It had been 18 years since Galesburg HS had won the Illinois Basketball State Tourney. And although the 1929 Red Devils had made it to the Sweet Sixteen, no GHS team since 1913 had even made it to State. Most Galesburg fans still recognized the heroes of the 1913 team.
At tourney time, the State Championship trophy and the team picture were put on display at First Galesburg National Bank. The gesture may have been intended to celebrate the achievement of 1913 and as an inspiration to present players about what was possible. Or it may have just been a way to haunt the community with the fact that they had not gone to State in 18 years!
In 1931, Gerald Phillips was in just his 2nd season as the head basketball coach. Phillips would continue to coach until 1950 and become a Galesburg legend.
Fan interest in Galesburg HS basketball had mushroomed in the 1920’s. Although GHS had no spectator gym, by 1931 some 2,000-3,000 Red Devil fans would pack the Armory. Anticipation of the 1931 was so high that the opening night at the Armory over 3,000 fans attended the game.
The 1931 team returned Coke Mills, Howard “Hod” Ashley, and Bob Anderson who had been the mainstays of GHS basketball for 3 and 4 years. By the end of the season, the starting lineup was Bob Anderson, “Hod” Ashley, Coke Mills, Harold “Red” Henderson, and Paul Mitchell. Don Robinson, Ed Belden, and Joe Burford came off the bench. In a different era where they jumped center after every made basket, a team could score, get the tip, and retain the ball. Many teams had a “jump ball specialist” who was tall and might have limited basketball skills but would be valuable to get the jump ball tips. For the Red Devils, Ed Belden was that man off the bench.
It should be noted that there were no African-Americans on the Red Devils roster. The Galesburg Blue Diamonds were an all-Black amateur team with high school age and up players who played their own schedule.
The Red Devils finished the regular season with a 15-3 record. At this time the IHSA did not regulate how many games you would play. Some teams played over 40 games, but Galesburg tended to play much fewer games. GHS won the Big 9 Conference championship. Their losses were to Macomb 20-22, Monmouth 15-23, and in the last game of the regular season 17-19.
At this time all the schools started out in District Tourneys with the winners and the runners-up advancing to 8-team Sectional Tourneys. In a heated game, GHS defeated Abingdon 21-19 in the championship of the District.
The Sectional was held at Moline. Galesburg faced perennial state power, Freeport. Freeport had won State in 1915, 1926, and taken 3rd in 1930. The Pretzels had a new coach in 1931. Adolph Rupp had left Freeport after the 1930 season to coach the University of Kentucky.
Galesburg defeated Freeport 18-17 in a thriller. This set up a rematch with Moline. Galesburg and Moline had split games during the regular season with the Maroons winning just two weeks earlier by 2 points. In the Sectional semi-finals, it was the kind of matchup one would expect from two evenly matched rivals. Moline fans were flagged with a technical foul by the referee for booing too much when Coke Mills was shooting a free throw- not a call you see today!! Galesburg went onto win 37-23.
The Red Devils were to play Kewanee at Moline in the Sectional Championship. The weather had been bad, the roads were pretty basic, and there was no GPS. The Galesburg Newspaper gave directions to the fans, “If the weather holds fair the road to Moline via Alpha and Lynn Center is the shortest and in good condition. Motorists should follow the pavement north out of Alpha to the end, turn as directed by signs designating Route 80 west and then north. The detour consists of about 12 miles of good, oiled dirt road.”
Galesburg crushed Kewanee to become one of 8 Sectional Champs and head to State. GHS was matched to play defending State Champ Peoria Manual in the Elite 8 game. Galesburg had beaten Manual in the third game of the year.
If you look at the pairings of the State Tourney, it is unusual that only one hour separates each game. Today there are usually 1:30 to 1:45 between games. The reason they needed less time was that until 1964, the game clock did not stop on anything except injuries, time out, and foul shots. So on violations and out of bounds- the clock just kept going.
During the Depression era and the early stages of auto travel, not everyone could make the trip to Champaign for the games. The Galesburg newspaper set up where people could call to get scores as the night went on. According to the newspaper, four employees worked solidly for two hours to answer calls.
GHS set up to have someone “call the game” via phone and have it piped into speakers at the Armory. For the Manual game, reports said over 2,000 fans listened to the game at the Armory.
Huff Gym at the time held about 7,000 fans. It was estimated about 1,500 Galesburg fans made the trip to watch at Huff. Because of the trouble with travel, and limited funds during the Depression, it was reported that some Galesburg fans attended the Manual game then slept overnight in their cars as they did not have the money for lodging.
Galesburg defeated Manual 22-20 to advance to the State Semi-Finals to face Johnson City.
It was reported that Johnson City “outweighed Galesburg sixty pounds to the man.” The game went into overtime.
The Galesburg player had a flowery account of the end of the game. As you read it, note that in 1931 a player fouled out on their fourth foul. And after each basket there was a center jump, where “Ebbe” (Ed Belden) became very valuable.
The flowering report of the end of the game in the Galesburg newspaper went as follows:
“The roar was terrrific! The clock ticked away those last few seconds. Johnson City led by a lone point. Then Ashley made his four personal foul. All was quiet as Burford entered the fray. An Indian free throw made the lead one more. The end was near. Belden reached high on the next tipoff. A fast break with the ball and Burford’s long toss swished the netting.”
“The din of the frenzied crowd was deafening! The game was tied! Another jump, Belden was fouled as the gun ended hostilities. Then… that awful suspense… the game hinged on one last effort. “Ebby” must do or die!”
“He stepped to the line, hesitated, then threw. It was perfect! Galesburg had won 28-27!”
“The spectators rushed madly to the floor howling till the rafters fairly shook. Men, mad with glee, lifted their heroes upon their shoulders.”
“The hoodon sign had worked…13-31. Opposition beware.”
The hope of some was that 1913 then switching the number to 1931 was a sign of good luck. While it worked to the finals, it did not continue. After leading at half- Galesburg eventually lost to Decatur.
Although they did not win the State title, it is evident that the 1931 Red Devils took a community that already had a passion for high school basketball, and took the basketball fever to a completely different level.
Galesburg would not make it to the State Championship game again until 1966- 35 years later.
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