Jerry Steiner, a graduate of Butler University had the best winning pct. of any coach in Ladoga Canner history. He coached the Canners for two years and had a record of 43-11 for a winning pct. of .796. He is the only person with a Ladoga connection in the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.
Ladoga Canners
The fifth and last in our series of County schools that became Southmont High School in 1971 is my beloved Ladoga Canners. I remember walking through the tunnel from the elementary school to the old gym in the basement of the high school to play basketball as our only effort at PE outside of the great recess time when we could go out and play baseball or football on the rocks of the playground. (You had to be tough at recess in those days) The old gym (built in 1918-19) had not been converted into classrooms yet and we weren’t allowed to play on the hallowed floor of the new gym built in 1940 and dedicated in 1941. It was a great time to be a young Canner. The Green and Gold played basketball in seven different locations over the years beginning with an outdoor court (as many other schools did) behind the Methodist Church. They also played above what is now Bryan’s Tire Store, the Christian Tabernacle (where they ate our dust), the Town Hall, the Old Normal and finally in the high school built in 1918-19, and then to the present gym built in 1940-41. That is where the elementary Canners still carry on the proud tradition of the Green and Gold.
In the history of the Ladoga Canners, three names are really prominent. The first is the name of the mascot. We were the only sports team called “Canners” in the entire world. The only problem was that mascots were supposed to be fierce and strike fear into the hearts of the opponents. How do you make a Canner look fierce? The nickname came about because the coach Floyd “Doc” Neff thought that one Spartan in the County was enough (Wingate had already proclaimed themselves as the Spartans). The green and gold were called the Ladoga Spartans in the early days of County basketball. In the fall of 1931,Doc Neff offered the princely prize of $1.00 for the best nickname and since the Ladoga Canning Company was the major industry in town and had provided money to buy new uniforms, the nickname was a natural and we became the Ladoga Canners. The only paper in town was the Ladoga Leader and it made the transition from Spartans to Canners without so much as a comment. On November 27, 1931, the editor wrote an article about a basketball game in which the Ladoga Spartans came out victorious and the next week the Ladoga Canners made their appearance.
The second name that is prominent in the history of Ladoga basketball is the name of Floyd “Doc” Neff. Floyd Neff was born in a log cabin east of New Ross, across the road from where he lived the rest of his life. It was in a house that was one of the old school houses of Boone County. He graduated from Jamestown High School in 1922 and went to school at Central Normal School in Danville, Indiana which later became Canterbury College. At that time, a person could begin teaching after a year at the Normal so Doc began teaching at Jamestown in 1923. He recalled that he didn’t have much real background in basketball as a player, but that he loved and respected the young men he coached. One of the stories told about Doc Neff is that he loved and respected Vernon Ross so much that he kicked his tail all the way from the center circle to the dressing room at halftime of one game. In 1927, Floyd “Doc” Neff appeared on the coaching scene and remained for 20 years. This would have been Doc’s 3rd teaching job. His first one was in Kentucky and lasted only a short time. Doc recalled that his first school was very close to the Indiana-Kentucky line and that he took a bus to Kentucky to meet the trustee of the school. The school was up on a ridge, but Neff said it looked like a mountain to him. The trustee then informed him that there was no way to get there by car so he would have to ride on a mule up to the ridge. On the first day, the students were late getting to school and when they came, they were all ages and sizes. Obviously it was a one-room school. Doc said that some of the boys were bigger than he was. He remembered that he got through the first day with no incidents, but then he told the trustee that he didn’t think the position was for him, so he got on the bus and headed back to Indiana. That would prove to be Ladoga’s gain. Doc began with a junior high team that was very successful in 1927 and was able to compete with the high school reserve team by the end of the season. Doc coached for 12 years before he had to go to the sidelines with some back problems. He turned the program over to Jerry Steiner, a bright young coach who had graduated from Berne High School and later had a great career at Butler University. Steiner led the Canners to two great seasons winning 43 games while losing only 11. He ended his career as the coach with the highest winning percentage in school history, but couldn’t claim either County or Sectional crown. Steiner is the only person with a Ladoga connection to be inducted into the Indiana State Basketball Hall of Fame. That means that there is at least one person from each school that entered the South unit in that hallowed hall. The others are Keith Greve from Waveland, who also coached at New Ross, Howie Williams who played at Purdue and was a gold medalist at the Helsinki Olympics, Earl “Red” Gardner, Jr., who played at New Market, DePauw, and was on the first NBA Champion the Minneapolis Lakers, and Charlie Bowerman, who had brilliant careers at Alamo HS, Wabash College, and the Phillips Oilers. Jerry Steiner’s bio in the Hall of Fame reads as follows:
: “Jerome Steiner—4-yr player at Berne…led team to sectional and regional titles as junior in ’35…ousted from second round of state tourney by Shelbyville…All-State that year…a 3-yr starter at Butler…graduated as school’s all-time leading scorer…3 straight Indiana Collegiate Conf. championships...As senior, named to Madison Square Garden’s All-America team…also recognized on AP’s All-American list…All-Western, All-Conference and All-State…coached 2 yrs at Ladoga. Played for Kautskys and Pistons. He later refereed in the Big Ten.”
