Who was1971 Ohio Player of the Year

R

ratterbox

Member
Got into a talk last Friday night at HS game trying to figure out who was 1971 Player of the Year and what ever happened to him.
I thought it was a kid named Stahls or Stalls from Columbus area.
Was it? and what ever happened to him?

I told them I would know by this weeks game. Any help out there?
 
 
Boy was Ohio basketball great in those days--unfortunately Kevin Grevey of Hamilton Taft was the best player hands-down in that '71 season. Averaged 31.8 pts a game and took his team to the Regional Finals where they lost on some questionable calls to Dayton Dunbar. Obviously Grevey went on to further fame finishing as a top 3 career scorer at the University of Kentucky and playing for the Washington Bullets on an NBA championship team as well in the late 70's. Anyone that followed Southwest basketball knew that Kevin had the sweetest jumper around!!
 
For Uc fans(now W. Virgina) notice Bob Huggins on the A all state list. Those guys did some serious scoring back in the day.
 
I remember watching the state championship game in '71 when Walnut Ridge beat Dunbar. Stahl and Hoffman were very good as was Cornelius Cash of Dunbar. That was also the year that Canton Lehman won the state title in AA beating Champion in the final and breaking the "curse of Canton." Great times.
 
Code: 
1971 Class AAA (large school)

Associated Press All-Ohio Team

1st Team
Ed Stahl	Col.Walnut Ridge <==POY
Freddie Beamon	Clv.East Tech
Greg Dunn	Boardman
Jeff Montgomery	Miamisburg
John Kantner	Tol.Whitmer
Kevin Grevey	Hamilton Taft
Mike Rouse	Jackson
Rod Dieringer	Lakewood St.Edward

 - - -

United Press International All-Ohio Team

Ed Stahl	Col.Walnut Ridge <==POY
Greg Dunn	Boardman
Kevin Grevey	Hamilton Taft
Rod Dieringer	Lakewood St.Edward
Steve Wenner	Findlay

Jack Moore	Col.Walnut Ridge <==COY

 - - -

Media - All-Tournament Team

Bill Higgens	 Day.Dunbar
Bradley Robinson Ak.Central-Hower
Cornelius Cash	 Day.Dunbar
Freddie Beamon	 Clv.East Tech
Ed Stahl	 Col.Walnut Ridge  <== co-MVP
Brad Hoffman	 Col.Walnut Ridge  <== co-MVP

:>---
 
North-South All-Star Game
(C=coach / P=player) Combined AAA/AA/A

Code: 
North Team
C Bill Nelson	Hillsdale
C Don Eddins	Can.Lehman
C Joe Siegferth	Ak.Central-Hower
P Don McLane	Steubenville Cath.
P Gary Diedrick	Lorain Adm.King
P John Mills	Can.Lehman
P Greg Dunn	Boardman
P Rod Dieringer	Lakewood St.Edward
P John Kantner	Tol.Whitmer
P Jim Barnett	Mansfield Sr.

South Team
C Dave Ewart	Zanesville Rosecrans
C Earl Gardner	Day.Oakwood
C Jack Moore	Col.Walnut Ridge
P Steve Martin	Licking Valley
P Roger Smith	Pike Western
P Eric Jones	Zanesville
P Kevin Grevey	Hamilton Taft
P Mike Rouse	Jackson
P Frank Ayers	Springfield No.
P Glen Selph	Cin.Withrow
P Ed Stahl	Col.Walnut Ridge
:>---
 
Code: 
1971 Class A (small school)

Associated Press All-Ohio Team

1st Team
Dan Weston	Morral Ridgedale  <==POY
Dick Salgo	Pettisville
John Freytag	Sidney Lehman
Roger Smith	Pike Western
Ron Davis	New Miami
Steve Clark	East Canton
Steve Sonneberg	Holgate
Bob Huggins	Gnad.Indian Valley So.

 - - -

United Press International All-Ohio Team

1st Team
Dan Weston	Morral Ridgedale  <==POY
John Freytag	Sidney Lehman
Dan Bollinger	Zanesville Rosecrans
Bob Huggins	Gnad.Indian Valley So.
Joe Mitock	Lorain Cath.

Jerry DeLong	Sidney Lehman  <==COY

 - - -

Media - All-Tournament Team
Dan Bollinger	Zanesville Rosecrans
Kevin Dilworth	Ft.Recovery
Terry King	Marion Pleasant
Don Jutte	Ft.Recovery   <===co-MVP
Ron May		Ft.Recovery   <===co-MVP

:>---
 
Code: 
1971 Class AA (medium school)

Associated Press All-Ohio Team

1st Team
Joe Fisher	Lima Cath.   <===POY
Alan Walter	Col.Ready
Bob Fleischer	Ytn.Liberty
Don McLane	Steubenville Cath.
John Mills	Can.Lehman
Kleetis McGhee	Preble Shawnee
Phil Miller	Waverly
Steve Fields	Col.DeSales

 - - -

United Press International All-Ohio Team

1st Team
Joe Fisher	Lima Cath.   <===POY
Bob Fleischer	Ytn.Liberty
Don McLane	Steubenville Cath.
John O'Hare	Urchichsville Claymont
Tim Gebhardt	Bucyrus Wynford

C.D.Hawhee	Waverly   <===COY

 - - -

Media - All-Tournament Team

John Mills	Can.Lehman
Craig Kuszmaul	War.Champion
Dean Wolfe	Zanesville
Mark Peters	Tipp City
Jack Yun	Can.Lehman   <===MVP

:>---
 
Jeff Montgomery from Miamisburg averaged over 30 ppg that season. Had a great college career at Bowling Green with Cornelius Cash of Dunbar. Scores 41 against Troy that season.

