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Douglas Mills
Douglas Raymond "Gaga" Mills (April 9, 1907 – August 12, 1993), a native of Elgin, Illinois, was a high school and college basketball player and coach in the state of Illinois. During high school, Mills was the first player in the state to lead his team to back-to-back titles in 1924 and 1925. He totaled 32 points in four state tournament games for Elgin High School during an era of low-scoring play. Mills played for the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team from 1927 to 1930 followed by a five-year coaching stint at Joliet Township High School. He led his Joliet team to the state tournament in 1935. He returned to the U of I as head men's basketball coach from 1936 to 1947. He coached the famous " Whiz Kids" and also served as the Fighting Illini's athletic director. Mills died in 1993. While coaching at Illinois, Mills compiled a record of 151 wins and 66 losses, winning three conference titles during his tenure. He added the athletic director's post in 1941. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elgin, Illinois
Elgin ( ) is a city in Cook and Kane counties in the northern part of the U.S. state of Illinois. Elgin is located northwest of Chicago, along the Fox River. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 114,797, the seventh-largest city in Illinois. History The Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the Black Hawk Indian War of 1832 led to the expulsion of the Native Americans who had settlements and burial mounds in the area and set the stage for the founding of Elgin. Thousands of militiamen and soldiers of Gen. Winfield Scott's army marched through the Fox River valley during the war, and accounts of the area's fertile soils and flowing springs soon filtered east. In New York, James T. Gifford and his brother Hezekiah Gifford heard tales of this area ripe for settlement, and they traveled west. Looking for a site on the stagecoach route from Chicago to Galena, Illinois, they eventually settled on a spot where the Fox River could be bridged. In April 1835, they e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Champaign Central High School
Champaign Central High School is a high school located in Champaign, Illinois. It has 1,385 students in grades 9- 12. The principal is Joe Williams. It is part of the Champaign Unit 4 School District school system. Its sports teams are the Central Maroons. History Champaign High School, now Champaign Central High School, began serving the public in 1870. The present school site, 610 W. University Avenue, was donated by J.P. White to the public schools of Champaign in 1868 and has housed Central High School since 1956. During the 1963-64 school year, due to over-crowding approximately 300 students were assigned on a half-day basis to Jefferson Middle School. These students attended three academic classes at Jefferson plus three classes at the senior high school. During the 1965-66 school year, approximately 550 sophomores attended classes in the first phase of the Senior High School Annex. They attended classes on the same schedule as those at Champaign High School. The 1966-67 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1944–45 Illinois Fighting Illini Men's Basketball Team
The 1944–45 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois. Regular season After the second worst season in Doug Mills tenure as the head coach of the Fighting Illini, the ongoing war created even more havoc with the 1944–45 season. The Illini were required to play games close to home which meant they played certain teams multiple times. For example, the team played Great Lakes three times, Chanute Field, in nearby Rantoul, Illinois, two times and George Mikan and the DePaul Blue Demons two times as well. As the season progressed, Mills experimented with several lineups, including a 19 player barrage versus Nebraska. These varied lineups allowed Mills to play an impressive freshman, Johnny Orr, playing his only season for Illinois prior to rejoining his high school coach, Dolph Stanley, at Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin. The Big Ten Conference season was unusual as well. The Illini dropped their opening game to Michigan foll ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1944–45 NCAA Men's Basketball Season
The 1944–45 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1944, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 1945 NCAA basketball tournament championship game on March 27, 1945, at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York. The Oklahoma A&M Aggies won their first NCAA national championship with a 49–45 victory over the NYU Violets. Rule changes * Defensive goaltending was prohibited. * A player fouls out after committing five fouls, including fouls committed in overtime. Previously, a player fouled out after committing four fouls in regulation or a fifth foul in overtime. * Unlimited substitution is permitted for the first time. Previously, a player could re-enter a game only twice. * No offensive player may stand in the free-throw lane (also known as the "key") for more than three seconds. Season headlines *More than 18,000 fans attended the final installment of an annual American Red Cross benefit game between the NCAA Tourna ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1943–44 Illinois Fighting Illini Men's Basketball Team
The 1943–44 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois. Regular season March 1, 1943, changed the future of Fighting Illini men's basketball when the team was broken up due to all five starters from back-to-back Big Ten Conference championships heading to active duty in the armed forces. The group who left, known as the '' Whiz Kids'', consisted of 21-year-old All-America forward Andy Phillip and 20-year-olds Ken Menke, Gene Vance, Jack Smiley and Art Mathisen. Phillip went on to become a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Four of the five, minus Mathisen, returned to Illinois and tried to recapture the glory for one more season in 1946–47 after the war ended, but the chemistry had changed as well as their talent. Illinois went 14–6. The 1943–44 season, however, was a struggle for head coach Doug Mills, as it was the second worst season of his career. The overall record was 11 wins and 9 losses with a conference m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1941–42 Illinois Fighting Illini Men's Basketball Team