Doc Neff returned to the sidelines in 1942 and stayed five more years, climaxing his career with a County Championship in 1947. In his 17 years of coaching at the varsity level Doc’s teams won 202 games and lost only 122 for a winning pct. of .623. The 202 wins places him at the top of the Canner record book for wins and the .623 winning pct. places him third behind Jerry Steiner and Jack Hester. Neff took teams to the final game of the sectional five times only to come away empty every time. Neff-coached teams appeared in the final game of the sectional in 1931, 1936, 1938, 1943, and 1947.
After Doc Neff retired from coaching in 1947, the third prominent person came on the scene. Jack Hester took over and stayed for ten very successful years. During Jack’s tenure, the Canners won championships in all three sports, winning the County Tourney in basketball in 1949, baseball in 1953, and track in 1949, 1959, and 1954. In ten years of coaching, Jack’s basketball teams won 147 games and lost only 72 for a winning percentage of .671. He had only two losing seasons and had a team with a 20 win season as the 1951-52 team finished with 20-3 record, Jack finished his coaching career where he started by winning the County Tourney at New Market in 1966. Jack started his coaching career at New Market, his Alma Mater, in 1938 and won three straight County Tourneys in 1938-39, 1939-40, and 1940-41. His 1942-43 team was having a great year when Jack enlisted in the Navy. The team went on to win the County Tourney that year. Jack was in the service for three years in 1943, 1944, and1945. After he got out of the service, he went to Cutler to finish out a year and then stayed one more year. He then moved on to Ladoga in 1947-48. After coaching at Ladoga for 10 years, Jack went to Noblesville to teach for three years, and then came back to the County to Darlington for three years, before returning to New Market in the fall of 1963. Jack must have felt like he still had some gas left in his tank and coached basketball again at New Market during the 1963-64, 1964-65, and 1965-66 seasons. The Purple Flyers gave Jack his 6th and last Montgomery County Crown in 1966. After that, Jack retired from coaching and finished his career teaching at the new consolidation at Southmont. He retired from teaching in 1975 ending 34 years of teaching in Indiana. In all his teams won six County Championships, including five at New Market and one at Ladoga. That would rank him at the top in number of County Championships won in the 40 year history of the County Tournament. He finished with the second highest win total in County basketball history with 259 wins second only to Tom Bowerman’s 265.
There were several prominent families who contributed players to the Canner basketball legend. I remember the Todds (two different families), the Vices, the Longs, and the Williamsons. On of the most interesting stories centered on the Williamson family who saw three generations play basketball in the County. Eva (Boots) Williamson whose brothers played basketball at Bowers in the early days remembers her husband Frank talking about playing basketball for Mace High School in 1915. Frank and his teammates caught the Interurban in Linnsburg one day and rode to the Ben-Hur Terminal (where the Elston Bank was later). The boys got off at the terminal, walked through town to the Vandalia Station (where the Dari-licious is now) and then rode to Bowers where they played a basketball game on an outside court against Bowers High School. The young Mace star and Eva later married and had two sons who played for the legendary Floyd “Doc” Neff’s Ladoga Canners. Bob played in the early 40’s and Dick played on the first Canner team to win a County Tourney in 1947 and on the last Canner team to win a County tourney under Jack Hester. Bob married a New Ross Bluejay, Helen Williams who had three brothers Harold, Homer, and Howard who played for the Bluejays. You will remember from an earlier article that Howie became a star for the Purdue Boilermakers. Purdue fans will remember the famous “sit-down” shot which defeated I.U. 51-49. Howie was knocked to the floor in a mad scramble for the ball. The ball bounced to him as he was sitting on the floor and the rest is legend; Howie fired it in from the seat of his pants and it went in as time expired. That prompted Howie to say that Purdue could beat I.U. sitting on their butts. Bob and Helen had two sons who became stars for the Canners. Steve played basketball, baseball, football and golf at Ladoga and ended up at Purdue on a “Chick” Evans golf scholarship. He later coached an undefeated football team at Southmont and watched his son, Robbie play football and golf for the Mounties. Dave also played football, basketball, baseball and golf for the Canners becoming the all-time single season scoring leader with 438 points in 1969. Dave took his considerable basketball talent to ISU-Evansville before joining the coaching ranks and coaching several championship golf teams at Southmont. Dave had two sons who played football, basketball and golf for the Mounties. It all began with an interurban ride in 1915.
