When sports fans look back at the great individual efforts of Morris High School athletes, John Dergo comes to mind right away. "Derg" moved up to the varsity as a freshman and finished off a great career with one of the most memorble senior seasons an athlete ever had at the school. Who could forget his effort against Joliet Catholic, when he did everything? Or who doesn't remember his state final game against Normal Community when he carried the football 13 straight times to run the clock out?
The entire stadium knew who was going to get the ball and he was hit hard, but managed to always go forward. The run I will always remember occurred in the Yorkville game. John ran all over the field on one run and just about through the entire Foxes team had a shot at him. He ended up in the end zone on a spectacular run. That was only one of many outstanding runs by the great Redskins' runner. He also played a mighty fine defensive game, and I believe he could have played, and played very well at the University of Illinois. John selected to wrestle at the school, and he made the choice, he always loved grappling.
Dergo will always be remembered in the future.
You have heard me and other people talk about the many exploits of Jauntin' Jim Cryder. The second-leading scorer in the state in the 1949 football season. He scored 10 touchdowns in the one game for 60 points and was constantly breaking long runs. Cryder also had 10 touchdowns called back in that record breaking season.
People still talk about Kelly Dransfeldt, who was a standout in football, basketball and of course, baseball. He made it to the Major Leagues in baseball. When he was in high school, he led the state in home runs. He eventually selected Michigan for baseball. Kelly was drafted by the Minnesota Twins one year, but stayed in school. He was then drafted by the Texas Rangers, and he signed with that team. I can still remember some of the towering homers he hit in high school. If my memory serves me correctly, he hit three home runs in one game against Bradley, and added another in the second game of a double-header.
We all recall the talents of Scott Spiezio, who thrilled us all with a big home run for the Los Angeles Angels and the eventual World Championship. And his play with the St. Louis Cardinals. Scott was almost like a shoe-in to make it to the big leagues. His father, Ed, played in the bigs and shaped Scott for his future. Scott was a standout at the University of Illinois before signing with Oakland to begin his career. I will never forget the evening Scott was honored at Morris High School before a packed house in the MCHS gym. I was master of ceremonies for the event, and I will always remember that night. I'm sure Scott won"t forget it either.
Last week I wrote about Elmer Sleight, who eventually ended up with the Green Bay Packers and was a part of two world championship teams. Not too long ago, I wrote about Ted Panish, one of the finest athletes in Morris High School history and later at Bradley University.
Another standout Redskin was Ed Brady. He played with three NFL teams and made it to the Super Bowl. He played at the University of Illinois and then was drafted. I'll have an article about Ed in the future. He played on the 1979 state runner-up team at Morris. He played in the Rose Bowl for the Illini and played in the North-South game of college all stars.
Bill Petrick is still playing and recently signed with the Joliet Jackhammers. He was up with the Cubs, and who could forget when he pitched at Wrigley Field for the first time. He has had arm problems, but hopefully he can get through that and get another shot at the big leagues.
Another all-around great Morris athlete was Dan Darlington. He was a standout in football and played at the University of Illinois. He also ran in track and field during high school. Dan was an outstanding basketball player. He still has the most points scored in one game. Dan tallied 50 points against Hall Of Spring Valley in the 60s. He also was one of the greatest high school football coaches in the history of IHSA football. His record speaks for itself.
In wrestling, John Dergo was a two-time undefeated state champ. His uncle, Gehrig Dergo, Jr. was an undefeated state champ. Brian Mctague lost once during the year and won a state wrestling title.
Evan Harper was a state champion in swimming.
Another record-breaker for Morris High School was Lenny Butler. In 1969, Butler scored 10 touchdowns and had two, two-point conversions for 64 points against Streator. He gained 284 yards on 38 carrries during that game. Several years ago, I interviewed Lenny about his outstanding game. Lenny and Mike Pollack of Wilmington had been battling back and forth during the season for the rushing title in the area.
"Coach Larry Kane came in the locker room and grabbed me by the shoulder pads and said you better be ready to rack up some yards, the title will be yours after tonight," Butler said. "We went through four quarterbacks, some more starters would leave, but I was still in there. I was thinking what did I do to make Coach Kane angry.
It was about ten years later sophomore coach Joe Brockman told me the story. On the way out of the locker room, coach Kane stopped and there was six seconds left in the sophomore game, with Streator sophomores ahead by a large margin. The Streator coach called for a timeout. The Bulldogs were on the 6-yard line and scored again to make the score 36-0. Coach Kane was rather angry with that, and said "we can play that kind of game too."
Lenny's longest run was in the low 30s and his longest scoring run was a 16-yarder. Butler continued to get the ball during the rout, with Morris winning 76-6.
Butler ended the season with 1,119 yards and scored 168 points for the season. But the most remarkable total Was 38 carries and 284 rushing yards and 64 points one game. The 64 points in one game is still the most by one player in Morris football history.