Standing: Coach Joe Schroth, Steve Morehead, Ronnie Boyd, Bob Pharis,
Jim Ireland, Tom Zurkhammer, Jerry Gehlbach, Koert Bartman.
Front row: Tom Maurer, Bob Alexander, Marvin Bartman, John Kurtz,
Vern Stanfield, Donald Gehlbach.
Photo and players' names provided by Mrs. Vivian Schroth, the
coach's widow.
The picture, Bertoni believes, was
taken in 1954 and is of the Chester-East Lincoln basketball team
with coach Joe Schroth.
Schroth was Bertoni's coach from
the fourth through sixth grades at Mount Pulaski. However, Bertoni
related that a new principal was hired that year who felt Schroth
was not well enough educated to be working in the public school
system. Consequently, Schroth was dismissed from Mount Pulaski.
Upon his departure from there, he
went to Chester-East Lincoln, which Bertoni recalls was a fairly new
school at that time.
Below is a copy of information
Bertoni has on coach Schroth. If anyone has anything to add to this,
they are encouraged to email comments to
ldneditor@lincolndailynews.com. LDN will then forward your
information to Bertoni. Please be sure to give your name in your
email.
(Copy of information provided)
Note: Joe Schroth
excelled in basketball and baseball at Mount Pulaski High School in
the 1930's, playing for now well-known and long-ago retired/deceased
Illinois basketball coaches: George Dertinger and Dolph Stanley. Due
to the death of his father in a farm-related accident, Joe took on
responsibilities of both farming and finishing high school, while
continuing his sports.
[to top of second
column] |
Following high
school graduation, Joe continued farming and even operated a dairy
farm during the war years with his new bride, Vivian Buckles. Joe
maintained his interest in sports, playing independent basketball
with Lincoln and Decatur teams. In 1945, he became the coach at
Mount Pulaski Grade School, taking teams to the state, winning
second in 1949. Joe moved over to coaching at Chester-East Lincoln
in 1953.
Joe spent many of his latter years as a crop-hail adjuster and state
field supervisor. Vivian, a graduate of Brown's Business College in
Decatur, was employed by Custom Farm Fertilizer Services as a
secretary / bookkeeper and later held a similar position for many
years at Lincoln College.
Their only child,
Dr. Richard Schroth, is an executive consultant, professional
speaker and private advisor on technology and business for leading
world-wide corporations. Currently, he is the U.S.
State Department's 2008-2013 Senior Fulbright Scholar for
Information Services. Last year, Richard was one of five recipients
of the Mount Pulaski 175th Anniversary's Casimir Pulaski Awards for
Most Distinguished Mount Pulaski High School Graduates. He resides
with his wife and family in Maryland.
--Text submitted by Vivian Schroth
and edited and updated by Phil Bertoni of the Mount Pulaski Township
Historical Society. |