JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. -- Few programs have as colorful a past as the Jeffersonville Red Devils. Good Varsity Club member, Pat Hennegan, shares two great stories of how the Red Devils ran afoul with the IHSAA -- So much so as to lose two seasons to suspension...
1930-31 JEFF/I.H.S.A.A. Suspension
On January 24, 1931 the Indiana High School Athletic Association suspended Jeffersonville High School from their organization until June 1, 1931 for "failure to comply with Association rules and regulations." The basketball Red Devils, who were undefeated at 16-0 when the decision was rendered, saw their season end immediately (with no chance to compete in the post-season tourney).
According to sources of that and more recent times (The Evening News and Dale Glenn's The History of the I.H.S.A.A.), Salem High School and New Albany High School were concerned that much of Jeffersonville's success was due to a pair of transfers from Kentucky and urged an investigation. The Red Devils had in the previous weeks defeated both New Albany and Salem and were scheduled to play the Bulldogs again. Bradford Lair had moved to Jeffersonville on October 1 (the first day a school could begin practice). His mother moved with him but his father and sister remained in Monticello. Lair was a 6'10" center. Ray Weber was the second transfer in question. He was a quick guard and team captain. He transferred from St. Xavier High School in Louisville, although he had resided in Jeffersonville.
The I.H.S.A.A. Board of Control and Commissioner Arthur L. Trester felt that Lair's attendance at Jeffersonville High School was under "unusual and questionable" circumstances and his reason for changing schools remained in doubt. It also ruled that Weber had been enrolled in parts of four previous seasons, was a "5-year" man, and thus ineligible for athletics. In an additional charge, Red Devil player Sam Rauth, was accused of playing in an independent game.
The I.H.S.A.A. also ordered that Jeffersonville forfeit its sixteen victories from that season. Bill Johnson, in his book On Red Devils, says that JEFF was dealt an "unfair decision" due to false claims from Salem and New Albany. Newspaper accounts, yearbooks, and record books indicate that Jeffersonville High School choose not to forfeit those contests, in part, because Ray Weber played for the Red Devils in 1929-30 and had not just transferred in. Official Jeffersonville High School records will indicate that the basketball team was 16-0 that season, while other sources may claim those contests forfeited.
Not surprisingly, within a week of the I.H.S.A.A. decision, state senator Russell Kehoe (of Jeffersonville) authored Senate Bill #148. This bill would place public and parochial high school athletics under the sole control of the State Board of Education. He reasoned that athletics were too vital and too large an enterprise for control to be vested in the hands of private interests (Indianapolis News). Before he had entered politics, Russell Kehoe had been head football coach at Jeffersonville High School.
1949-50 JEFF/I.H.S.A.A. Suspension
On Tuesday, November 2, 1949 the Indiana High School Athletic Association suspended Jeffersonville High for four months as a penalty for recruiting high school athletes. The penalty, invoked by the Association's Board of Control, had the effect of canceling the Jeffersonville Basketball schedule for the 1949-50 season. At the same time, the board approved a previous action by Jeffersonville officials which declared Harry Hinton Jr. and James Regan permanently ineligible for athletics at Jeffersonville High School.
Coach Ed Denton and Jeffersonville were cleared of using undue influences to affect the transfer of a third athlete, Alfred Hustedt. IHSAA Commissioner L.V. Phillips stated that the school can apply for readmission to the IHSAA on March 1, 1950 and may be readmitted on a probationary basis for one year. That would permit it to compete in spring sports and football next year.
Specific Findings of the Board of Control (Hearings of October 21 & 28, 1949)
1. That Harry 'Butch' Hinton and James Regan had cast their basketball fortunes together and what affected one affected the other.
2. That Coach Denton did, on a number of occasions discuss (both with Butch Hinton and his father) the matter of securing an athletic scholarship in college, provided the boy came to Jeffersonville and could be made eligible to participate on the Jeffersonville High School team, where he could be seen by more fans and more scouts.
