|
The Orphans of 1946, persevered
through tough times to make it all the way
to the State title game. With All-Stater
Colin Anderson missing ten straight games,
and the flu bug hitting other players at the
same time, the team lost five consecutive
games before the Holiday Tournament.
With such players as Anderson, Charles “Pig”
Oland, Ken “Preacher” McBride, Harold
Rush, Arnold Gluck, and later in the season
Fred Schlictman, the team ran off 14
straight victories to make it to the State
title game. The most exciting of these games
was the semi-final game with favored
Dundee.
Down by five points with two minutes to go,
and Oland having fouled out, things looked
bleak for the Orphans. Coach Trout
then instituted the zone press with Gluck as
a chaser. Gluck stole the ball four
consecutive times and was fouled each time.
With his accurate free throw shooting and a
big rebound by McBride the Orphans snatched
a victory from what looked like certain
defeat.
Centralia lost to Champaign 54-58 in the
title game. Rush was the leading scorer in
the title game with 15. Anderson was named
first team All-State tourney. He led the
30-10 Orphans in scoring with 562 points for
the season.
COACH: A.L. Trout ASSISTANT COACH: Jimmie
Evers
TEAM MEMBERS: Dean Manns, Don Schnake, Don
Griffin, Harold Rush, Ken “Preacher”
McBride, Colin Anderson (Capt.), Arnold
Gluck, Charles “Pig” Oland, J.B. Clarida,
Bill McKain,
Jim Bieser, Don Fearheiley, Bob Klosterman,
Bill McDonal, Fred Schlictman, and John
Wilson.
|