Prior to 1981, no Starbuck High School boys’ athletic team had qualified for a state tournament.  That changed when Coach Bill Bailey’s 1981 football team extended their undefeated regular season to four additional playoff contests and a berth in the state championship game.

Starbuck had seven undefeated football teams before a playoff existed, thus leaving it to one’s imagination to wonder how they would have stacked up in a state tournament had there been one.  Two of those undefeated teams played 6-Man football.  The 1940 team finished 5-0 while averaging over 51 points per game.  Henry Nodland was an All-State player.  

The 1946 team won all six of their contests and averaged over 42 points per game with Milton Knutson as an All-Stater.  Coach Jerry Lindell’s 1967 team went 9-0 as an 11-man squad and is considered to be among Starbuck’s best ever.  One statewide ranking had the ’67 Bucks rated #19 among all schools and they were the highest ranked small school.

In football, unlike today, not every team made the state playoffs.  That didn’t occur until the late 1980s.  Prior to then, a team needed to be the conference champion to advance.  Tying for the title proved to not be enough as the Bucks found out in 1979 when there was a three-way tie.  A coin flip to determine the state entrant didn’t go their way.

Entering the 1981 season, football success at Starbuck had been trending in an upward direction.  There had been five consecutive seasons with winning records including the 1979 and 1980 squads that posted identical marks of 7-2.  Veteran coaches Bill Bailey and Earl Stottler welcomed 29 prospects including 10 seniors and 11 juniors.  Nearly half (14) of the roster would go on to participate in a sport in college.  Ten would become coaches at the high school level.

The Bucks cruised through their first six games in 1981 – both offensively and defensively.  Starbuck posted four shutouts and allowed just two touchdowns while scoring 313 points (52 ppg).  A road trip in week seven against state-ranked Chokio-Alberta would almost certainly determine the conference champion and playoff entrant.  Tremendous fan support and local interest resulted in a crowd estimated at over 2,000 people.  Starbuck prevailed 18-7 on the strength of three lengthy scoring plays – a 70-yard run by Bob Hagert, a 68-yard kickoff return by Greg Toivonen and a 42-yard fumble return by Randy Anderson.  

A pair of lopsided victories closed the regular season with a perfect mark of nine wins, but the Bucks still needed a 43-18 win over Beardsley in an inter-conference game (won the Whetstone Conference) to make the state playoffs.

Starbuck fell behind Winsted Holy Trinity in the playoff opener (only the second time all season the Bucks trailed in a game), but came back to score the final 36 points during a 56-14 win, taking advantage of six turnovers.

The state semi-final game was also played at Starbuck against Westbrook, a physically-imposing squad that had already knocked off the top two ranked teams.  Their first-string defense had allowed only two touchdowns all season while the offense was averaging 44 points scored.

A rushing touchdown by Scott Knutson and a run of 30 yards for a TD by quarterback Bill Rutledge helped Starbuck to an 18-16 first-quarter lead on the way to a 59-16 rout.  Coach Bailey called the win “The best game ever played by one of his teams.”  

Co-captain Todd Guggisberg said the game was “The highlight of his athletic career.”  Starbuck posted an incredible 587 yards of offense.  Co-captain Bill Rutledge had 104 yards rushing and 230 yards passing including a 65-yard connection with Mike Nelson.  Westbrook Coach Bill White said “Rutledge is the finest high school quarterback I’ve seen.”

The state championship game would be played at Argyle, a team from the aptly named Top of State Conference.  Weather concerns caused the game to be shifted from Friday night to Saturday afternoon.  

Starbuck received the opening kickoff and on the second play from scrimmage, Rutledge hit Nelson for a 50-yard TD.  Toivonen’s PAT made the score 7-0.  The fierce wind played havoc with the following kickoff and the Bucks recovered at the 30-yard line.  

From there, Rutledge found Anderson for six points and a 13-0 lead with just 1:12 elapsed.

Argyle rallied with 17-straight points, but another touchdown pass from Rutledge to Hagert made it 19-17.  However, Mike LaBine’s kick return gave Argyle its third special teams’ touchdown of the first half and a 25-19 lead at intermission.

Neither defense yielded points in the second half as the cold weather and wind continued to be significant factors.  The victor was in doubt until late in the fourth quarter when Argyle scored a defensive touchdown to make the final score 31-19.

Adoring fans escorted the team from Lowry to the Starbuck gymnasium on the ride home where a grand welcome-home celebration was held in honor of the first boys’ team to participate in a state tournament and to admire the handsome trophy they brought home.

Some 40 years later, Coach Bill Bailey reminisced about the accomplishments of the 1981 team, “This was a great group to coach.  They were multi-sport athletes that were intelligent and were willing to work hard,” coach Bailey said.  “It’s been a pleasure to see how successful they have been after high school.  I appreciate the dedicated coaches that we had throughout the program.  The school and the community really rallied around us.”

Post-season awards went to four players as All-Conference.  They were Todd Guggisberg, Bob Hagert, Bill Rutledge and Greg Toivonen.  Named to the 9-Man All-State Team were Hagert and Rutledge.  In 2021, Coach Bailey was inducted to the Minnesota Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Congratulations to the 1981 Starbuck football team.