55 - Right Down The Line

Monday, March 14, 1955
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio



NATURAL ABILITY is not enough in any athletic contest.  Desire always plays a big part in any successful venture and this quality is one of the necessary tools a team must have to bring in a victory.  The 1954-55 Baltic Eagles Basketball Team had the desire during the tournaments just completed at Memorial Hall and its success story will long be remembered through the hears.

Future Baltic High School students will gaze upon the picture of Head Coach Jim Ross' team and dwell on the fact that these lads were the first in Baltic History to gain the District Tournament and go as far as the finals.  There have been good Eagle teams in recent years.  Some of these teams may have had more all-around ability, but none had more desire than the team which gave the Tigers' potent club a battle all the way to the finish Saturday night.

When Head Coach Ken Newlon of the Cats stated that the Eagles "had me sweating," he wasn't joking in the least.  The Flyers were never out of that game until the Strasburg began pulling away in the last 2 minutes.  We congratulated Baltic's Senior Errol Jacobs after the contest and "Jake" softly murmured his thanks and said - "I didn't want to finish 2nd best."

That's the spirit that kept Eagles moving at a fast clip right through the tournament.  The Flyers got a taste of defeat in their 1st outing when a team which they had beaten twice during the regular season turned the tables on them.  The Gnadenhutten Indians reached into the bottom of the bag and pulled out a fiery drive to set Baltic down in the last minutes of play.  That seemed to shake the Eagles' desire into the foreground and the Flyers were on their way.

THE TRAIL this Baltic team blazed through the tournament could be termed as one of "upsetting" power for the Eagles didn't seem to look upon what the dope sheet had in store for them.  They upset their way into the finals Saturday night and they were very much set on upsetting the kingpin Strasburg Tigers, too.  The Tuscarawas Broncos were the 1st victim of the Flyers "desire" and the Broncos were dropped unceremoniously from the county tournament.  Tusky was 8 points ahead with little more than a minute left in the regular session when Baltic caught fire and deadlocked the game in the last 10 seconds and then handily won in overtime.

That was only the beginning for the Eagles.  Gnaden a team with an equal amount of desire, forced the Flyers to the limit in the Consolation Division finals.  Baltic survived that and then came back to upend a good Dover St. Joseph Ramblers team that had a 10-point lead and appeared to be going away in the 2nd quarter.  The Big Prairie-Lakeville Bulldogs went down next with the fact that the Bulldogs had defeated them twice in the regular season discounted by the Eagles.  Then came the Flushing Orioles.

ONE THING was very outstanding in all of those important victories.  Each member of the Baltic team contributed to the balanced scoring attack and when part of the team was down, one man came up with a scoring punch that lifted the others back into the swing of things.  Fritz Syler, Jim Wallace and Jacobs, all of whom played their final basketball game for the Eagles Saturday night, were outstanding all the way.  Sophomore Glen Reidenbach doesn't have much size, but he commands a lot of authority on that floor.  Junior Jim Uher also came up with some blue chip performances and Junior George Regula was the jack of all trades, coming in when a strong lift was needed and never failing to provide that lift.  Senior Paul Armbrust came in with a particularly welcome stint in the St. Joseph's victory and was another of Baltic'a limelight.

THE OTHERS on the squad, Senior Don Kaser, Sophomore Jonas Miller, Senior Ron Huprich, also had a part in the Baltic success.  This has been a particular satisfying year for the Eagle basketball program with 3 new trophies going into the case, stationed just inside the front entrance to the school.  Two of those trophies, the Co-Sectional and District Runnerup awards, have no counterparts in the case.

Congratulations from this corner to Head Coach Jim Ross and all of his basketball players for a job well done.  You proved that teams can bounce back if it has the desire and is willing to put out 100 percent towards achieving victory.  Congratulations also to the Baltic Cheerleaders who won this year's county tournament award.  The trio of Priscilla Huprich, Marlene Lembright and Margene Young led the cheers which helped keep the Eagles driving towards victory..

As for Francis Lembright, the Manager who became a familiar sight on the Baltic bench as he shouted encouragement to the players and wrung his hands in anguish when things weren't going so good.  It's been a fabulous year for Baltic to remember.