57 - Coaches 1956-57 Class A All-County Team

DOVER - What would you want in a dream basketball team?  Over-all height, good speed, dead-eye shooting, defensive ability, abounding competitive spirit and above all, plain love of the game?

That's exactly what the 1956-57 Class A All-County Basketball Team has this year.  Usually 10 boys, but 11 this year, because of a tie, the team was selected for The Daily Reporter by the coaches of League schools.  The mentors 1st voted for the top 20 players on a preliminary ballot and then made a final choice from the nominee list.

The team is comprised of 8 Seniors, 2 Juniors and only 1 Sophomore.  It averages approximately 6-feet in height and in an aggregate 207 games the 11 "Dream Team" members sizzled the nets for 3,749 points or 18.1 markers a game per player during the regular season.  Seven schools are represented on the team with the Stone Creek Golden Panthers, Strasburg Tigers, Tuscarawas Valley Trojans and Midvale Blue Devils each placing 2 players each.

Those boys named to the Dream Team were:

Senior Glen Reidenbach - Baltic Eagles
Senior Eldon Miller - Gnadenhutten Indians
Senior John Colombo - Midvale Blue Devils
Senior Dick (Dandy) Leggett - Midvale Blue Devils
Senior Ed Bates - Port Washington Purple Riders
Senior Ron Deibel - Stone Creek Golden Panthers
Junior Rod Reinhart - Stone Creek Golden Panthers
Junior Chuck Burris - Strasburg Tigers
Senior Jerry Froman - Strasburg Tigers
Senior Ken (Bobo) Haueter - Tuscarawas Valley Trojans
Sophomore Ben Price - Tuscarawas Valley Trojans

Only 3 boys, Deibel, Froman and Miller were unanimous choices of all 10 coaches.  Deibel and Froman, along with Bates and Leggett are repeaters from last year.  Deibel joined the select few who have made the team 3 consecutive years.  He was named in both his Sophomore and Junior seasons.

Price is the only Sophomore on lthe team, while Reinhart and Burris are the 2 Juniors.  Price received Honorable Mention last year as a Freshman, while Reinhart also was on the Honorable Mention list.  Haueter was picked on the Honorable Mention list last year and this year just barely missed being a unanimous choice as did Colombo and Leggett.

Reidenbach, smallest member on lthe team at 5-5, along with Miller, did not receive any recognition last year as Juniors.  But this year Miller was a number 1 choice and Reidenbach was one of the top vote getters.  Bates leads in scoring among the All-County Team with 446 points during 18 regular season games for a 24.7 avergage.  In 4 tournament games the sharp-shooting lad has tallied 136 points to bring his total to 582 for better than 26 points per contest.

Miller follows Bates with 413 points in 20 regular season games for a 20.9 average, while Colombo tallied 360 in 18 games for a 20 point clip.  Deibel netted 399 in 20 tilts for 19.9 and Froman 356 in 18 contests for 19.7.  Bates set 2 new marks in the 3rd game of the present tournament with a 50-point spree.  He broke the old tournament record of 43 points held by Jerry (Goose) Von Kaenel of Strasburg and 44 markers that was the Memorial Hall floor record held by Jake Lengler of Dover High School.

Deibel, although experiencing a slump during the season, set a new 4-year scoring record.  He has tallied 1,851 points thus far in 4 years, snapping the old record of 1,792 set by Jim Jones, also of Stone Creek, in 1952 when the Golden Panthers won the county tournament for the 1st time.  Price is the tallest man on the team at 6-3 and is one of the better rebounders; although, teammate Haueter, at 6-1, has been labeled as the top board man in the League as he, many times, out-jumped players 2 and 3 inches taller than him.

Bates is also known as a dangerous man under the boards.  He handles his 6-2 frame with amazing ability in snatching loose ovals, while Burris and Froman also display uncanny ability in getting good rebound position; although, they are only 6-1 and 6-0 respectively.  Play-makers?  The team has them.  Rod Reinhart, labeled by many as a "ball-hawk" and Reidenbach, one of the best ball handlers in the loop, could do a better than ample job as the sparkplugs of the team.  Dick Leggett and Deibel; although, very fine shooters, are also outstanding on drive-ins.  Leggett was noted throughout the season for stealing the ball and making many easy layups.

Eldon Miller could also be added in the driving group as he led his fast-breaking team all year and tallied many of his points by beating the defense down the floor or getting the jump on his opponent.  Pivot men are also abundant on the squad as Price, Colombo, Haueter and Burris all move very well in the key and are adept in the art of hooking and shooting fade-away jump shots.


Saturday, February 23, 1957
Jim De Mello, Sports Editor
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio