The Liberty Lancers entered the Connersville Sectional in late February 1967 with a record around 23–4 and a roster of six senior starters under head coach Joe Stanley and assistant Kellas Drake. They won the sectional. The team photograph the Palladium-Item ran afterward, captioned "Winners At Connersville," groups them in two rows: front row, left to right, Randy Ross (student manager), Tim Woodruff, Skip Thompson, Denny Roach, Tom Pfledderer, Noel Adams, and Junior Ford (student manager); back row, Dennie Walton, Ralph Hughes, Donnie Huber, Jim Fields, Greg Phenis, and the two coaches.¹

The roster carried six all-senior "regulars" — what the local press called "Liberty's Big Six": Skip Thompson, Donnie Walton, Greg Phenis, Ralph Hughes, Tim Woodruff, and Denny Roach.³

On Friday, March 3, 1967, Ron De Mao of the Palladium-Item and Sun-Telegram (Richmond, Indiana) ran the regional preview "Lancers Resume Tourney Ride At Connersville On Saturday." The high-flying Liberty squad would meet Morristown in the afternoon semifinal, with the winner advancing to the regional final that evening against either Lawrenceburg or Jac-Cen-Del.²

De Mao's preview singles out Jack R Thompson and Donnie Walton as "Liberty's two back court aces, ranking second and third in scoring with 6.3 [points] and 5.11 respectively behind Jim Bass and Greg Phenis." Both, he writes, "are quick- and a good job of handling the ball." The Lancers had averaged over twenty-five points per game and brought a 23–7 record into the regional. Coach Joe Stanley, asked about Morristown's recent five-game winning streak, called them "the high-flying Lancers' Lancer squad will be the overwhelming favorite by Saturday morning march."²

By Saturday morning, De Mao's tone had sharpened from preview to expectation. The article "Liberty Fans Hope Today Is Big Day / Lancers Favored To Win Out In Regional At Connersville" ran with a Hometown News photo of all six senior starters lined up across a gym floor, captioned "Liberty's Big Six — Liberty's six 'regulars' will be ready for action in the Connersville Regional Saturday. The six, all seniors, left to right are Skip Thompson, Donnie Walton, Greg Phenis, Ralph Hughes, Tim Woodruff and Denny Roach." The probable starting lineups were listed at the top of the column: Bob Lustig, John Sobert, Kim Pemberton, Jim Reibman, and Jim Reibel for Jac-Cen-Del; Gary Krautz, Nate Thomas, Paul Blasdel, Tom Reid, and Gary Cook for Lawrenceburg.³

"We are a much improved club from the team that played Liberty in December," Morristown coach Norman Morris told De Mao before the game. "And though Liberty has made one or two moves over the season that's really made a difference," he added. Morristown had won nine of its last eleven games since the midpoint of January.³

Jack Thompson Pharmacy ran an ad: "NOTICE — Closed Sat. 12 Noon March 4th FOR REGIONAL — JACK THOMPSON PHARMACY, LIBERTY, Phone 458-5775." Down the page, Miles-Richmond Home Center announced it would close at 11:00 A.M. "to enable our employees to attend the Regional Tourney — LET'S BACK OUR LANCERS."⁴

In the same newspaper page, two coordination items: a "Pre-Tourney Celebration" bonfire scheduled for 7 P.M. Thursday at Short High School, followed by a Saturday-morning car caravan forming at the school at 11 A.M. to drive to Connersville; and a "Get Ready For The Regional" notice asking volunteers to bring pie, cake, or coffee to the after-game bonfire and refreshments in the school cafeterium. The volunteers were to call Mrs. Jack Thompson at 458-5872 — Virginia Bichmiller Thompson, Jack R Thompson's mother, organizing the supper from the family's home — or Mrs. Arthur Phenis, mother of Greg Phenis (the team's leading scorer), at 458-5317.⁴

Liberty beat Morristown in the afternoon semifinal at Connersville to advance to the evening title game. Action photographs from this semifinal ran in the Shelbyville News on Monday March 6.⁶

Tom John, Morristown's 6-foot center, "with his eye on the basket at Connersville, found his path effectively blocked by two Liberty players with a third coming in from the right. John did score 15 points in the losing contest, however." Morristown's leading scorer, Kevin Bass (21), is shown leaving the floor for a shot, having been credited with eighteen points in the loss. A third photograph shows Tom John out-jumping Donnie Walton of the Lancers for a rebound, with Liberty's Rick Stout (51) and Mike Jean (43) visible in the frame.⁶

