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1946 'c9bto J)tub 6tboolla" "_"- 6tate bampton'Recreated from the Sherwood Chronicle

March 26, 1946

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NOTICE

This is a Special Edition of theChronicle. published in honor of agreat group ofAmerican youngsters-the Farmer High School Basketballteam.Sherwood citizens are delighted thatthe Tigers have fought their way tothe top of the heap and this is thepeoples way of saying "Hurrah forFarmer!"In order the the community's plau-dits may be carried throughoutFarmer Township, additional copiesare being mailed above our regularsubscription list.We feel safe in saying that this edi-tion constitutes some of the mostcomplete coverage ever accordedanyevent by a county weekly.And we are the first on the streetwith the news!!

FARMER WINSSTATEBASKETBALLTITLESensational Tiger FiveHailed Throughout Ohio

Worthington Cardinals Repulsed36-32 In Championship Game

The Tigers are the Toasts of Ohiotoday....They are the "Cinderella boys" fromthe country who out passed, outshot, and out thought all comers, bigand little alike, to win the state bas-ketball championship.They are the most spectacular quin-tet-the best "copy" for big city re-porters-to come out of Ohio class Bsince the days of 1934, when theWa-terloo Wonders ventured down fromthe hills of the south central regionof the state to confound the gentle-men ofthe press.Farmer won the state title at Spring-field Saturday night by defeating avery good Worthington team out ofthe Columbus area, 36-32. It wasa spine tingling encounter all of theway, with the lead changing handseleven times up to late third quar-ter when Coach Ollie Zedaker's club

Sherwood Chronicle

The 1946 Farmer, Ohio Tigers basketball team won the Class B State Championship. Their 4 year record was 100 wins and 4 losses. The highschool bad a total of 33 boys. Team members are: Front row, from left: Milo Renz, Ed Lord, Leighton Fritz, Robert Beerbower, and HenryFord. Back row from left: Willard Kammeyer, Kenneth Culler, Deloy Appel, Coach Ollie Zedaker, Supt E.H. Kammeyer, Willis Kammeyer,Marvin Maugel, and manager Robert Burns

forged into a 30-26 advantage, thenhung on through the bruising lastminutes and kept control of the balldespite the desperate last efforts ofthe Cardinals.Whereas the Tigers were red hoton Friday night, when they snowedunder Bradford of the southwest re-gional, 57-39, they were only luke-warm against Worthington, and hadto win the hard way.They missed easy scoring chances,so the final tally does not accuratelyindicate the margin of superiority.They were the best team in Spring-field by a country mile, and somereporters were saying after the finalcontest that theyare one of the finestquintets in the history of Ohio "B"competition.Certainly they had the poise, andthe finesse, the balance that goes tomake up a real champion. Whenthey were hitting, as was the caseagainst Bradford, they dropped theban into the basket at every angle,not by the dent of crazy one handshots, but as great basketball teamsscore, by zinging the ball arounduntil someone was in position, thenhaving that player take dead aim and

fire away. and when they couldn'thit in front, as was the case againstWorthington, they passed and ma-neuvered until they shook someoneopen, then fed him the ball. Farmerwent to Springfield with a completebasketball team, capable of facingany eventuality, and when the lastgun had been sounded there wasnta fan among the 4000 who wasn'tconvinced, deep in his heart, butwhat this was the team of the yearamong the smaller schools of thiscommonwealth.The Tigers got "over the hump"against Worthington in the last 45seconds of the first half. They hadbeen having trouble galore through-out the first two periods, not beingable to score consistently whereasthe Cardinals were dropping in longshots from in front of the Farmerzone. Then, trailing 17-14 and withthe timer ready to sound the inter-mission gun, the Tigers suddenlycame to life. Bob Beerbower raceddown the court and scored on a passfrom Leighton Fritz, and secondslater Fritz went under on another fastbreak and popped the ball throughthe netting. That gave the Tigersan 18-17 lead as they left the courtfor the rest period, and transferred

the load from their shoulders toWorthington's.Worthington, a big and smoothteam, gave indication right off thebat that it wasn't going to fold un-der pressure. The game was onlyseconds old when Ed Lord got setfar in front of the Cardinal defenseand sent the ball zipping through thehoop, but Kenny Kavner, who wasto prove himself a pesky shooter inhis own right, immediately retaliat-ed forWorthington. Then, on a re-bound pass after Milo Renzmissed afoul byNash, Lord scored again, andshortly thereafter Bob Beerbowergalloped into the pivot, turned andscored. That made in 6-2, and theCardinals took time out.

Whittled TigerLeadThey came back fighting. Joe Nedsafter capturing a lucky rebound, andBill Hamilton coined a foul byRenz.Then Tom Hartman a swell centerput Worthington in the lead with apivot shot, but Farmer tied it at 8all as Fritz scored, and had a 10-8lead at the end ofthe quarter on thestrength of a side shot by Beerbower.

