Tri-County League Football history

Y

ysuindy

Active member
I was going through some files a few weeks ago and found my copy of the Tri-County League football history.

This is the former league in Columbiana, Mahoning, Stark and Jefferson counties from 1932 through 2006.

Schools that were members at one time included Boardman, Columbiana, Lisbon David Anderson, East Palestine, Leetonia, Louisville, Sebring McKinley, Minerva, Poland Seminary, Bergholz Springfield, United Local, Beaver Local, Southern Local, Stanton Local, Toronto, Wellsville and Crestview (Wikipedia list may be missing someone)

This package is 79 pages long and includes the game results of each league team from 1932 through 2001 along with all league teams and some history on the formation of the leauge.

I think I obtained this copy from someone on this site or on the huddle. But there have been a few posts lately about people looking for scores so I went and scanned the package in to a single pdf.

This is a very large file - too big to be attached to this post.

If you would like a copy of the pdf, please send me a message through this site along with your e-mail address and I will send it to you.
 
 
Some of the schools in the beginning make me laugh. Boardman, Poland, and Louisville. I can remember going to football and basketball games when I was really young to see C-View play Springfield Jefferson and Stanton Local. 86-88 I believe. That was towards the end for both schools before they merged to form Edison Local (I think). In 1988, the TCL only had 5 league games. C-View played Western Reserve, South Range, Springfield (with Brungard as the QB), Ridge, and Kirtland for their OOC games. In 1989, the TCL added East Palestine, with Columbiana being added in 1991.
 
ThaXFactor said:
Some of the schools in the beginning make me laugh. Boardman, Poland, and Louisville. I can remember going to football and basketball games when I was really young to see C-View play Springfield Jefferson and Stanton Local. 86-88 I believe. That was towards the end for both schools before they merged to form Edison Local (I think). In 1988, the TCL only had 5 league games. C-View played Western Reserve, South Range, Springfield (with Brungard as the QB), Ridge, and Kirtland for their OOC games. In 1989, the TCL added East Palestine, with Columbiana being added in 1991.
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The TCL has some storied history. Actually, having a couple of those schools that made you laugh, were instrumental in making the TCL a very competitive league back then. Even Sebring back then in the 60's fielded a team that would have beaten most current MVAC teams.
 
bulldog1974 said:
The TCL has some storied history. Actually, having a couple of those schools that made you laugh, were instrumental in making the TCL a very competitive league back then. Even Sebring back then in the 60's fielded a team that would have beaten most current MVAC teams.
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A bit surprising to see Salem was never in the TCL at some point in the early days of the league.
 
bulldog1974 said:
The TCL has some storied history. Actually, having a couple of those schools that made you laugh, were instrumental in making the TCL a very competitive league back then. Even Sebring back then in the 60's fielded a team that would have beaten most current MVAC teams.
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The TCL was a damn strong league in the 1950's and 60's.

I see at least two NFL players in the league

Louisville's Bob Gladieux had Notre Dame's touchdown in the Game of the Century against Michigan State as a sophomore and played in the NFL

East Palestine's Fred Hoaglin had a ten year NFL career as an offensive lineman, including with the Browns.

Hoaglin was first team all TCL as a junior and only honorable mention as a senior.

Bulldog - do you know any of the background behind that? Was he injured as a senior?

Am I missing any other NFL / AFL /AAFC players from the TCL?
 
ysuindy said:
The TCL was a damn strong league in the 1950's and 60's.

I see at least two NFL players in the league

Louisville's Bob Gladieux had Notre Dame's touchdown in the Game of the Century against Michigan State as a sophomore and played in the NFL

East Palestine's Fred Hoaglin had a ten year NFL career as an offensive lineman, including with the Browns.

Hoaglin was first team all TCL as a junior and only honorable mention as a senior.

Bulldog - do you know any of the background behind that? Was he injured as a senior?

Am I missing any other NFL / AFL /AAFC players from the TCL?
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I can think of two for sure:

George Morris - E. Palestine. I think he was All-TCL in 1936. Played college ball @ B-W and for the Cleveland Rams in the NFL.
Forrest Masterson - Louisville - Iowa - Chicago Bears in the NFL.

Jack Faulkner of Boardman never played in the NFL but he was the HC of the Denver Broncos for a few seasons. I think Mr. Faulkner made the All-TCL team 4 times as either a 1st team, 2nd team, or Honorable Mention selection.

I can think of a handful of Toronto & Boardman NFL players but they did not play in the TCL.
 
ThaXFactor said:
A bit surprising to see Salem was never in the TCL at some point in the early days of the league.
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The easy answer is that Salem was historically too big.
According to Census data, 1940 populations (rounded by me to nearest 100):
Salem: 12,300

The charter members of the TCL:
Boardman Twp: 5,500
East Palestine: 5,100
Sebring: 3,900
Lisbon: 3,400
Louisville: 3,400
Minerva: 2,900
Columbiana: 2,700
Leetonia: 2,300
Note: With the exception of Boardman, the populations listed were for the villages only. They do not include any residents of the unincorporated areas that may have been served by these respective communities' school systems.

