One Farm House,
Six Players, Two Schools,
Over 6000 Points
By: Emerson Houck / August 2015
ship Tigers. The other schools in the part
of the county south of Greensburg were
the Burney Panthers and the Sand Creek
Indians, formed by the merger of the Letts
Bearcats and the Westport Warriors in
1940. These three schools would unite to
form the South
Decatur Cougars in 1968.
F
But our story
begins in 1956
when
Gene
Baugh entered
Jackson Township Marker
Jackson Township High School. He would play varsity
for the gold and black uniformed Tigers for
four years.
Farm House on County Road 600 S.
rom time to time Bob Chance and
I get together for lunch and some
hoops conversation which invariably
turns to tales of our mutual friend, Hall of
Famer John Collier. Recently Bob brought
another friend of his along named Gene
Baugh who is a significant part of what is
an “only in Indiana high school basketball
story” that I found fascinating and am sure
will be of interest to everyone who enjoys
reading this wonderful magazine.
Shortly after Gene graduated, middle brother Shelley would play guard on the varsity
for two years, graduating in 1962. Shelley
was briefly joined by Steve who, like Gene,
was also a four year varsity player, graduating in 1965. The boys not only honed
their skills at school, but at home as well
where their father had hung a rim, no back-
Gene brought an article with him that was
written by Jeff Wolfe in March of 1991 and
published in the Columbus Evening Republic that caught my attention. It concerned a
farm house in Decatur County which had
produced over 6000 points scored by high
school basketball players over a span of
just over 30 years.
As a bit of background, Gene and his brothers, Steve and Shelley, grew up on a farm
on County Road 600 South and all three
played basketball for the Jackson Town-
Baugh Garage Basketball Court
board required, on the garage and another
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inside the barn. They were often joined by
neighbor Will Mulroney who played point
guard on Steve Baugh’s team and would
later coach South Decatur for nine years
including a stellar sectional championship
in 1991 with a 21-3 record - that will become an important part of our story a bit
later in the telling.
Gene Baugh played guard for his first two
years, then forward, during which time he
also jumped center even though he stood
just 5’9’. He was an excellent shot and recalls enjoying shooting anywhere from the
free throw line to the top of the key. He
1965 Team
record from 1937 through 1939 for Coach
Gerald Carter and winning the Greensburg
Sectional with an 18-4 record in 1951 for
Coach Wilber Meyer.
The Tigers bested St. Paul 47-41 and Burney 39-31 before edging the host Pirates
in a heart stopping 59-58 final game. Five
years later Coach Jess White led his Tiger team to a memorable 19-2 season.
The school’s second sectional title came
in Gene’s freshman year, 19-6, for Coach
Bob Lautenslager. That feat was accomplished rather impressively by defeating
Sand Creek 62-47, Vernon 74-46, and
New Point 73-41.
Baugh Brother, Then
In 1958 Glen Whitaker took over the reins
at Jackson Township, a position he would
hold until the consolidation of 1968. His
best records were 17-6 in 1962, 18-6 the
following year and 18-5 in 1965, Steve’s senior year. Coach Whitaker’s overall record
during his 11 years at the helm at Jackson
Township was a very respectable 146 wins
and 89 losses. Not bad for a school with
a total enrollment ranging from the upper
80s to just over 100 throughout that period. I spoke with Coach Whitaker, who now
lives in Madison, and discovered that his
wife is in the same Seniors Center where
John Collier currently lives and that he sees
Baugh Brother, Now
rang up over 1,200 points during his four
years as a Tiger, setting the Decatur County scoring record in the process.
It should be noted that Jackson Township
had enjoyed several excellent seasons
over the course of its existence to that time,
racking up a sensational 84-7 three year
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John almost
every day. He
promised to
give
Coach
Collier a hug
for me and
one for Bob
Chance
as
well. Coach
Whitaker also
told me that
while
Steve
Baugh
was
Gene Baugh
playing, Jackson Township won the County
Tournament twice and that during Gene’s
days they lost a heartbreaker one year in a
sudden death double overtime final game
to St. Paul’s Blasters.
2,023), Woody Austin (#48 with 1,990) and
Buster Briley (#51 with 1,985) and ahead
of such notables as Troy Lewis (1,966
points), Tom Coverdale (1,911), Kellen
Dunham (1,899), James Blackmon, Sr.
(1,897), Pat Graham (1,886), and Kevin
“Yogi” Farrell (1,853).
My records show that the Tigers won a
solid 66 of 91 (73%) games during Steve’s
playing days, although the Republic’s article showed a 68-24 record. Due to the loss
of records following the school’s closing it
has not been possible to determine which
figure, if either, is accurate but fortunately
they are reasonably similar. (Gene Baugh’s
figures do agree with mine.)
Again, due to a scarcity of records, we can
Steve Baugh was just one inch
taller than Gene but had the ability to dunk the basketball with both
hands. What he gave up in height
he made back in leaping ability.
Leg strength is not uncommon in
young men raised on a farm where
the chores can be both demanding and persistent. Gene Baugh
remembers many an impromptu
game on the farm that was interrupted to pitch hay or assist in
some other task required with
some urgency.
