Back in 1936, the Stem High School boys basketball team beat Creedmoor High School for the Granville County Championship. Now, this might surprise some of you, as there no longer is a Stem High or Creedmoor High. But what these young country boys from Stem did a few nights later really did Granville County proud.

They went to Chapel Hill and laid a whipping on the UNC Tar Heels.

Before the Granville County basketball tournament of 1936, Coach Pegram of Stem High School promised his team that if they won the tournament, he would take them to see the University of North Carolina play.

Well, during these years of depression and limited travel, this promise from their coach really excited these Stem youngsters. Heck, a weekend trip to Oxford was considered a big thing.

Now believe this or not, Stem had to beat three other teams to win the championship, but here is what is quite remarkable: They beat Wilton High School, Berea High School, and Creedmoor High School all in the same day.

That’s right, at 11 a.m. Stem beat Wilton, ate a light lunch and beat Berea at 2 p.m., then took a school bus back to Stem for supper, came back to Creedmoor and defeated Creedmoor High at 7 p.m.

According to Brent Meadows, who played on that Stem team, Creedmoor had defeated Stem twice in the 1936 season prior to the tournament. Just some names of the Creedmoor players could put a little scare into an opposing team. They had a “Rip” Roberts and a Big’un Bullock, and according to Bren, “a great big fella” in “Hen” Clay.

Understand, back in this time there was a huge rivalry among county teams, so when the staff at Creedmoor offered to feed the Stem team supper before their big game against each other, no chances were taken.

Mamie Daniel, with the Stem team in Creedmoor, liked to feed her boys properly in her capacity as lunchroom supervisor. So perhaps sensing that the Creedmoor folks might be up to something, such as serving her boys some overly rich food that might upset their stomachs and hinder their ability to play well, Mamie told Coach Pegram of Stem to turn the offer down.

So the Stem boys took a bus back to Stem and ate their own home-cooked food, not taking a chance on the Creedmoor cuisine.

After filling their bellies, the Stem team rode back to Creedmoor ready for their third game of the day. After all, playing three games of basketball in a day wasn’t so hard. Most of the boys spent many a day in the hot sun farming tobacco and other crops. No, these country lads could play basketball all day long.

With the promise of the trip to see the Tar Heels play still on their minds, Stem beat Creedmoor to claim the county championship. Stem had some talent, what with Brent Meadows and his fine dribbling and passing skills, and they had quite a “big fella,” themselves, Wallace Bowling, to combat big “Hen” Clay of Creedmoor. Bowling stood a good 6-foot-3 or 6-foot-4.

Also, “Bunk” Guthrie of Stem could shoot like nobody around the county. According to Brent, “that Guthrie boy was a little bitty boy. He didn’t farm and work like the rest of us. He just played ball all the time. He’d shoot balls all day long.”

In the end, “Bunk” and the boys from Stem beat “Big’un,” “Rip,” “Hen,” and the Creedmoor boys. On to Chapel Hill.

Coach Pegram piled his team into his car and arrived at the UNC gym, where a full house awaited the game between UNC and Wake Forest. Word came that the Wake team could not make it due to snowy conditions. Disappointed fans started to leave the gym.

Coach Pegram ran to the UNC coach and told him, “Heck, all these people want to see a game. My boys can stir up a game for you.” UNC agreed, thinking at least they would get a little workout playing somebody, and it would also maybe give the fans something to see. UNC supplied the Stem team pants and shoes, and the boys stripped down to their T-shirts.

The freshmen team of UNC started the game, but by halftime the game was very close. Wanting to teach the high school boys a lesson, some varsity players for the Tar Heels played the second half.

Brent Meadows recalled, “They thought they’d beat the soup out of us country boys.” But they didn’t.

The game was tied with a few seconds to go. It was Stem’s ball. Mr. Meadows recalls that he brought the ball up court, and “Bunk” Guthrie “received a pass and somewhere between that center line and the foul line he shot it, and the ball ripped right through the net.”

The crowd sat in stunned silence, then roared with approval. They couldn’t believe what they had witnessed.

Little Stem High School had beaten the mighty Tar Heels.

“I’ve never heard such a roar,” recalled Brent. As news spread that night around Granville County, the Stem boys were treated as heroes.

“At school, you couldn’t hardly live with us for a few days,” says Meadows. They were proud of what they had done, and we are proud of them today.