Darlington High School Building
Friday, July 29, 2011
Basketball and football teams of 1908
History of Darlington Basketball
The Early Days
Darlington High School had a long and storied basketball history. According to John “Butch” Dale, basketball was introduced at Darlington in 1906-07. Its story is similar to that of the other schools. Mr. Harry Wright, the principal at that time, mentioned to the boys the basic rules of the game. Interest was stirred up enough that the boys went out and bought a basketball and began playing a crude adaption of the game on a rough outdoor court. Trees were used a goals, and when they hit the body of the tree below the first limb, one point was tallied.
When the first actual basketball goals were erected a short time later, those eager schoolboys thought that it would be virtually impossible to throw the ball through the hoop. After hours and hours of practice, however, the determined gang discovered that putting the ball in the basket was not nearly as hard as it looked, and they were ready for their first interscholastic game. According to an account in the 1910 Darlington Yearbook, one player related:
“Our first game was with Bowers High School, and we came out victorious. Then we thought that we had a State Championship team. The next Friday, we played them in a return game, and that is where we met our Waterloo. This did not discourage us at all, and we began practicing all the harder for a game with Linden. Linden came over and thought that they would walk all over us…they did.”
These three games were played in the fall of 1906 on outdoor courts, and after that the cold Hoosier winter weather moved in and forced the team to drop the game in favor of schoolwork for a while. During the latter part of January, the boys decided that nothing was going to stop them from playing, and they managed to scrape up enough money to rent a local town building to play in.
“It was a great expense to get everything ready, but we got squared away, and the first game was with a team from Crawfordsville, which we defeated. This set the people crazy over the game. Our next game was with Lebanon, and the hall was filled to its fullest capacity, and the excitement ran high on the part of the rooters, because the D.H.S. team came out victorious.”
During the 1907-08 school year, the Darlington delegation decided that they needed a coach that could develop and bring out the talents of the players. The captain called up Big Bill Sprow, “one of the greatest basketball centers Wabash ever had,” and pleaded with him to become Darlington’s coach. Sprow accepted and, “was very eager to assist (us) because he was very poor and needed all the money he could possibly get.” Their new coach took the team in hand and began to work out the finer points of the game; he also told them to schedule games with teams that had a good reputation and not to play the “little minor teams that did not amount to anything.”
The team received encouragement from the teachers, students and residents of the town. The faculty “would make short talks to the student body to attend the game in a bunch and root for the home team, and cheer the players when they made a good play, and let them know that they were helping win the game by their loyal spirit.” The Darlington squad played every team that would play them, including Wabash College, which they defeated 25-14. Other opponents included Lafayette, Brazil, Indianapolis Shortridge, and DePauw, to name a few.
Darlington HS Scoring
records
Career Points Career Ave.
Rich Douglas 1296 86 15.1
Don Threlkeld 1246 64 19.5
Dan Nichols 975 68 14.3
John “Butch” Dale 925 61 15.2
Bob Mullen 832 65 12.8
Jerry Gick 823 57 14.4
Bill Douglas 750 47 16.0
Darrell Maxwell 722 38 15.0
Terry Cain 720 44 16.4
Winston Wilson 698 54 12.9
Season Year Points Games Ave.
Terry Cain 1970-71 543 21 25.9
Don Threlkeld 1968-69 493 25 19.7
Jerry Gick 1962-63 467 23 20.3
Rich Douglas 1969-70 457 23 19.9
Bob Mullen 1957-58 457 22 20.7
Darrell Maxwell 1953-54 444 23 19.3
Don Threlkeld 1967-68 434 20 21.7
Dan Nichols 1968-69 412 25 16.3
John “Butch” Dale 1965-66 396 20 19.8
Dan Nichols 1969-70 391 23 17.0
Game Year Points Opponent
Terry Cain 1970-71 39 Williamsport
Don Threlkeld 1967-68 36 Coal
Creek Central
John “Butch” Dale 1965-66 35 East Tipp
Rich Douglas 1968-69 35 Roachdale
Don Threlkeld 1968-69 35 East
Tipp
Bob Mullen 1957-58 34 Waynetown
Jerry Gick 1962-63 33 East
Tipp
Dan Nichols 1969-70 33 Granville
Wells
Tom Thompson 1949-50 32 New Ross
Al Wray 1958-59 32 Waveland
DARLINGTON
(RED WARRIORS) INDIANS
Coaches records
Bill Sprow 1907-1908
Harter
(Deac) Walters 1908-1909
L.L.
Martin 1913-1915
Ed Miller 1915-1923
Ray Bowman 1923-1925
Ollie
Gregory 1925-1927
Ed Miller 1927-1930
Lester
Tudor 1930-1934
J.C.
LaFollette 1934-1935
Alex Cox 1935-1939 4 45-22
Herb
Brammel 1939-1940 1 17-7
Loren
Joseph 1940-1941 1 16-9
Bill Goff 1941-1942 1 12-10
Ed Miller 1942-1944 2 12-24
Raymond
Brown 1944-1945 1 9-9
John Cash 1945-1946 1 17-5
Loren
Joseph 1946-1948 2 24-17
Bob Gibbs 1948-1952 4 42-39
Pete Irwin 1952-1954 2 33-13
John Deere 1954-1955 1 6-14
Al
Niswonger 1955-1959 4 64-22
Emerson
Mutterspaugh 1959-1964 5 53-54
Galen
Smith 1964-1968 4 49-35
Dave
Nicholson 1968-1970 2 46-2
Gene
Morrison 1970-1971 1 18-4
Basketball 1953-54 County Champs
 The name of the yearbook in 1954, as well as many other years was The Chief |   |
| Cheerleaders that year were Sharon Hankins and Chloe Riley |
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