Ionia High School - Ionian Yearbook (Ionia, MI)

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Bullpups First row. Funk, mgr. ; Second row. Coach Lori, Harder, Hod- son, Bricston, Kohloff. Langdon, E. Nelson, Spencer. Coach Wiles; Third row, Harley. Tafel, Neustifter, Tuller, Totten, C. Stanton. Bleacher Strategists — While Rooters Cheer ! Not to be left out of the picture are the Bull- pups who deserve a lot of credit for their hard work and diligence. These boys, coached by Ray Wiles, showed a lot of spirit and should be the bulwark of the teams to come at Ionia high school. The two co-captains, Bob Whitesides and Kent Raymor, along with the team ' s most valuable player, Bob Kenny, made the All-Conference teams. Raymor and Kenny placed on the first team, and four men made second team berths. They were Fate, fullback; Haas, halfback; Schwab, tackle; and Whitesides, end. Two banquets feting the gridiron stars were held. One was the annual football banquet spon- sored by Hilers ' December 6, and the other was sponsored by the Moose organisation February 6. Letter winners were Bob Whitesides, Kent Ray- mor, Bob Kenny, Keith Dickerson, Stanley Kitch, Leonard Schwab, Chuck Perrien, Wayne Douglas, Clarence Haas, Stanley Thomas, Howard Fate, Dick Kelley, Tom Sullivan, Dick Spaulding, John Moore, Dick Le Valley, Royal Kirby, Burton Essex, Douglas Benedict and Roger Buxton. The two managers, Donald Funk and Richard Burns, also received awards. Sept. 22 Sept. 29 Oct. 6 Oct. 13 Oct. 18 Oct. 27 Nov. 3 Nov. 10 Ionia 1944 Football Schedule Carson City .... 19 Ionia Lowell Ionia Belding 20 Ionia St. Johns 19 Ionia Lake Odessa .... 6 Ionia Stanton 7 Ionia Hastings 19 Ionia Greenville 14 Ionia Totals 104 25 13 14 7 7 6 72

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f LOUIS J. LORI — Another new member of I.H.S. this year was Mr. Lori, who was Bull- dog coach and instructor of boys ' phys. ed. A giaduate of Fhnt Northern high school, he attended Western and Michigan State and holds a B.S. degree. Swimming, golf, and dancing help fill Coach Lori ' s vacant hours. RAY WILES — As the assistant coach Mr. Wiles guided the second team football and basketball squad. (See write-up page 9). Pigskin Cast Performs — With four varsity members back from the ' 44 championship team, Coach Lori called his first practice with a high-spirited squad. After the preliminary toughening up, the team began learning new plays in the form of the modi- fied box formation. Then came the first test against opposition. Carson City went home the loser after a close- fought game of 25-19. What was considered to be the most difficult game came the next week-end, and the boys drilled extensively on pass offense and defense. It was thought that Lowell would be the victor, but the Bulldogs defeated the Kent county aggre- gation before a record crowd 13-0. It looked as if Ionia high was well on the way to another cham- pionship team with Belding our next game. The game was in the bag by a 14-13 score when Beld- ing blocked a punt deep in Ionia territory in the last two minutes, and Belding went on from there to win 20-14. Royal Kirby, a regular guard, was lost to the team with a broken leg in the Belding game. St. Johns sent home a thoroughly trounced eleven, 19-0, and Bob Whitesides, another regular, went out with a twisted knee. Ionia then set about to wallop Lake-O, which proved to be a tough nut to crack. The Bulldogs eked out a 7-6 victory. Stanton, usually easy pickings, held the lonians to a 7-7 tie. The gridders drilled hard the next week with Hastings coming up for an- other conference tilt, but Ionia went down to a 19-6 defeat. The last game of the season for the team and its four seniors, Pork Raymor, Whitey Whitesides, Keith Dickerson and Wayne Douglas came up the next week. Ionia bowed out the season to a powerful Greenville team to the score of 14-0. The Bulldogs First row, Funk, mgr. ; second row, Coach Lori, Haas, Keliey, Sullivan, Dickerson, Kenny, Raymor, Fate, Coach Wiles; third row, Echlin, Mellinger, Buxton, Essex, Shattuck, Benedict, LeValley, Spaulding; fourth row, Moore, Perrin, Kitch, Kirby, Thomas, Schwab, Douglas, Whitesides.

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Varsity Cagers First row, Moore, Spaulding, Kelley, N. Smith, Fate, Le Valley, Van Vleck; second row. Coach Lori, C. Stanton, Mellinger, Neuman, Harder, Kitch, R. Green, Coach Wiles. Fair Success For Ionia Quintet In Dramat ic Court Season With only six practices behind them, the Ionia courtmen barreled over the Fowler five by 1 point for the season ' s thrilling opener. The excitement piled high for the remainder of the season as the Bulldogs showed hot and cold playing. When the curtain closed on the season, the final scores showed a fair year of 6 wins and 7 losses. The second team, composed mostly of young aggressive freshmen, gained valuable experience although they won but two games. Their coach, Ray Wiles, developed a lot of hidden talent dur- ing the year. Coach Lou Lori awarded 7 coveted letters. Vet- erans who received awards were John Moore, Howard Fate, Nathan Smith, Dick Kelley and Dick Spaulding; reserves Doug Neuman and Max Van Vleck earned their letters by their untiring efforts. Nathan Smith and Howard Fate were elected honorary co-captains for the Ionia quintet of ' 44- ' 45. In February, the season looked dull when Coach was called by the army, but Uncle Sam had a heart, and Lori received a deferment which carried him through the athletic season. Next year ' s team will drive down the floor to victory with the loss of only one regular, Nat Smith.