| Athletics
Alvin High School definitely offered boys basketball. The school also produced a STATE CHAMPION in boys track and field! It is probable that baseball was also offered. However there is VERY limited information on the athletic program If you have any information you wish to share please write to us via e-mail.
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Boys Basketball
The IHSA website shows Alvin High School winning a District title in boys basketball. Unfortunately the team record and coaches names of this and other successful Alvin High School teams are not available.
Scores of games involving Alvin High School in the IHSA State Tournament were located on a website titled “Illinois Postseason Basketball Scores.” The scores we found are reprinted below.
Beginning of basketball program through 1926-27 Postseason scores, coaches’ names, and records needed.
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1918-19 Champaign District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed.
1st Rd lost to Arcola 27-10
Champaign beat Kankakee in title game.
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1920-21 Postseason score, record, and coach’s name needed.
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1921-22 Watseka District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
1st Rd Beat Bismarck 35-18
2nd Rd lost to East Lynn 24-15
Watseka beat East Lynn in title game
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1922-23 through 1926-27 Postseason scores, records, and coaches’ names needed.
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1927-28 Hoopeston District Champions Coach’s name & record needed
Beat Rankin 13-11
Beat Stockland 25-11
Normal Sectional Tournament
1st Rd Beat Paxton 30-19
ALVIN (30): Bowman 20, Darr 6, Weyer 2, Hiatt 2.
PAXTON (19): Hoffman 10, Turner 8, Mearns 1.
Semi-final lost to Streator 25-18
STREATOR (25): Dixon 9, Paton 6, Mohler 6, Hart 4.
ALVIN (18): Hiatt 8, Bowman 8, Darr 2.
Streator won Sectional title
Streator lost in Elite 8 round
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1928-29 through 1930-31 Postseason scores, coaches names, & records needed.
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1931-32 Hoopeston District Runner-Up. Coach’s name & record needed.
Early Round Scores Needed.
Quarter-Final Beat Stockland 25-10
Semi-Final Beat Potomac 22-21
Title Game lost to Armstrong 18-11
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1932-33 Hoopeston District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed.
1st Rd lost to Rankin 27-16
Rankin lost in quarter-final round
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1933-34 Milford District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed.
1st Rd lost to Rankin 27-16
Rankin lost in 2nd Rd
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1934-35 Hoopeston District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed.
1st Rd lost to Wellington 35-16
Wellington lost in 2nd Rd
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1935-36 Westville District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed.
1st Rd lost to Ridge Farm 26-17
Ridge Farm lost in semi-final round
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1936-37 through 1937-38 Postseason scores, coaches names, and records needed.
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1938-39 East Lynn District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed.
1st Rd lost to Gifford 23-21 (O/T)
Cissna Park beat East Lynn in title game
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1939-40 Postseason scores, record, and coach’s name needed.
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1940-41 Cissna Park District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed.
1st Rd lost to East Lynn 32-17
Potomac beat Cissna Park in title game
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1941-42 through 1943-44 Postseason scores, records, and coaches’ names needed.
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1944-45 Wellington District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed.
1st Rd lost to Wellington 35-32
Wellington beat East Lynn in title game
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1945-46 Potomac District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed
1st Rd Beat Stockland 45-32
Semi-final lost to East Lynn 26-24
Rankin beat East Lynn in title game
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1946-47 Postseason scores, record, and coach’s name needed.
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1947-48 Potomac District Tournament Coach’s name & record needed.
**1st Rd lost to Sheldon 42-26
Stockland beat Sheldon in title game
**Final boys basketball game for Alvin High School “Pirates”. School dissolved and became part of the Rossville-Alvin School District.