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Sherwood Chronicle 3

Farmer's lead went to 12-8 earlyin the second period as Fritz madefouls by Earl Nash, and Neds, butsoon after Neds an Hartman tiedthe score as they hit from the field.Beerbower put the Tigers back in thelead with one of his sidecourt spe-cialties, but the Cardinals came onagain, with Hartman scoring fromunderneath, and Neds popping in arebound. Hartman ran the count to17-14 when pushed by Beerbower,and Coach Zedaker sent Ken Cullerinto the game in an effort to settlethe Tiger passing attack, which was alittle ragged at the juncture.The teams whacked away at eachother without avail until the last 45seconds when the Tigers snappedout oftheir slump asindicated aboveand grabbed an 18-17 lead.

Action WasTerifficAction in the third quarter was ex-citing enough to chill the marrow ofthe bones of a dinosaur. Culler re-mained in the contest, while Kaynera slender lad addicted to glassescame back in for the Cardinals.The Tigers suddenly resorted to thefast break, with Fritz scoring on apass from Lord, but Kayner crankedup and hit from way out and Nashrebounded shortly thereafter to putthe Columbus lads back in front21-20. That aroused Ed Lord whowas superb all the way, to action,and he drove through the Cardinaldefense to score. Then the fur flew,with Hamilton hitting a Big Berthashot, Lord pumping home one evenlonger to grab back the lead, onlytosee Kayner set a score from far out.Both teams were doing some sensa-tional long distance shooting and itwas a question of which side wouldwilt under the terrific pace.

Cardinals GotCarelessThe Worthington lead went to 26-24as Lord fouled Hartman, but Fritzgot the point back when pushed byNash. On the return up the court,Worthington got just a little bit care-less, and before the Cardinals knewwhat hit them, Bob Beerbower hadswiped the ball and ftipped it to Lord,who raced under and scored. Thatmade it 27-26, and to this point thelead had changed eleven times.After Lord had scored again on aninterception (the Tigers were really

on the prowl now having switchedto a man-to- man defense). Farmerfans nearly died from heart failureas Ed received a nasty crack on thenose as the resut of a scramble withNeds for possession ofthe ball. Lordwas also charged with a foul on thisplay and time was calledwhile coachZedaker and the Wittenburg collegetrainer on the Tiger luminary. theyfinally got the blood stopped andLord went prancing back into thefray.Neds missed the foul shot andthe quarter closed out with Beer-bower running the score to 30-25when he was shoved by Arthur.

Brilliant PassWorkNash returned to the game as thefinal quarter opened, and afer Renzhad missed a foul by Hartman, Nedsupped the count to 30-27 whencharged by Beerbower. That wasBob's fourth foul, and the Farmerpartisans were mighty uneasy aboutthe situation in general.Hartman committed two fouls insuccession on Culler, with Ken mak-ing one of three shots, and thenthings got tense as Nash reboundedto make the tally 31-29, For the firsttime in a coons age, Fritz missedtwo fouls in succession when hookedby Nash, but Lord grabbed the re-bound, took careful aim and fired- 33-29. There were five and threequarter minutes to go as the Cardi-nals too time out.Returning to action, Farmer got theball, came down the court and com-menced what looked like a stallingseries. Fritz, Renz and Beerbowerwere out front, keeping the ball awayfrom the charging Cardinal team.Then Fritz dribbled down the mid-dle, leaped in the air and faked ashot, then slammed the ball to Lordwho was all set on the right side ofthe basket. in was a cinch- 35-29.With about four minutes to go,Leighton fouled Neds, who made it35-30, but Lord got the point backafter Farmer continued stalling inearnest when charged byHamilton.

Refused TwoFoulsThe Tigers regained possession withtwo and one half minutes to go, andkept the ball by refusing two fouls

until the final 30 seconds whenWor-thington intercepted and Kaynercame charging in with a sensationalone hand shot to close out the scor-ing at 36-32. The final secondswere desperate ones as the Cardinalsthrew caution to the winds and racedmadly around trying to get the ball,but Farmer retained it through thickand thin.

A Sweet SoundThe State Championship. The longhours of practice, the anxious mo-ments in the district and regionaltournaments, the sweating and ach-ing muscles, the screams and themoans of the fans, Ollie Zedaker'sjumpy nerves- These things anda hundred other emotions werewrapped up in the explosion of thetimer's gun.It was a sweet sound.

BOX SCOREFARMER B F TFritz .4 3 11Lord ; 7 1 15Renz O 0 0Beerbower 4 1 9Ford O 0 0Culler O 1 1TOTALS 15 636WORTHINGTONNeds 3 2 8Nash 2 0 4Hartman .3 3 9Kayner 4 0 8Hamilton l 1 3Weaver O 0 0Arthur O 0 0Sheaf.. O 0 0TOTALS 13 6 32AttheHalf Farmer 18Worthington 17Officials Palermo and Bishop

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Farmer High School Gym