Other players that make up the Ladoga legend are Mel Todd who graduated in 1956 and was the career leading scorer with 823 points. He is 7th on the single season list with 325 points in 1955-56. I was fortunate enough to play more games (78) than any other Canner ending up 3rd on the all-time scoring list with 786 points. Paul Roahrig ended up second in career scoring with 791 points and fourth on the single season list with 386 points in the 1962-63 season. Fred Sabens hold the single game record with 46 against North Salem in the 1957-58 season. We’ve already noted that Dave Williamson holds the single season mark with 483 points. He is fourth on the career scoring list with 760 points and had the 3rd highest game total with 35 against Crawfordsville in the 1969-70 season. Jim Harshbarger ended up 7th on the career list with 630 points with a high game of 34 against Waveland in the 1966-67 season. He ended up 3rd on the single season list with 471 points in the 1966-67 season.
I could go on and on, but it’s time to bring this chapter to close and let Barry Lewis bring the story up-to-date with his next article on 40 years of Mountie basketball. Ladoga closed its doors in 1971 along with the other schools in the South unit. The Canners had the dubious distinction of being only one of three teams in the County that never won a Sectional. The other two were Linden and Alamo. Ladoga went to the final game 8 times (7 at Crawfordsville and 1 at Greencastle) and never claimed the big prize. I can still see myself in my last game as a Canner sitting on the bench at the west end of the Crawfordsville gym with a towel over my head crying like a baby, because we were losing the final game of the Sectional to New Ross. That’s how important basketball was to us in the 50’s. My next effort will be Tourney Time in the County.
The fifth and last in our series of County schools that became Southmont High School in 1971 is my beloved Ladoga Canners. I remember walking through the tunnel from the elementary school to the old gym in the basement of the high school to play basketball as our only effort at PE outside of the great recess time when we could go out and play baseball or football on the rocks of the playground. (You had to be tough at recess in those days) The old gym (built in 1918-19) had not been converted into classrooms yet and we weren’t allowed to play on the hallowed floor of the new gym built in 1940 and dedicated in 1941. It was a great time to be a young Canner. The Green and Gold played basketball in seven different locations over the years beginning with an outdoor court (as many other schools did) behind the Methodist Church. They also played above what is now Bryan’s Tire Store, the Christian Tabernacle (where they ate our dust), the Town Hall, the Old Normal and finally in the high school built in 1918-19, and then to the present gym built in 1940-41. That is where the elementary Canners still carry on the proud tradition of the Green and Gold.
In the history of the Ladoga Canners, three names are really prominent. The first is the name of the mascot. We were the only sports team called “Canners” in the entire world. The only problem was that mascots were supposed to be fierce and strike fear into the hearts of the opponents. How do you make a Canner look fierce? The nickname came about because the coach Floyd “Doc” Neff thought that one Spartan in the County was enough (Wingate had already proclaimed themselves as the Spartans). The green and gold were called the Ladoga Spartans in the early days of County basketball. In the fall of 1931,Doc Neff offered the princely prize of $1.00 for the best nickname and since the Ladoga Canning Company was the major industry in town and had provided money to buy new uniforms, the nickname was a natural and we became the Ladoga Canners. The only paper in town was the Ladoga Leader and it made the transition from Spartans to Canners without so much as a comment. On November 27, 1931, the editor wrote an article about a basketball game in which the Ladoga Spartans came out victorious and the next week the Ladoga Canners made their appearance.
