History of Crawfordsville basketball Part 2

Basketball History Part 2

Basketball returned to normal in 1920-21. J.D. Blacker coached the Athenians for one more year and again won the sectional despite having only a 15-14 record for the season. L.J.C (Clifford) Freeman resumed control after the 1920-21 season and led the Athenians to a 20-10 record in 1921-22 followed by a 25-2 record in 1922-23 including a return trip to the Final Four. In ten years at the helm of the Athenian basketball ship, "Brandy" Freeman would post a record of 155-88 (second only to Paul Curtis) including five sectional championships, a State Runner-Up, and another trip to the Final Four.

Nolan Craver led the Athenians into the thirties as he won 67 games and 3 sectionals. He was followed by Charles "Chuck" Henry who won two sectionals and 26 games in two years. One of the stars of the early 30s who played for both Craver and Henry was Paul "Pat" Malaska. Malaska was an outstanding performer in both football and basketball, winning All-State honors in both sports. After a brilliant career at CHS, he would further his education and play basketball in college at Purdue University for the legendary, Ward "Piggy" Lambert. After graduation, Malaska played professionally for the Indianapolis Kautskys and is now enshrined in the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame. Carl DeBard followed with two sub-par years, paving the way for the next giant of CHS basketball, H.T. "Mac" McCullough. "Mac" arrived on the scene in 1935 and led the Athenians to four sectional championships and 3 regional titles in six years. Along the way, he won 92 games, fourth among Athenian coaches. From 1915 (the first year of the sectional format), to 1948, the Athenians won twenty-two sectionals and six regionals. They appeared in the Final Four on four occasions. Wingate and Crawfordsville dominated state as well as county basketball in the early years as Crawfordsville won the state in 1911 and Wingate in 1913 and 1914. In the county, C'ville and Wingate dominated sectional play for 19 years with CHS winning 12 titles and Wingate winning 7.

Charlie Cummings took over 12 games into 1941 when "Mac" joined WW II. Cummings led the Athenians to Sectional and Regional crowns that year and took them to the Final Four in 1942. "Red" Lafollette followed Cummings and won the sectional in 1943. He was followed by Harold Anson who had two undistinguished years before A.L. Buckner settled in for two years and won the sectional and regional in 1945-46 with a 19-10 record and another sectional in 1946-47. Bill Chase took over in 1947- 48 and won 18 games including the sectional and regional. The Athenians hit a dry spell after that and were shut out of the sectional victory column from 1949 to 1955. The jump shot came into play in the fifties and scoring records jumped along with it. Jerry DeWitt piloted the Athenians for three years winning the first sectional and regional since 1948 as he accomplished the feat in 1955. Under the tutelage of Coach DeWitt, Phil Warren became the first big scorer in modern day CHS history. Warren scored 848 points in his three year career with a 12.8 average. DeWitt bowed out after a disappointing 7-14 record in 1955-56 and a brilliant new star from Indiana University, a protégé of the "Old Sheriff", Branch McCracken, flashed into the CHS basketball world.  

              

Dick Baumgartner brought instant success to Athenian basketball winning 17 games and the sectional in 1956-57. Then in 1957-58, he led the Athenians back to the throne room for the first time since 1942. Led by high-scoring forward, Joe Krutzsch, who scored 538 points that year (good for fourth on the all-time list) and floor general and eventual Trester Award winner Dick Haslam, the Athenians returned to the upper echelon of Indiana basketball.  Haslam was selected for the Indiana All-Star team and teammate Bill Burget played in the Indiana-Ohio All-Star game.  The 1957-58 team survived an overtime scare from tiny Alamo in the sectional when Joe Krutzsch hit a pressure-packed jump shot from the free throw circle with no time showing on the clock to win the game. The Athenians parlayed a sticky defense and disciplined offense into a spot in the final game of the State Tourney at Hinkle Fieldhouse. The Athenians lost to Fort Wayne South-Side, led by 7 foot Mike McCoy by a score of 63-34. They just simply ran out of gas after defeating Muncie Central 53-45 in the afternoon game.   Baumgartner continued to lead CHS four more years turning the team over to Assistant Coach Tommy Thompson for one year in 1960-61 to return to I.U. for a Master's Degree. 

Dick Wilkinson finished his career under Coach Thompson in 1961 with 466 points, 9th on the single season list for a total of 802 placing him 10th on the career scoring chart. His 39 points in a single game remained the record until Matt McCarty shattered it in 1992-93 with a 42 point outburst against Lafayette Central Catholic. Baumgartner would finish his career with 105 wins-and 50 losses which placed him third among the twenty-four CHS coaches. He compiled a winning percentage of .677 which was seventh on the list and won five sectionals, a regional, and a semi-state to go along with his State Runner-Up. Coach Baumgartner developed two super scorers in his six-year coaching career at CHS. In addition to Joe Krutzsch, who played his first three years at North Salem, Baumgartner also coached Jeff Davis who whipped in 464 points in 1962-63, good for 7th on the CHS single season scoring list. Dick Baumgartner then moved to Richmond High School where he finished his career as the winningest coach in Richmond High School history as his Red Devil teams won 234 games. When Baumgartner left CHS, he turned the basketball fortunes over to one of his favorite players, the little floor general of the 1958 State Runner-Up team, Dick Haslam.           

