The History of Men's Intercollegiate Athletics at Danville Junior College
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Eastern Illinois University The Keep Masters Theses Student Theses & Publications 1976 The iH story of Men's Intercollegiate Athletics at Danville Junior College, Danville, Illinois Terry T. Hill Eastern Illinois University This research is a product of the graduate program in Physical Education at Eastern Illinois University. Find out more about the program. Recommended Citation Hill, Terry T., "The iH story of Men's Intercollegiate Athletics at Danville Junior College, Danville, Illinois" (1976). Masters Theses. 3412. https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/3412 This is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Theses & Publications at The Keep. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of The Keep. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE HISTORY OF MEN'S INTERCOI.T.EGTATE ATHLETICS AT DANVITJ.E .TIJNIOR COIJ.EGJX, DANVIIJ,E, ILLINO IS (TITLE) BY Terry T. Hill THESIS SUBMlmD IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF Master of Science in Physical Education IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL, EASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY CHARLESTON, ILLINOIS 1976 YEAR I HEREBY RECOMMEND THIS THESIS BE ACCEPTED AS FULFILLING THIS PART OF THE GRADUATE DEGREE CITED ABOVE I\ ,., ]-�8-J(; DATE 7hr/76 DATE PAPER CERTIFICATE #2 TO: Graduate Degree Candidates who have written formal theses. SUBJECT: Permission to reproduce theses. ' The University Library is receiving a number of requests from other institutions asking permission to reproduce dissertations for inclusion in their library holdings. Although no copyright laws are involved, we feel that professional courtesy demands that pe rmission be obtained from the author before we allow theses to be copied. Please sign one of the following statements: Booth Library of Eastern Illinois University has my permission to lend my thesis to a reputable college or university for the purpose of copying it for inclusion in that institution's library or research holdings. // . •· / </ I respectfully request Booth Library of .Eastern Illinois University not allow my thesis be reproduced because Date Author pdm 34:i:608 ACKNOWLEDGElVIENTS The writer wishes to express his sincere appreciation to Dr. William Buckellew for his guidance and direction in the construction of this study. Appreciation is also extended to Dr. Walter Lowell for his help and suggestions in the preparation of this paper. The writer also wishes to thank Dr. Robert Carey for his help and comments in the preparation of this paper. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE • • I. INTRODUCTION • . • • • • • • • e I I I D I . 1 II. THE ORIGIN OF CROSS-COUNTRY I I I I I I I I • • 4 The Era of Coach Richard Cheney 1967-72 . 4 The • . Era of Coach Terry Hill 1974 . 34 I I I III. I I I • • • . THE ORIGIN OF GOLF . 42 The Era of Coach Ed Evemeyer 1965-66 . • • • 42 The Era of Coach Joe Springer 1967-74 • c • 43 IV. THE BEGINNING OF MEN'S BASKETBALL AND ATHLETICS AT DANVILLE JUNIOR COLLEGE • • • • • • • . • 68 The Era of Coach Glen Murphy 1947-49 . • • • 68 The Era of Coach Joe Ward 1949-63 . • • • 70 The Early Years of Coach Ed Evemeyer 1963-66 70 The Era of Coach Dick Bodine 1966-67 . 71 The Era of Coach Jim Williams 1967-70 • c • 72 The Era of Coach Jim Heeren 1970-74 . 96 The Later Years of Coach Ed Evemeyer 1973-74 96 The Era of Coach George Latinovich 1974-7 5 • 99 • • . • v. THE ORIGIN OF WRESTLING • • • • . 103 The Era of Coach Dan Winland 1967-7 5 . • . 103 ' I I I I I VI. THE ORIGIN OF BASEBALL I I I I 120 I The Era of Coach Ed Evemeyer 1968 • • • • • 120 The Era of Coach George Latinovich 1969-75. 122 CHAPTER PAGE VII. SUMMARY . 144 REFERENCES CITED . 147 APPENDIX A COACHES TENURE .. 150 APPENDIX B YEARLY SQUAD MEMBERS I I a ' I I I I I 8 151 APPENDIX C COACHES WON-LOST RECORD . 160 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION This study concerns the highlights and the statis tical history of the athletic program at Danville Junior College located in Danville , Illinois . The beginning of athletics at �he college has been traced back to the basketball season of 1947-48 . It was the first sport organized at Danville Junior College and the study carries through the spring sports of the 1975 season . rhe need of the study was to centralize data on all the spol'.'ts programs and to rule out "hear say" that was offered as fact . The purpose of this study was to collect, organize , and prepare factual data in thesis form . The sources of data for the study came from offi- cial school records and score books obtained from the athletic department of Danville Junior College; the book , History Under cur Feet ; the school newspaper , Campus Courier; and the area newspaper , The Danville Commercial News . Other data were obtained from personal interviews with coaches , the athletic director , and campus personnel . Many problems were encountered along the way in collecting continuous historical data. Even though the 1 2 athletic program began in 194.7, the college did not have a campus until the fall of 1965. From 1947 until 1965, the college conducted its classes at Danville High School . The first athletic director was hired in 1965. The early coaches did not teach at the college and did not retain score books and records . The move from Danville High School to the new campus on the grounds of the Veterans' Administra tion Hospital caused many of the records to be lost or destroyed . Many interviews were not dependable because the person interviewed had to rely mainly on memory . The first coaches at the college did not turn their scores into the area newspapers , which left the community with very few records or statistics . (2) The study is divided into chapters , according to sport . Chapter 2 covers the adoption of cross-country into the athletic program in the fall of 1967 and the following years of the sport . Chapter 3 covers the origin of golf and the following years at Danville Junior College . Chapter 4 covers the basketball program from the beginning in 1947 through 1974. Chapter 5 covers the origin of the wrestling program in 1967 through 1974. Chapter 6 is devoted to baseball . It covers the year baseball was started in 196S through the 1974 season . Supplementary materials are listed in the appendix: tenure of coaches , the won and lost records of each team in each season , and the names of all participants in each sport. Also listed is the record of each coach. 3 The word, intercollegiate, in this paper, means the participation between two junior college teams, one junior college and a university non-varsity team or 11B" team, a junior college and a university varsity team, and a junior college and a community college. Other terms used to describe the Danville Junior College athletic teams are ; Jaguars , Cats, or DJC. In the study, all of the athletic contests were played in the state of Illinois unless stated otherwise. Chapter 2 THE ORIGIN OF CROSS-COUNTRY In the fall of 1967, the athletic department added cross-country to the sports program. With the start of classes, several ex-Danville High runners began practice and comprised the first team. The home meets were held at Kickapoo State Park, six miles west of the city. In 1970 , the Veterans• Administration granted the use of its golf course, adjacent to the campus, for both golf and cross country meets. In 1971 , this became the site of the NJCAA National Finals with Danville Junior College as the host school. A total of thirty-one teams from across the nation competed as Vincennes University of Vincennes , Indiana took team honors. (7: Nov. 17, 1971) Dick Cheney , a former Illinois State wrestler and runner, became the first cross-country coach at Danville Junior College. He had previously coached at Lincoln Grade School and North Ridge Junior High in Danville before being employed by the college in the audio-visual and psychology departments. (11) 1967 SEASON The Jaguar cross-country team ran its opening meet against Thornt�n Junior College at East Holland, on Septem _ ber 25. Danville was defeated by a 25-30 count as Mark 4 5 Schnable of Thornton won the three mile event in a 16:04 time . Dave Dreusicke was the highest Danville finisher in third place with a 16:34 time . Other Danville finishes were ; Randy Tinder , fourth place with a 16:51 time , Kurt Clippinger, fifth place with a 17:39 time , Gary Gourley , eighth place with a 18:14 time and Jack Foley , tenth place with a 19:36 time . (1) On October 3, the Jaguar cross-country team traveled to Charleston to compete against the freshman team of Eastern Illinois University . The Panthers handed the Jaguars their second loss. of the season by a 15-50 score . Eastern placed seven runners ahead of Randy Tinder who led the way for Danville with an eighth place finish in a 17:25 time . Ken Klipp led the Panthers with a 15:48.3 clocking . Kurt Clippinger placed ninth in a 17:33 time , followed by Dave Dreusicke' s tenth place finish in a 17:49 time . Jack Foley placed eleventh in a 20: 10 time ; Gary Gourley placed twelfth in a 20:14 time and Todd Hazelbarth was the last Danville finisher with a thirteenth place finish . His time was 21:07. (1) The first cross-country win by DJC was a forfeit by Prairie State College of Bloom . The meet was scheduled for October 6 . Prairie State brought only two runners . Mike Cuprys of Prairie State won the three mile contest held at Kickapoo State Park .