The Windham Bomber Athletic Hall of Fame honors former athletes who achieved excellence through competition, coaches who have made a difference
in the lives of their athletes and supporters of the athletic program.
(Special thanks to George Belden for supplying the information on this page)
(Note: The information written on these athletes were written at the time they were inducted into the hall of fame. Some of the information might be outdated. If you are in the hall of fame and want your information updated please contact Robin Martin through the "Contact" page.
The 1939 Windham Bombers six-man football team took the state of Ohio by storm in a sport which had been invented only 5 years earlier in Nebraska. Led by three players, Fred Stanley, Harold Stanley, and Robert Turner, who would be named first team All-Americans the following year, rookie coach Deane Eberwine's Bombers, playing only their second year of 6-man football, rampaged through the Portage County Conference with an 8-0 record. Although there were only 10 players on the squad, they outscored their opponents 281-26 despite having 3 games called at halftime because Windham was ahead by more than 45 points. Their game against Shalersville ended a 1-0 forfeit because the Shalersville coach pulled his team off the field, fearing for their physical safety. In a wide-open sport with frequent touchdowns, Eberwine's boys logged an astounding 5 shutouts in 8 games. In the February 1940 issue of American Boy Magazine, the official pollster of the sport, Windham High School was selected as the Ohio state champion and was awarded the Horlick Trophy, emblematic of their superiority. Robert Turner was selected as first-team All-American. The 1939 team formed the core of the following year's Bomber squad which was named International Champions by American Boy Magazine. That 1940 squad was inducted into the Hall of Fame two years ago. Late in his life, Coach Eberwine said of this team, "They played the game with great skill and enthusiasm. They were a team whose crisp blocking and hard tackling did not have to be seen – it could be heard. Those boys loved the game of football." The Hall of Fame enshrinees on the 1939 Windham Bombers Six-Man Football team are: Coach Deane Eberwine Ralph Drumheller (WHS 1940) Fred Stanley (WHS 1941) All-American First Team, 1940 Harold Stanley (WHS 1942) All-American First Team, 1940 Robert Turner (WHS 1942) All-American First Team, 1939 and 1940 Joe Pinney (WHS 1942) Harold Belden (WHS 1942) Art Joy (WHS 1943) George Love Sam Scott Ken Nichols.
1961 Windham High School Baseball Team...... Windham High School had always fielded good baseball teams, fed by a Hot Stove program which has won many state championships. The Bombers won every single league championship in the three year life of the Tomahawk Conference, to which they belonged from 1959-1961. But no one was prepared for what the 1961 Bombers were to eventually accomplish. A cold, raw spring meant that they had played only 4 games when they entered the state tournament trail. Behind the pitching of Bob Higgins and Jim Kline, they began working their way toward Columbus, knocking off talented squads including North Lima, Suffield, Middlefield Cardinal, and Powhatan to win the district, sectional and regional titles. The 1961 Bombers had the highest batting average of any team in the state tournament, with the weakest hitter still hitting over .300. Bob Higgins was the workhorse of the pitching staff, and Coach Leo Kot decided to ride his arm as far as it would take them. In the semi-finals, Bomber bats exploded as they destroyed Plains High School 14-2, to earn the right to face defending state champions Liberty Benton in the final game. Higgins pitched the game of his lifetime, taking a 2-0 shutout into the 7th inning, but on a series of walks and an error, Liberty Benton earned a tie, forcing the game into extra innings. The Bombers did not score in the 8th or 9th, and in the bottom of the 9th, Higgins, pitching more with his heart than his arm, walked two men, and with two outs, gave up a fly ball which bounced off outfielder Allyn Nichols' glove to give Liberty Benton the victory. Completely unheralded, the 1961 Windham baseball team had become the first team in school history to earn a spot in the state finals. Other baseball and basketball teams have since made it to the Final Four, but it is entirely appropriate that on the 50th anniversary of that momentous occasion, the 1961 Bombers become the first baseball team inducted into the Windham High School Athletic Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame enshrinees on the 1961 Windham Bombers baseball team are: Kot, Leo (Coach) Booher, Olan Bushey, Rich Chase, Charlie Clark, Paul Freudiger, John Hertzog, Barry Hicks, Larry Higgins, Bob Kline, Jim Minter, Larry Minter, Rich Nichols, Allyn Nutter, Larry Schimmel, Chuck Diroll, Paul, manager Miller, Jerry, manager