1966 was a historic year for men’s basketball at St. Cloud State University.
It was the first year the Huskies played in newly built Halenbeck Hall, which still hosts games 60 years later. The Huskies finished 9-1 in conference play to earn their fifth consecutive conference title and 10th in the previous 11 years.
But in the past six decades, one record from that season remains unbroken: the single game scoring record.
During a 104-71 win on Feb. 26, a 6-8 forward from Sauk Centre poured in 56 points. He shot 20-31 from the field and made 16-20 free throws, also grabbing 20 rebounds.
It was a scoring output that has never been surpassed in over 1,600 SCSU games since.
Isidore “Issy” Schmiesing began his four-year playing career at St. Cloud State in 1962, splitting time between the JV and Varsity squad his freshman year.
“I remember starting four games in two days,” Schmiesing recalls. The 81-year-old is now an avid gardener with his wife Jan on their 78-acre farm in Swanville, about 45 miles north of St. Cloud. “Coach Red Severson drove you to your limits and he expected the best. We might not have had the most talented players, but we had the hardest workers.”
Schmiesing was also key contributor his sophomore year as the Huskies made it to the second round of the NAIA National Tournament, and his junior year he was named first team all-conference.
But his 1965-66 season was one for the record books. The captain led the Northern Intercollegiate Conference (present-day Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference) in scoring (27.2 points per game) and rebounding (15.3 rebounds per game) to earn Player of the Year honors.
While St. Cloud State ended their season with a heartbreaking 50-48 loss to St. Thomas in the NAIA District 13 Playoffs, it was the final game of the regular season at Halenbeck Hall the prior week that still stands as a historic moment in the program’s 100+ year history.
Record-breaking game
Were there any special instructions before the historic night from legendary coach Red Severson?
“Feed Schmiesing the ball,” Issy recalls.
Schmiesing began the game only 30 points shy of Dave Westlund’s 1956 record for points scored in a single season.
While he started off slowly with only five points in the first eight minutes, Schmiesing notched 23 points in the remainder of the half to nearly equal Michigan Tech’s entire first half output.
“I remember I had two free throws at the end of the half to break that record and missed them both,” he says with a laugh. “They had a banner ready and everything.”
Schmiesing broke Westlund’s season scoring record only one minute into the second half, and the scoring didn’t stop there.
Schmiesing’s final tally of 56 points in the victory over Michigan Tech still stands as the NSIC regular season conference record for points in a single game.
The College Chronicle from March 1, 1966, stated, “When Huskies coach Red Severson pulled Schmiesing with 4:06 remaining in the game, the crowd of 1,900 gave Izzy a standing ovation and Michigan Tech coach Verdie Cox left his team to congratulate Schmiesing on a great performance.”
The St. Cloud Times added, “There aren’t enough superlatives in the English language to describe the performance.”
Evenly netting 28 points in each half, Schmiesing was a perfect 10-10 on free throws in the second half. No other player on St. Cloud State finished in double figures.
Sophomore Tom Ditty, who had four points in the game, had a unique way of tallying Schmiesing’s output.
“Me and Izz had 60 tonight,” Schmiesing laughs recalling Ditty’s postgame comments in the locker room. “He was funny like that.”
Schmiesing’s 56 points blew away the previous school record of 42 scored by all-American Vern Baggenstoss in a loss to UW-Stout in 1957.
The record-breaking night was the last time Schmiesing would lace up his shoes for a regular season game on St. Cloud State’s campus.
All-American and beyond
Schmiesing’s name still fills the SCSU record books in career stats like points per game, field goals made, free throws made, rebounds and field goal percentage.
While many of his records from the 1960s have been equaled or surpassed, his 56-point outburst remains unscathed. The closest any SCSU player has come was 50 points by Joel McDonald in 1994.
Schmiesing capped off his four-year SCSU career by being named to the NAIA all-America second team. He also strongly believes his teammate Dave Linnehan, who also played from 1962-66, would’ve joined him as an all-American if he didn’t suffer a knee injury early in the 65-66 season.
While Schmiesing was out of college eligibility after 1966, his playing career didn’t end. He tried out for the NBA’s Chicago Bulls before their inaugural season, and he also toured Europe with a team sponsored by Gulf Oil.
“We played teams all over Europe for six to eight weeks and we only lost once; we even beat the French national team,” Schmiesing said.
Some of his teammates from the tour went on to play in the ABA, the NBA’s rival league in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Schmiesing also played semi-professional basketball for the Hartford Capitols of the Eastern Professional Basketball League, playing alongside 1957 World Series winner and three-time NBA champ Gene Conley.
After leaving his basketball career behind, Schmiesing returned to Central Minnesota and earned his physical education degree from St. Cloud State in 1971.
He’d later get a special education degree, going on to teach in Sandstone and Little Falls for nearly three decades before retiring in 2005.
“I was a shy kid and wasn’t into speaking to groups; I was undecided when I came to St. Cloud,” Schmiesing said. “If you told me I’d end up teaching 29 years of my life, I’d think you were crazy.”
Schmiesing was inducted into the SCSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1984 and was part of the Sauk Centre Mainstreeter Hall of Fame’s inaugural class in 2010. He was joined by his younger brother Joe, who played seven seasons in the NFL from 1968-74.
For someone who loved rebounding and recalls Severson praising him for his willingness to pass the ball, it’s ironic that a scoring record is what endures almost 60 years after his final game in a St. Cloud State uniform.
“I didn’t play to break records; I played because I enjoyed the game” Schmiesing said. “Basketball has been good to me.”