3. That it was the intention of Regan to accompany Hinton to Jeffersonville also for the purpose of getting an athletic scholarship through Denton's assistance.
4. That Denton accompanied a well-known out-of-state college coach to Silver Creek last spring for the purpose of meeting and interviewing Butch Hinton (the IHSAA did not name the coach, but several sources reported that it was Adolph Rupp of Kentucky).
5. That when James Regan went to Jeffersonville, before school opened, Coach Denton gave him employment on the high school football field and paid him in cash from his own personal funds.
6. As further indication of Coach Denton's personal interest in these boys, he made determined efforts (both before and after the boys were declared ineligible) to arrange a joint meeting with Jeffersonville and Silver Creek school officials with the IHSAA to take these boys out of Jeffersonville and back to Silver Creek with immediate eligibility and all charges dropped.
The IHSAA stated that to apply for reinstatement JHS must file proof that, "responsibility for the inter-school athletic program has been restored to the principal in fact, as well as name."
Response to the IHSAA announcement of suspension was quick in coming. Basketball team members left their classes and by lunch over one hundred students milled in front of the school during their lunch break. Coach Denton vowed that, like MacArthur, "We will be back". By that evening over 1,000 students, parents, and Jeffersonville fans held a demonstration downtown at Warder Park. There was chanting, signs, cheering and threats of students 'going on strike' and not attending classes the following day. Businessmen were generally supportive of the demonstration and some of the demonstrators even ventured to New Albany where evidently seven of them were arrested.
The next day, Wednesday, November 3, hundreds of Jeffersonville High School students did go on strike and refused to attend classes in protest of the IHSAA decision. Principal Emory Theiss, Superintendent of Schools William F. Vogel, and School Board Attorney Owen Voight drove to Indianapolis to plead their case with officials of the IHSAA. Commissioner Phillips and Board of Control President R.B. Miller met with the Jeffersonville group for four and one half hours, but refused further action.
The entire situation continued to escalate. On Thursday and Friday, the student strike continued as hundreds of students refused to return to class, despite the pleading of Principal Theiss. Attorney Owen Voight threatened legal action against the IHSAA calling the IHSAA ruling both, "unjust and an outrage" and Jeffersonville mayor Sam Shannon said he was, "in sympathy with the high school students". Demonstrations continued throughout downtown, students drove through the streets chanting and singing, and signs were posted everywhere. Commissioner Phillips was burned in effigy.
Neighbors and opponents of Jeffersonville were not especially sympathetic however. Newspaper editorials trashed the Jeffersonville basketball program and especially Coach Denton. Papers in Hammond, Bedford, Vincennes, Madison, Washington, New Albany, Evansville and Indianapolis all weighed in on the side of the IHSAA. Opponents on the 1949-50 schedule had to scramble to find replacements for Jeffersonville with only days before the beginning of the season. Some schools like Anderson, Evansville Central and Evansville Memorial would not return to the JHS schedule for decades.
By all accounts the 1949-50 Red Devil basketball team was expected to be very strong. They returned all but two players from the 20-5 team of the previous season. The team was expected to be tall (6'4 Chet Beam, 6'5 Jim Hook and 6'4 Hobby Gibbs) and skilled (Jim Ashton, Jerry Bandy, Brooks McComas, Ronnie Tharp, Tuck Coots, Chuck Long and Graham Hinton) and many predicted it would be the best squad since the 1934-35 State Runner-ups. The addition of the three youngsters, who were fine players (Hinton and Regan had been starters) at Silver Creek, strengthened an already powerful squad.
