In an earlier 1950s game, James Larsen simply tackled opponent Paul Gorreng to stop the latter's successful drives around him, briefly knocking him out. Larsen, however, was removed from the game for good.

During an earlier four-year stretch, 5th didn't win any basketball games when "we didn't really have a coach," recalls James Larsen. But after his uncle Doug took over the coaching reins, they put together a five-game winning streak of scoring at least 40 points in every game.

Later, when the Division 6 champs took their show to All-Church, their luck ran out. In the double-elimination tournament, the team lost to a Farmington ward and with James Larsen out due to the measles, bowed out to another team whose name they can't remember.

The squad played together for six years, three of them pickup and without a coach. When Doug Larsen came on the scene, he changed the boys' collective mind-set. "The best thing to do is teach fundamentals at that age," he said, like the three-man weave-passing drill.

The players also worked on rebounding. "A lot of guys got hit in the mouth but learned. They really (jelled), got better and really came together."

Not only did they become better players, but they became better friends, said James Larsen. They learned to play basketball, while their coach taught them teamwork and how to work hard.

Resourceful coach Doug Larsen obtained a book on coaching offensive basketball from a Phillips 66 gas station. The team practiced a couple of times a week, each for over an hour learning the new system. "We were so tired when we finished," said James Larsen. "It was easy for Doug," he chuckled, but did concede the practices were as fun as the games.

In the early 1940s, the 5th Ward had all of the senior James Larsen's brothers and a Priest — Marty, Joe, Roy, Doug and brother-in-law Dick Priest — as starters and sixth-man, respectively.

One of Doug Larsen's favorite stories is when his Fifth Ward team played the old Salt Lake 6th-7th Ward. When big man President Thomas S. Monson, now first counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, shot a free throw, Larsen stepped on his foot, so President Monson couldn't move. The referee didn't see it, grinned Larsen of the foul, and 5th Ward retrieved the missed shot. Perhaps justice was done when 6th-7th won anyway.

Now, Doug Larsen remembers then-Bishop Monson "just kind of looked at me. He just went on down the floor and was never the kind of guy" who would retaliate. "He was a nice guy and very friendly."

In past general conferences, President Monson has humorously recalled his church basketball career. In one game, he mistakenly shot at the other team's basket, but the ball bounced off the rim a couple of times and fell away. The vocal crowd chanted "We want Monson, we want Monson, we want Monson — OUT!"