DOVER - Memorial Hall will echo with the cheers of a capacity throng tonight as a band of basketeers from the County Class B League, braving odds of 1,000 to 1, open the bids of their respective schools for the elusive Ohio Championship. The fact that Tuscarawas County has never won the Buckey bunting in Class B competition will not deter the 11 quintets, 8 of which will see action tonight in 4 contests. The closest the county has come to snaring the crown was years back when Frank Baumholtz led the Midvale Blue Devils into the semi-finals at Columbus before the Blue Devils were stopped.
Tonight's opening game at 6PM will pit the Baltic Eagles (7-10) against the Port Washington Purple Riders (9-6) with the Strasburg Tigers (20-1), League and defending Champion for the 2nd straight season, engaging the Dundee Bulldogs (5-7) at 7PM. The Gnadenhutten Indians (10-10) and the Bolivar Cardinals (13-5) will clash at 8PM with the Tuscarawas Broncos (16-4) meeting the Stone Creek Golden Panthers (0-16) at 9PM. Warfare will resume on Thursday night when the Sugarcreek-Shanesville Pirates (17-4) and the Midvale Blue Devils (10-11) collide at 7PM. The Mineral City Tigers (4-12), which drew a bye, will meet the Baltic-Port victor at 8PM with the Dundee-Strasburg loser playing the Baltic-Port loser at 9PM.
Strasburg, on the strength of its League record of 10 wins without a loss, is favored to retain the Championship with Sugarcreek-Shanesville and Tuscarawas rated as the No. 1 and 2 threats to the Tigers' supremacy. The latter 2 clubs tied for 2nd place in the loop chase with 8-2 records. Baltic gets a slight nod over Port Washington in tonight's opener. The Eagles pinned a 42-33 loss on the Purple Riders during the regular season and while Port has a better record , its squad was hit 2 weeks ago by an epidemic of the mumps and naturally will be at a disadvantage.
Paced by Willie Gardner, who meshed 88 points in League competition, Baltic averaged 40.5 points per game. The Eagles' foes averaged 35.7. Port, sparked by Jack Davies and Harold Huston, who meshed 99 and 87 points, respectively in the League, averaged 42.6 points per duel, while permitting 39.5. The Purple Riders finished 5th in the circuit and Baltic tied Mineral City for 9th.
Strasburg isn't expected to have too much trouble in knocking Dundee into the Consolation Division. The Tigers toppled the Bulldogs 58-21 on January 31st and will enter the fray with a season offensive average of 46.7 against a defensive mark of 27.8. Clarence "Junior" Yackey, 6-5 center, notched 155 points for Strasburg in 10 loop games, while Tom Haswell tallied 108. Dundee, which garnered 7th place in the League, boasts the League's hottest individual pointmaker in Paul Kate, who meshed 187, while Bud Walter gathered 119. The Bulldogs, over the season, averaged 42.6 per contest, while allowing 45.8.
Bolivar's 4th place Cardinals, rated by some as the tournament darkhorse, should get past 6th place Gnadenhutten. The Cardinals are led by Junior Murray and Junior Lundenberger, who netted 150 and 127 points, respectively, while Jim Linden and Gene Montague paced the Indians with 88 and 84. Playing 18 games, Bolivar owns the best offensive average in the circuit with 48.2 per contest, allowing the opposition 39.2. The Indians meshed 39.2 per contest and permitted 42.0 in the regular campaign.
Tuscarawas also is favored to turn back Stone Creek, having defeated the Golden Panthers 68-36 in their lone loop duel. The Broncos have 3 dangerous scoring threats in Loyal Bishop, Andy Steve and Dale McDonald, who harvested 155, 92 and 84 in 20 games as the Broncos hit a 45.8 pace against 37.1 for its rivals. The Panthers, who didn't win a contest in 16 tries, will be primed for an upset, but the odds are against them. With Duane Arbogast hitting 111 points and Verle Bushler 110 for the season, Stone Creek compiled an offensive mark of 35.1, but yielded on an average of 58.1 to its opponents.
Officials for the tournament will be Valy Dirodis of Cuyahoga Falls and Nick Frascella of Akron.
Tuesday, February 11, 1947
Harry Yockey, Right Down The Line
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
TUSCARAWAS COUNTY CLASS B BASKETBALL LEAGUE (1946-47)
1. Strasburg Tigers (Emmet Riley-4) 10-0 1.000 (13th Title)
2. Sugarcreek-Shanesville Pirates (Bill Ott-1) 8-2 .800
3. Tuscarawas Broncos (Jim Rogers-4) 8-2 .800
4. Bolivar Cardinals (Ray Blickenderfer-1) 7-3 .700
5. Port Washington Purple Riders (Bray Toot-1) 5-4 .555
6. Gnadenhutten Indians (Tom Coolidge-1) 5-5 .500
7. Dundee Bulldogs (Paul Baker-2) 4-6 .400
8. Midvale Blue Devils (Pete Wolfe-4) 3-6 .333
9. Baltic Eagles (George Graff-1) 2-8 .200
10. Mineral City Tigers (Bob Tawzer-1) 2-8 .200
11. Stone Creek Golden Panthers (Bill Arbogast-1) 0-10 .000
TUSCARAWAS COUNTY CLASS B BASKETBALL SEASON (1946-47)
1. Strasburg Tigers 20-1 .952
2. Sugarcreek-Shanesville Pirates 17-4 .810
3. Tuscarawas Broncos 16-4 .800
4. Bolivar Cardinals 13-5 .722
5. Port Washington Purple Riders 9-6 .600
6. Gnadenhutten Indians 10-10 .500
7. Midvale Blue Devils 10-11 .476
8. Dundee Bulldogs 5-7 .416
9. Baltic Eagles 7-10 .412
10. Mineral City Tigers 4-12 .250
11. Stone Creek Golden Panthers 0-16 .000
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