Ilion High School - Class of 1954

Ilion Sentinel - December 30, 1953

The Year 1953 Passes In Review

Article 14

Source pdf file is here Illion NY Sentinel 1953 - 0837.pdf on fultonhistory.com

Ilion Sentinel - The Year 1953 Passes In Review - 1954

The Year 1953 Passes In Review

It Had Some Real Thrills, Some Great Champions

Once again the time for us to poise on the threshold of a New Year for a backward glance over the twelve months just past and the events that made it one to remember.

For all three Valley towns 1953 was a good year sports wise. In high school competition, Frankfort won the Section 3 Class C basketball title with some fine late season and tournament play, and Mohawk was a contender throughout most of the season in Iroquois League basketball. The Mohicans clinched the football crown in that circuit, going unbeaten through eight ball games.

For Ilion, the year was a rough one in high school competition except for Art Coons fine track squad which won the Iroquois title and came within a close margin in the Sectional meet. The football team capped a rough season by beating Herkimer in one of the most thrilling finishes in the history of Ilion sports.

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One of the year's most thrilling basketball games took place at the end ot January in the Ilion High School Gym when the West All Stars took on the East All-Stars in the annual mid-winter event.

In this tilt, the East (Mohawk-Herkimer) were very strong favorites to defeat the West (Ilion-Frankfort) and in the early going it looked as if the game would run to form. The East ran up a good lead. They led by as much as 15 points late in the third quarter.

Then things began to happen.

Dale Connors, Bill Murphy and Bob Bergin of Ilion teamed with Joe Zizzi and Sam Paratore of Frankfort to chop huge holes in the Easj£ lead. Fine rebounding by Zizzi and Murphy, great play making by Connors and Bergin and spectacular shooting by the great Sam Paratore enabled the fighting Westerners to creep up as, the last quarter rolled along.

With a minute left, the East still led, but only 71-63. Paratore scored to make it 71-70, but two foul shots made it 73-70. Zizzi then tapped to a shot to make it 73-72 with 0 seconds left. Moments later, the West came up with the ball under the East basket after a mad scramble brought on by an all-court press. Paratore missed a shot but the rebound went to Murphy who got a shot away a split second before the buzzer sounded. The ball went cleanly through and the game ended amidst the loudest shouting these poor eardrums have ever undergone.

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Another fine early fine event was the Ilion Golf Club Championship Tournament, won by Lou Adams for the second straight year. He took advantage of, one bad round by first time challenger Frank Hart to outlast the little guy in a rain drenched match. (6) depicts the winning form of the champ as he tees off to open the long wet day.

The football season opened with Ilion at Rome in a Friday night tusse ost by Ilion 6-7. Mohawk scored a victory the following day when they got past Oneonta 27-12 in their opening Iroquois League football game at Mohawk. A couple of reasons for the Mohawk victory can be clearly seen in picture (7). Frankfort also opened their season in the Mid-State Conference with a win.

Ilion continued to lose as the season progressed while the Mohicans racked up win after win. Ilion tied Little Falls, in the next to the last tilt as Mohawk amassed a big point total in shooting through seven games without a loss. Frankfort was tied once and lost to Dolgeville to be bumped from contention in their conference.

Then came the Ilion-Herkimer game!!

The dawn of November 7th brought a nice fall of wet snow - about 3 inches worth. After a somewhat heated discussion, it was decided to play the game as scheduled and about 500 hardy fans turned out to brave the wet weather.

The game opened in typical Ilion-Herkimer fashion as Herkimer scored in the first minute, going 80 yards in two plays for their TD.

The Ilionites were not dismayed and they fought back grimly in the terrible going. Booming punts by Houseknecht kept the Herkimer club back on their heels the entire game, and finally, Jack Bowers recovered a fumble on the Herkimer 2 which set up the first Bomber score.

With a minute left, Houseknecht intercepted a Herkimer pass in Magician territory, and with just 48 seconds left on the clock little Sam Leonis gathered in a pass from Bob Manley to score the winning TD.

In pictures (8) and (9) some idea of the terrible weather conditions and fierce Ilion play can be gathered.

A combination of salt and lime sent many of the players to the hospital for treatment' of burns, and one Ilionite (Larry Murphy) spent three weeks there.

The following Saturday brought upwards of 3,000 fans and the Norwich football team to Mohawk for the Iroquois League championship game and when the din of battle had subsided the Orange and Black walked proudly from the scene with an l8-7 win and the League trophy.

Created and maintained by Aileen Carney Sweeney - Class of 1974