Since I'm on a bit of a Columbiana County kick with this topic, I can tell you that East Liverpool had nearly 23,600 people while Wellsville had nearly 7,700 in 1940. Columbiana County's reported population on April 1, 1940 was 90,121. 65% of that population resided in incorporated cities and villages.
 
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ysuindy,

You mentioned that Mr. Gladieux scored ND's TD in the famous 1966 ND-Michigan St. game that ended in a 10-10 tie. I can think of at least two local guys that also played in that game. Can you name them?

Hint: They were both All-City selections in HS.
 
Mr. Slippery said:
The easy answer is that Salem was historically too big.
According to Census data, 1940 populations (rounded by me to nearest 100):
Salem: 12,300

The charter members of the TCL:
Boardman Twp: 5,500
East Palestine: 5,100
Sebring: 3,900
Lisbon: 3,400
Louisville: 3,400
Minerva: 2,900
Columbiana: 2,700
Leetonia: 2,300
Note: With the exception of Boardman, the populations listed were for the villages only. They do not include any residents of the unincorporated areas that may have been served by these respective communities' school systems.

Since I'm on a bit of a Columbiana County kick with this topic, I can tell you that East Liverpool had nearly 23,600 people while Wellsville had nearly 7,700 in 1940. Columbiana County's reported population on April 1, 1940 was 90,121. 65% of that population resided in incorporated cities and villages.
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Although, Salem, EP and E. Liverpool played in non league games and still do occasionally to this day. You'd have to go back farther to find Salem, EP and Liverpool in a league, which was the old Columbiana County League.
 
Damn you Ytown - I could probably spend all day trying to figure this out.

My first guess was Jim Snowden but when I checked he graduated from Notre Dame in 1964.

I will leave it for others to come up, but I think I'm tapped out here. :(
 
ysuindy said:
Damn you Ytown - I could probably spend all day trying to figure this out.

My first guess was Jim Snowden but when I checked he graduated from Notre Dame in 1964.

I will leave it for others to come up, but I think I'm tapped out here. :(
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:)

Mr. Snowden is a pretty good guess but as you noted he was a few years older than the gentlemen in question.

A few additional hints:

One of the guys I'm looking for, like Mr. Snowden, was an All-City Golden Bear in HS.

The other was a 2-time 1st team All-City selection and an All-Diocesan first team choice along with future ND teammate and NFL Hall of Famer Alan Page of Canton Central Catholic, who of course also played in the 66 ND-Mich St. game. That should narrow it down a bit.

One of the stars for Mich. St. in that game was also a NE Ohio native, RB Clinton Jones from Cathedral Latin.
 
ok - Google search during my lunch hour returns Mooney's John Horney as one of the two players. I can honestly say I was not aware of Mr. Horney until this exercise.
 
Looking through some old yearbooks, C-View was in the ICL for quite a long time. In fact, they were in the league the very first year of South Range, 69-70. Until then, there were 2 schools for that area, Greenford and North Lima. My grandparents graduated from Fairfield HS and New Waterford, which combined to form C-View in 1964 (I think). It's interesting to see how all these schools and areas have evolved over the past 100 years. I'm pretty sure that Columbiana won a state title in Bball in the 40's as a member of the TCL (I think).
 
ThaXFactor said:
Looking through some old yearbooks, C-View was in the ICL for quite a long time. In fact, they were in the league the very first year of South Range, 69-70. Until then, there were 2 schools for that area, Greenford and North Lima. My grandparents graduated from Fairfield HS and New Waterford, which combined to form C-View in 1964 (I think). It's interesting to see how all these schools and areas have evolved over the past 100 years. I'm pretty sure that Columbiana won a state title in Bball in the 40's as a member of the TCL (I think).
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Columbiana did indeed win the 1947 Class B boys basketball championship as a member of the TCL. John Cabas was coach - he later led Salem to the state finals.
 
bulldog1974 said:
Most on here don't know that Bill Mallory and Rey Dempsey coached at EP.
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I had no idea about Mallory. I knew about Dempsey only because of the job he took immediately after coaching at EP. Dempsey was HC at Canton CC when my parents were in HS. In his final year at Canton CC, his defense allowed only 13 pts. for the entire season. Unfortunately, they lost the only 2 games in which they allowed points (6-4 to Walsh Jesuit and 7-0 to Canton South). Dempsey ascended the coaching ranks rather quickly until his passion for his faith steered him on a slightly different path.
 
ysuindy said:
Columbiana did indeed win the 1947 Class B boys basketball championship as a member of the TCL. John Cabas was coach - he later led Salem to the state finals.
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Columbiana boys also won the Class B state title in track and field in 1938. Poland won a pair of Class B state track and field titles in '47 and '51 just before entering the TCL (I'm assuming Poland entered the league in the fall of '51).
 
ysuindy said:
Columbiana did indeed win the 1947 Class B boys basketball championship as a member of the TCL. John Cabas was coach - he later led Salem to the state finals.
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Cabas never beat EP in basketball while at Salem. EP beat Salem in the tournaments around the late 60's. EP had the Lewis brothers that tore Salem's defense apart. One of the Lewis boys went on to play at Illinois.
 
