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As so many youngsters in
Centralia have done, Boles got his footing
in sports through the Recreation Department
with Fred Pearson’s All-Star teams and on
Centralia Grade School teams under Coaches
Robert McCall and Bob Schmidt.
At Centralia High School, he lettered
in three sports - basketball, football, and
track (4). Boles scored four touchdowns and
two extra points in helping the 1958
football team to a 9-0 record. The team
outscored their opponents 384-12 and no
South Seven team scored against them.
He continued his career at Centralia Junior
College, playing basketball for Coach Chuck
Mundell. In 1960-61, the team finished 19-8
and Boles was the eighth leading scorer in
the nation, averaging 28 points per game. He
had a career high of 48 points in one game
that season and was named MVP on the
Southern Illinois College Conference
All-Conference team. Boles received NJCAA All-American honors and
played in the North-South All-American Game
in Lawton, OK under Coach Jack
Hartman.
Boles
continued his education on a basketball
scholarship at McKendree College. After
college, he taught and coached for sixteen
years. The last ten years, he was basketball
coach at Odin Grade School where he won 70%
of his games, and captured the SIJHAA State
title in 1970 with a 26-1 record.
In 1992, he
was inducted into the Kaskaskia College (C.J.C.)
Athletic Hall of Fame.
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