Newcastle Schools just finished hosting the annual Otho Sweetpea Curtis Tournament, and the Racers came in second place to Douglass (see story on the sports page in this week’s issue). There are many who wonder how the tournament got its name.
Author Mark Baldwin states that Sweetpea was the nickname of their 22-year coach, Otho “Sweetpea” Curtis. The coach was a star basketball player on the Southeastern State College team that narrowly lost the national championship in 1942. Curtis was born in Wister on June 21, 1920. He was the oldest of 10 Curtis children — five of whom attended Southeastern.
The 1941-42 Savages were one of the greatest basketball teams in the university’s history. No S.E. team has come close to winning a national championship. Led by the sparkling play of Curtis and L.T. “Cotton” Patton, Southeastern reached the finals of the national tournament in Kansas City, Missouri, where they were defeated, 33-31, by powerful Hamline University.
Curtis and Patton were named to the All-Tournament Team, which was paramount to being named All-Americans. They were the first two athletes in Southeastern’s history to be recognized as All-Americans.
Curtis served in the Army Air Force during World War II. He returned to college following the war and graduated in 1946. He was an All-Conference basketball selection in 1942 and again in 1946.
Following graduation, Curtis coached at Nida High School for three years and served as principal-coach at Newcastle from 1949-1971. He resigned in 1971 to accept a position with the U.S. Postal Service in Newcastle.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was slightly changed. It was originally attributed as being information released by Newcastle Public Schools. The article was actually written by Mark Baldwin. He said family members also told him that the name "Sweetpea" came from the name of a talcum powder that he used to put in his shoes and his coach came up with the nickname.)
