Port Washington High School Annual Sports Banquet (4-29-54)

A novel twist was injected into the annual sports banquet at Port Washinton High School last night as the veteran Purple Rider Coach (Bray Toot began coaching at Port Washington during the 1945-1946 season) walked off with the lion's share of the awards. Coach Toot, who has guided the Riders for the past eight years and has been dubbed "dean" of the county league coaches, was pleasantly surprised near the close of the program as he was presented with a trophy on behalf of the 1953-54 Purple Riders who won 13 games, lost nine, and finished in a third-place tie in the county circuit. David Goettge, an ardent Port Washington fan, sponsored the trophy.
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THE PRESENTATION was a complete surprise to Coach Toot who had difficulty controlling his emotions as he explained what such a gesture meant to him after 26 years of coaching. A few moments later, Emerson Welsch, chairman of the banquet committee, presented Coach Toot and his four senior cagers, Ken Huston, Larry Combs, Fred Welsch and Jim Landon, with individual "Oscar" awards on behalf of Milton Gossett, president of the Booster Club. "They were a fine group of boys," Coach Toot said as he heaped praise on his most recent edition of Purple Riders. "They obeyed my every command to the letter. They were wonderful and I certainly wish them the best of luck in their after-school lives." The four seniors and junior Paul Frank were presented letters by Coach Toot who paid special tribute to Huston, 1953's most-valuable-player.
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HOLDING up Huston's letter which had four gold stripes, Coach Toot revealed that "it was only the third time in his 26 years of coaching that he had been able to present a player with a fourth-year varsity award." Letters were also presented to cheerleaders Karleen Brick, Karen Veley and Kay Mathews and to managers Jim Hill and Ken Stocker, Tom Jones and Gary Dichler just missed earning varsity letters. Charles W. Peters, self-styled "rural humorist" of Minerva, was the principal speaker and kept the crowd roaring with his numerous stories, few of which were on the serious side. Supt. Jerry Baird acted as toast-master while Mayor Elwood Couts have a short talk and George Landon led the group in singing. Gary Davies presented two piano selections.
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Thursday, April 29, 1954
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio