1956–57 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1956–57 Illinois Fighting Illini men’s basketball team represented the University of Illiniois.

1956–57 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Record14–8 (7-7 Big Ten)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
MVPHarv Schmidt
CaptainHarv Schmidt
Home arenaHuff Hall
Seasons
1956–57 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Indiana 10 4   .714 14 8   .636
No. 11 Michigan State 10 4   .714 16 10   .615
Minnesota 9 5   .643 14 8   .636
Ohio State 9 5   .643 14 8   .636
Purdue 8 6   .571 15 7   .682
Michigan 8 6   .571 13 9   .591
Illinois 7 7   .500 14 8   .636
Iowa 4 10   .286 8 14   .364
Wisconsin 3 11   .214 5 17   .227
Northwestern 2 12   .143 6 16   .273
Rankings from AP Poll

Regular season

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Harry Combes celebrated 10 years as the head coach of the University of Illinois' Fighting Illini basketball team. During his ten years as coach, Combes had established the Illini as a national powerhouse with sportswriters taking note. For example, the Associated Press began its basketball poll in 1949 with United Press International adding its poll in 1951 and from 1951-56 the Illini finished the season ranked in the Top 20 nationally every year. Illinois’ highest final ranking in the 1950s was second in both polls in 1952.

The 1956-57 team, unfortunately, would begin a downward spiral for Combes' tenure, sending the program into a timespan where his teams would finish in the lower half of the Big Ten for four of six years. A highlight of the 1957 season would take place on December 17, 1956, when Illinois defeated San Francisco, 62-33, snapping the Dons’ 51-game regular-season win streak. This season also marked the first time that a Fighting Illini team entered a holiday tournament. The Kentucky Invitational brought Southern Methodist, Dayton and Illinois to Lexington for a two-day tournament, once again matching Adolph Rupp with Combes. Combes had talented lettermen return including the leading scorers George Bon Salle, Don Ohl and team "captain" Harv Schmidt. It also saw the return of Bill Altenberger, Hiles Stout, John Paul and Ted Caiazza. The team also added sophomore Roger Taylor. The Illini finished the season with a conference record of 7 wins and 7 losses, finishing in 7th place in the Big Ten. They would finish with an overall record of 14 wins and 8 losses. The starting lineup included George Bon Salle at the center position, Roger Taylor and Don Ohl at guard and Harv Schmidt and Hiles Stout at the forward slots.[1]

Roster

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1956–57 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown
F 10 Hiles Stout 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Sr Central High School Peoria, Illinois
G 12 Roger Taylor 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 160 lb (73 kg) So Rich High School Park Forest, Illinois
F 14 Jim Chengary 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Jr Bowen High School Chicago, Illinois
G 20 Bill Altenberger 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 179 lb (81 kg) Sr Senior High School East St. Louis, Illinois
C 22 George Bon Salle 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Sr Loyola Academy Chicago, Illinois
C 24 Ted Caiazza 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Jr Lyons Township High School LaGrange, Illinois
G 30 Billy Bolk 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Jr James A. Garfield High School Terre Haute, Indiana
F 32 Harvard Schmidt (C) 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Sr Kankakee High School Kankakee, Illinois
F 33 Al Gosnell 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) So Lawrenceville High School Lawrenceville, Illinois
F 34 Larry Breyfogle 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 165 lb (75 kg) Jr Lawrenceville High School Lawrenceville, Illinois
F 40 Lloyd Eggers 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 185 lb (84 kg) So Toledo High School Toledo, Illinois
G 42 John Paul 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Jr St. Edward High School Elgin, Illinois
G 44 Don Ohl 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Jr Edwardsville High School Edwardsville, Illinois
C 48 Bob Brown 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 196 lb (89 kg) So DuPont High School Wilmington, Delaware
F 52 Tom Haller 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 180 lb (82 kg) So Lockport Township High School Lockport, Illinois
F 54 Bernie Thompson 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 175 lb (79 kg) So Fairmont Senior High School Fairmont, West Virginia
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)

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

Roster

Schedule

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Source[2]

Date
time, TV
Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state[3]
Non-Conference regular season
12/5/1956*
no, no
Butler W 98–81  1-0
Huff Hall (6,240)
Champaign, IL
12/8/1956*
no, no
at Oklahoma W 69–58  2-0
McCasland Field House (3,000)
Norman, OK
12/15/1956*
no, no
No. 7 Loyola (New Orleans) W 83–72  3-0
Huff Hall (6,128)
Champaign, IL
12/17/1956*
no, no
No. 7 No. 2 San Francisco W 62–33  4–0
Huff Hall (6,912)
Champaign, IL
12/21/1956*
no, no
No. 5 vs. Dayton
Kentucky Invitational Tournament
W 82–65  5-0
Memorial Coliseum (7,000)
Lexington, KY
12/22/1956*
no, no
No. 5 at No. 7 Kentucky
Kentucky Invitational Tournament
L 70–91  5-1
Memorial Coliseum (9,500)
Lexington, KY
12/28/1956*
no, no
No. 6 Princeton W 108–87  6-1
Huff Hall (2,559)
Champaign, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/5/1957
no, no
No. 5 at No. 19 Minnesota L 88–91  6-2
(0-1)
Williams Arena (14,062)
Minneapolis, MN
1/7/1957
no, no
No. 5 Iowa
Rivalry
W 81–70  7-2
(1-1)
Huff Hall (3,390)
Champaign, IL
1/12/1957
no, no
No. 10 at Wisconsin W 79–63  8-2
(2-1)
Wisconsin Field House (4,000)
Madison, WI
1/14/1957
no, no
No. 10 Indiana
Rivalry
W 112–91  9-2
(3-1)
Huff Hall (6,899)
Champaign, IL
1/26/1957*
no, no
No. 9 vs. Notre Dame W 99–81  10-2
Chicago Stadium (15,678)
Chicago, IL
2/2/1957
no, no
No. 7 at Purdue L 74–85  10-3
(3-2)
Lambert Fieldhouse (10,000)
West Lafayette, IN
2/4/1957
no, no
No. 7 No. 11 Ohio State W 96–89  11-3
(4-2)
Huff Hall (6,189)
Champaign, IL
2/9/1957
no, no
No. 15 at Michigan State L 64–70  11-4
(4-3)
Jenison Fieldhouse (7,394)
East Lansing, MI
2/11/1957
no, no
No. 15 Northwestern
Rivalry
W 104–97  12-4
(5-3)
Huff Hall (6,899)
Champaign, IL
2/16/1957
no, no
No. 16 at Michigan L 89–102  12-5
(5-4)
Yost Field House (6,800)
Ann Arbor, MI
2/18/1957
no, no
No. 16 Michigan State L 83–89  12-6
(5-5)
Huff Hall (6,800)
Champaign, IL
2/23/1957
no, no
Purdue W 80–78  13-6
(6-5)
Huff Hall (6,850)
Champaign, IL
2/25/1957
no, no
at Ohio State W 79–72  14-6
(7-5)
St. John Arena (13,380)
Columbus, OH
3/2/1957
no, no
Minnesota L 75–86  14-7
(7-6)
Huff Hall (6,251)
Champaign, IL
3/4/1957
no, no
No. 6 at No. 10 Indiana
Rivalry
L 76–84  14-8
(7-7)
The Fieldhouse (10,000)
Bloomington, IN
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in Central Time.

Player stats

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Player Games Played Field Goals Free Throws Points
Harv Schmidt 22 156 102 414
Don Ohl 22 145 53 343
George BonSalle 14 104 69 277
Hiles Stout 21 77 88 242
Roger Taylor 22 88 52 228
Bill Altenberger 18 72 26 170
John Paul 21 49 18 116
Ted Caiazza 18 8 14 30
Tom Haller 16 3 10 16
Larry Breyfogle 15 6 1 13
Jim Chengary 4 0 2 2
Bob Brown 1 0 0 0
Lloyd Eggers 4 0 0 0

[4]

Awards and honors

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Team players drafted into the NBA

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Player NBA Club Round Pick
George Bon Salle Syracuse Nationals 1 7
Harv Schmidt Minneapolis Lakers 2 3

[6]

Rankings

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References

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  1. ^ Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
  2. ^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1956-57, FightingIllini.com
  3. ^ Schedule
  4. ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on June 25, 2013. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  5. ^ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
  6. ^ 1957 NBA Draft Archived 2013-02-03 at the Wayback Machine