Eastern Illinois University The Keep Plan B Papers Student Theses & Publications 1-1-1968 An Historical Study of the Midland Trial Athletic Conference Leland E. (Gene) Tolliver Follow this and additional works at: https://thekeep.eiu.edu/plan_b Recommended Citation Tolliver, Leland E. (Gene), "An Historical Study of the Midland Trial Athletic Conference" (1968). Plan B Papers. 582. https://thekeep.eiu.edu/plan_b/582 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Theses & Publications at The Keep. It has been accepted for inclusion in Plan B Papers by an authorized administrator of The Keep. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AN HISTORICAL STUDY OF THE MIDLAND TRAIL ATHLETIC CONFERENCE (TITLE) BY Leland E. (Gene) Tolliver PLAN B PAPER SUBMITIED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE MASTER OF SCIENCE IN EDUCATION AND PREPARED IN COURSE EDUCATION 582 IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL, EASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY, CHARLESTON, ILLINOIS 1968 YEAR I HEREBY RECOMMEND THIS PLAN B PAPER BE ACCEPTED AS FULFILLING THIS PART OF THE DEGREE, M.S. IN ED. (/17/t<? I DATE c TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS• • • • • • • • • • ii LIST OF TABLES· iii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION· • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1 Statement of Purpose Definition of Terms Procedures of Study ~imitations of the Study II. ORGANIZATION OF THE MIDLAND TRAIL· 4 III. THE SPORTS DIVISION OF THE MIDLAND TRAIL • • 11 The Baseball Divison The Cross Country Division The Basketball Division The Track Divismon IV. SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS· • 22 APP~NDICES• • 24 BIBLIOGRAPHY· • 50 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my appreciation to Mr. V. D. Shafer, Mr. Guy Magill, Mr. Paul Monical, Mr. H. M. Waddle, Mr. Guy Kimpling, and others for their assistance in obtaining the data for this paper. I would like to express my appreciation to Dr. Matzner and Dr. Shuff.for their assistance in the absence of my advisor, Dr. Garner. ii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Past M.T~C. Baseball Champions •••••••••••••••••••••••• 30 2. Past M.T.c. Cross Country Champions................... 31 3. Past M.T.C. Basketball League Champions............... 32 4. Past M.T.c. Track Champions ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 33 5. Past M.T.C. Basketball 'lburnament Champions ••••••••••• 34 6. Winners in 100 Yard Dash.............................. 35 7. Winners in 220 Yard Dash.............................. 35 8. Winners in 440 Yard Dash.............................. 36 9. Winners in 880 Yard Run............................... 36 10. Winners in Mile Run ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 37 11. Winners in High Jump •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 37 12. Winners in Long_Jump •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 38 13. Winners in Pole Vault ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 38 14. Winners in Shot Put •••••••••••••••••••••••••••.•••.••• 39 15. Winners in Discus Throw............................... 39 16. Winners in 880 Relay.................................. 40 17. Winners in Mile Relay ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 40 18. Winners in 70 High Hurdles •••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 41 19. Winners in 120 Low Hurdles •••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 41 20. Winners in Two Mile Run............................... 42 21. Winners in 50 Yard Dash............................... 42 22. Winners in Baseball Throw............................. 42 23. Past Individual Cross Country Winners................. 43 24. Schools Compiling Perfect League Basketball Records... 43 25. Midland Trail Frosh Soph Basketball Tourney Champions. 44 '• iii LIST OF TABLES(CONT'D) Table Page 26. Midland Trail Frosh Soph Track and Field Champions... 44 27. Midland Trail Varsity Track Records.................. 45 28. Midland Trail Frosh Soph Track Records............... 45 29. Position of Finish fer current M.T.C. Baseball Teams. 46 30. Position of Finish for Current M.T.C. X-Country Teams 46 31. Position of Finish for current M.T.C. Bask'ball Teams 47 32. Position of Finish for Current M.T.C. Track Teams.... 47 33. Coaches of the Year.................................. 48 34. Recent M.T.C. Administrators......................... 48 35. Championships Won by M.T.C. Member Schools........... 49 36. Schools Holding Membership in M.T.c. Since Founding.. 