The Mail-Journal, Volume 8, Number 4, Milford, Kosciusko County, 24 February 1971 — Page 30

—Emery Druckamiller

When the officials toss the ball for the opening tip off of the 1971 state basketball tournament next February in Indianapolis it will signal the start of the 60th state finals Hoosiers have supported basketball ever since state-wide competition began in 1911 and Crawfordsville coached by Dave Glascock won the tournament. The boys from Crawfordsville traveled to Indiana university that year to defeat Lebanon 24-17. Many Hoosiers have avid interests m the sport, among them isE. L. (Emery) Druckamiller.a man who dedicated his life to the sport Mr Druckamiller is a native of Syracuse and is the only player from Kosciusko county to be named to an .all-state basketball team while in high school competition. Druckamiller was named to the all-state team in 1921 when Syracuse traveled to Indianapolis. having won the county tourney in Milford, the chstrict in Warsaw and the semifinals in LaFayette They were downed by Huntington in Indianapolis. Druckamiller was captain of the team. It was coached by Court Slabaugh. Other members of the team were Orva Klink, guard; Everett Evans, center; Guy Rarig. guard; and Fred Couts. forward. Subs were Roy Klink, guard; Paul Riddle, center; and Andrew Hibner. forward. Drupkamiller was a junior at Syracuse that year. Whefn chosen for the all-state team he was one of six named. He was a forward and was a unanimous choice of the state’s sports writers. During the game played at the Indianapolis coliseum he did what few other players have accomplished, he scored all the team’s points in the game as he hit for 16. Final score: Huntington 20 — Syracuse 16. “His aim was deadly in the pinches" stated one newspaper article

A Mon With Memories

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- Perhaps an even more outstanding accomplishment is the fact he was selected for the allsectional team at South Bend in 1918-19 as a freshman. Other members of the team were three seniors from South Bend and a senior from Wanatah. Reports of the 1921 county tourney, held in Milford, showed the Lake Wawasee boys defeating Leesburg. Pierceton. . Atwood and Etna Green to win the championship and start them on their way to the state tourney. Druckamiller was named to the all-county team with newspapers saying. “His work in the tourney was unequaled.” And. indeed it , was. as he only missed two frbe throws during the entire tournament. Again in 1922 Druckamiller was back as a senior •in |92? and led the Syracuse team to another victory. As Be tourney opened Warsaw wasJfavored to walk off with the victory, however, the phenomenal playing of Druckamiller took the title once again to the town on the banks of Wawasee as Syracuse won 20-19. Druckamiller won a forward position on the all-county team as

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did Harry Bouse of North Webster. The team was, however, stopped in the opening game of the South Bend tournament by a strong South Bend high school team. A local paper commented on the Syracuse team with the following quotation on captain Druckamiller: “Captain Druckamiller, who has brought more honor to the school than any other man. will rank first; He is an all-county and all-sectional forward and at the tournament in South Bend he was considered as the best player on the floor; All through the .year he was our main stand by for basket shooting. The team would not have won the victories it did. had it not been for their gallant little captain.” The following year “Drucky" entered Indiana university where he was an outstanding freshman player He served as sixth man on the IU varsity team, playing on the team that tied with Michigan. lowa and Purdue for the championship of the Big Ten conference. Baseball Too Not only was he tops in basketball, but in baseball and other sports too. Druckamiller was captain of the baseball team in 1926, having led th'e Indiana nine to the championship in 1925. He was named a Big ten second baseman. Graduating from Indiana university he coached at Syracuse for two years then moved on to Angola where he served as coach and athletic director. He also did sofne coaching at Tri State college. He retired a few years back after serving the athletic department at Angola for 35 years. As coach at Angola his team set remarkable records, capturing many successive Steuben county crowns. The Druckamillers are the parents of two children, a son and a daughter. He is the brother of

Mrs. Melvin (Mary) Kelly and Leo Druckamiller, both of the Syracuse area. Since his retirement the Druckamillers have been traveling. They were in Alaska two years ago and last year enjoyed traveling in 10 countries of Europe. This year they chose Hawaii for their vacation. KJ w i wRI ■ ÜBI ALL STATE 1921

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