South Decatur Boys Varsity
Although listed as a forward Steve Baugh
played all over the court. During the course
of his four years as a Tiger he amassed
1,982 points which would remain the record for the school until it closed its doors
forever.
not determine exactly how many points
Shelley Baugh scored during his two years
on the Jackson Township varsity but Gene
believes the correct figure to lie between
250 and 300, as does Coach Whitaker.
This brings the total for the three Baugh
brothers to approximately 3,500, not at all
a bad family total!
This figure places Steve Baugh 52nd on
the list of all time top scorers according
to the Indiana High School Athletic Association and puts him in some very respectable company such as Ron Bonham (#40
with 2,028 points), Steve Collier (#41 with
However, there’s much more to the story
of this incredible farm house. In 1978, after
owning the farm for 21 years, the Baugh
family sold the property to the Proffitt fam15
ily, whose son
Randy played
for the South
Decatur Cougars, graduating in 1983.
Over his career
he
accumulated a scoring
record of 593
total points. In
Randy’s senior
year South Decatur won their
first ever sectional
crown
under the guidance of Hall of
Shawn Blaich rebounding
Famer
Dave
Porter, with a 16-9 record and Randy Proffitt was named Decatur County Player of
the Year. The Cougars won the sectional by
beating Morton Memorial 55-35; North Decatur 48-47; and Rushville 43-42. Whew!
At the regional in Connersville the squeakers continued with a 45-44 victory over
Rising Sun before the dream ended, 6342, at the hands of Basil Mawbey’s state
champions-to-be at 26-2, the Spartans.
No disgrace there! As an aside, that was
Steve Alford’s senior year at New Castle
and I well remember watching him drop 57
points on a very good Broad Ripple team in
the afternoon game at Hinkle.
Castle they took the Trojans out 68-66 before losing to Mt Vernon (Fortville) 55-49.
(That was the year of the heralded final between Glenn Robinson’s Gary Roosevelt
Panthers and Alan Henderson’s Brebeuf
Jesuit Braves.)
During his four year career, Shawn Blaich
had poured in another 1,481 points and his
step brother, Josh Parker something in excess of 840 points.
Adding the 3,500 points scored by the
Baugh brothers to the almost 600 by Randy Proffitt and the over 2,300 scored by the
Blaich/Parker tandem comes to a total well
in excess of 6,000, around 6,400 in fact!
How
many
farmhouses
in Indiana, or
anywhere else
for that matter, can come
close to a record like that?
All three of the
Baugh brothers have led
successful
and productive
lives. Gene attended
Ball
State (where
Josh Parker scoring
he frequently
played intramural basketball with Hall of
Fame Coach Basil Mawby) and is recently
retired from his career as a CPA with Price
Waterhouse and as Chief Financial Officer for ITT Educational. He lives in Carmel and Bonita Springs, Florida (where his
neighbor for a time was, Alan Henderson,
who is now my neighbor in Indianapolis).
Brother Shelley, now deceased, joined the
Air Force where he served our country with
honor for 23 years. Steve played basketball for Florida State for one year before
In the late 80s the Proffitts in turn sold the
farm to the Parker family whose son, Josh,
and stepson, Shawn Blaich, both played
for South Decatur, graduating in 1991, the
year of the Republic article. That year the
Maroon and White of South Decatur had a
memorable season, capturing the school’s
second set of sectional nets. They went
through the sectional by defeating Rushville 63-57 and Greensburg 60-57. At New
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joining the Army where he, too, served with
distinction. He now owns the State Farm
insurance agency in Versailles.
and all of our Indiana high school basketball teams in my book Hoosiers All, which
is available from the Hall of Fame store.
Though Randy Proffitt was recruited by
Franklin College he “followed his heart”
and attended Ball State. Clearly that was a
sound decision as he and his wife recently
celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary.
He is now the Executive Director of Marketing and Communications for Ivy Tech
in Columbus. His father-in-law was former
Greensburg High School athlete “Johnny
Bill” Moeller, who was named to the Indiana High School All-Star basketball team
in 1949, who also played football at Butler
and was a strong enough baseball player
to receive an invitation to try out for the
Cincinnati Reds.
1957 Sectional Champs
Shawn Blaich and Josh Parker added another bit of glory to the house on 600S
when they teamed up, Shawn at quarterback and Josh at wide receiver, to help the
1990 South Decatur Cougar football team
win the State Class A Championship at the
Hoosier Dome by defeating Southwood
44-15, finishing undefeated with a 13-0
record. As to what happened to them following high school I had a most pleasant
conversation with their coach and Steve
Baugh’s teammate Will Munroney, now retired from teaching and coaching and living
in Decatur County. Although ready to head
off on what would surely be a most pleasant trip with his grandchildren to Tennessee, Will took time to tell me that Shawn
attended Rose Hulman where he played
more football and received a degree in
Chemical Engineering. He later earned an
MBA from Bradley University, pursued a
career in business, and now lives in Oklahoma. Josh attended Georgetown College
in Kentucky and now lives and works in Arizona.
1958 Team
1967 County Tourney
Readers can find more on these schools
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