It turns out the 1913 team isn’t the only State Champ. Corpus Christi won the 1934 Illinois Catholic State Championship Tournament. At this point, Catholic schools were not part of the IHSA.
The 1934 Corpus Christi team was made up of Henry Bell (Head Coach), Heinie Johnson (Ass’t Coach), Father Cummin (AD), Harry Burke, Gene Burke, Bill Foley, Dan Shea, Robert Pogue, Jim Blackburn, Morris Bowen, Ralph Thielbert, Carl “Red” Thielbert, Stanley Butokovich, Marvin Seastedt, and Louis Weigand.
The Corpus Christi team is referred to as the “Irish”, and also as the “Friars.”
The IHSA did not allow private schools in their association until 1941.
The Catholic State Tourney was played at Jacksonville. In the Round of 16, the “Irish” beat Belleville Cathedral by 23-7. Then in the Round of 8, Corpus handled Central of East St. Louis by 32-25.
In the semi-finals, Corpus beat Routt of Jacksonville 16-11. In the championship game, Corpus defeated Cathedral of Springfield 16-11 in a come from behind win. The Galesburg paper indicated this was a first for Corpus as they had “striven for year after year without previous success.”
In the State Championship game, Corpus played only five players- the Thielberts, Foley, Seastedt, and Bowen.
There was a two week gap between the State Tourney and the National Tourney. Boosters met to “discuss the financial possibilities of sending the team to the national tournament in Chicago.’
To help raise money, an exhibition game between Corpus Christi and an alumni team was planned.
Interest was so high that they expected a sell-out crowd for the alumni game. Mayor Joe Anderson will address the crowd.
To help celebrate the State Championship, a banquet was help to honor the players. The new Knox football coach was introduced at the banquet, and he said,”We’ll win a game or two, I promise you that.”
Corpus defeated their Alumni 27-12. The Alumni included players by the name of Coyle, Polite, Johnson, Swanson, Carr, Tim Pogue, Derby, Worden, and O’Brien.
In the Alumni game, Marvin Seastedt has 6 rebound baskets. And leading scorer, Carl Thielbert blistered the nets going 5 for 28 from the field. It should be understood that the basketball with a bladder did not come about until 1942. The basketballs in 1934 were 32 inches compared to today’s 28.5 inches. That may not seem like a lot but the combination of not having the cnsistency of ball with a bladder and being so much bigger made the ball harder to fit into the basket.
For the Nationals, Corpus was matched up vs. St. Joseph’s of Huntington West Virginia. Fifteen states were represented- Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York, Wisconsin, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana, West Virginia, California, South Dakota, Ohio, Minnesota, and Oklahoma. As was the tradition even in the IHSA during this era- Springfield also advanced to Nationals. And Chicago had their own championship, and three teams advanced to the field of 32.
The team took the train to Chicago for the tourney.
Coach Henry Bell had started giving the players Cod Liver Pills before games over the last month of the season.
In the opening round, Corpus defeated Huntington 33-20. Carl Thielbert exploded for 22 points. This was one short of the record for the National Tourney. He might have beaten the record had he not picked up his 4th foul and fouled out. Yes, at this time you fouled out on your fourth foul. In 1945 they expanded it to five fouls.
Box score from the Huntington game.
Both Carl Thielbert and Seastedt fouled out with 4 fouls. Seastedt’s loss was significant because they still jumped center after each basket. They reported that Seastedt “always gave Galesburg the tip.”
A preview of the Round of 16 listed the following as favorites- Cathedral of Indianapolis, Central Catholic of Pittsburgh, Corpus Christi, St. Phillips of Chicago, and Stockton California.
Preview continued…
Corpus Christi beat St.Phillips of Chicago 27-17 with Carl Thielbert scoring 14 and Ralph Thielbert adding 8 points.
Corpus lost to St. Patrick’s of Chicago in the Elite 8 game, 25-20.
Thielbert was labeled by a newspaper as, “best ever to appear in the National Catholic Tourney.
The loss by Corpus was labeled as the “biggest upset of the tourney.”
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