The 1970-71 season began with many changes. The 20-2 team from the year before had graduated three starters, and a fourth starter had transferred. Despite the great change, the winning continued at what would become a record pace. The deepest tournament run in school history would end with a heart breaking one point loss to Pleasant in the regional finals at the Columbus Fairgrounds. A single basket is all that separated Coach Bob Jordan’s team from a place in the State semi-finals.
The 1971 team is often referred to as the greatest team in East Canton history, and with good reason. The team still holds records for most wins (22), most points (1795), most field goals made (721), and most rebounds (1245). Center Steve Clark still holds a single season record with 375 rebounds, and forward Bruce Hackathorn still holds the record with 218 made field goals. Clark was named first team All-Ohio, and Hackathorn was Honorable Mention.
Senior point guard Glenn Eaton, Sr. forward Vic Garman, and Jr. forward Bob Crable rounded out the usual starting five.
The regular season went very smoothly for the hornets. After an early season loss at home to Garaway, the team won nine straight before losing on the road at Strasburg. There were two close games with Tuslaw that year, both hornet victories, and a close win over Tusky Valley early in the year. East Canton dominated the rest of the schedule, and entered tournament play 16-2.
Double digit wins over United Local, Lowellville, and Lordstown sent the hornets into the district tournament. Resistance in the districts wasn’t much fiercer, as the hornets beat Kent State by nine and McDonald by twenty-two to capture the first district title in school history. The regional tournament was held at the Columbus Fairgrounds. East Canton beat Ridgedale in the semi-finals 70-66, and stood one win away from a birth in the state tournament. Both Clark and Hackathorn were plagued by foul trouble in the game against Pleasant. Both spent significant time on the bench in the middle quarters when Pleasant took control of the game.
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11 comments:
I noticed a Garman in the article... Any relation to our now coach, Bill Garman?
And if my math holds up, Clark averaged 17 rebounds a game! Holy crap
I believe that is Coach Garman's more talented uncle....
I'm no math teacher, but 375 rebounds in 25 games is 15.
Jeff Spaulding holds the rebounds per game record with a 15.3 average in the 73-74 season.
Steve Clark, by all accounts, was an absolute beast on the glass. He had size and athleticism that would still hold up in today's game.
Hornet Career leader in rebounding with 895 in 67 games. If MY math holds up, that is approximately 13.35821 per game.
That is ton of rebounds! Can we talk about something nearer and dearer to my heart? Assists. What do the annals say on that, Sam?
Assists are tricky, because not all coaches kept accurate assist stats. There were some fine point guards and players NOT represented here. However, based on known and verified stats:
Team Single Game: 30 vs. Claymont in 82-83
Single Game: 16 Jack Knock (60-61 vs. Tuslaw) and Tom Crank (83-84 vs. Minerva)
Career leaders:
1 Crank, Tom 81-84 441
2 Pangrazio, Nino 84-87 250
3 Hall, Jarvis 95-98 243
4 Oberster, Alan 80-83 171
5 Collins, Tyler 04-07 170
6 Budinski, Eric 91-95 163
7 Sakotas, Nelson 91-95 160
8 Fisher, Harold 87-89 158
9 Kopp, Chris 86-90 157
10 Shephard, Bryan 86-88 150
11 Lorenzo, Mike 90-93 144
12 Majestic, Ted 79-82 135
13 Merideth, Andy 95-97 130
14 Snyder, Jeremy 94-95 130
15 Harris, Jerry 86-90 115
Tom Crank is currently the baseball coach at Malone College, and he and Jeff Spaulding are the only two former hornet players to also coach the varsity team.
How about assist average for a single season?
Is it me, or are there some striking similarities to this year's team? The loss to Strasburg (who beat us in our preview game), close wins over Tuslaw and Tusky, also, Hackathorn is as close as your going to get to Hackenberg...
Players who are known to have averaged over 5 apg:
Tom Crank 8.6 '84
Tom Crank 7.1 '83
Nino Pangrazio 7.1 '86
Harold Fisher 6.4 '89
Jarvis Hall 6.4 '97
Tyler Collins 5.1 '07
I could be bias, but Tyler Collins' feat is the most impressive to me. We rarely made more than 7 or 8 field goals each game that year.
There were many great players that came out of little EC..basketball teams were really good and could compete with D1 schools from around the area. That was proven during summer league games we got enrolled in because of great coaching from Joe Pangrazio, and Vet. Not to forget past graduates like Rich Tharp and Chris Kopp who lent a hand when they could. Scott Young was probably the best talent to come out of East Canton. He had that Scottie Pippin affect on a game. Jerry Harris was lights out, he had that Larry Bird smooth stroke..like I said, we had great talent.
These are the 8 players who played in the 1971 regional final.
Starting five. Seniors Steve Clark. Vic Garman. Bruce Hackathorn. Glen Eaton. Junior Bob Crable
Subs. Seniors Rollin Crumrine and Greg John. And Sophmore Rick Davis
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