Frank Ayers from Springfield North was the older brother of former Ohio State coach Randy Ayers. Frank played at Cleveland State and Western Michigan.
 
Lima Cath. Joe Fisher's claim to fame was as a UD Flyer in the NCAA tournament against the UCLA Bruins. UD lost in triple OT and Fisher went toe-to-toe with big Bill Walton. Donald Smith (Dayton Roth) and Mike Sylvester were the Flyers' big guns. I'm not sure where Sylvester went to HS, but his son played at Moeller, I think.
 
3out2in said:
I remember watching the state championship game in '71 when Walnut Ridge beat Dunbar. Stahl and Hoffman were very good as was Cornelius Cash of Dunbar. That was also the year that Canton Lehman won the state title in AA beating Champion in the final and breaking the "curse of Canton." Great times.
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Olsen from walnut ridge also went to Minnesota. They were incredible
 
Mike Sylvester also went to Moeller. I believe he had a brother Steve that played for the Raiders, offensive tackle.
 
CometCountry said:
Boy was Ohio basketball great in those days--unfortunately Kevin Grevey of Hamilton Taft was the best player hands-down in that '71 season. Averaged 31.8 pts a game and took his team to the Regional Finals where they lost on some questionable calls to Dayton Dunbar. Obviously Grevey went on to further fame finishing as a top 3 career scorer at the University of Kentucky and playing for the Washington Bullets on an NBA championship team as well in the late 70's. Anyone that followed Southwest basketball knew that Kevin had the sweetest jumper around!!
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Sorry man, Grevey was great, but the best shooter ever in SW Ohio in my opinion was Donald Smith (Roth, 1970).
 
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Redandgold said:
Sorry man, Grevey was great, but the best shooter ever in SW Ohio in my opinion was Donald Smith (Roth, 1970).
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Donald Smith was very good in HS and very good at UD, but Grevey averaged 31 ppg in HS, 3rd All-time leading scorer at Kentucky when he graduated in 1975, scored 35 points in NCAA Finals in 1975 vs. UCLA, 3 times 1st team all SEC, starting guard on NBA champion Washington Bullets in 1978----let's just say they were both lights-out scorers when neither player had the 3 point line to add pts to his total.
 
I loved basketball back then. The atmosphere at the games were so much more intense then now.
 
Redandgold said:
Sorry man, Grevey was great, but the best shooter ever in SW Ohio in my opinion was Donald Smith (Roth, 1970).
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What caliber did Smith use?

I know the .38 and .357 or .45 are all popular, but in competitions the. 17 or .22 seem more accurate.

Family was part of the greatest duo ever with the Wesson's.
 
The sheer number of talented Ohio high school basketball players from the senior class of 1971 is fascinating and almost unprecedented, given the many successful Division I college careers that followed, along with Grevey's in the NBA. I saw the state final four tournament finals in 1970 and 1971 (and many others after that), and saw a lot of these guys mentioned; then I attended BG and witnessed the Cornelius Cash-Skip Howard-Jeff Montgomery years there as a rabid fan.

My hometown Youngstown Liberty's Bob Fleischer could have (and perhaps should have) been the Class AA player-of-the-year in '71, but Lima Catholic's Joe Fisher took the honor in both the AP and UPI balloting. Despite the phenomenal game described up-thread about Fisher's time at the University of Dayton, he had a rather pedestrian career at UD as I recall; and I can't find his name anywhere in the UD record books. Fleischer, meanwhile, was a three-year starter at Duke, albeit during a down period after the great coach Vic Bubas (1959 to 1969) and then Bucky Waters (1969 to 1973), but before Mike Krzyzewski started there in 1980. It could easily be argued that Fleischer was an even better player in college than in high school.

Because, he's perhaps one of the most unheralded Duke players of all-time, given his statistical accomplishments and the competition he faced in the extremely tough ACC, considered by many at the time to be the top basketball conference in the country.
Way back in 2009 I researched Fleischer's history at Duke and posted the results on the Puddle :cautious: . Here are the highlights:
(All as of 2009)
--a 14.6 ppg career scoring average
--ranked 9th all-time career FG percentage at 56%
--5th in career rebounding average (10.5 rpg)
--7th all-time with 40 double-doubles
--7th best rebounding season (12.4 rpg as a junior)
--7th best FG percentage season (62% as a senior)
--4th most ever 15+ rebound games

Impressive, and it displays the depth and breadth of top-shelf basketball talent in Ohio during that era, and certainly 1971 in particular.

EDIT: Youngstown's WKBN has been posting a story each day recently leading up to the current college basketball season about Youngstown-area performers who went on to success in college and beyond. Today they just happened to feature Bob Fleischer :):

 
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I liked the 1970 class, especially in the Dayton area. Dan Gerhard (Chaminade, State Champ, Player of the Year, Ohio State), Terry Tyler (Chaminade, Michigan), Ted Wueban (Chaminade, Creighton), Donald Smith (Roth, UD, NBA), Phil Lumpkin (Roth, Miami, NBA), Doug Ashworth (Beavercreek, Tennessee). Plus all those great juniors who they played with and against: Montgomery (Miamisburg, BG), Faulkner (Miamisburg, Ball St), the Dunbar crowd featuring Cash, Howard (both BG), Gates (Kent State), Eifert (Chaminade, Kent State), Holland (Roosevelt, UD), throw in Higgins (Dunbar, Ashland D2 All American, NBA, ABA). The Dayton area has never featured that many D1 players at the same time, before or since. And, remember, there were only half as many D1 schools then as today. Did I leave anyone out?
 
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