A Winning Tradition: Fred Huff's Look at the Hallowed History of Du Quoin High School Football Histor
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Volume #3: 1950s Produce Exciting Seasons Despite 35-55-5 Overall Record
Without question, a 68-6 win over Pinckneyville in the 1958 season finale is one a few older Indian followers still enjoy re-playing as it allowed Du Quoin scatback Nick Jent to establish a new Southwestern Egyptian Conference scoring record.
Due to injuries, the 5-8, 150-pound senior halfback had missed two of Du Quoin's first eight games, including a 45-7 romp over Shawnee, but literally went wild against the Panthers when he scored eight touchdowns and six extra points for 54 points.
The outburst allowed him to finish the league season with 89 points, a new SEC individual record by two.
And, it should be noted that none of his scores were setups.
None were inside the Panther five.
Only two were inside the 10.
And, although there were understandably some cries of "piling it on", it's fact that Du Quoin attempted only one pass in the entire game.
Jent's record was enough to result in a first-team all-conference team spot, Du Quoin's only one, but his scored record of 89 was a short-lived standard.
Leon Longshore, another in a long list of standout Du Quoin backs, topped Jent's by three points the next season -- in 1959 -- when the Indians won six games for the second straight year to help erase some of the leaner won-lost records in the decade.
There were a number of individual standouts in the late 1950s, particularly Tom Keller, another undersized back who made up for lack of size with skills and determination. Others included Tom Marek, Ray Gross, Bob Huntley, Jim Seibert, Charles Sheehan, Gerald Whitley, Jim Smith and John Kearbey. It was a good group that finished out the 1950s.
The decade had started with a 3-7 season in 1950 which was followed up with an impressive 7-2-1 record the following fall which proved to be J.T. English's final year as Du Quoin's head coach.
English resigned in the summer of 1952, giving way to former Indian standout athlete, Galen Davis.
Although the two were longtime friends -- and continued to be so for years to come -- English was never credited for leaving much of a legacy.
On the contrary, Davis inherited an impossible situation.
An unrealistic schedule.
Du Quoin was contracted to play three games in the first eight days/nights of the season.
And, the middle game was at Mt. Vernon where quarterback Bob Bowlin, one of the few returning lettermen, suffered a broken nose. Then a week later the Indians played twice in three days . . . and against Murphysboro and East St. Louis Central Catholic.
It led to a 3-9 season's record and set the tone somewhat for the next five seasons before Jent & Company renewed Du Quoin's winning ways in the final two years of the fifties.
Fortunately the decade finished up on the positive side with much to look forward to in the 1960s.
EDITORS NOTE: This is the third of a 10-part series previewing a soon-to-be-published book on Du Quoin High School's football history. It will be available three weeks after Du Quoin's final game of the 2009 season.
Volume #2-The 1940s Began and Ended On Highs With Little In Between
The 1940s hardly compared to the success Du Quoin High School's football program has had in the past quarter-of-a-century, but there were some meaningful happenings.
Such as in 1940 when the Indians repeated their eight-win season of the previous year and established a new school scoring record of 308 points. It stood for 28 years, until 1968 when Bob Karnes' first season resulted in 337 points and an undefeated 10-0 record.
Along with the team record number of points in 1940 came a new individual mark as Simmy Alvis, a talented halfback scored 13 touchdowns and eight extra points for 86 yards.
R. Paul Hibbs, who doubled as Du Quoin's backfield coach in addition to being the nation's most successful high school speech coach, called Alvis "the best running back Du Quoin has ever had."
Alvis not only was a superb ball-carrier, but he was equally as skilled at throwing the ball and was credited with eight TD passes.
Galen Davis, one of Du Quoin's finest receivers ever as well as being the school's sports historian, has said, "I scored a lot of touchdowns on pass plays, but I didn't have to do much as Simmy buried the ball right in my chest most of the time. He could put it on a dime."
After their 8-1-1 season in 1939, the Indians matched it perfectly with eight wins, a single loss and a tie in 1940. Along with it came a second straight championship in the newly-formed Southwestern Egyptian Conference.
The single loss in the season was at Urbana, 13-7, but hardly damaged Du Quoin's lofty status as the hosts were the top-ranked team in the state.
In addition to Alvis and Davis, the 1940 team had memorable Du Quoin athletes such as Dale Davison, Bob Winthrop, Merrill Mann, Gene and June Gross and Carl Bell at leaders.
