Inductees No Peoria area team had won the State High School Basketball title for 34 years. That is until the 1963-64 Pekin team hit Champaign. With a superb record of 30-3, that team brought home Pekin High School's first state title.
The 1963-64 team started out the season with two early losses - to Limestone 66-61 in its fifth game and to Bloom Township by a point in game nine. Next came a 14-game winning streak before losing by five to Moline in the final game of the regular season. Pekin rolled through the regional, sectional and tournament games before edging Cobden 50-45 for the championship.
Jim Sommer led the team in scoring with 612 points and an 18.5 average. Dave Golden, who later played for Duke, average 14.3. Other key players on the team were Ron Rhoades, Amel Massa, Jim Couch, Tony Buzick, Mike Gilliam, Rick Venturi, Tom Waskowski and Dan McDonald.
Ralph Lawler A 1956 graduate of Peoria High School, Ralph Lawler has continued the area's tradition of supplying some of the nation's top sports broadcasters. Already an established broadcaster among the nation's major sports leagues, Lawler became the voice of the NBA's San Diego Clippers in 1978 and has now announced more than 2,000 Clippers game in more than 30 years. Lawler began his broadcasting career at Pekin's WSIV radio station while he was a student at Bradley University. The 1976 Pennsylvania Broadcaster of the Year, Lawler enjoyed stints as the radio voice for the Philadelphia Phillies (Major League Baseball), Flyers (National Hockey League) and 76ers (National Basketball Association). Upon moving to the West Coast, he served as the voice of the National Football League's San Diego Chargers before locking in as the long-time Voice of the Clippers. |