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When graduating from Centralia
High School in 1966, Ferguson held the
following baseball records:
CAREER - hits 99, home runs 15, RBI 103
SEASON - hits 36, batting average .511
GAME - home runs 2.
He may still hold the RBI record as
statistics since then are sketchy. All other
marks have since been surpassed.
Ferguson played on four CHS baseball teams
with records as follows: 1963 (22-6), 1964
(20-2), 1965 (11-6), 1966 (5-6). As a Freshman, he led the 1963 team in
batting with a .424 mark and in 1965 he set
the batting record of .511.
The 1966 schedule was limited by rainy
weather and the season came to a close on a
coin toss to determine the Regional winner.
Salem won the toss. None the less, the
Evansville Sunday Courier saw fit to name
Ferguson to its first team All-Southern
Illinois squad.
He
went to SIUC on a baseball scholarship.
After his Freshman year, he returned to play
the 1968 season at Kaskaskia College. He
went back to SIUC and played for Coach Itchy
Jones for the 1969 and 1970 seasons.
The Salukis made NCAA appearances both of
these years and advanced to the College
World Series in 1969. While not a starter on
these teams, Ferguson was instrumental in
his reserve role, collecting a varsity
letter for the 1970 season.
The
versatile Ferguson was also a member of the
Centralia High School “Sweet Sixteen”
basketball team of 1966 (19-12) and the
basketball team of 1965 (23-6). He scored
seven touchdowns and one extra point while
playing for CHS South Seven Conference
championship football teams of 1964 (7-3)
and 1965 (7-1-1).
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