In the title game that evening, Liberty 64, Jac-Cen-Del 52. The Lancers led 28–27 at the half after a 12-all first quarter, then "spurted in the third period to a 49–39 lead and matched points with the Eagles the rest of the way." Coach Joe Stanley's team — "led by veteran guard Ralph Hughes and the rebounding of center Greg Phenis" — had won the program's first Regional title in history.⁵

The box score in the title game. Ralph Hughes led with 22 points, "moving as fast at the end of two games as at the start." Greg Phenis posted 12. Jack R Thompson — Skip — scored 10. Roach added 4. Fields and Huber 2 each. Woodruff 1.⁵

The action photograph that ran with the Post & Times-Star article shows Jac-Cen-Del's Bob Lustig running into heavy traffic at the basket. "In the white uniform is Bob Lustig, hero of the Jac-Cen-Del win over Lawrenceburg, running into heavy traffic. Liberty defenders are Skip Thompson (43) with Donnie Huber (33) in back of Lustig." The number Jack R Thompson wore that night — 43 — is recorded in this caption.⁵

In the Shelbyville News sports page that followed, Stan Koester wrote the long recap "Liberty Plainly Classiest at C'ville." His thesis was that the regional had changed Liberty's reputation: "Since Liberty went on to defeat Jac-Cen-Del 64 to 52 to win the tournament, it would have been of interest to see what the Jackets could have done with mistakes." Liberty, long dismissed as a "no-defense" team, had proved otherwise.⁷

Koester's game photograph runs with the caption "BIG OBSTACLE — Morristown's Bob Goffin runs an obstacle in the form of Liberty's Skip Thompson (43) as he tries to get the basketball to teammate Rick Stout, Morristown made a gallant bid to the fourth quarter to overtake the Lancers but it was shortlived. Liberty, went on to capture the Connersville regional crown." That photo — Jack R Thompson, #43, between a Morristown forward and his teammate, late in the game, on the floor of the Liberty regional run — is the most direct image of his senior basketball season in the surviving family record.⁷

The Connersville Regional title earned Liberty a spot in the Indianapolis Semistate — Indiana's legendary single-class Sweet Sixteen — on Saturday March 11, 1967, against New Castle in the morning game. Greensburg, the regional champion in 1966 by one point, was also among the four teams in the bracket, along with Michigan City's defending state champion (rated best in the state by the Litkenhous system).⁵

The town's anticipation of the Indianapolis trip is documented separately in the previously-ingested Ron De Mao article "Doctor Not Needed, Town Of Liberty Just Has Case Of 'Hoosier Hysteria'" (artifact `green-prairie`), Palladium-Item and Sun-Telegram, Thursday March 9, 1967 — which photographs the Jack Thompson Pharmacy windows decorated "LANCERS — INDIANAPOLIS BOUND" and quotes Jack Sr. directly: "The boys are confident."⁸

The IHSAA's official archive resolves what the family record did not: at the Indianapolis Semi-State on Saturday, March 11, 1967, the Lancers met New Castle at Hinkle Fieldhouse — the iconic Butler University arena where the Milan Miracle had been won in 1954 and where the film Hoosiers would later be shot. Liberty lost. New Castle went on to win the Indianapolis Semi-State title and advance to the State Finals.⁹

The 1966-67 State Championship was won by Evansville North 60, Lafayette Jefferson 58, also at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Evansville North's coach Jim Rausch finished the season 27-2. The four Semi-State winners that year were Evansville North (Evansville), Lafayette Jefferson (Lafayette), New Castle (Indianapolis), and Fort Wayne South Side (Fort Wayne) — meaning the team that ended Liberty's run reached the Final Four but did not lift the trophy.¹⁰

Forty-nine years after the season, on December 16, 2016, the Union County High School Athletic Hall of Fame inducted the 1966-67 Liberty Lancers as a unit, in the Honorary Letterwinners Chapter. The plaque records the season's accomplishments and the full roster of players, coaches, and cheerleaders.¹¹

Per the Hall of Fame plaque, the 1966-67 season's official accomplishments:¹¹

The plaque also records what the contemporaneous news clippings did not preserve: the 1966-67 Liberty Lancer cheerleader squad — Sue Sellers, Susan Thomas, Helen Croley, Sharon Benton, Betty Caskey — and the players listed in the school's official naming convention rather than the De Mao news-photo shorthand: Daniel Ford, Tom Pfledderer, Noel Adams, Tim Woodruff, Jack Thompson, Dennis Roach, Dudley Ross, Jim Fields, Ralph Hughes, Greg Phenis, Donnie Walton, Donnie Huber. Head coach Joe Stanley; assistant coach Kellas Drake.¹¹