"During their heyday in the late 40s and the early 50s (the Eagles) were coached by
Lowell
Oxford. Then in the 60s and 70s his brother
Glen was the coach and he also coached Hardin
County when Cave-in-Rock and Rosiclare consolidated.
I believe it was in 1949 Paducah Tilghman Christmas Tournament that the Eagles
surprised everyone. Tilghman would invited the top schools from Western Kentucky and then usually one school from southern
Illinois. The invitations would go out after the season started. They knew little about "the cave men" but they
had a good record. The western Kentucky schools were shocked when Cave-in-Rock easily won the tournament."
More great memories and information from Bill Logan :
"I was a member of one of the best teams the school ever had (the 1950-1951 team).
This team was
27 - 2 for the season. Wimpy Willis, #40, was probably the best H.S. basketball player to
have ever played the game in southern Illinois (South of Mt. Vernon).
He was a year older than all the rest of us and was facing the draft upon graduating.
The Korean War had escalated and he was due up. Therefore, he joined
the Air Force and made a career out of it, playing on championship teams at U.S. Bases here and oversees. He is one
of the three best I ever played with or against.
Dale Cruse, #55, went on to play at McKendree College in Lebanon, IL. Millard Davis, #50, and Junior Austin went on
to play at Holmes Jr. College in Goodman, MS. with Davis continuing his college career at Memphis State.
I had one more year of H.S. then faced the draft like Wimpy and was
able to get in the U.S. Navy Seabees as a Field Engr. After the war
I went to the Univ. of Tn. on a baseball scholarship-----a pitcher with a lot of wicked junk and a fast ball about the speed
of a change-up. This was a great group of guys and very tough-minded.
Across the river, Tulu (Kentucky) didn't have a gym (outside court, only) nor did they have gym
shoes, so when they earned a birth in the Kentucky State Tournament (1939 +/-) some of them couldn't adjust to the new
fangled shoes so they pulled them off and played in their bare feet. This, I heard a long time ago------I can't vouch
for its authenticity.
I am making an attempt to contact someone from Brookport and Golconda so they can tell you about the gyms they had in the basement. I played in those facilities. The
floors were of wood but they were warped due to the water leaking into the floors of both gyms. The ceiling was about
18' to 20' high. You couldn't shoot farther out than about 15 feet. The court was so short they painted two
center-lines on them. At the age of 75, I am still playing basketball. My team plays two times a week, the year round.
We will be playing in the National Senior Olympics in San Francisco come August-Sept. of '09.
We hold a national record of eight 3-pointers in a national tournament
game. This happened at San Antonio in 1995, then repeated it in just
10 minutes of playing time at Pittsburgh in 2005."
"Cave started baseball in 1972. coached by
Hambone Oxford. I was honored to be
the leadoff batter in our first game @
Shawneetown. I was hit in the jaw by a fastball (I thought it was going to be a curve ball that Coach had showed us in practice) that
gave me a black eye. next day at school a fellow student seen my eye and said " that baseball looks rough. lol !
Thanks for the time to look back."
If You Have ANY More Information regarding Cave-In-Rock High
School and its many successes, please send us the information so we may share it with others. There are a lot of missing
pieces to this fun story. We are especially interested in photos of the school building and great teams and personalities
that made up Cave-In-Rock High School. You can send us this information via e-mail at
ihsgdwebsite@comcast.net or via real mail at:
