Port Washington High School (Purple Riders) 2nd year basketball Head Coach - George Thomas (Wheeling Central High School and Marshall University of Huntington both in West Virginia and a Korean War Combat Veteran) 12-26
1966 ROSTER
Greg Bender
Bill Dummermuth
Dunn
Rich Fillman
Jeff Huston
Roger Lewis
Tim Page
Mike Peeper
Jerry Stephens
Ken Rothenstine
FINAL TUSCARAWAS COUNTY LEAGUE STANDINGS
1. Garaway Pirates 5-1
2. Midvale Blue Devils 5-1
3. Strasburg Tigers 5-1
4. Tuscarawas Valley Trojans 3-3
5. Port Washington Purple Riders 2-4
6. Gnadenhutten Indians 1-5
7. Tuscarawas Broncos 0-6
FINAL TUSCARAWAS COUNTY SEASON STRANDINGS
1. Midvale Blue Devils 17-4
2. Garaway Pirates 17-5
3. Strasburg Tigers 17-6
4. Tuscarawas Broncos 8-11
5. Port Washington Purple Riders 6-13
6. Tuscarawas Valley Trojans 6-14
7. Gnadenhutten Indians 5-14
With up to 40% of the season missing, it would prove fruitless to attempt some sort of a round-up this year. Although, it is very clear that Port Washington had a typical year. The big picture for the league and tournaments is somewhat clear with what we have produced. I will make an attempt to redo this season when I can gather research from other papers. If this is not possible the 1965-1966 season will eventually show up in "Knights of Tuscarawas County."
The next problem at the moment is the 1966-67 season. The Saturday papers have been located for this season; however, I no longer have access to the Daily Reporter due to (hopefully) updates for the paper. So, I will return to "Last Of The Purple Riders" when access becomes available. I suspect the wait to be not longer than one month or less. In the meantime I will be concentrating on "Knights Of Tuscarawas County."
Now, a wrap of the 1965-66 season in total:
Midvale, Garway and Strasburg ended in a 3-way tie for the Tuscarawas County Class A League title. It was Midvale's 5th straight title, Strasburg's 4th straight title and of course the 2nd straight title for Garaway. The 1965-66 season was capped with Stasburg's John Studer being selected to the Assocated Press All-Ohio first team and Garaway's Dan Andreas to the 2nd team. Andreas also was honorable mention All-American. NOTE: Dan Andreas would go on to play basketball at Ohio State and his brother, Bill, would follow him to Ohio State a few years later.
Midvale mentor, Pete Hilliard, reached a coaching milestone on February 5th when the Blue Devils defeated Port Washington 108-73 for his 200th victory at the Blue Devil helm.
Glenn Bower of Garaway also attained a personal mark when his cagers presented him his 100th victory, a 65-46 decision over West Holmes.
Dan Jinks of Gnadenhutten shattered the county's single-game scoring record with 50 points in the Indians' 116-115 victory over Tuscarawas. In the same game, Dave Paisley of the Broncos snapped the school's single-game high with 42 points.
Garaway's Andreas was named the county league's Most Valuable Player and to a berth on the All-County Team. Others on this team were:
Jim Young, Garaway Pirates
Dan Jinks, Gnadenhutten Indians
Harvey Byers, Midvale Blue Devils
Bill Hibbs, Midvale Blue Devils
Ed Yackey, Strasburg Tigers
Dave Paisley, Tuscarawas Broncos
Rich Fillman, Port Washington Purple Riders
Terry Gerber, Garaway Pirates
Pete Hilliard was the league's Coach Of The Year.
The Strasburg Tigers defeated the Hiland Hawks 65-63 to advance to the District Tournament where it joined the Garaway Pirates, which had downed the Midvale Blue Devils 53-46. Strasburg advanced all the way to the District finals where it bowed 54-47 to the Bridgeport Bulldogs.
The All-Eastern District Team was comprised John Studer of Strasburg and Dan Andreas of Garaway.
Strasburg was Tuscarawas County Junior High League Champions at 6-0 and ended 8-0 in winning the Junior High Tournament by defeating Tuscarawas Valley 42-30.
A certain restlessness, a drive for betterment and advancement, or in some instances to escape pressure, brought about a number of coaching changes in Tuscarawas County and area during 1966. All but Pete Hilliard at Midvale of the basketball coaches in the Indian Valley school district, resigned. They were Charles Etling at Tuscarawas, George Thomas at Port Washington and Oren Thompson at Gnadenhutten. Jim Lower, a 1966 Ashland College graduate, was named to the spot at Gnadenhutten; Joe Lopez, formerly an assistant to Thomas, to the Port post and Lyle Matlick, who enjoyed great success as reserve and 7th grade coach at Midvale, at Tuscasawas. Dennison native, Richard King, who once was Port Washington basketball coach, came to Carrollton to replace Bill LoPresti in the head cage job when the latter retired from coaching. King had had a highly successful tenure at Centerburg.
Once again, the county was well-represented in the college athletic ranks:
Frank Welling of Strasburg, a Senior at Wittenberg University, won his varsity numeral at guard and received honorable mention All-Ohio Conference. John Peters of Strasburg was performing at Otterbein College. Ken Mast, 1944 Sugarcreek-Shanesville graduate and Bluffton College basketball Coach, was named Coach of the year in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics' District 22 after piloting Bluffton to a 17-6 record.
ON THE DIAMOND - The Gnadenhutten Indians were the cream of the crop of county Class A teams in Tuscarawas and advanced all the way to the Regional Tournament. During the Sectional Tournament Indian southpaw Bill Kohl fired a no-hitter as the Tribe defeated the Scio Panthers 7-0. Gnaden downed the Hiland Hawks 8-3 in the Sectional finals to advance to the District Tournament and defeated Bridgeport 3-2 for the District crown before bowing 6-3 in its Regional opener to Wayne county's Northwestern.
Gary Gay
Lafayette, Tennessee
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