Reitz Memorial High School - Memorial Review Yearbook (Evansville, IN)

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Members of the l954 Reitz reserve basketball team are, from left to right, first row: Ron Wilson, Paul Rice and Tom Terrell. Second row: Bill Goins, Ottie Droste, Gary Moore, Bill Thurneck and Bill King. Standing: Ron Talley, Leonard Deeds, Charles Graff, Mike Bentzen, .lim Harding, Russell Kuhn and Coach Bob Gilham. l Members of the l954 Reitz freshman basketball team are, from left to right, first row: Charles Scherer, manager, Don Pfohl, Andrejs Mezmalis, Bob Nichol- son and Bob Veeck, manager. Second row: Richard Henderson, Albert Roehr, Clifford Trainer and Don Matthews. Third row: Coach William Trott, Bill Loos, Larry Schultz, Russell Dutton, George Bruner, Lowell Volkman and Tommy Turpen. Mike Mobley was not present when the picture was taken. Page 58 Coach Robert Gilham's reserve team had a good season and brought home another city championship. The squad started the year with three victories, de- feating Huntingburg 140-293, Bicknell f4O-363 and Tell City C39-24l. They were defeated by a rugged Washington team C52-379. Not letting the defeat' affect them, they rolled up four more victories before losing to Bedford C5l-3ll. They completed the season with a total of nine vic- tories and six losses. The Panthers had plenty of height-ranging from 5 feet ll inches to 6 feet 4 inches. The team consisted of five juniors and nine sophomores. Junior-sized cagemen ended a good season for Reitz by downing the Southern Indiana Conference Champs, Central. Starting the season, the young Panthers lowned two city teams in a row, Mater Dei and Bosse. Then they traveled to Tell City to con- tinue the trial of victory. Returning to the city they met Memorial's Tigers head-on, but the little Tigers fell to the wayside of the strong shooting tactics of the Panthers. Lincoln also felt the sting of defeat from the young Hill- toppers. Then the Panthers had their first round with Cen- tral's Bruins. lt was the Panthers' first loss for the season. But' the tide turned and the Panthers snatched two more victories from the hands of Mt. Vernon and Bosse. Losing in the SIAC tourney, the Panthers bounced back to win the four final city games, Coach William Trott's boys had a good season.

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Reitz's i954 Varsity basketball team and SIAC champs are, from left to right, first row: .lim Boyd, student man- ager, Larry Higgins, Bob Fisher, Tom Greenberg and Ted Weiss, student manager. Second row: Jim Byers, Harold Hal- brook, Jim Russell, Bob Martin and Wally Stramming, student manager. Third row: Head Coach Clarence Riggs, Gary Sprinkle, Charles Graff, Bob Carnal, Ken "Skip" Knight, Dick Carroll and Assistant Coach Bob Gilham. Rolling past Huntingburg 49-44, the Panthers made their season opener a successful one. The Hilltoppers traveled to Terre Haute and dropped their first game to the Gerstmeyer state finalists, 5l-65. Bicknell then came to the Pant'her's den and dropped a 68-54 engagement. Tell City invaded Reitz next and went home on the short end of a 56-46 score, Washing- ton's Hatchets fell before the Panther onslaught, 5l-47, in an overtime affair as the Panthers continued their domination of SIAC competition. The Panthers met disaster in the Holiday Tourney, falling to Princeton and Winslow 45-52 and 44-53 respectively. Lincoln dropped Reitz 56-36, and then Terre Haute Garfield, previously unbeaten, bowed to the Riggsmen 54-48. Still hop- ping mad from last year's one point defeat, the Panthers rolled past the Bosse Bulldogs for an avenging 55-44 decision. Travel- ing to Bedford, the hot Panthers won their sixth straight SIAC victory 48-43. Princeton cooled Reitz off as they won their second game from the Panthers in a tightly played ballgame 50-53. The Reitzmen came back in a whirlwind to stop Boonville 48-35. Jerry Clayton and the crew from Central, with twelve wins and two losses ,challenged Reitz and went home on the short end of a 5l-48 score, The red hot Winslow Eskimos put' the freeze on Reitz for the second time, 6l-4l. New Albany fell 52-49 in a game that' had the fans screaming. Memorial was the last victim of the Panthers in the regular season as the Hilltoppers snowed them under in a 60-42 rout. Coach Bud Ritter's Peru squad stopped Reitz 50-4l as the Panthers couldn't hit the Tiger's basket, Jasper's Wildcats stopped Reitz in the season's final game 57-4l as the Wildcats fin- ished second in the Sl-AC. Sectional time came with twelve teams all aiming at one goal, the Evansville championship. Wadesville invaded E-town to play the Panthers and went home dazed as the Reitzmen unloaded a barrage of field goals and free throws for a 82-46 victory. Lincoln was the next opponent of the Panthers and, putting on one of the longest and most amazing stlals ever displayed at Central gym, they downed the Riggsmen 30-32. This year's team won twelve games and lost nine. They won the Southern Indiana Athletic Conference championship with ten wins and two defeats in league play. They finished second in the city race with three victories and one loss as they played one game less than Central who had a four and on record. They also placed one player on the all-city team and one on the all-SIAC team. Page 59

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Members of the 1953 Reitz varsity and reserve football teams are, from left to right, first riw: Jere Richardson and John Vaught, managers, Lowell Jackson, Larry Stofleth, Bill Iglehart, David Austill, Norbert Hancock, James Byers, James Horr, Don Vandeber, Bob Martin, Fred Tramel, Joe Herron, Bob Fisher, Phil Aramowicz, Wayne Moore, Jim Bromrn, Jim Pirtle, David Cox and Managers Tommy Schmidt and Skip Williams. Second row: Cub Coach Wayne Weller, Equipment Manager Raymond Jones, Freshman Coach James Barnett, Principal Neil V. Pierce, Bob York, Harold Stone, Lowell Farrar, John lmel, Fred Russell, John Marshall, Gary Bailey, David Deer, Emerson Tornatta, Geralo Branham, Richard Bogard, Jim Julian, Jerry Paul, Joe Lamble, Aaron Bolton, Bob Davis, Coach Herman Byers and Athletic Business Manager Cecil Couts. Ellerbrook, Louie Garst, Allen Steve Garrett, Michael Bentzen, Jim Harding, Gerald Crowley, George Hape, Tony Weller, Pat Lyons, David Huff and Coaches Third row: Jim Evans, Orvel Happe, Gary Reke, Bill Zinn, Gerald Wallace, Ronald Talley, Frank Carr, Frank Harrington, Dailey, Harry Gonterman, Larry Jack Schaeffer and Alan Horn. City, SIAC, and State Championships were gathered on the hilltop this year by the football team. To win all these honors they had to complete a ten game schedule without a defeat. The Panthers opened their season with an easy win over Barret of Henderson, 34-O. The team displayed the power in that game that was to carry them all through the season. Traveling next to Indianapolis, they played Cathedral and showed fine form by defeating them 20-O. Gerstmeyer of Terre Haute proved to be the Panthers' stiff- est early season competition. Taking advantage of a Hilltopper fumble, they were the first team to score on the Reitz eleven. The Panthers won by a 20-6 margin. At New Albany the Panthers gave a sturdy Bulldog team a 47-6 walloping. Coming home to play a hepped-up Bosse Bulldog squad, the Blue and Gray gridders eked out a I4-7 victory in a game that was played hard all the way. Mater Dei, a young school trying to engineer a triumph over the Hilltoppers for the first time, was leading 7-6 at half time. This was the first and only time during the entire season that the Panthers were behind. In the second half they recovered, and wound up with a l9-7 victory over the Wild- cats. Highly touted Muncie Central, undefeated leaders of the Northern Conference, traveled to Evansville to meet the Blue and Gray. Last half touchdowns by Jim Byers and Bob Martin paced the southern defenders in a convincing I3-0 victory over the Bearcats. The Vincennes Alices were the next to fall, 44-7, in a game that featured many long touchdown plays. Don Siscel's 75 yard jaunt and Larry Stofleth's 85 yard punt return were the highlights of the game. Memorial's Bengals ventured to the West Side only to receive a 40-O trouncing at the hands of the Panthers. End Bob Fisher caught two TD passes to set the determined pace for the Blue and Gray. Central's strong Golden Bears were the last hurdle for a perfect season. Rolling up a 27-O triumph, Fred Russell's 75 yard touchdown run in the opening minutes was one of the many bright spots, Don Siscel, playing his last high school game, showed fine form as he scored twice for Reitz. Page 57