Baseball Hall of Fame

Front Row (L to R): Phil Shannabarger, Don Lee, Emil Monge, Dick Heihs, Steve Holzapple, Gary Kinder, Cliff Houghton, John Watson, Rich Lee.

Back Row (L to R): Manager John Trenholm, Jack Rockhold, Pete Brown, Glen Phillips, Tom Trumpy, Pete Berardi, Bob Jones, Les Plotner, Darrel Bailey, Coach Harry Anderson.

Pekin's state champions, taking a 16-5 record into the elite field at Caterpillar's Tom Connor Field, used a combination of Tom Trumpy's skilled pitching arm and timely hitting to whip Big 12 conference foes Streator and Decatur in the first two games before belting Alton 11-5 in a wild title game.

Rich Lee's single in the top of the seventh drove in the winning run as Streator was edged 8-7 in the first round. Trumpy then blanked Decatur on two hits for a 3-0 victory to set up the title match with Alton.

And this one was easy with Pekin scoring eight runs in the first inning to allow Don Lee and Whitey Phillips to combine for a three-hitter.

Pekin placed six players on the all-tournament first team: second baseman Rich Lee, shortstop Pete Brown, outfielders Pete Berardi and Steve Holzapple, catcher Dick Heihs and Trumpy. First baseman Emil Monge, along with Phillips, mainly an outfielder, and Don Lee were on the second team.

Others on the team were Gary Kinder, Phil Shannabarger, John Trenholm, Bob Jones, Les Plotner, Darrel Bailey, Cliff Houghton, John Watson and Jack Rockhold.