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The Vienna High School 1954-1955 boys varsity basketball team finished its regular season 19-0 under coach Randall Wilson. The Flyers went on to win the Trumbull Interscholastic Association (T.I.A.) Tournament for the second consecutive season. The team then won the Class B Sectional Tournament, and Class B District Tournament for the sixth straight District II League championship, and finally the N.E.O. Regional Tournament.
Vienna qualified for the state tournament with a 60-53 win over Strasburg in the Regional Championship at Kent State Field House on March 19, 1955. They won a total of nine tournament games. The Flyers lost to Lockland Wayne (Cincinnati) in the State semifinals 68-58. Their season ended with 28 wins and one loss.
The 1954-1955 Vienna High School boys varsity basketball team.
Source: Viennese 1955
Source: Viennese 1955
The Flyers favored and "up-tempo" style of play under coach Randall Wilson. During that same season they also averaged 90.4 points per game and scored more than 100 points seven times, twice against Southington. "It was our pressing that set the tone, but Rex [Leach] was the linchpin," recalls Don Scott, one of the Flyers' starting guards, a retired teacher who lives in Warren, Pennsylvania. Frank Catchpole was the other starting guard and Don "Doc" McShane and Ray Rappach were Vienna's starting forwards. [1]
For two years the team maintained a 46-game regular season winning streak. Rex Leach was selected All-Ohio for two years, his junior and senior years. He scored a record-shattering 2,581 points to become Ohio's all-time career scoring leader. He held this record for 30 years. To this day, he is Trumbull County's highest scoring player.
According to the Ohio High School Athletic Association, the team set several state boys basketball records:
Points scored in a game (158) on January 21, 1995 - Vienna High School vs. Southington
Points scored in a season (2,617) in 1955 - 29 games
The team currently ranks 3rd in Ohio for points scored in a game and 2nd in the state for most points scored in a season behind Trotwood-Madison, who recently scored 3,019 points during the 2018-2019 season.
Regular season scores from the 1954-1955 boys varsity basketball team.
Source: Viennese 1955
Source: Viennese 1955
Tournament scores from the 1954-1955 boys varsity basketball team.
Source: Viennese 1955
Source: Viennese 1955
The 1954-1955 Flyers pose with their championship trophies.Front row (L to R): Barbara Davis, Sonia Koches, Margaret Birskovich, Myrna Lay, Barbara FritzSecond row (L to R): Mike Mizicko, Don Scott, Frank Catchpole, Rex Leach, Ray Rappach, Don McShane, Jim MizickoThird row (L to R): Neil Williams (assistant coach), Bob Rappach, Charles Scott, Ed Scott, Albert Morrison, Paul Pennell, Dallas Stringer, Bill Reebel, Randy Wilson (head coach), W. M. Hammack (superintendant)Fourth row (L to R): Tom Scott (manager), Norman Lay (manager)Photo from the Vienna Historical Society's collection
Donated by Paul Pennell
Donated by Paul Pennell
Updated 5/10/2021
"Boys' Basketball, 1953-55 Seasons" in Vienna, Ohio, "Where We Live and Let Live": Town 4, Range 2 of the Connecticut Western Reserve (Apollo, PA: Closson Press, 1999), p. 224.
Viennese, 1954.
Statistics: Ohio High School Athletic Association
[1] Ed Puskas. "Leach gave lift to Flyers." The Tribune Chronicle, February 21, 1999.
Viennese, 1954.
Statistics: Ohio High School Athletic Association
[1] Ed Puskas. "Leach gave lift to Flyers." The Tribune Chronicle, February 21, 1999.
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