The 1952 Tuscarawas Broncos won the 18th Consolation Division Championship by a hair...56-55. FRONT: Jerry Briggs - Rich Hill - Ralph Vesco - John Adams - Dick Ronald - Don Tharp - Jim Henry and Head Coach Chuck Lorenz. BACK: Harry Thompson - Bill Wilson - Bob Briggs - Dick Davis and Larry Myers.
DOVER - If cage fans heard a bonafide bark in the big arena prior to the Tuscarawas-Dundee scramble, the "cause" was parked in front of Dundee's bench...a mean-looking English Bulldog, loaned by the Tuscarawas County Bulldogs from Smearly Farms Inc. of Marietta. In addition to wearing a banner marked with a big red "D," it carried a $500 price tag. But the unfriendly low-slung canine didn't scare The Tuscarawas Broncos (4-1) (12-12) (41-38) who came out snorting fire to roll up a 16-10 lead with Sophomore center Harry Thompson paving the way with his brilliant jump shot around the foul circle. He potted 4 field goals before the Dundee Bulldogs (3-2) (18-4) (29-44) went all out to stop him.
And it was all Thompson in the 2nd frame when the other Broncos lost the rage as the Bulldogs' Big Pups threatened to turn the game into a rout. But Thompson potted 2 more and Sophomore guard Ralph Vesco was the one who kept the Colts in the running; although, they trailed 30-26 at the intermission. Thompson collected only 2 more action shots in the last half, but that's when his teammates, led by Junior forward Don Tharp, came to the rescue.
Tharp rimmed 2 straight to open up the 3rd stanza and then combined with Sophomore guard Jim Henry on the fast break to push Tusky out in front 36-35 early in the quarter. Henry came back later to dunk 2 more on blazing drive-ins. Thompson meshed one from the keyhole and Vesco poured in a long shot from the side to give the Broncos a 44-39 advantage going into the home stretch.
The Colts quickly made it known in the opening minutes of the last round that it was victory-bound. Senior forward Dick Ronald, Tharp and Vesco put their scoring antics together to snowball the lead to 9 points, 50-41. After losing their ace forward Senior Loris Hostetler of Dundee, on personal fouls with 3 minutes left and the Bulldogs trailing 56-49, the Dogs proceeded to slice the count in a desperate last stand as Senior center Curt Beamer, Senior guard Merlyn Immel and Sophomore Rich Slemmer combined to push the Bulldog total to 55 with less than a minute remaining. But the cagey Broncos squelched the bid by stalling out the clock.
Thompson led the winners with 21 points, while Tharp and Henry followed up with 13 and 10 points as their contribution. The hard luck Dundee team was led by Loris' twin brother Louis Hostetler gathering 14 points as Slemmer and Immel added 10 points each.
TUSCARAWAS BRONCOS - 56
Don Tharp (288) F 4-5-13
Larry Myers F 0-0-0
Dick Ronald F 2-1-5
Bob Briggs F 0-0-0
Harry Thompson (300) C 10-1-21
Jim Henry G 5-0-10
Ralph Vesco G 3-1-7
Rich Hill G 0-0-0
DUNDEE BULLDOGS - 55
Loris Hostetler (331) F 4-1-9
Rich Fruchey F 2-0-4
Louis Hostetler F 7-0-14
Rich Slemmer C 3-4-10
Curt Beamer G 4-0-8
Merlyn Immel G 5-0-10
Monday, February 25, 1952
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
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