Mr. Slippery said:
Columbiana boys also won the Class B state title in track and field in 1938. Poland won a pair of Class B state track and field titles in '47 and '51 just before entering the TCL (I'm assuming Poland entered the league in the fall of '51).
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Yes - Poland's move to the TCL was timed with moving up from Class B to Class A. (the magic 150 boys). Poland was track runner-up in 1950. From looking at basketball results, they played four TCL schools in the 1950-51 season and then a full schedule in 1951-52 while still playing in Class B.

That 1951 track championship included a lot of points from Don Kelly - won the discus, third in the shot and second in the 880. The half mile / weight events combo just isn't done any more.

I had forgotten about Columbiana winning the 1938 track championship. A couple of kids named Entrikin placed in multiple events - brothers?
 
bulldog1974 said:
Cabas never beat EP in basketball while at Salem. EP beat Salem in the tournaments around the late 60's. EP had the Lewis brothers that tore Salem's defense apart. One of the Lewis boys went on to play at Illinois.
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I remember the Lewis brothers. Greg was the same age as I was. He had a couple of older brothers if I remember correctly?
 
ysuindy said:
ok - Google search during my lunch hour returns Mooney's John Horney as one of the two players. I can honestly say I was not aware of Mr. Horney until this exercise.
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That is correct. Mr. Horney was a LB on that 66 ND team.
bulldog1974 said:
Cabas never beat EP in basketball while at Salem. EP beat Salem in the tournaments around the late 60's. EP had the Lewis brothers that tore Salem's defense apart. One of the Lewis boys went on to play at Illinois.
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No disrespect intended but are you talking about the tournament only? I know Salem beat EP badly in the 1958-59 regular season when coach Cabas led Salem to the state finals that ysuindy mentioned and again the next season for sure. I'm almost positive that Salem's only regular season loss in 58-59 was to Cleveland E. Tech who also beat the Quakers in the state championship game.

1958-59 game write-up........Go to page 26 bottom right.

1959-1960 game write-up......Go to page 7 top right.
 
YTOWN said:
That is correct. Mr. Horney was a LB on that 66 ND team.


No disrespect intended but are you talking about the tournament only? I know Salem beat EP badly in the 1958-59 regular season when coach Cabas led Salem to the state finals that ysuindy mentioned and again the next season for sure. I'm almost positive that Salem's only regular season loss in 58-59 was to Cleveland E. Tech who also beat the Quakers in the state championship game.

1958-59 game write-up........Go to page 26 bottom right.

1959-1960 game write-up......Go to page 7 top right.
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You might be right on that. I just remembered the tournament game.
 
I found my original copy of the TCL record book. It went through 1962 and was compiled by Glenn Sutherin - who was then coach at Minerva.

I thought I had an "original" version that I was given by Poland basketball coach Tony Archibald.
 
ysuindy said:
I found my original copy of the TCL record book. It went through 1962 and was compiled by Glenn Sutherin - who was then coach at Minerva.

I thought I had an "original" version that I was given by Poland basketball coach Tony Archibald.
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Ozzie was an EP grad and native, just like Sebring's Coach Brook.
 
Going to use this thread as an EOAC thread, as it is a clone of the old TCL. Seen on the OHSAA site that football is now classified in 8 or 11 man football. EP is 11 man, as it should be, any others care to comment on their respective school status as 8 or 11?
 
bulldog1974 said:
Going to use this thread as an EOAC thread, as it is a clone of the old TCL. Seen on the OHSAA site that football is now classified in 8 or 11 man football. EP is 11 man, as it should be, any others care to comment on their respective school status as 8 or 11?
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I really can't see anyone in this league dropping to 8 man. Really, the only team in the area that might would be Sebring, but I have heard that their numbers may be improving a bit.
 
ysuindy said:
I was going through some files a few weeks ago and found my copy of the Tri-County League football history.

This is the former league in Columbiana, Mahoning, Stark and Jefferson counties from 1932 through 2006.

Schools that were members at one time included Boardman, Columbiana, Lisbon David Anderson, East Palestine, Leetonia, Louisville, Sebring McKinley, Minerva, Poland Seminary, Bergholz Springfield, United Local, Beaver Local, Southern Local, Stanton Local, Toronto, Wellsville and Crestview (Wikipedia list may be missing someone)

This package is 79 pages long and includes the game results of each league team from 1932 through 2001 along with all league teams and some history on the formation of the leauge.

I think I obtained this copy from someone on this site or on the huddle. But there have been a few posts lately about people looking for scores so I went and scanned the package in to a single pdf.

This is a very large file - too big to be attached to this post.

If you would like a copy of the pdf, please send me a message through this site along with your e-mail address and I will send it to you.
Click to expand...
Poland, in 1972, was 10-0 and recorded 8 shutouts. Played Minerva for the title in game 9. Beat the 15-8. United Local score 12 4th quarter points and lost 43-12. Dave Pavlansky coached the team. Tom Walters coached Minerva. Good coaching match up.
 
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