By John RittenhouseHarry Franz is remembered locally as a man with important connections with the 1964 Luverne High School state championship boys’ basektball team.Franz, a long-time teacher and coach at LHS, died in St. Peter on Saturday.Although he did most of his work out of the spotlight for the 1964 title team, Franz’s contributions during the championship-chase won’t be forgotten by then head coach, Ray Merry."They guy was a winner," Merry said from his Minneapolis home Monday."He had the greatest basketball mind I’ve ever known. Harry served as an assistant coach the three years I was in Luverne, and he did a lot of scouting for us. We were fortunate to have him because whenever he scouted other teams, he came back with reports that were in complete detail. Everything Harry said, the opposing teams did. That was a great advantage for us. Much of the success we had goes directly to him."Franz began coaching and teaching in Luverne in 1947, after winning a state basketball championship as a player in 1939 at Mountain Lake High School.He served as an assistant football and basketball coach that year, and he was named the head boys’ basketball coach in 1952.Franz’s five-year run as head basketball coach in Luverne began with three average seasons and ended with two memorable years.Under his leadership, the Cardinals went 10-7 in 1952-53, 11-8 in 1953-54 and 9-9 in 1954-55.The Cardinals soared during the final two years of his tenure, compiling a 36-7 record.The 1955-56 campaign was highlighted by Luverne winning its first District 8 Tournament championship in nine years, defeating Fulda 78-57 in the title game. Luverne beat Windom in the semifinals of the Region 2 Tournament before an 18-4 campaign came to an end with a 68-57 loss to Blue Earth in the championship game.Luverne repeated as the District 8 champion in 1956-57, nipping Worthington 59-57 in the championship game. Pemberton ended Luverne’s 18-3 year by besting the Cards 60-57 in the region semifinals.As fate would have it, the loss to Pemberton in March of 1957 would be the last game as head coach for Franz, who compiled a 66-31 record his five seasons at LHS.Less than two weeks prior to the start of practice for the 1957-58 season, Franz suffered a heart attack that ended his head-coaching run.Current Luverne resident Gordon Gits, who was a young teacher at LHS in 1957, was asked to replace Franz for the 1957-58 campaign."I was asked to take the assistant coaching position that summer, and I accepted it," Gits recalled. "Then a week or 10 days prior to practice, Harry had his heart attack. That was when I was promoted."Franz regained his health as the season progressed, and Gits remembers the man he described as small in stature and a firm believer in discipline screaming at the top of his lungs at a young LHS post at one practice late in the season."Harry was a tough coach, but the kids played hard for him," Gits stated. "He was a great guy who was very intense. He was a very good teacher, and he was well-liked by a lot of people in the community."Franz and his wife, Emma (Goehle, the sister of long-time Hills and Hills-Beaver Creek basketball coach Hugo Goehle), left Luverne for a short stay in Willmar in the early 1980s. They moved to St. Peter in 1983, where Harry was an assistant coach at Gustavus Aldophus for several years.Coach Merry considered Franz as being a good friend and said he will always remember him as a man and a coaching peer."I can’t tell you how much he has done for Luverne basketball over the years," Merry said. "He was a fantastic teacher, and he couldn’t have been a better assistant coach when I was there. Harry always was willing to take the extra step to help me."I remember when he came to watch one of our games when I was coaching in Robbinsdale after I left Luverne. I told him we would have won two or three more games that year if he was scouting for us. He thought I was kidding him, and he said, ‘Oh, Ray.’ I wasn’t kidding."