Butch Hinton and his family had moved to Jeffersonville. James Regan moved to Jeffersonville to live with his mother and stepfather (former Jeffersonville star Nod Adams). Buddy Hustedt had been living with his grandparents, but moved to Jeffersonville to live with his parents. Silver Creek High School acknowledged that Hinton and Regan had been disciplined following a loss to Jeffersonville in the 1949 Sectional in which the boys had broken a Field House door. The IHSAA was aware of these students moving to Jeffersonville during the summer and suggested that by declaring the boys ineligible to play at Jeff High (before school began), school officials could avoid any disciplinary action. However, school officials did not make that decision until October 10th.
The wild week came to an end as Coach Ed Denton called a press conference and public meeting. Denton invited his accusers; Coach Don Saylor and Principal Austin Walker of Silver Creek, and Coach Gordon Raney of New Albany. He also invited IHSAA Commissioner L.V. Phillips by threatening, "Commissioner Phillips' face will be red if he does not attend this meeting". Phillips' response was, "I would rather my face be red than be burned at the stake. Since I have been burned in effigy at Jeffersonville, I do not care to go down there and be burned without benefit of effigy."
The entire situation came to a climax on the evening of Sunday, November 7. Over 5,000 Jeffersonville students, fans and reporters packed the Field House. The meeting began at 8:00. Commissioner Phillips, obviously, did not attend. Silver Creek's Saylor and Walker and Raney of New Albany were also "no shows". Surprisingly, Principal Theiss and Superintendent Vogel were also absent. Jack Gardner, a public relations counselor from Louisville, was the master of ceremonies. The packed house listened to Coach Denton, parents and community leaders. In addition they heard from the former Silver Creek players in question. They all said that "no undue influence" was used by Denton or others in Jeffersonville and that their moves were "voluntary". Butch Hinton said that he could not get along with Silver Creek coach Don Saylor. "He called me a quitter. I told my parents I would rather quit school than return to Silver Creek". Jimmy Regan also said that he could not get along with Saylor and that, "I wanted to come to Jeffersonville and play basketball". Hinton's father had unkind words for Silver Creek trustees and the IHSAA Commissioner.
Finally coach "Big Ed" Denton spoke again. He was greeted with mostly cheers and a few boos. He referred to the people booing as, "being from New Albany". Denton spoke for 45 minutes and denied the charges, claiming that Jeffersonville was a 'victim of circumstances'. Coach Denton did admit to paying $20 to Regan to help move some concrete blocks. He said, "Public opinion has killed us. Three boys moved in from Silver Creek. What did the newspapers say? They said Denton has imported three players from Silver Creek. Any high school in Indiana could be thrown out for the same cause that Jeffersonville was."
Denton continued, "I think it's best that I now relinquish my hold on basketball. But they'll have to fire me next year if they want to get rid of me." Denton said he planned to continue as a health and safety teacher. The school board scheduled a 10:00 a.m. meeting on Tuesday and accepted Denton's resignation as Head Coach and athletic coordinator. According to the Jeffersonville Evening News Denton would eventually admit that undue influence was used in the transfer of the Silver Creek players. He denied that he was involved in the deal and did not know anything about it until it had been completed. He placed the blame on several individuals "down town" who were connected with the Jeffersonville school system, but refused to divulge their names.
Most of the students returned to class on Monday. The 1949-50 Jeffersonville High School basketball team's season was canceled. Some of the players did compete in a series of scrimmages against teams such as the Hanover College and University of Louisville freshmen. They were coached for that "season" by Purdue graduate James Ertel. Coach Denton may have planned to return to coaching at J.H.S., but was recalled to active duty in the United States Army and served in Korea. He did return to coach, ironically at Silver Creek, where he coached from 1952-58 and again in 1966-67. Hinton, Regan and Hustedt remained at Jeffersonville and graduated in 1951. They did not participate in any sports. Butch Hinton would eventually play basketball at the University of Louisville. Jeffersonville High School reorganized its Athletic Council and reapplied for membership to the I.H.S.A.A. on March 1, 1950. They were accepted and have not been involved in any further problems. The Red Devils returned to the hardwood in 1950-51 and hired former Jeffersonville star Bill Johnson as head coach.