below and on the right, a B-team at Perrysville
Bill Bays
It’s a good thing Bill Bays never married because his love affair with Ladoga High School, Ladoga athletics and Ladoga students in general took up all of his time and most of his life for 11 years from the time he arrived on the scene in 1960 until consolidation closed the doors of Ladoga High School in 1971. During those years, Bill Bays started a football program that had lain dormant for half a century, started a golf program and coached every sport at every level that fielded Ladoga Canner teams. Beginning in 1961 and ending in 1970, Bill was the only football coach that the Canners ever had. He started with an 8 man program in 1961 and ended with an 11 man team in 1970. His best teams were in 1962 when the Canners were 6-2-1, 1966 when they were 7-0-2, and 1968 when they were7-3. The Canners were always known for great speed in the backfield, an imaginative and creative offense (sometimes bordering on the razzle-dazzle) and a sophisticated passing attack. Bays came to Ladoga from Marshall, IL where he played all three major sports and Indiana State University where he quarterbacked the Sycamores his junior and senior years. He also coached football at Perrysville and North Putnam. He had a team at Perrysville that finished the season with a 7-3 record and tied for second in the very tough Wabash Valley Conference.
Altogether Bill Bays coached varsity football for 10 years, varsity golf for 6 years, varsity basketball for two years, varsity track for 4 years, and baseball at the varsity, Babe Ruth League, Pony League, and Little League level for 9 years. He won the County Championship in baseball in 1963 and the Conference Championship of the Wabash River Conference in 1965 with a record of 11-4. Nobody really knows how many years he coached younger basketball teams but a good guess is that the coached some basketball team every year that he was at Ladoga.
How many hours did Bill Bays spend on the sidelines at Ladoga High School coaching other people’s kids like they were his own? How could a person estimate the amount of time he spent nurturing and mentoring boys and girls wearing the Green and Gold? He certainly was one-of-a-kind. He loved athletics and he loved the people who played for him. Bill Carmichael who played football for Bays in the beginning years remarked that playing football for Bill Bays did more to prepare him for the Marine Corps than anything else he experienced in life. John Oliver played QB for the Canners in the first season. Ladoga lost to Perrysville that year 97-7. After a year of Bays tutoring, the Canners avenged that loss by a 14-13 count. That turnaround was written up in the Indianapolis Star.
John remembers one incident that showed the toughness and character of Bill Bays. John said, “One memorable moment was when I was having trouble getting the hand offs correctly and when I shoved the ball into their bellies, the backs were holding their hands too low and they would fumble. Bays told everybody to stop and watch how to do it. He took the running back position and when he came through for the handoff, I heard aloud crack. He didn’t fumble though. His face turned red and the veins were popping out. I broke his pinky finger. After practice, he went into the coach’s cage and set his finger and wrapped tape around it, soaked it in water and made his own cast. He was one tough son-of-a-gun.” In the 10 years of Canner football, Bays had a record of 50-37-5.
After consolidation, Bays was offered the golf coaching position at the new Southmont school, but wanted to continue coaching football. He traveled a few miles south to North Putnam and had the honor of coaching the first team to beat Southmont after South had run off a streak of 13 consecutive wins. The Cougars of North Put beat the Mounties 14-0 in one of the hardest hitting games seen by many observers in recent years. Bays also coached girls basketball at North Putnam and led the girls to an 8-8 record his first year.
Phil Seale shares this non-football memory of Bill Bays. " One of my memories of Bill was in 1963, when the announcement of President Kennedy's assassination came over the intercom and we were in Bill's history class. I remember him sitting there, stunned, and then tears streaming down his face. That will always be etched in my memory of Coach Bays." Along with Floyd “Doc” Neff and Harold “Jack” Hester, Bill Bays is one the coaching legends at Ladoga High School.
It’s a good thing Bill Bays never married because his love affair with Ladoga High School, Ladoga athletics and Ladoga students in general took up all of his time and most of his life for 11 years from the time he arrived on the scene in 1960 until consolidation closed the doors of Ladoga High School in 1971. During those years, Bill Bays started a football program that had lain dormant for half a century, started a golf program and coached every sport at every level that fielded Ladoga Canner teams. Beginning in 1961 and ending in 1970, Bill was the only football coach that the Canners ever had. He started with an 8 man program in 1961 and ended with an 11 man team in 1970. His best teams were in 1962 when the Canners were 6-2-1, 1966 when they were 7-0-2, and 1968 when they were7-3. The Canners were always known for great speed in the backfield, an imaginative and creative offense (sometimes bordering on the razzle-dazzle) and a sophisticated passing attack. Bays came to Ladoga from Marshall, IL where he played all three major sports and Indiana State University where he quarterbacked the Sycamores his junior and senior years. He also coached football at Perrysville and North Putnam. He had a team at Perrysville that finished the season with a 7-3 record and tied for second in the very tough Wabash Valley Conference.
Altogether Bill Bays coached varsity football for 10 years, varsity golf for 6 years, varsity basketball for two years, varsity track for 4 years, and baseball at the varsity, Babe Ruth League, Pony League, and Little League level for 9 years. He won the County Championship in baseball in 1963 and the Conference Championship of the Wabash River Conference in 1965 with a record of 11-4. Nobody really knows how many years he coached younger basketball teams but a good guess is that the coached some basketball team every year that he was at Ladoga.
How many hours did Bill Bays spend on the sidelines at Ladoga High School coaching other people’s kids like they were his own? How could a person estimate the amount of time he spent nurturing and mentoring boys and girls wearing the Green and Gold? He certainly was one-of-a-kind. He loved athletics and he loved the people who played for him. Bill Carmichael who played football for Bays in the beginning years remarked that playing football for Bill Bays did more to prepare him for the Marine Corps than anything else he experienced in life. John Oliver played QB for the Canners in the first season. Ladoga lost to Perrysville that year 97-7. After a year of Bays tutoring, the Canners avenged that loss by a 14-13 count. That turnaround was written up in the Indianapolis Star.
John remembers one incident that showed the toughness and character of Bill Bays. John said, “One memorable moment was when I was having trouble getting the hand offs correctly and when I shoved the ball into their bellies, the backs were holding their hands too low and they would fumble. Bays told everybody to stop and watch how to do it. He took the running back position and when he came through for the handoff, I heard aloud crack. He didn’t fumble though. His face turned red and the veins were popping out. I broke his pinky finger. After practice, he went into the coach’s cage and set his finger and wrapped tape around it, soaked it in water and made his own cast. He was one tough son-of-a-gun.” In the 10 years of Canner football, Bays had a record of 50-37-5.
After consolidation, Bays was offered the golf coaching position at the new Southmont school, but wanted to continue coaching football. He traveled a few miles south to North Putnam and had the honor of coaching the first team to beat Southmont after South had run off a streak of 13 consecutive wins. The Cougars of North Put beat the Mounties 14-0 in one of the hardest hitting games seen by many observers in recent years. Bays also coached girls basketball at North Putnam and led the girls to an 8-8 record his first year.
Phil Seale shares this non-football memory of Bill Bays. " One of my memories of Bill was in 1963, when the announcement of President Kennedy's assassination came over the intercom and we were in Bill's history class. I remember him sitting there, stunned, and then tears streaming down his face. That will always be etched in my memory of Coach Bays." Along with Floyd “Doc” Neff and Harold “Jack” Hester, Bill Bays is one the coaching legends at Ladoga High School.
