This is the fourth in a series of articles profiling the 2022 Butler County Sports Hall of Fame inductees

CHICORA — If you attended Chicora High School, you played basketball.

Or so it seemed.

Chicora’s graduating classes averaged 14 per year during the 1950’s. The school still came away with four Class C championship trophies and five second-place finishes in boys basketball during that decade.

Perhaps the Blue Devils’ best season was 1953. That team had a graduating class of 15. It won the Butler County Class C North championship, Class C county title and District 9 crown. Its won-loss record was 23-3, the three losses coming by a total of six points.

Those achievements are landing the team in the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame. It will become the 11th athletic team in the county to be inducted at the BCSHOF’s annual banquet at 6 p.m. Sept. 24 at the Lyndora American Legion hall.

“There might have been 26 boys in the high school then and all but two were involved with the basketball team in some way, as players, managers or whatever,” said Jack Baccanti, a sophomore that season. “There were some tremendous athletes on that team who went on to do great things.”

Tom McCollough, the senior point guard, earned a high position with Sunoco Oil. Senior center Don Collier and senior forward Don Collier became engineers. John Vensel, a senior and the team’s sixth man, became president of a steel company.

Bill Storey and Dick Cunningham, both junitrs, stood 6-foot-4 and 6-3, respectively, presenting imposing threats inside. Storey wound up coaching basketball at Commodore Perry.

“We scrimmaged Wampum, one of the most powerful teams in the state pretty much every year, and lost by only five points or so in Chicora,” Baccanti said. “That was a big deal because our school was so small.”

Jim Salsgiver was head coach of the team, which also included senior guard Ron Nulph, junior guard Bob Wilson, junior forward Tom Dunn and sophomore guard Jim Skidmore.

Chicora defeated Parker, 50-42, in the county Class C title game as Cunningham scored 19 points. As District 9 champs, the Blue Devils defeated Sykesville, 62-44, in the PIAA playoffs as Storey netted 22 points. Story had 19 points and Cunningham 15 in a 66-61 playoff win over Sheffield.

“A large number iof kids in the school played basketball and we had a large following,” Baccanti said.

Chicora played District 10 champion Fredonia for the right to move on to the Western Pa. Championship. Fredonia won that game, 34-32, in the final seconds. The only other losses in 1953 were 35-34 to Class B Karns City and 55-52 to Class B Evans City.

But the Blue Devils left their mark.

McCollough and Cunningham were named to the Butler County All-Tournament team as Chicora took second in the county YMCA Tournament.

Chicora and Penn Township were small schools that produced sellout crowds for playoff games at Butler High School, Slippery Rock University, Thiel College and Mercer High School. That era ended when Chicora merged with Karns City in 1960.

But 69 years later, the 1953 Blue Devils are receiving their due in Butler County sports lore.

Tickets for the banquet are $30 in advance and will soon be available at Parker Appliance in Chicora, Saxonburg Drug, the Butler Radio Network, Maddalon Jewelers in Zelienople and at www.bcshof.com. Tickets will be $35 at the door.