1966 Henning coach thrilled with latest Section 6A title
News | Published on March 17, 2026 at 2:57pm EDT | Author: henningmaster
0By Tom Hintgen
Otter Tail County Correspondent
One of the biggest fans of the 2026 Henning boys basketball team is former Hornets coach Dave Opheim who led Henning to state tournament appearances in 1965 and 1966.
“Congratulations on your very successful year,” said Opheim in an email sent from his winter residence in Clearwater Beach, Florida, following the Section 6A title win over Park Christian in Moorhead. “Your team has played extremely well all season long. Hope you can bring home that big trophy. Best of luck.”
Opheim, now 89, said it was exciting that Henning won the 2026 section title in the same Concordia College gymnasium where the Hornets won the 1966 Region 6 title over Crosby-Ironton. That game was 60 years ago, sending Henning to the state tournament for the second consecutive year.
During the summer months Opheim, a retired businessman, lives with his wife JoAnn in Rockford, Illinois, west of Chicago.
“There was a time in 2019 when Henning reached the Minnesota state basketball tournament for the first time in 53 years. Now it’s becoming as regular as boating on a lake in the summer,” wrote Jeff Kolpack of the Fargo Forum.
Kolpack covered the March 13 Section 6A title game at Concordia, sending the Hornets back to the state tournament for the second straight season and Henning’s fourth section title in eight years.
He interviewed Henning coach Randy Misegades who said, “Playing up here (at the Concordia gym) is awesome and you just find a way to win.” He added that Park Christian “kept coming and coming but our guys made enough big plays in big spots.”
Some Henning fans in attendance at the Henning-Park Christian section title game March 13 at Concordia Fieldhouse, won by the Hornets 72-61, were in attendance at the same gymnasium 60 years ago when Henning won the 1966 Region 6 title. Henning’s starting five included twins Dick and Bob Peterson, Neal Oscarson, Gerald Brutlag and Dean Greenwaldt.
“We had the majority of players back from the 1965 team,” recalls Opheim. “Our young men excelled on the basketball court and were polite, courteous and were very good students.”
Henning native Cliff Buchan, who wrote a book about Henning basketball titled “Orange and Black,” said that when looking at Henning’s success on the basketball court it’s easy to see the family connections that go back several decades.
“The Henning team that won the Class A state title in 2019 had a number of players with family connections to Henning’s first high school team in 1914,” Buchan said.
“And now the family connections continue with the two Misegades boys, senior Kale and freshman Easton, the grandsons of Gary Misegades, a player in the program during the state tournament years of the 1960s, and the sons of Henning coach Randy Misegades, a star for the Hornets during his days in high school.”