 Haslam returned to his alma mater to coach basketball for the next seven years. Haslam-coached teams continued the example of excellence of his mentor as they won 88 games and four sectionals. Haslam produced two of the finest scorers ever to wear the Gold and Blue. Larry Grimes patrolled the front-line and pounded the boards for three years, scoring 595 points his senior year,  and amassing 1006 points in his three year career. Grimes is one of only three Athenians to score over 1,000 points in his career. The other 1,000 point player who played for Coach Haslam, as well as Baumgartner, was Bob Williams who played from 1961-64. Williams was the career scoring leader for 20 years at CHS with a total of 1008 for his three years. This puts him in second place behind Petty. This high-scoring guard of the 60s bombed the nets for 541 points his senior year good for third on the single season list behind Petty and Grimes. When Dick Haslam moved on to Ben Davis High School, he left as the fourth winningest coach in Crawfordsville history. The man who followed Haslam stayed 12 years and continued to add to the rich tradition at CHS.

Paul Curtis signed on in 1970 and stayed long enough to become the winningest coach in history. Curtis-led teams would win 169 games and lose only 111 in his 12 year tenure for a winning percentage of .603. Under Curtis, CHS won six sectionals and a regional. The Athenians won 20 games in 1972-73 and reached the 1,000 win mark in the school history during that year. However, Paul Curtis's most successful team was the 1978-79 team which posted a record of 17-9 and won the sectional and regional before losing to Anderson in the championship of the Semi-State at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette. Anderson would continue on to the state and lose to Muncie Central in the final game. In his twelve year coaching career, Paul Curtis coached three of the most prolific scorers in Crawfordsville history. Gary Rice played on the varsity only two years, but scored 896 points to rank seventh among the all-time leading scorers. His 19.5 scoring average placed him first in that category. Bob Reese also scored 500 points his senior year to place him 6th on the all-time list. Clint Dennison was another Curtis protégé. Dennison crashed the boards for CHS from 1970 to 1973 and scored 969 points to place 4th on the career scoring list. Dennison also ranked in the top ten in single season’s*coring as he racked up 463 points in his senior year to place him 8th on the list.

Mike Sorrell and Gary Lester followed Paul Curtis as CHS roundball mentors. Sorrell stayed three years and won one sectional (1985) and Lester stayed six years and won his only sectional in 1989. It was under Coach Gary Lester that the leading scorer in Athenian history came upon the scene. Matt Petty, a real "gym-rat" and son of Wabash College coach Mac Petty, was a four year starter for Coach Lester. Petty played in 87 games in his CHS career and ended up with a berth on the Indiana All-Star Team and the career scoring record of 1608 points. Matt Petty also set the single season standard by scoring 625 points in 23 games for a 27.1 average his senior year, both C'ville records. It was also Lester's star pupil who took a soft pass from Scott Motz in the final game of the 1989 sectional against McCutcheon and fired a three-pointer with no time on the clock to defeat the Mavericks and propel the Athenians into the Lebanon Regional. The sectional victory in 1989 marked the 40th time that CHS had won the sectional and advanced to the regional round. The Athenians have won 11 regionals, one semi-state and one state crown, advancing to the Final Four seven times and winning runner-up honors twice.

Well that brings CHS basketball up to the present. There are 92 years of written records and a few more years of competition in which records and performances cannot be found. It has been 97 years of excellence. The Athenians have played over 2,000 games of basketball altogether winning 1245 and losing 792 for a winning percentage of .611. Since joining the IHSAA in 1903-04, CHS has played in 1992 games under the auspices of the IHSAA. The 8th game of the season, the game with Lafayette Harrison marked the 2,000th game played as a member of the IHSAA. One wonders how many schools in the state have played that many. After this season, Athenian roundballers will move to a new facility. They played at the old YMCA from the beginning through the 1918-19 season. On November 14, 1919, the Athenians opened their facility, the CHS Auditorium. They defeated the Wabash Freshmen 35-12, and went on to play in the auditorium until 1929. They then played in the Wabash College gym from 1929 to 1937 when the New Armory opened in the building that now houses the Journal-Review. They played in the Armory until January 24, 1940, when the present gymnasium was opened with a 32-28 victory over the Indianapolis Washington Continentals. That victory was accomplished by "Mac's" scrappy Athenians even though two starters, Oscar Hybarger and Glover Ellis, had the mumps and were unable to play. Two weeks later, on January 31,1940, the Athenians officially dedicated the gym with a 36-23 victory over the Clinton Wildcats. The present gym has been home for the last fifty-three years. At the close of the 1992-93 season, Brad Acton will take the Athenian basketball tradition to a brand new facility to begin the second 100 years of Crawfordsville Athenian basketball. Many things have happened in the first 100 years and Athenian fans believe that the best is yet to come.