The second name that is prominent in the history of Ladoga basketball is the name of Floyd “Doc” Neff. Floyd Neff was born in a log cabin east of New Ross, across the road from where he lived the rest of his life. It was in a house that was one of the old school houses of Boone County. He graduated from Jamestown High School in 1922 and went to school at Central Normal School in Danville, Indiana which later became Canterbury College. At that time, a person could begin teaching after a year at the Normal so Doc began teaching at Jamestown in 1923. He recalled that he didn’t have much real background in basketball as a player, but that he loved and respected the young men he coached. One of the stories told about Doc Neff is that he loved and respected Vernon Ross so much that he kicked his tail all the way from the center circle to the dressing room at halftime of one game. In 1927, Floyd “Doc” Neff appeared on the coaching scene and remained for 20 years. This would have been Doc’s 3rd teaching job. His first one was in Kentucky and lasted only a short time. Doc recalled that his first school was very close to the Indiana-Kentucky line and that he took a bus to Kentucky to meet the trustee of the school. The school was up on a ridge, but Neff said it looked like a mountain to him. The trustee then informed him that there was no way to get there by car so he would have to ride on a mule up to the ridge. On the first day, the students were late getting to school and when they came, they were all ages and sizes. Obviously it was a one-room school. Doc said that some of the boys were bigger than he was. He remembered that he got through the first day with no incidents, but then he told the trustee that he didn’t think the position was for him, so he got on the bus and headed back to Indiana. That would prove to be Ladoga’s gain. Doc began with a junior high team that was very successful in 1927 and was able to compete with the high school reserve team by the end of the season. Doc coached for 12 years before he had to go to the sidelines with some back problems. He turned the program over to Jerry Steiner, a bright young coach who had graduated from Berne High School and later had a great career at Butler University. Steiner led the Canners to two great seasons winning 43 games while losing only 11. He ended his career as the coach with the highest winning percentage in school history, but couldn’t claim either County or Sectional crown. Steiner is the only person with a Ladoga connection to be inducted into the Indiana State Basketball Hall of Fame. That means that there is at least one person from each school that entered the South unit in that hallowed hall. The others are Keith Greve from Waveland, who also coached at New Ross, Howie Williams who played at Purdue and was a gold medalist at the Helsinki Olympics, Earl “Red” Gardner, Jr., who played at New Market, DePauw, and was on the first NBA Champion the Minneapolis Lakers, and Charlie Bowerman, who had brilliant careers at Alamo HS, Wabash College, and the Phillips Oilers. Jerry Steiner’s bio in the Hall of Fame reads as follows:
: “Jerome Steiner—4-yr player at Berne…led team to sectional and regional titles as junior in ’35…ousted from second round of state tourney by Shelbyville…All-State that year…a 3-yr starter at Butler…graduated as school’s all-time leading scorer…3 straight Indiana Collegiate Conf. championships...As senior, named to Madison Square Garden’s All-America team…also recognized on AP’s All-American list…All-Western, All-Conference and All-State…coached 2 yrs at Ladoga. Played for Kautskys and Pistons. He later refereed in the Big Ten.”
Doc Neff returned to the sidelines in 1942 and stayed five more years, climaxing his career with a County Championship in 1947. In his 17 years of coaching at the varsity level Doc’s teams won 202 games and lost only 122 for a winning pct. of .623. The 202 wins places him at the top of the Canner record book for wins and the .623 winning pct. places him third behind Jerry Steiner and Jack Hester. Neff took teams to the final game of the sectional five times only to come away empty every time. Neff-coached teams appeared in the final game of the sectional in 1931, 1936, 1938, 1943, and 1947.
After Doc Neff retired from coaching in 1947, the third prominent person came on the scene. Jack Hester took over and stayed for ten very successful years. During Jack’s tenure, the Canners won championships in all three sports, winning the County Tourney in basketball in 1949, baseball in 1953, and track in 1949, 1959, and 1954. In ten years of coaching, Jack’s basketball teams won 147 games and lost only 72 for a winning percentage of .671. He had only two losing seasons and had a team with a 20 win season as the 1951-52 team finished with 20-3 record, Jack finished his coaching career where he started by winning the County Tourney at New Market in 1966. Jack started his coaching career at New Market, his Alma Mater, in 1938 and won three straight County Tourneys in 1938-39, 1939-40, and 1940-41. His 1942-43 team was having a great year when Jack enlisted in the Navy. The team went on to win the County Tourney that year. Jack was in the service for three years in 1943, 1944, and1945. After he got out of the service, he went to Cutler to finish out a year and then stayed one more year. He then moved on to Ladoga in 1947-48. After coaching at Ladoga for 10 years, Jack went to Noblesville to teach for three years, and then came back to the County to Darlington for three years, before returning to New Market in the fall of 1963. Jack must have felt like he still had some gas left in his tank and coached basketball again at New Market during the 1963-64, 1964-65, and 1965-66 seasons. The Purple Flyers gave Jack his 6th and last Montgomery County Crown in 1966. After that, Jack retired from coaching and finished his career teaching at the new consolidation at Southmont. He retired from teaching in 1975 ending 34 years of teaching in Indiana. In all his teams won six County Championships, including five at New Market and one at Ladoga. That would rank him at the top in number of County Championships won in the 40 year history of the County Tournament. He finished with the second highest win total in County basketball history with 259 wins second only to Tom Bowerman’s 265.
