957 team, which went 25-1, were brought back into focus this year through its induction into the Colorado High School Activities Association’s Hall of Fame. The team’s only loss was 49-47 to Gilcrest. In the state championship game, Mead defeated Wiggins 55-52.
The team had a reunion to celebrate its induction.
“We renewed a lot of old memories and I’ll never forget that they still called me ‘Coach,’ ” Adams said of seeing some players he hadn’t in more than 50 years.
The reunion activities included induction at the CHSAA Hall of Fame banquet Jan. 19 and a visit to the new Mead High School two days later to present the induction plaque to the school for its trophy case. The state championship trophy from 1957 is also at the new school. It had been in a museum of sorts in downtown Mead.
The visit by Adams and his former players was a big hit with the current student body. All of the Mead starters except David Newton, who has died, and team members Mike Eckel, Lanny Davis and Carl Hansen showed up.
“They don’t have a senior class right now, so they called my players their senior seniors,” Adams said. “We made the presentation at halftime of their basketball game. They welcomed us as if we were really important. The players didn’t go to the locker room at halftime, so they could hear what I had to say.”
The new high school is at a new location, about 3 miles south of the town, which is just west of Interstate 25 and northeast of Longmont.
“Some of the new students didn’t know that our Mead High School closed in 1961,” Richard Newton said. “The timing of our visit was perfect. It was a super night.”
The more the old-timers talked, the sharper their memories came into focus. “We had to go to Boulder to celebrate a birthday on the team because there weren’t any pizza places at the time in Longmont,” said Schaeffer, the team’s tallest member at 6-foot-2.
Adams played high school basketball for legendary coach Jim Baggot at Greeley. Adams went on to play football at Colorado State College and after military service joined the Mead faculty for the 1955-56 school year. In addition to coaching basketball, he also coached football and drove the team bus.
“I was paid $2,900, coached three sports, taught five classes and drove the bus,” Adams said. “When I was getting on the bus for our first away game, I asked where the driver was. I found out it was me.”
Adams recalled the Mead gym as a “cracker box.” “It was difficult to beat us there,” he said. “We ran a full-court press most of the time. It was loud, with 150 people crowded around the edge of the court and hanging over the balcony.”
The Newton family had 20 children. With so many on various teams at the same time, it was hard to keep track of them. Adams had five Newton brothers on his initial team, with Jerry Newton joining the four brothers the next year.
Adams left Mead after that championship season to take a teaching and coaching job in California. He soon returned to Colorado and coached at Fountain-Fort Carson and Englewood high schools, winning a state track and field title at Fountain-Fort Carson in 1960.
Upon leaving Englewood, he moved to Junction City, Ore., and became a tennis coach. He retired in 1989, but the tennis courts at the high school there bear his name.
His return to Mead left open a question Adams has asked himself over the years. “Why did I leave so soon?” Adams asked. “I’ve kicked myself many times.”
After all, there were still more Newton brothers on the way.
Adams bio
Born: June 1, 1931, in Greeley
High school: Greeley
College: Colorado State College, Greeley
Family: Wife Carol, daughters Nancy, Lisa, Kara and Jennifer, son Mike
Hobbies: Woodworking, tennis
Wish list: Spending part of the year in a warm climate
