1. 1953 DeWitt DeHawk Boys track
Central Dewitt Hall of Fame
Induction Class 2004

2. Inducted for Outstanding Contributions as a Team/Group of Central High School

3. Biography
The 1953 DeWitt DeHawk Boys Track team accomplished a feat that was described as something that may not ever happen again (although it did in 1957), winning both the IHSAA Class B Indoor and IHSAA Class B Outdoor State Championships in Boys Track. The team went on to win the IlIowa Conference Championship that spring as well. In a newspaper article prior to the indoor state championship, DeWitt’s Coach, Harold Birney, is quoted as saying, …this squad was “weaker than usual” due to a lack of depth. In fact, the DeHawks took 11 men to the indoor meet and won the meet over 37 other schools. Ray Strobbe, Phillip Holmes, Norman Toppe, and Jack Maynard won the 2-mile relay, Phillip Holmes placed second in the mile run, while Norman Toppe placed fourth. Fred Thiede placed third in the 60-yard high hurdles and took fifth in the 60-yard low hurdles. Buddy Hansen placed second in the pole vault with an 11-foot vault. DeWitt scored 41.5 points to Traer’s 30 point second place finish. At the outdoor meet held in Grinnell, DeWitt scored 29 points to edge Lake City and Albert City (both with 28 points) for the State title. Norman Poppe took the only first place in the 880-yard run. Fred Thiede placed second in the 120 yard high hurdles, Buddy Hansen took fifth in the pole vault, and relay finishes of fifth (880 yard), third (1-mile), and second (2-mile).

4. Biography (cont.)
The DeWitt DeHawk team went on to win the IlIowa Championship a few days later. During the 1953 season, the team won 2 IHSAA Class B Championships (Indoor and Outdoor), the IlIowa Championship, and placed high in several other meets against much larger schools.

5. Article from the Observer
An Observer front-page article announcing the 1953 DeHawk track team winning the state outdoor class B championship saysthis about Harold Birney’s squad: “It is doubtful if ever before a group of athletes has piled up a record such as the DeHawks during the present track season.” That was a special season for the track team. On March 28, the team won an indoor state championship. Less than two months later the DeHawks added a state outdoor championship to their list of achievements. Three days later they won their second straight Illowa Conference championship. At the time, The Observer story proclaimed the two state championships and one conference championship “is a most enviable record, one that no doubt will stand for all time.” The trademark for the team that season was quality over quantity. At the state meets the Sabers had an 11-man team at the indoor meet and a 12-member squad for the outdoor meet. Of the group, nine were returning letter winners. With the small numbers, legendary DeHawk track coach Harold Birney said of his 1953 squad, “it’s weaker than usual,” because of the lack of depth.

6. The Observer (cont.)
“It wasn’t what you would call a big team,” Jim Irwin, a member of the milerelay team which won a state championship, recalled. “We were entered in about every event. What helped us was we scored a lot of second- and third-place finishes.” Bob Hansen, an Illowa Conference champion in the pole vault, said it wasn’t unusual for Birney to downgrade his team’s chances in public, but then turn around and boost his athletes’ confidence behind the scenes. At the indoor meet, the Sabers rode a pair of relay state championships to the state title. Running on both was Jack Maynard, a 12- time letter winner at the school. Maynard teamed with Roy Strobbe, Phil Holmes and Norman Poppe on the winning two-mile relay team. The quartet ran a winning time of 8:59.6. Also running to gold was the milerelay team of Strobbe, Ronnie Mohr, Irwin and Maynard. The four clocked a 3:55, six seconds faster than the second-place team. The DeHawks also scored points from their second-place, 880-yard relay team; Fred Theide, third in the 60-yard high hurdles and fourth in the 60-yard lows; Hansen, fourth in the pole vault; Holmes, second, and Poppe, fourth in the mile; and Mohr, fourth in the 440-yard dash. Norman Kluever, Loren Hofer and Wayne Mumm also competed and placed at the state meet.

7. The Observer (cont.)
When all the points were added up the Sabers had Those were more than enough as Traer placed second with 30 points. Sac City was third with Following the indoor state championship, the DeHawks went on to win meets at Morrison, St. Ambrose Academy and Fulton, along with a number of dual and triangular meets. Once the regular season ended the DeHawks added a class B district title to their resume. That sent a dozen DeWitt athletes, who placed first or second in their events, to the state outdoor meet. Joining the 11 from the indoor meet was John Hinck. At the state meet, the DeHawks relied on their trademark balance to edge out Lake City and Albert City for the class B state title. With Poppe bringing home the only state championship, running a winning time of 2:06.9 in the 880-yard run, the DeHawks scored 30 points. That was one more than both Lake City and Albert City scored. Adding seconds for DeWitt were Thiede in the 120-yard high hurdles and the twomile relay team. Other points came from the third-place mile-medley team; and fifths from Hansen in the pole vault and the 880- yard relay team. The young DeHawk thinclads had little time to rest on their laurels.

8. The Observer (cont.)
Three days after winning their second state championship in less than two months they were in Fulton for the Illowa Conference meet, a competition almost as important as the state meet. “The Illowa meet was really trumped up as something special because of the Illinois schools,” Hansen said. “It was something special.” The DeHawks continued their winning ways, romping to a 57 5/6 points to 36 2/3 points win over second-place Morrison. Again DeWitt used its superior balance and depth to get the win. Only two DeHawks — Theide in the 120- yard high hurdles, and Hansen in the pole vault — won conference championships. Two state championships and a conference title in less than two months. What a tremendous accomplishment. One that is definitely worth of a place in the lore of DeWitt (now Central) High School and a spot in the school’s hall of fame.