Sweet Charlie, Dike, Cazzie, and Bobby Joe: HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL IN ILLINOIS
by Taylor H. A. Bell
University of Illinois Press, 2004 Cloth: 978-0-252-02948-6 | eISBN: 978-0-252-09048-6 | Paper: 978-0-252-07199-7 Library of Congress Classification GV885.72.I3B45 2004 Dewey Decimal Classification 796.32309773
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
In urban and rural high schools throughout Illinois, basketball is a Friday night ritual. Local games are often the biggest thing happening all week, and the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and state tournaments attract fanatical fans by the thousands.
Far from the jaded professionals, the stories in Taylor Bell's Sweet Charlie, Dike, Cazzie, and Bobby Joe are of hungry young men playing their hearts out, where high-tops and high hopes inspire "hoop dreams" from Peoria to Pinckneyville, and Champaign to Chicago. Bell, a life-long fan and authority on high school basketball in Illinois, brings together for the first time the stories of the great players, teams, and coaches from the 1940s through the 1990s.
The book is titled for four players who reflect the unique quality of high school basketball, and whose first names are enough to trigger memories in fans who love the sport -- Sweet Charlie Brown, Dike Eddleman, Cazzie Russell, and Bobby Joe Mason. Bell offers exciting accounts of their exploits, told with a journalistic flair.
Beyond a lifetime spent covering the sport, Bell's research includes three hundred and fifty personal interviews with coaches, administrators, family members, and fans. He has attended the Elite Eight finals of every boys' state basketball tournament since 1958, and met and written about many of the most outstanding teams, coaches, and players who helped to make Illinois one of the most exciting arenas for high school basketball in the United States. Sixty photographs add depth to the accounts.
By a fan, for the fans, Sweet Charlie, Dike, Cazzie, and Bobby Joe is the authoritative book on high school basketball in Illinois, and will elate anyone who has thrilled to the poignant highs and shattering lows of high school sports.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Taylor Bell joined the sports staff of the Champaign-Urbana Courier after graduating from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, moved to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, and then to the Chicago Daily News. When that paper folded in 1978 he joined the Chicago Sun-Times. He has covered professional sports as well, but found his niche in traveling the state to write about high school sports. Before retiring in 2001, he wrote a column on high school basketball and covered the sport extensively throughout the state.
REVIEWS
"This is the definitive book on Illinois high school basketball, the one long-time fans have been waiting for. Taylor Bell has done a marvelous job of researching the games, the players, and the coaches to produce ‘can't-put-it-down reading.' As a sports editor who covered the high school basketball scene for 40 years, I give Taylor Bell a 5-star salute."--Bob Fallstrom, Decatur Herald & Review
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
The Bench
Pregame Warm-Up
Chapter 1: The 1940s
Centralia: Winningest Team in History
Dike Eddleman: The Greatest Athlete of All
Taylorville: 45-0 in 1943-44
Paris: The Ernie Eveland Era
Decatur: End of an Era
Champaign: Combes to Cabutti
South Shore: Gaining Respect
Pinckneyville: Two Legendary Coaches
Mount Vernon: Three Titles in Six Years
Max Hooper: The Captain
Chapter 2: The 1950s
Segregated Schools: "Power of the Pointed Finger"
Hebron: The Giant Killers
St. Elizabeth: Gone but Never Forgotten
Chico Vaughn/Joe Aden: Only Fifteen Miles Apart
Lyons: A Generation Apart
Du Sable: Where We've Come From
Rockford: Six Points in One Second
Elgin: Bill Chesbrough Era
Marshall: Remember the Juniors
George Wilson: The Messiah Comes to Play
Chapter 3: The 1960s
Collinsville: Bogie's Hometown
Vergil Fletcher: A Winner and a Visionary
Carver 53, Centralia 52: Smedley's Game-Winning Shot
Cazzie Russell: In a Class by Himself
Pekin: Four Years of Glory
Cobden: In Memory of Tom Crowell
Rich Herrin: "A Gem of a Man"
Galesburg: The John Thiel Era
Thornton: Lipe, Lou, LaMarr, Lloyd
Billy Harris: The Fastest Gunslinger of All
Chapter 4: The 1970s
Two-Class System: David vs. Goliath
Thornridge: The Best There Ever Was
Bob Dallas: Down on the Farm
Jay Shidler: Ride with Shide
Bloom: Tales from Hungry Hill
East Leyden: 104-4 in Four Years
Jim Hlafka: Home, Sweet Home
Chicago Public League: Rise to Power
Isiah Thomas: Hoop Dreams and Disneyland
Maine South: The Biggest Upset of All
Chapter 5: The 1980s
Glenn Riversc: Doc Makes House Calls
Quincy: The Hanks/Leggett Feud
Lawrenceville: 68-0
Mount Carmel: One of a Kind
Springfield: Bragging Rights
4
Ben Wilson: Too Young to Die
King: The Landon Cox Era
East St. Louis Lincoln: Four Titles in Eight Years
Andy Kaufmann: Making a Point of His Own
East St. Louis Lincoln vs. Peoria Central: Triple Overtime
Chapter 6: The 1990s
Move to Peoria: March Madness Finds a New Home
Proviso East: Three Coaches, Four State Titles
Pittsfield: They Play Basketball, Too
Staunton: They All Came Together
Peoria: "Cradle of the Crossover Dribble"
Dick Van Scyoc: 826 Career Victories
Peoria Manual: Four State Titles in a Row
Quad Cities: "The Greatest High School Arena"
East Aurora/West Aurora: Rivalry Heats Up
Westinghouse: The White Shadow's Legacy
Overtime
Sources
Index
Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: Basketball Illinois History, School sports Illinois History, Basketball players Illinois, Racism in sports Illinois History
Sweet Charlie, Dike, Cazzie, and Bobby Joe: HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL IN ILLINOIS
by Taylor H. A. Bell
University of Illinois Press, 2004 Cloth: 978-0-252-02948-6 eISBN: 978-0-252-09048-6 Paper: 978-0-252-07199-7
In urban and rural high schools throughout Illinois, basketball is a Friday night ritual. Local games are often the biggest thing happening all week, and the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and state tournaments attract fanatical fans by the thousands.