The 1941–42 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois. Regular season The Illinois Fighting Illini finished the season with a record of 18 wins and 5 losses. Under the direction of head coach and athletic director Douglas Mills, the Illini grouped a team of players, all around 6' 3", into a nearly undefeatable lineup later to be known as "The Whiz Kids". This group captured the attention of the entire nation while winning back-to-back conference titles and combining for a 35-6 record, 25-2 in the Big Ten over those two seasons. They dazzled crowds everywhere averaging 58 points per game, while most teams were averaging in the low 40s. Primarily made up of sophomores, they dominated the 1941-42 conference basketball season by posting a 13 – 2 record. A starting lineup consisting of Arthur "Jack" Smiley, Ken Menke, Andy Phillip, Ellis "Gene" Vance, Victor Wukovits and Art Mathisen, developed a winning attitude that would maintain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1940–41 Illinois Fighting Illini Men's Basketball Team
The 1940–41 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois. Regular season A new decade had begun for the Fighting Illini, a decade which brought much success to Illinois basketball. Head Coach Doug Mills led the Illini to consecutive Big Ten titles in 1942 and 1943. The Illini would add another league championship under Harry Combes in 1949. The Illini were the 13th-winningest Division I team in the nation in the 1940s. Illinois’ 150-57 record and .725 winning percentage was the best in the Big Ten. In 1941, Mills added to his coaching duties when he was named the school’s athletic director as well as continuing on as the head coach. Mills entered his fifth season with the Illini and, just as his teams had done the previous 4 seasons, had a nearly perfect record on the home court finishing with an 8-2 record. Unfortunately for the Illini they finished with a 5-5 record on the road to finish in a third place tie overall in conference ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1939–40 Illinois Fighting Illini Men's Basketball Team
The 1939–40 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois. Regular season Doug Mills entered his fourth year as the head coach of the Fighting Illini with high hopes as well as a player with national prominence. William ''"Bill"'' Hapac was the program's first consensus first-team All-American as recognized by the NCAA. During the 1939-40 season, he became the first-ever recipient of the University of Illinois Athlete of the Year award. Hapac set the Big Ten single-game scoring record on February 10, 1940, with 34 points vs. Minnesota, a point total unheard of at that time. In addition to his success on the hardwood, Hapac also was a three-year letterwinner for the Illini baseball team. During the season, the Illini won 10 of their 11 home games only losing to conference rival Purdue in the last game of the season. Unfortunately for the Illini they finished with a 4-5 record on the road to finish in a fourth place tie overall in confere ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1938–39 Illinois Fighting Illini Men's Basketball Team
The 1938–39 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois. Regular season The 1938-39 season was year number three for head coach Doug Mills. Overall the team regrouped from a miserable eighth-place finish in the Big Ten a year earlier by winning 9 of their 10 home games only losing to conference rival Indiana. Unfortunately for the Fighting Illini they finished with a 5-5 record on the road to finish in third place overall in conference action. Mills' Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team featured only 5 returning letterman. Along with ''team captain'' Tom Nisbit, the Illini also featured a starting lineup of Lewis Dehner at the center position, John Drish, Joe Frank and William Hapac at forward and George Wardley, and Colin Handlon at guard. Roster Source Schedule , - !colspan=12 style="background:#DF4E38; color:white;", Non-Conference regular season , - align="center" bgcolor="" , - !col ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1937–38 Illinois Fighting Illini Men's Basketball Team
The 1937–38 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois. Regular season The 1937-38 season for second year head coach Doug Mills took a major step backward after finishing in a first place tie a year earlier. Mills' Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team dropped to a tie for eighth place in the Big Ten during his sophomore season. This team featured future major league baseball hall of fame shortstop and manager, Lou Boudreau. Even though they returned 6 letterman, the Illini finished the season with a conference record of 4 wins and 8 losses (the worst of Mills' career at Illinois). The team finished the season with an overall record of 9 wins 9 losses. Along with ''team captain'' Boudreau, the Illini also featured a starting lineup of Lewis Dehner at the center position, Joe Frank and William Hapac at forward and George Wardley, Tom Nisbit and Colin Handlon at guard. Roster Source Schedule , - !colsp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1936–37 Illinois Fighting Illini Men's Basketball Team
The 1936–37 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois. Regular season New head coach Doug Mills took over the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team for the 1936–37 season replacing Craig Ruby. Mills was a player for the Illini from 1927 to 1930 and served as the assistant coach for the 1935–36 season. Mills' service toward the University of Illinois would continue until 1947 as head coach and until 1966 as athletic director. Along with future head coach Harry Combes, the Illini returned 7 lettermen from a team that had finished in a third place tie in the Big Ten the year before. Even though they lost 2 home games during conference play, the Illini finished the season in a tie for the conference championship with a record of 10 wins and 2 losses. The team finished the season with an overall record of 14 wins 4 losses. Along with Combes, the Illini also featured future major league baseball hall of fame shortstop and m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Illinois High School Association
The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) is an association that regulates competition of interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level for the state of Illinois. It is a charter member of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). The IHSA regulates 14 sports for boys, 15 sports for girls, and eight co-educational non-athletic activities. More than 760 public and private high schools in the state of Illinois are members of the IHSA. The Association's offices are in Bloomington, Illinois. In its over 100 years of existence, the IHSA has been at the center of many controversies. Some of these controversies (inclusion of sports for girls, the inclusion of private schools, drug testing, and the use of the term "March Madness") have had national resonance, or paralleled the struggles seen in other states across the country. Other controversies (geographic advancement of teams to the state playoff series, struggles between ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