There were several prominent families who contributed players to the Canner basketball legend. I remember the Todds (two different families), the Vices, the Longs, and the Williamsons. On of the most interesting stories centered on the Williamson family who saw three generations play basketball in the County. Eva (Boots) Williamson whose brothers played basketball at Bowers in the early days remembers her husband Frank talking about playing basketball for Mace High School in 1915. Frank and his teammates caught the Interurban in Linnsburg one day and rode to the Ben-Hur Terminal (where the Elston Bank was later). The boys got off at the terminal, walked through town to the Vandalia Station (where the Dari-licious is now) and then rode to Bowers where they played a basketball game on an outside court against Bowers High School. The young Mace star and Eva later married and had two sons who played for the legendary Floyd “Doc” Neff’s Ladoga Canners. Bob played in the early 40’s and Dick played on the first Canner team to win a County Tourney in 1947 and on the last Canner team to win a County tourney under Jack Hester. Bob married a New Ross Bluejay, Helen Williams who had three brothers Harold, Homer, and Howard who played for the Bluejays. You will remember from an earlier article that Howie became a star for the Purdue Boilermakers. Purdue fans will remember the famous “sit-down” shot which defeated I.U. 51-49. Howie was knocked to the floor in a mad scramble for the ball. The ball bounced to him as he was sitting on the floor and the rest is legend; Howie fired it in from the seat of his pants and it went in as time expired. That prompted Howie to say that Purdue could beat I.U. sitting on their butts. Bob and Helen had two sons who became stars for the Canners. Steve played basketball, baseball, football and golf at Ladoga and ended up at Purdue on a “Chick” Evans golf scholarship. He later coached an undefeated football team at Southmont and watched his son, Robbie play football and golf for the Mounties. Dave also played football, basketball, baseball and golf for the Canners becoming the all-time single season scoring leader with 438 points in 1969. Dave took his considerable basketball talent to ISU-Evansville before joining the coaching ranks and coaching several championship golf teams at Southmont. Dave had two sons who played football, basketball and golf for the Mounties. It all began with an interurban ride in 1915.
Other players that make up the Ladoga legend are Mel Todd who graduated in 1956 and was the career leading scorer with 823 points. He is 7th on the single season list with 325 points in 1955-56. I was fortunate enough to play more games (78) than any other Canner ending up 3rd on the all-time scoring list with 786 points. Paul Roahrig ended up second in career scoring with 791 points and fourth on the single season list with 386 points in the 1962-63 season. Fred Sabens hold the single game record with 46 against North Salem in the 1957-58 season. We’ve already noted that Dave Williamson holds the single season mark with 483 points. He is fourth on the career scoring list with 760 points and had the 3rd highest game total with 35 against Crawfordsville in the 1969-70 season. Jim Harshbarger ended up 7th on the career list with 630 points with a high game of 34 against Waveland in the 1966-67 season. He ended up 3rd on the single season list with 471 points in the 1966-67 season.
I could go on and on, but it’s time to bring this chapter to close and let Barry Lewis bring the story up-to-date with his next article on 40 years of Mountie basketball. Ladoga closed its doors in 1971 along with the other schools in the South unit. The Canners had the dubious distinction of being only one of three teams in the County that never won a Sectional. The other two were Linden and Alamo. Ladoga went to the final game 8 times (7 at Crawfordsville and 1 at Greencastle) and never claimed the big prize. I can still see myself in my last game as a Canner sitting on the bench at the west end of the Crawfordsville gym with a towel over my head crying like a baby, because we were losing the final game of the Sectional to New Ross. That’s how important basketball was to us in the 50’s. My next effort will be Tourney Time in the County.
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