Track History

Ladoga High School Track
When consolidation closed the doors of Ladoga High School in 1971, it ended a rich legacy of athletic accomplishments. The Canners had won two County Basketball championships, and had finished runner-up in the sectional 8 times, one Wabash Valley Conference baseball championship, and two County baseball championships; however, in no other sport did the Canners excel as much as they did in track.

The Green and Gold had a track team as early as 1915, but track began in the County in 1934. It took a couple of years for Ladoga to field a team. Ralph Miller, a 1941 graduate remembers running track his sophomore, junior and senior years. That would have meant that Ladoga started track again at least by 1939. Ralph remembers that the track was at the elementary school playground. The playground was all cinders and the track ran parallel to the Old Midland RR, then around where the gym is now. It was about a 220 yard track. There were also two basketball goals close to the street and a tennis court. All of the field events were held in the same area. Kenyon Roberts remembers seeing Harley Pickett throw the shot put in the area where the furnace room for the HS used to be. In the 50’s, the long jump was right next to the RR track and the pole vault was between the gym and the RR track. The other field events were held in the area across the road where the baseball field and grass track were. That was track until the early 60’s when Brad Lawson became the track and basketball coach and built a new track behind Bob Duncan’s house.

The Canners won the first of 6 Championships (the same as Creek Central and Darlington) in 1949 as Joed Clark tied for highest point getter in the meet with P.C.Clahan of New Ross. Joed won the 220 yard dash and the long jump and was second in the 100 yard dash. Everett Foster won the shot put with a toss of 39’ 3” and Floyd “Wimpy” Ball won the pole vault at 8’11”. The mile relay went to the Canners in a time of 4:04 and the half mile relay in a time of 1:41.

The Canners repeated in 1950 as a new star burst on the scene. Bill Gerald won the 100 and 220, was third in the long jump and anchored the winning half mile relay team. Jack Cripe was second to Gerald in the 100 and 220 and joined Harley Barnard, Carl Zimmerman and Bill Gerald in winning the half mile relay. Fred Brennan, Paul Lowery, Dave Simmons, and Floyd Ball came together to form the winning mile relay team.

The Canners would not win again until 1954 when another Gerald led the way to the championship. Danny Gerald won the mile run in a record time of 4:53.2 and was second in the half mile. He also ran on the winning half mile relay team with Bill Kimmel, Ruford Davis, and Ralph Rogers. Gerald would win the outstanding track man award as he amassed 11 points. Bill Kimmel won the pole vault with a new record of 11’. He also won the 180 yard low hurdles and was 4th in the long jump. Ralph Rogers won the 440 and set a record with a 54.6 time, breaking a record that had been on the books since 1937. Kimmel would go on to the regional at Bloomington in the pole vault where he won with a vault of 11’ 6”. Jack Hester was the track coach for the 1949, 1950 and 1954 Championship teams.

The Canners competed in a four county conference called the Big Four as two schools from four different counties got together for four years. Ladoga and New Market represented Montgomery County, Granville Wells represented Boone County, Roachdale and Bainbridge represented Putnam County and Pittsboro and North Salem represented Hendricks County. The Canners won the Big Four Conference Track meet in 1956, 1958, 1959 and 1960.
The Canners ended a seven year drought in the County in 1961 when Brad Lawson took over the coaching reins. The first thing Coach Lawson did was build a new track in the northeast corner of town. Using his little red VW as a tractor, Lawson dragged and graded a quarter mile oval that the Canners would use until consolidation. John Oliver began a three year run in the sprints that would see him dominate the County in the 100 and 220. Ladoga had their share of sprint stars throughout the 40 plus year run of the County Track Meet and 1961 was no exception. With only two seniors on the team, the Canners were very young and not expected to compete for the championship. However, as the meet wore on the Canners were very much in contention. Oliver, only a sophomore surprised everybody in the sprints by winning the 100 in 10.7 and the 220 in 23.9. David Madsen won the first of his three straight 440’s by winning in a time of 55.3. As the shadows grew longer, Frank Sabens surprised everyone by winning the high jump with his season best of 5’9” The 880 relay would decide the meet as David Madsen, Frank Sabens, Paul Roahrig, and John Oliver blew the field away in a time of 1:39.9 and the Canners began their run of three straight County Crowns. The meet was so close that four teams were in contention for the crown as the final relay began. The meet ended with Ladoga on top with 30 points, followed by New Market with 28 ½, Coal Creek Central with 28 and New Ross with 24.

In 1962, the Canners repeated as John Oliver won the 100 in a time of 10.3 and the 220 in a time of 23.5. David Madsen continued his domination of the 440 that year winning in a time of 53.4. Madsen and Oliver teamed up with Phil Seale and John Sabens to win the 880 relay in a time of 1.39.5. Oliver went on to the sectional and finished 2nd in the 100 and 3rd in the 220 qualifying for the regional in both events.

In 1963, under new Coach Ben Fugate, the Canners completed their three-peat. Fugate drove the Canners so hard that John Oliver observed that it was like hell-week in college. John said that Fugate laid out practice schedules that he and Madsen were to implement that were so tough that most of the Canners ended up losing their dinners after the practices. Fugate was tough, but he got results. The Canners won the County Meet in 1963 as Skip Ronk won the shot out with a toss of 46’9’ and John Oliver finished 2nd . Paul Roahrig won the high hurdles with a time of 16.1. John Oliver won his third straight sprint double as he won the 100 yard dash in a record 10.0 and the 220 in a time of 23.1 also a new record. David Madsen continued his dominance in the 440 winning with a time of 53.8 and added a win in the high jump with a leap of 5’9”. He also finished 2nd in the 220. Madsen and Oliver joined Phil Seale and Jim Foxworthy in winning the half mile relay in a record time of 1.37.9. John Oliver and David Madsen were the top point producers as they scored 15½ points for the Canners. The Canners went on to the sectional and placed fourth in the highest finish ever by a Canner team as John Oliver won the 100 and 220 and David Madsen was 3rd in the 440. Oliver also won the 100 and 220 at the regional and qualified for the State Meet where he pulled up lame in the 220 trials in a disappointing end to his HS track career. He would finish the year up to the State Meet undefeated in the 100 and 220. His record of 10.0 in the 100 yard dash will remain forever as consolidation and the change to the metric system made the 100 yard dash into 100 meters.
Altogether the Canners had three athletes who qualified for the State Track Meet as Bill Boone qualified in the shot put and Jerry Jeffries qualified in the high jump in 1956 and John Oliver made it in 1963. Not bad for a small school with first a 220 yard track and then a grass track for the first 40 years.

Ladoga Track Records

100 yd dash John Oliver 1963 10.0
220 yd dash John Oliver 1963 23.1
440 yd dash David Madsen 1963 53.8
880 yd run Danny Gerald 1956 2:08.8
Mile run Danny Gerald 1956 4:51.5
LH Bill Kimmel 1954 22.2 ½
HH Paul Roahrig 1963 16.1
LJ Bill Kimmel 1954 18’ 10 3/4”
HJ Jerry Jeffries 1956 5’ 11 ½”
PV Bill Kimmel 1954 11’ 6”
SP David Wilson 1968 49’ 11”
880 relay David Madsen, Phil Seale, Jim Foxworthy, and John Oliver
1963 1:37.1
Mile Relay 1951 3:46.3