In 1968-69, the Laurel, Montana, high school boys basketball team achieved something remarkable. Those 15 purple-and-gold clad Locomotives and their coach, Don Peterson, went through an entire season, 26 games, without a loss and captured the first state basketball championship in school history. The team's final win for the trophy came in overtime on the biggest stage these teenagers had ever been on in their lives. The Locomotives were undersized all year and faced an even greater height disadvantage going for the trophy. It didn't matter. They were a relatively small school once again playing an opponent with many more students. It didn't matter. A magic season concluded with a magic night that lives on in the memory of players, fellow students, community members and sports fans, all middle-aged now and scattered across Montana, throughout the U.S. and around the world. This book tells the story of how a now-legendary team from Laurel beat the odds to win the state's biggest basketball trophy a half-century ago and became a permanent part of Treasure State sports history.
