By Casey Jarmes
In 1945, the Keswick school board approved re-establishing the Keswick Girls Six on Six Basketball Team. The team had a rough start. To quote an article recounting the team’s history I found, written by Carl Hogendorn, “Basketball fans in the area felt sorry for the Keswick girls, as they suffered defeat after defeat in their first two years of play. But they were scrappers and never gave up.”
In only a few years, the team went from abysmal newcomers to among the best in the state, due in a large part to their star, Helen “Corky” Corrick, AKA, the Keswick Flash. Corrick began playing as a guard for the team during their first season, when she was an eighth grader. She was strong, fast, athletic, and known for her left-handed hook. Every night, she stayed for 30-45 minutes after practice, continuing honing her shots.
In 1947, Corrick was moved to forward, and quickly began dominating the other teams. That year, Corrick, just a sophomore, scored 101 points in 25 minutes during a game against Martinsburg. In 1948, she scored 1,081 points during a single season, one point shy of the state record. That year, Corrick led the Keswick Kittens to victory in the sectional and district tournaments, earning the eleven-girl squad a ticket to the State Tournament at Drake University. Unfortunately, the Kittens suffered a devastating defeat at the hands of the Hartley Hawks during the first round of the tournament.
In 1949, the Kittens had another excellent season, with 22 wins and not a single loss before they stepped foot in the Drake Fieldhouse. Leading the team was Corrick, now a senior, joined by fellow forwards Irene Harkins and Margaret Husband, guards Beverly Morrison, June Cranston and Leta Long, and additional players Patricia Aduddel, Doris Moore, Laura Mae Wright, Phyllis McCay and Martha Hungerford. Coaching the team was Tom Englebert.
In the first round of the tournament, Corrick scored 45 points against Walker, contributing to a final score of 50-33. The team narrowly beat Slater in the second round, 47-42. Then, the Keswick Kittens faced off against Oakland Yellowjackets, a team that pushed them to their limit. According to a write-up about the tournament I found, “Corrick wasn’t swinging or faking fast” and “the defense had sunk to its heels.” The team fought hard, having 32 points to Oakland’s 33 at the start of the fourth quarter.
Then, disaster. For the first time in her career, Corrick fouled out. Their star gone, the Kittens lost, 36 to 48. Oakland would go on to be the tournament runner-up, losing to Wellburg.
But, the Kittens still had one more game to play: the consolation game to determine who would get the bronze. Facing off against the Kittens in Corrick’s last game with the team were their old foes, the Hartley Hawks. The Hawks had also gone undefeated in their season, up until their semi-finals loss to Wellburg.
To quote that post-tournament account once more, “Corrick and her mates knew they were up against something good. Keswick’s three forwards played inspired ball. They were unstoppable.”
The Kittens won, 55 to 38. Husband scored 12 points. Harkins, 14. The Keswick Flash scored 29. This brought her season point total to 1,323 and her career total to 3,271, breaking the Iowa girls records for both stats.
Years later, when speaking to Neighbors Magazine, Corrick would call that game “the greatest thrill of her life.”
Corrick was named to the 1949 All-State Team. After graduating, she played for Iowa Wesleyan, Look Magazine, and the American Institute of Business in Des Moines. While playing for the latter, she was named All American and played games in Texas, Oklahoma, and Mexico.
She married Merrill LeRoy Baker in 1954, had five kids, and worked as a homemaker. She later worked for the Chamberlains of Albia. Helen Baker passed away in 2015.
