1917–18 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1917–18 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

1917–18 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Record9–6 (6–6 Big Ten)
Head coach
Assistant coachDavid M. Bullock (Trainer)[1]
CaptainGeorge Halas
Earl Anderson
Home arenaKenney Gym
Seasons
1917–18 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Wisconsin 9 3   .750 14 3   .824
Minnesota 7 3   .700 13 3   .813
Northwestern 5 3   .625 7 4   .636
Illinois 6 6   .500 9 6   .600
Chicago 6 6   .500 14 10   .583
Purdue 5 5   .500 11 5   .688
Ohio State 5 5   .500 12 7   .632
Indiana 3 3   .500 10 4   .714
Iowa 4 6   .400 6 8   .429
Michigan 0 10   .000 6 12   .333
Rankings from AP Poll

Regular season edit

Under the direction of coach Ralph Jones, the 1917–18 season for the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team, was unusual because World War I was happening in Europe. Co-captain George Halas, for example, left the team in January 1918 to help out with the war effort.[2] In only the second season of having 10 members, the Big Ten Conference continued their 12-game schedule of home and road competitions. The Illini finished their season with an overall record of 9 wins and 6 losses and a 6-win 6-loss conference mark. The starting lineup included co-captain Earl Anderson and B.E. Mittleman at the forward positions, J.S. Probst and P.C. Taylor at center, and co-captain George Halas and Burt Ingwersen as guards.[3] Anderson would be named a consensus All-American for the season.

Roster edit

1917–18 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown
F Earl Anderson (C)
Sr Charleston, Illinois
G George Halas (C)
Sr Chicago, Illinois
C John S. Probst
So East Aurora, Illinois
C Paul C. Taylor
So New Orleans, Louisiana
G Charles W. Vail
Fr Chicago, Illinois
F Burt Ingwersen
So Urbana, Illinois
G/F William K. Kopp
Fr Beverly Farms, Massachusetts
F Benjamin F. Mittleman
Jr East Farmingdale, New York
F James Garfield Stevens
Jr Alfred, New York
G Raymond Christian Haas
So Evansville, Indiana
Head coach
  • Ralph Jones (Indianapolis YMCA Training School) (6th year)
Assistant coach(es)

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • (W) Walk-on

All-Time Illini Rosters Roster

Source[4]

Schedule edit

Source[5]

Date
time, TV
Opponent Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state
Non-Conference regular season
12/15/1917*
no, no
Millikin University W 40–13  1-0
Kenney Gym (199)
Urbana, IL
12/19/1917*
no, no
at Millikin University W 31–13  2-0
Millikin Gymnasium (-)
Decatur, IL
1/5/1918*
no, no
Wabash College W 24–9  3-0
Kenney Gym (-)
Urbana, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/9/1918
no, no
Purdue W 27–17  4-0
(1-0)
Kenney Gym (635)
Urbana, IL
1/14/1918
no, no
Minnesota W 28–17  5-0
(2-0)
Kenney Gym (1,008)
Urbana, IL
1/19/1918
no, no
Wisconsin L 21–22  5-1
(2-1)
Kenney Gym (1,108)
Urbana, IL
2/2/1918
no, no
at University of Chicago L 19–23  5-2
(2-2)
Bartlett Gymnasium (-)
Chicago, IL
2/9/1918
no, no
Northwestern
Rivalry
W 38–22  6-2
(3-2)
Kenney Gym (925)
Urbana, IL
2/11/1918
no, no
Ohio State W 35–21  7-2
(4-2)
Kenney Gym (673)
Urbana, IL
2/16/1918
no, no
at Purdue L 26–29  7-3
(4-3)
Memorial Gymnasium (-)
West Lafayette, IN
2/18/1918
no, no
at Ohio State W 26–23  8-3
(5-3)
The Armory (-)
Columbus, OH
2/23/1918
no, no
at Wisconsin L 15–23  8-4
(5-4)
University of Wisconsin Armory and Gymnasium (-)
Madison, WI
2/25/1918
no, no
at Minnesota L 22–35  8-5
(5-5)
University of Minnesota Armory (-)
Minneapolis, MN
3/2/1918
no, no
at Northwestern
Rivalry
L 14–29  8-6
(5-6)
Patten Gymnasium (-)
Evanston, IL
3/6/1918
no, no
University of Chicago W 20–17  9-6
(6-6)
Kenney Gym (518)
Urbana, IL
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in Central Time.

Player stats edit

Player Games Played Field Goals Free Throws Points
Earl Anderson[6] 15 67 67 201
Bert Ingwersen[7] 15 24 1 49
Paul Taylor[8] 14 24 0 48
J.S. Probst[9] 10 15 0 30
Benjamin Mittleman[10] 7 13 0 26
Charles Vail[11] 11 8 0 16
J.G. Stevens[12] 7 5 0 10
George Halas[13] 5 1 0 2

Awards and honors edit

George Halas was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame (1963), for his role in the development of the National Football League as well as for his coaching and playing for the Chicago Bears.

Earl Anderson was named a Consensus All-American for the 1917-18 season.

References edit

  1. ^ National Athletic Trainer Association
  2. ^ A Century of Orange and Blue: Celebrating 100 Years of Fighting Illini Basketball By Loren Tate, Jared Gelfond pg.17 ISBN 1-58261-793-7
  3. ^ Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
  4. ^ FightingIllini.com
  5. ^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1917-18 Archived 2013-12-17 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com
  6. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)