Far from the jaded professionals, the stories in Taylor Bell's Sweet Charlie, Dike, Cazzie, and Bobby Joe are of hungry young men playing their hearts out, where high-tops and high hopes inspire "hoop dreams" from Peoria to Pinckneyville, and Champaign to Chicago. Bell, a life-long fan and authority on high school basketball in Illinois, brings together for the first time the stories of the great players, teams, and coaches from the 1940s through the 1990s.
The book is titled for four players who reflect the unique quality of high school basketball, and whose first names are enough to trigger memories in fans who love the sport -- Sweet Charlie Brown, Dike Eddleman, Cazzie Russell, and Bobby Joe Mason. Bell offers exciting accounts of their exploits, told with a journalistic flair.
Beyond a lifetime spent covering the sport, Bell's research includes three hundred and fifty personal interviews with coaches, administrators, family members, and fans. He has attended the Elite Eight finals of every boys' state basketball tournament since 1958, and met and written about many of the most outstanding teams, coaches, and players who helped to make Illinois one of the most exciting arenas for high school basketball in the United States. Sixty photographs add depth to the accounts.
By a fan, for the fans, Sweet Charlie, Dike, Cazzie, and Bobby Joe is the authoritative book on high school basketball in Illinois, and will elate anyone who has thrilled to the poignant highs and shattering lows of high school sports.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Taylor Bell joined the sports staff of the Champaign-Urbana Courier after graduating from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, moved to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, and then to the Chicago Daily News. When that paper folded in 1978 he joined the Chicago Sun-Times. He has covered professional sports as well, but found his niche in traveling the state to write about high school sports. Before retiring in 2001, he wrote a column on high school basketball and covered the sport extensively throughout the state.
REVIEWS
"This is the definitive book on Illinois high school basketball, the one long-time fans have been waiting for. Taylor Bell has done a marvelous job of researching the games, the players, and the coaches to produce ‘can't-put-it-down reading.' As a sports editor who covered the high school basketball scene for 40 years, I give Taylor Bell a 5-star salute."--Bob Fallstrom, Decatur Herald & Review
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
The Bench
Pregame Warm-Up
Chapter 1: The 1940s
Centralia: Winningest Team in History
Dike Eddleman: The Greatest Athlete of All
Taylorville: 45-0 in 1943-44
Paris: The Ernie Eveland Era
Decatur: End of an Era
Champaign: Combes to Cabutti
South Shore: Gaining Respect
Pinckneyville: Two Legendary Coaches
Mount Vernon: Three Titles in Six Years
Max Hooper: The Captain
Chapter 2: The 1950s
Segregated Schools: "Power of the Pointed Finger"
Hebron: The Giant Killers
St. Elizabeth: Gone but Never Forgotten
Chico Vaughn/Joe Aden: Only Fifteen Miles Apart
Lyons: A Generation Apart
Du Sable: Where We've Come From
Rockford: Six Points in One Second
Elgin: Bill Chesbrough Era
Marshall: Remember the Juniors
George Wilson: The Messiah Comes to Play
Chapter 3: The 1960s
Collinsville: Bogie's Hometown
Vergil Fletcher: A Winner and a Visionary
Carver 53, Centralia 52: Smedley's Game-Winning Shot
Cazzie Russell: In a Class by Himself
Pekin: Four Years of Glory
Cobden: In Memory of Tom Crowell
Rich Herrin: "A Gem of a Man"
Galesburg: The John Thiel Era
Thornton: Lipe, Lou, LaMarr, Lloyd
Billy Harris: The Fastest Gunslinger of All
Chapter 4: The 1970s
Two-Class System: David vs. Goliath
Thornridge: The Best There Ever Was
Bob Dallas: Down on the Farm
Jay Shidler: Ride with Shide
Bloom: Tales from Hungry Hill
East Leyden: 104-4 in Four Years
Jim Hlafka: Home, Sweet Home
Chicago Public League: Rise to Power
Isiah Thomas: Hoop Dreams and Disneyland
Maine South: The Biggest Upset of All
Chapter 5: The 1980s
Glenn Riversc: Doc Makes House Calls
Quincy: The Hanks/Leggett Feud
Lawrenceville: 68-0
Mount Carmel: One of a Kind
Springfield: Bragging Rights
4
Ben Wilson: Too Young to Die
King: The Landon Cox Era
East St. Louis Lincoln: Four Titles in Eight Years
Andy Kaufmann: Making a Point of His Own
East St. Louis Lincoln vs. Peoria Central: Triple Overtime
Chapter 6: The 1990s
Move to Peoria: March Madness Finds a New Home
Proviso East: Three Coaches, Four State Titles
Pittsfield: They Play Basketball, Too
Staunton: They All Came Together
Peoria: "Cradle of the Crossover Dribble"
Dick Van Scyoc: 826 Career Victories
Peoria Manual: Four State Titles in a Row
Quad Cities: "The Greatest High School Arena"
East Aurora/West Aurora: Rivalry Heats Up
Westinghouse: The White Shadow's Legacy
Overtime
Sources
Index
Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: Basketball Illinois History, School sports Illinois History, Basketball players Illinois, Racism in sports Illinois History
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC