The Class of 1951

Nicolette Bender, Michael Donald Bennett

McKinley "Deacon" Davis, Ben Dorsey

Leslie Francis Williams

Freeport was the 1951 State Champions in basketball!

Freeport High School
1951 Illinois State Champions
Back row: Manager William Trunk, Eugene Ingold, Carl Cain, Jim Hill,
Coach Harry Kinert, William Spahn, Roger Meads, Manager Douglas Smith.
Front row: Thomas Williams, Eugene Schmidt,
Harlan Fritz, McKinley (Deacon) Davis, Ben Dorsey.
Davis later played with the Harlem Globetrotters.
Cain later was a member of the 1956 USA Olympic Team.

First Round Scores
Marion 70, Macomb Western 65
Freeport 67, Edwardsville 64
Peoria Woodruff 76, Odell St. Paul 62
Decatur 68, Danville 58
Moline 59, Pinckneyville 55
Robinson 60, Chicago Parker 46
Lincoln 54, Oak Park River Forest 41
Quincy 58, Hinsdale 46

Quarterfinals Scores
Freeport 65, Marion 51
Decatur 73, Peoria Woodruff 50
Moline 59, Robinson 44
Quincy 65, Lincoln 63

Semifinals Scores
Freeport 88, Decatur 60
Moline 64, Quincy 63 (OT)

Third Place
Quincy 60, Decatur 58

Final
Freeport 71, Moline 51

Freeport, coached by Harry Kinert, finished with a record of 31-2.

McKinley "Deacon" Davis, led Freeport, scoring 73 points in four games. Ben Dorsey scored 55, Harlan Fritz scored 54, and Tom Williams added 52.

McKinley "Deacon" Davis, a 6-2 Senior and Ben Dorsey, a 5-11 Senior, made the All-Tournament Team.

In the final pre-tournament rankings, Berwyn-Cicero Morton, 20-0, was ranked number one, while Freeport, 22-2, was ranked second.

The total enrollment for the 1950-51 school year was 970.

Deacon Davis as a Harlem Globetrotter. Deacon played basketball and earned a degree from the University of Iowa where he graduated in 1955.

While at Iowa, he was named to the 2nd Team All-American and 1st Team in the All Big Ten Conference.

From 1955 to 1957, Deacon was a member of the Harlem Globetrotters.

McKinley “Deacon” Davis was born in Freeport, Illinois on August 3, 1932.

Deacon Davis was one of my childhood heroes. My wife & I got to meet him in 1996, and I've got to tell you, he didn't disappoint me. His work in Rockford with disadvantaged youth can only compare to the work that Jane Addams did in Chicago at Hull House.

I'll write more about Deacon Davis in the near future!

Betsy Datri of Eugene, Oregon, sent me this photo of herself as a child with her parents, taken in 1951 at the Becker home in Freeport. Betsy remembers that the mother's name was Grace and they had a little boy who was about her age; his name was Jimmy. Jimmy Becker, do you remember Betsy Datri?

My father's 1951 license plate.

My sister's 1950-1951 bicycle plate.

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