Herbert Pryor News Today

Fifty years ago, the Samuel Vaster High School Pirates took small-school basketball in Arkansas by storm and won the Class B state championship, eventually earning the right to take on long-standing power Little Rock Central in the finals of the second overall state tournament the Arkansas Activities Association conducted.

The atmosphere inside Barton Coliseum in Little Rock was electric and the crowds were on their feet as the Vaster High School Pirates and the Little Rock Central High School Tigers started the third quarter on the basketball court. The stands were filled with cheering Vaster and Central students, parents, Moscow townsfolk, and some who just loved rooting for the underdog.