There was little letdown the following season -- 1941 -- when the Indians posted a 9-2 record despite the fact they were forced to play EVERY game on the road. Van Metre Field, now in its 75th year, was unavailable for play during the season which means whereas this is the "platinum year" for the facility, it's just the 74th of actual use. All but two games were played on opponents' fields although the Indians met Herrin at Pinckneyville and Anna-Jonesboro at Carbondale.
Nevertheless, the Indians continued their winning ways as Bob Johnson, a player the Evening Call's do-everything reporter Virgil Bishop referred to as "the blonde, swivel-hipped newcomer", broke Alvis' scoring record by accounting for 104 of Du Quoin's 248 points.
One of Du Quoin's two losses was to East St. Louis, a team it was paired up with in a post-season Shrine Bowl game played on the Flyer's field.
Emory Martin, who had coached the Indians since 1933 and had an impressive 45-33-8 record, resigned suddenly after the football season and was replaced by John Rauth.
The fiesty, one-time Golden Gloves boxer from Belleville, kept it going, although not at the same level, for three years before Bob Huntley took over for one season before being replaced by J.T. English in 1946.
It took English only one season to regain respectability for the program which had been unable to finish above the .500 level since 1942.
Available talent, as usual, had much to do with the transformation as seniors Enoch Morris, Joe Albers, Curtis Jackson, Henry Abbott and a handful of others were joined by several hot-shot juniors like Bob Keeler, Gene Anderson, Gordon Feazel and Don Porter. They were successful in going 8-1 and backed it up with a 7-2-1 season the following year when Henry Justice returned to the sport after missing the previous season.
Just like most decades of Du Quoin football, the forties were fruitful.
Volume #1-The first of a 10-part series previewing a book on Du Quoin's s football history .
Every football fan in southern Illinois is well aware of the remarkable success of Du Quoin High School's program. Many individuals have played key roles in the program's development . . . coaches, players, fans and administrators.
Our purpose in writing what will be a 160-page book on the program's history is to give credit and acknowledge the hard work and dedication so many in this community have given to it. Without the cooperation and approval of John Croessman, publisher of the Du Quoin Evening Call, who allowed us access to the files, it never could have been completed.
The Evening Call's editor in the late 1920s when the program was revised at the high school, even ran a weekly column entitled "Foot Ball Gossip" in which he attempted to educate readers on some of the sport's finer points. That was a gentleman by the name of L. B. Sheley, a well-known Pinckneyville newspaperman.
The early years of the program were not nearly as successful as the last 25 seasons have been, but Du Quoin's fans supported the new entertainment venue well. Several hundred fans turned out for every game to cheer for the Indians, including so many that later played prominent roles in one way or the other in the community. Names like Maxton, Pflanz, Wootton McElhattan, Bailey, Catanzaro, Layman, Marlow, Pittman and Anderson.
They got the program started, winning four of six games in 1928 and followed with basically break-even seasons through the 1930s.
Playing on a make-shift field behind the old Maid-Rite on South Washington street,
Pflanz scored three touchdowns in one game and was an early hero.
Jack Nuding was a drop-kicking specialist on the early teams, an art which has long been forgotten. The Call reported that "thousands of fans attended the game at Elkville" which was won by the Indians 33-6 as players like Jack Nuding, Ray Summers, Dick Grills and Warren "Barney" West were standouts.
In 1930 the Indians finished 5-5 as players like Gene Rodman, Dale Bulmer, George Dowell and Carmelo Campanella played important roles. That, too, was the season Elkville, a power in those years, blasted Pinckneyville by an almost unbelievable score of 111-0.
Wootton, later a well-known local photographer, scored four TDs in a single game as Raymond Fox, Ray McMurray and Bob Huntley provided assistance.
Another interesting story appearing in the Call's files told how Lavern Bailey, a top halfback, had a habit of tossing his helmet to the ground after breaking loose on runs of 10 or 15 yards.
Hopefully present-day fans will enjoy reading about the start of the program and be interested in learning the names of more than 1,400 players who have participated at one time or another.
In addition to the names, we tell what years they lettered along with scoring records, series records, where games were played, the coaches and other tidbits.
The research was relatively easy after guys like the Call's present sports editor, Jeff Profitt, took over in the 1990s, but there are a few missing facts along the way. We've tried to minimize those while at the same time telling about Nick Jent scoring eight touchdowns in a single game. We'll touch on many of those details in coming weeks.
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