BACK ROW, L TO R: Paul Jockisch-mgr., Dean Pottorf, John McCoy, Marvin Huber, Dale Phelps, coach Lyle
Drake.
FRONT ROW, L TO R: Gerald Riegel, Don Hovey, Stanley Cunningham, Richard Lynn, Gene
Hermann, Harold Clark.
From our good friend
Phil Shadid regarding the team of 1944-45:
The Hawks won the San Jose Holiday Tournament, the West Central Conference and the Mason County Tournament. A loss to Ashland on Feb. 9, 1945, was their only blemish on the regular season. They then won the District Tourney and beat Springfield Feitshans (44-40) to claim the Havana Regional. In the Sectional at Pekin on March 06, they bowed out with
a 47-38 loss to Peoria Central (1038 students). Coach Drake's boys led the Peoria team entering the
fourth quarter, but a 11 point surge by the Lions cost Easton the game.
Coach Drake (also principal) was a graduate of Western
State Teachers College (now Western Ill. Univ.) and had a Masters degree from the Univ. of Illinois. He was in
his eighth year as coach of the 86-student school. His top players were: 6-3 Gene Hermann, 6-1 Stanley
Cunningham, 6-foot Richard Lynn, 5-11 Donald Hovey, and Harold Clark.
First off the bench was Gerald Riegel.
The weekly newspaper, Mason County Democrat,
ran this profile of the team just before the conclusion of the season: "Except for Cunningham, the others
on the team came from farms in the Easton vicinity, and none had played basketball
except in high school. The were drilled in the only department of the game which counts: good shooting from any angle
of the floor, combined with a fast break and tight defense. All of the players
use one-handed shots for both long and short attempts, and take pride in their defense as well as offense. The team
as a whole has averaged 45 points per game, to their opponents 26."
1954-55 District Champions
1955-56 District Champions
1956-57 23 - 2 Mason County Tourney Champs Coach
Ed Reeves.
Lost to Ashland during the regular season
and lost to them in the District tournament.
Easton HS won their conference, and the
Mason County Tournament, and kept the
"Green Duck" for the entire season!
1958-59 District Champions
1960-61 District Champions
1961-62 District Champions
1964-65 District Champions
1971-72 19 - 9
Coach Hugh Friday
1972-73 22 - 2
Coach Hugh Friday
1981-82 19 - 8
Coach Doug Graven
1982-83 17 - 10 Coach
Doug Graven
1983-84 18 - 10
Coach Doug Graven
**From our good friend Phil Shadid:
"Information regarding the MASON COUNTY BOYS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT, which was
held for 68 years, and ended in 1989:
EASTON: won 6 County Tourney championships and finished second 9 times!!"
Boys Track & Field
Two Easton High School tracksters made the trip to the IHSA State Finals brought home some hardware. One
"kid", a boy named Holl, won the Class "B" State Championship in the pole vault in 1925!! In 1986, Jerry Payne followed
that up with an 8th Place finish in the 800 meter run.
1925B Lyle Roll Pole
Vault STATE CHAMPION!!
1986A Jerry Payne 800 Meter Run
8TH Place
Theatre
The Illinois Theatre Festival is the largest, non-competitive high school theatre festival in the world.
It was organized in 1976 by teachers from the Chicago suburbs. This festival is still going strong as they perform at the
University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana) and Illinois State University every other January. Easton High school participated
in this festival in 1978 and 1985.
Special Thanks
The photos on this page are courtesy of Jon, Jim, and Dan Wheat taken
in January of 2006!
Need More Information
If you have any more information that will help make the Easton High School page complete, please e-mail
us at ihsgdwebsite@comcast.net. You can also write to us via real mail at:
Illinois HS Glory Days
6439 N. Neva St.
Chicago, Il. 60631
