PHOTO: Midvale Blue Devils Coach - Pete Hilliard*
One of the most successful coaches in the state - that's Ralph (Pete) Hilliard, in his fifth season at the helm of the Midvale Blue Devils. He's taken the cage fortunes of that school to new heights in recent seasons. For the second time in three years, the Blue Devils will enter Regional tournament action Friday night in Canton's Memorial Fieldhouse. The last time they swept through it and gained the State Tournament. Last year the Blue Devils finished with a 19-3 record, being ousted in Sectional Tournament play by Gnadenhutten to whom they suffered their only loss this season. You'd hardly expect a team to improve very much on that record. But, Hilliard and his flashy Blue Devils have done just that in chalking up a near-perfect 22-1 mark to date.
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Friday night, Midvale, will tangle with Northwestern, defending Ohio Class "A" Champs who were rated first in the State in the last Associated Press poll. But running into rugged opponents is no new experience for the Blue Devils. In their last trip to the Regional, they met and defeated Vienna, which was rated third in the State at that time. They then followed with a victory over seventh-ranked Savannah.
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What has been the reason for the success enjoyed by the Blue Devils this season. Hilliard started out with a good nucleus in veterans Tom Belknap, Bill Housel and Ron Breniser, who were joined by letterman Tom Krocker, who suffered a broken leg in the last game of the football season, after the Christmas holidays. However, Hilliard credits it to "unselfishness." "Undoubtedly the big reason for our success was unselfishness and teamwork. The boys have disregarded all-county squads, who was high point man and who got the best writeups, putting one goal in mind - that to win each game as it came." The veteran Midvale tutor, in comparing the team that went to the State Tournament and this year's squad, commented, "We have a better offensive team than we had then, but I think the squad of two seasons ago was sharper defensively." And how does he compare this year's Regional field with the one two years back, which was comprised of Vienna, Savannah, Ridgeville and the Blue Devils? "Record wise it has to be considered a tougher field," he stated.
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Oddly enough, Hilliard, like New Philadelphia's Coach Leo Benjamin, is a Tuscarawas County native, and except for two years in the Army has never ventured long into foreign soil. A 1945 graduate of Tuscarawas High School, he received his degree from Kent State in 1951. He did not participate in basketball in high school and played only in intramural sports at college. He was assistant in football and basketball and head coach in baseball for three seasons before taking the head post in 1954.
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Tuesday, March 10, 1959
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
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