Above is the 1975 Southwestern High School state championship golf team. In front, from the left, are Gary Freeman and Dan Bjork. In back are Randy Holmes, Rick Bell and Mark Widner. P-J file photo

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following column first appeared in The Post-Journal on May 28, 2005 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Southwestern High School golf team’s state championship at Elma Meadows Golf Course. The 50th anniversary of that accomplishment just recently passed, so it was deemed appropriate to run the column again.

There have been numerous high school teams in the area that have captured state championships in the last 20 years. But the first time an area team won a state championship was 30 years ago, and it is often forgotten.

It was on June 9, 1975 when the Southwestern Trojans claimed the New York state team title at Elma Meadows Golf Course.

That state-title squad, made up of seniors Rick Bell, Gary Freeman, Randy Holmes and Mark Widner, and junior Dan Bjork, took the title by 14 strokes. And Bell led the individual standings by shooting a 1-under-par 69 and a 3-over 73, and his 142 total beat out the second-place finisher by two shots.

That second-place finisher was freshman Joey Sindelar from Horseheads. Yes, that’s the same Joey Sindelar who now plays on the PGA Tour.

Southwestern’s accomplishment was also one of the last state team titles in golf because the team concept was dropped in the early 1980s and now just individual scores are kept.

“I know even our kids wish it was a team thing because they think that’s kind of cool rather than what it has gone to over the years as an individual thing,” said current Southwestern coach Mark Sleggs.

Bjork, from the 1975 state champs, also wishes the team concept was still used.

“I think it’s a shame what they’ve done to that,” he said.

It was Sleggs’ idea to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the area’s first high school state team title. He contacted as many members of that 1975 squad as possible. Coach Gene Munson, Bjork and Holmes still live in the area, and they, along with Bell, who came in from Florida, were reunited Friday afternoon at Maplehurst Country Club where they played nine holes with the members of the current Southwestern golf team.

“I wanted our Southwestern kids to see these guys,” Sleggs said.

After the golf, a reception was held at the school where that 1975 state championship has not been forgotten. Sleggs noted that when you walk in the athletic doors at Southwestern, the first display case has The Post-Journal article about the team’s state laminated on a plaque.

“That thing is still in the trophy case and it’s not in the back somewhere — it’s the first thing that you see,” Sleggs said. “I think it’s important for them (the 1975 team members) to see that.”

That state title was a perfect going-away present for Munson, who retired that year after 18 years as the Trojans’ golf coach.

“We felt relief for Gene,” Holmes said earlier this week. “I don’t think there was one of us who didn’t want to win it for Gene. He wasn’t just our coach, he was a friend of ours for many, many years.”

That’s because Munson, like most of his golfers, was a member at Maplehurst and he watched his future players growing up on that course.

“It was a wonderful feeling to win it for him that last year,” Bjork said.

Bell recalled, “He was always behind us. I played basketball and he was always there, whether it was basketball or golf or if you had a problem.”

Holmes mentioned the team went into that state tournament with a lot of confidence. When asked if the team thought it could win, he answered, “Absolutely. We had gone before so we just approached it like any other match.”

In the previous two years, the Trojans had also played in the state tournament.

“I don’t think there was any question. We had been so close and we had played so well,” Bell said. “I didn’t think there was any question that we had a chance to win it because we were so strong top to bottom.

Bjork said, “I think that we went in with an attitude that we’re going to win this thing. We went in with the attitude of ‘let’s play good and see how it turns out.'”

Their coach wasn’t quite so confident.

“As far as thinking we could win, you don’t think that way,” Munson said. “We just hoped that when we went up there the kids would do as good as possible, and they did.”

But that was just one of Munson’s excellent teams and Holmes noted, “You’re looking at the fruition of a golf team that for eight or 10 years had quality players, and we were just the fortunate one (to win a state title).”

Bjork noted, “I think we just squeaked by Jamestown in the sectionals.”

And at the states, Southwestern defeated the “big boys,” as the second-place team was Port Washington and others in the top 10 were Shaker, Jamesville-Dewitt, Ithaca, Southampton and Newburgh.

“We were like a (Class) B school, but there were no classifications,” Bjork said. “You think there were going to be better teams out there than ours, but we played better.”

He also noted that there wasn’t much preparation for the states, held in nearby Elma.

“We didn’t even go up there to play a practice round,” Bjork said.

Bell was the leader of the team.

“Rick was just on fire,” Bjork said of his teammate’s play in the state tournament. “He was the key to the whole thing.”

But in addition to Bell shooting 69-73, Holmes had 77-76, Widner 78-78, Bjork 79-82 and Freeman 81-81.

When asked if Bell was the best golfer he ever had, Munson said, “I have had some good ones.”

He mentioned that Jack Johnson and then his brother, Tom, each played No. 1 for four years. So then adding in Bell, the former coach said, “I would say those three were probably the best.”

Unlike teams that win state titles now, there was not a lot of hoopla about Southwestern’s accomplishment in 1975. And the members of the team recalled their coach was rather low-keyed immediately after they claimed the state title. On their trip home, they had a tough time convincing Munson to stop for a celebration dinner.

Bjork recalled they lamented, “Mr. Munson, we just won the state tournament!”

He finally relented and they stopped at the Lakeview in Angola.

Friday night they sat down to dinner again to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their accomplishment — the area’s first high school state team championship.