Santa is arriving early this year, by ferry of all things, bearing a special treat for local basketball fans.
The Valdez Buccaneers will be here on Dec. 15-16 to tip off the high school round ball season. It will be their first appearance on the CHS court in seven years.
Since 2010, Cordova and Valdez have played each other in two-game series at Valdez, or during bracket match-ups in the Valdez Elks tournament, but not on the regular home-and-home basis that used to be the keystone of a historic and intense Prince William Sound rivalry.
Lest you forget, back in the early 1900s, the two cities were rivals in the battle to be chosen as the port for shipping copper from Kennicott to the Lower 48. The docks at Katella, the third competitor, were destroyed by a brutal winter storm.
The Valdez effort was hampered by railway construction issues in nearby Keystone Canyon. The genius of Michael Heney’s engineers, who convinced him they could build a bridge between two glaciers to cross the Copper River 50 miles away from Cordova, led to a win for this city.
Earliest records of the high school hoops rivalry date back to 1937. According to the Northern Lights, Cordova High’s newspaper, CHS won the first game they ever played against Valdez here in January, 36-24. Valdez bounced back to take the second in overtime, 27-26. CHS won the remaining two games of the four-game series.
Cordova traveled to Valdez in March, and won the first game 23-17, but Valdez won the second game as “the larger school (Cordova) was thoroughly outclassed and went around as in a daze.”
It was not an unfamiliar feeling for many future Wolverines who visited “the Glacial City.” Valdez also won the third game 20-16, with John Ekemo, my future father-in-law, rallying the Bucs after “the Cordova boys thought they had the game cinched.”
So after Year One of The Rivalry, Cordova led the series 4-3, in games featuring overtime and two late rallies.
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
What doesn’t sound familiar is the description of Valdez as “the Glacial City.” Nor calling Cordova “the larger school.” In 1937, the Copper River and Northwestern Railway was still running, and Cordova was indeed bigger that Valdez, which relied on transportation over the Richardson Highway through to the Interior as a key to its economy.
However, by 1938, high grade copper ore had run out at Kennicott, and prices for the metal were low. The mines and CR&NW Railway were shut down.
The blow to Cordova’s economy left it no longer “the larger city.” Fisheries became its primary industry.
And of course, another mineral resource, called oil, led to a huge boom in Valdez beginning in the late ’60s. The “Glacial City” moniker vanished quicker than the receding ice fields of today, with Valdez renamed “The Pipeline City.”
It quickly tripled in size and far more than that in wealth, with attendant rapid growth in school enrollment and facilities. For the past 4 decades, there has been little doubt about who was the bigger city.
In fact, CHS moved to Class 2A, (60-150 students) three years ago; while Valdez continues to compete at the 3A level, (151-500 students).
Despite size disparity, the Cordova-Valdez rivalry has always been a heated affair on both the girls and boys sides. This was especially true when coaches Bob Lenz and Virginia Anderson had their fine teams going head-to-head against the Valdez Dan Eide – Barb Lyons coaching tandem.
Even in the past six years, despite playing all the games in Valdez, which any Wolverine can tell you is a daunting task, the Cordova boys have held their own, going 3-5 against the Bucs. The Cordova girls have struggled mightily, with a record of 0-6.
The Valdez teams will arrive with a pair of former Buccaneers at the helm. Doug Fleming is in his 4th year coaching the girls; Todd Wegner, legendary Buc Coach Dan Eide’s protégé and successor, is back coaching the boys in his second year of a rebuilding effort after taking some time off.
Wagner and Fleming have first-hand knowledge of the rivalry. As players, both came over to battle against the Wolverines at CHS Court; and have their squads playing that trademark scrappy, full-bore Buccaneers basketball. Both guided their teams to 3A state last season.
Several years back the Buccaneers added a powder blue to their traditional black and white colors that dated back to the 1930s. Cordova’s colors started out blue and white, now with a dash of silver/grey.
Black and blue are the hues that best characterize this longtime rivalry.
It should be a heck of a series. And a very special Christmas treat.
Thank you, Santa.
