Show pr k by A T roberts chronicle sports editor VW A few of tooele thoele s basketball fans can remember way back in 1917 when the white buffaloes had an outstanding basketball team and these fans are lavish in their praise of these old timers but t the he followers of this year years s cage aggregation will argue all hours of the day and night that there has never been a more powerful purple and white squad than the one coach clarke johnsen has molded er now the the regular league play is concluded we would 1 ke to hand out a few I 1 ferary bouquets to these athletes and the man that has guided them through such a successful season coach johnsen kee keeps p s talented hands on the reins 4 coach clarke johnsen who join ed the coaching fraternity for the first time this past year inherited a great deal of natural talent but topics believes that most of the team teams s success is directly due to the effort and ability of this man taking over the rems last jan uary johnsen greeted a squad that had but one returning regular get ting off to a slow start the buffs dropped 6 out of nine pre season games and an d it wasn gasn t until just be fore the season started that the results of his efforts began to show tooele thoele started to click in a round robin between two fine teams from idaho pitted against grantsville Grants ville and tooele thoele with the buffs capter ing top honors with abair a pair of vie vic tones tories from here the buffaloes went on to win eight straight vie vic tones tories in the jordan divisi division orL Leat leatham harn plays bole role of from sub to star stae under johnsen s watchful eye dale leatham a boy who had nev er played league ball before de into a player that considered a second stringer any more but rather a sixth starter on the star studded tooele thoele roster dale displayed more drive and fight than probably any player on the squad on many occasions it was Le leatham athams s inspired playing that ignited the spark that proved the margin between victory and defeat tor the buffaloes dale is a senior and his colorful flashy ball hawking will be missed by the players and the fans when basketball season rolls around next year lee serves As the hub charlie lee the only squad mem her ber with varsity experience turn ed in an outstanding performance in every game the coolest calm est player on the floor at all times lee was sometimes overshadowed in the point making department but never in the all around play ung ing that goes into making a win ning basketball team lee was the boy that set up the plays fed the ball directed the attack and calmed the boys down on those rare occasions when it seemed that they were about to fall apart at ta t e seams lee Is the only other senior on the starting six but when he recedes his diploma this spring one of the most outstanding ath letes in tofele tooele s history will have passed on leaving behind him an enviable record of df an athlete and a sportsman rupp chiel chief point maker glen horse rupp was tofele tooele s chief point maker and drew state wide attention when he tanked 28 points against cyprus A big kid standing close to six feet five in ches tall the points he has person ally collected eslit the only phase of his playing that has been a con factor to the teams sue suc cess on defense rupp s height has proven to be too much of a handi cap for his opponents to overcome the memory of rupp batting a ball to the floor after a would be point maker has a shot is com non to the fans that have followed the fortunes of the buffs rupp is only a junior amor and with one more year of competition left coach johnsen t have many worries about his center for next year loren dunn another stalwart left handed loren dunn another sky scraper standing six foot four inches from the floor was another important cog in this casaba ma chine loren proved his worth time with his backboard work gather ing in the rebounds or tipping them in for points dunn was the second high scorer on the team and will be playing for tooele thoele next year iwami Is fans favorite nobora iwami who is only a sophomore 15 years old captured the hearts of the fans with his clever ball handling and tricky dribbling iwami was given the as sign ment of taking care of too ele s foes and in almost every game this clever little guard stole the show with his defensive tactics jim hill of judge stan johnson of cyprus jack noble and kay jet jef fenes feries of grantsville Grants ville bob jenkins of bingham all felt the pressure of guarding in their games against tooele thoele with iwami guard ing them the above group of dead eyes eye s collected a total of 28 points among them which av brages out to 3 31 1 points per game fans that is outstanding guard lag ing and in the words of his coach nobora is worth his weight in gold bones hamilton Is team s best backboard artist rounding out the starting team is the cither other half of tooele thoele s guard line glen bones hamilton ham ilton was a little slow rounding in to form but once this boy got und erway he proved to everyone that when it comes to going up in the air after the ball no brie could get up there higher or come down with the ball more often than ol 01 bones hamilton has a pair of hands taig ig enough to hold a basket ball in each one of them and once he got his hands on the sphere he held onto the ball until he was ready to pass it on to a team mate it was a rare occasion that bones wa was lied up and forced to ump jump with an opponent for the ball it was this guard line of iwami and hamilton that proved the downfall for so many teams it doesn doean t do any good to score points if the it P 41 4 qs alien allen swan former has bag netball star is shown above get ting some advice from his coach arnie arme fenin ferrin ute s all american other team scores more and one big reason tooele thoele emerged on the long end of the score was because iwami and hamilton personally saw to it that the other team did not score more hamilton is only a junior and it must be a comforting feeling to coach johnsen to know that this terrific guard line will be back next year first team proves tough nut to crack four really fine cage artists were forced to spend a great deal of time on the bench simply because they played basketball for tooele thoele the same year that the buffaloes were so loaded with talent gor don bunn billy griffith george bleazard and charles gillespie any one of them good enough to play for most any other team must come in for their share of the cred it for tofele tooele s record not even the regulars could keep these kids on the bench all the time and each of these boys turned in creditable performances every time they got into the action charles gillespie is the only one of the foursome that will return to the campus next year but the oth er three will be sorely missed when the call for basketball is issued then them I 1 cooperation with the press Is perfect to coach johnsen wed like to take this opportunity to personally thank him for the cooperation time swan is leader of the university ward M men team in salt lake and ferrin is the coach salt lake tribune photo and information that he extended to us to the tooele thoele high faculty who so generously donated us press seats when they were at such a premium we feel indebted thank you very much state tournament next it has been a very successful and happy season for the school the players the coaches and the fans were sorry that it is drawing to a close however still brighter will be the start of the tooele thoele buffa loes shine because on march 10 they trek to salt lake to pit their talents against the best teams in the state we don t know how too ele will fare against these classy cage teams in the state dribble derby but we do know that they will give a very good account of themselves and we wish them all the luck and success in the world |