49 iv 0 CHAPTEF_ I INTRODUCTION Officials who work in the H.idland Trail Conference are faced with decisions which need to be made with reference to precedents already established in fonner years. Changes in rules, regulations and policy must be discussed, voted upon and passed with only the memories of two men, who have been in the league since its inception in 1929, to rely upon. The only other available source of past records is the partial file of old conference minutes, found in varying degrees of completeness, located in each office of the member schools. In the very near future these men will retire, and the need for some kind of pennanent record will become more acute. It was this primary reason which brought the writer to undertake the job to compile an historical and record-bearing paper. This paper will serve to answer the following questions: (1) What has the league done in the past? (2) What precedent has been established for this action? (3) What teams have won in the various sports? In what years? (4) Who was the coach of each of those teams? (5) v.There were these events held? The turnover of conference officials is another reason for the importance and necessity of the preparation of such a paper. The Midland Trail Conference would like to use this work as their Official Q_'!J-d~. 0 3 DEFINITION OF TERMS M.~_g_.--The Midland Trail Conference (athletic) located in southeastern Illinois, whose membership varies from six to eight schools. Conference--A group of sch~ols, clubs, etc., banded together to promote activities of mutual interest. In this case, baseball, cross­ country, basketball and track. Administrator--The person functioning as the school leader. Coach-- will be limited to the head mentor in each of the various sports Educatio~--The social process by which people are subjected to the influence of a selected and controlled environment so that they 1 may attain social competence and optimum individual development. 1carter V. Good, Dictionary of Education, (New York, Toronto, London: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1959), p. 191. 4~ ~· 4 PROCEDURE OF STUDY The operation of the M.T.C. has been directly influenced by past precedent or past history, but this information has been supplied from the memories of individuals whose tenure in the conference dates back to its beginning. It was hoped an historical guideline, which provides for updating annually, would become the guiding source for years to come. In this study a table of all past athletic team winners (by sport), past coaches (by sport) and past administrators (by school) will be compiled with provision for addition to the table for five years. The M.T.C. constitution and by-laws will be included with space for additional amendments. The M.T.C. will be traced chronologically with emphasis on the various sports, schools and tournaments. Changes in the philosophy of administering the M.T.C. will be treated in as much detail as the data will allow. Major changes in the league organization will be described in similar manner. Sources of data for this study were past newspaper accounts, interviews with persons in the M.T.C. at its beginning and past M.T.C. minutes which were located through various trips to the schools. 5 LIMITATIONS OF STUDY - This study will be limited to those activities classified as athletic by the M.T.C. It will be further limited by the unavailability of minutes or newspaper accounts for various periods of time. When a person has been in the league for a number of years he may be inclined to. exaggerate the actual account of past performances or his memory of those sports he coached may be tinted by sentiment. This could obscure some of the information attained from interviews. Finally, the newspaper accounts were written for the local papers by the coach a greater portion of the time. CHAPTER II ORGANIZATION OF THE MIDLAND TRAIL The original Midland Trail Conference was organized about December of 1928. It sponsored a track meet for the member schools in the spring of 1929. The meet was won by Noble. The first basketball league and tournament was operated in the 1929-30 school year. 2 This was its first full school season of operation. The original members were Xenia, Iuka, Sumner, Clay City, Noble and Louisville.3 The name was derived from routes 45 and 50, portions of which were called the Old Midland Trail. An old hotel located in Flora, along a strip where 45 and 50 run concurrently, still bears the name, The Midland Trail Hotel. There is also speculation that only route 50 was the Midland Trail, since all schools except Louisville were located along this route. Louisville is on highway 45. Of the original six team league, Xenia and Iuka were three-year high schools, meaning their students had to transfer to another school 4 to complete their senior or twelfth year. The record of league proceedings is obscured for the next period of five years due to a loss of secretary's minutes. However, sometime during this period Dundas and Cisne were added making an eight-member 2Interview with Guy Magill, June 3, 1968. 3The Clay County Republican (Louisville), February 7, 1930, p. 1. ~inutes of Spring meeting, March 18, 1936, Midland Trail Conference, Clay City, Illinois, (in the files of the conference secretary). 6 7 conference. which was the maximum number of members granted under the original constitution. Both these entries were three-year schools. Dundas is located about five miles north of Olney along route 130. In 1938 Iuka lost their school and withdrew from the conference. They were absorbed by Salem. Then in 1941, Olney took Dundas into their syste~, .. and the league was deleted to six schools once again • The league had begun to look around for possible replacements in the fall of 1939. Flat Rock was extended an invitation to join, effective the 1939-1940 school year.