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Boys Track & Field
Alvin High School had many good athletes over the years, however only one placed in the IHSA State Track Meet, and he was crowned STATE CHAMPION!. The following was sent to us by Bruce Samoore and is verified on the IHSA website at the web address of
http://www.ihsa.org/SportsActivities/BoysTrackField/RecordsHistory.aspx?url=/data/trb/records/index.htm :
“A student from Alvin High School, believed to be William E. Bivans, in 1919, placed First in the Mile Run, at the Boys State Track and Field, Class B Championships. On the IHSA Records his name is spelled Bevans, with no first name listed. With the school now closed, and possibility that the student records could be in Hoopeston, or Rossville, or even in Bismark, might turn up verification of enrollment. The 1920 US census, shows a William Bivans living with his parents and brother, in the village of Alvin, in Ross Twp., Vermillian CO. There is no surname of Bevans listed for Vermillian Co., 1920.”
1918-19 IHSA Class ‘B’ Championship Meet
William Bivans State Champion 1 Mile Run
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Brooklyn Dodgers Baseball Signee
“Roger W. Brown, 86, of Nashua, NH, formerly of Alvin, IL, passed away peacefully, Saturday, March 19, 2016. He was born on May 23, 1929, in Danville, IL. Roger was the son of the late Hoyt and Florence (Cole) Brown who operated Browns Grocery for thirty-seven years until 1953. Roger was a baseball pitcher, and he signed a professional baseball contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers, at the young age of 15, after his sophomore year at Alvin High School, May of 1945. He played for various farm teams in the MLB. Roger was and still is the youngest to ever sign with the Dodgers. His uniform can be seen at the Rossville Historical Society.
Roger graduated from Alvin High School in 1947, which was the next to last graduating class before consolidating with Rossville. He then attended Illinois State two years, transferring to and graduating from the University of Illinois with a B.S. degree in Business.
Upon graduating from college, he joined the United States Air Force and served as an auditor with the rank of 1st Lieutenant. Roger was later discharged on hardship after the loss of his first wife and four month old son in a train auto accident, while he was stationed in Arabia.
Roger left Illinois for California in early 1954 to start a career in aerospace and electronics. It was then he was fortunate enough to work with NASA and meet Neil Armstrong, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, and Gus Grissom. At the age of 38 he was promoted to Group Vice-President of Industrial Relations, for General Dynamics, Chicago, IL. Roger left General Dynamics to become Vice-President of Personnel, for AMTRAK, in Washington, DC. After seven years with AMTRAK, he left to become Corporate Vice-President of Human Resources at the Sanders Division of Lockheed Martin in Nashua, New Hampshire. While at Sanders, Roger completed his Master’s degree in Business at New Hampshire College. He started work on the degree at Harvard University some seven years earlier. He then joined the part-time faculty at New Hampshire College Graduate School teaching part-time for seventeen years. Roger retired in 1991
Roger’s notable work ethic never kept him from coming home to his roots of Alvin, IL and traveling with his wife of 32 years, Mary (Fennell) Brown. Roger and Mary traveled through Europe, South America and spent their winters in Naples, Florida. Roger’s hobbies of golf, fishing, and hunting, kept him in close contact with many friends. He truly loved bringing Mary, and his son, Roger (Bud) to visit his second family, Robert and Mary Ingram and family of Rossville, IL. Roger thoroughly enjoyed taking his son hunting the prairie of Illinois where he grew up. The Ingram children will cherish his memories of walking them on the ceilings and the stories of the Alvin tornado and mapping out all the businesses once lining the streets of Alvin.
Roger was a member of the Rossville American Legion #733 and was a 32nd Degree Mason at the Hoopeston Star Lodge #709.
Roger is survived by his wife of 32 years, Mary (Fennell) Brown; his son, Roger W. Brown II from his second wife, Iris Dirks Brown; four grandchildren, Lindsay (Ronald “Zippy”) Roberts of AZ, Trevor Chapman of OK, and Ryan and Tyler Brown of Nashua; as well as four great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his first wife, Audrey Watkins Brown and son Jeffery; his second wife Iris Dirks Brown, and his daughter Susan (Brown) Chapman.”
SEE PHOTOS OF ROGER BROWN BASEBALL FIELD IN ALVIN BELOW.
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MEMORIES
**From Don Claypool:
“After Alvin consolidated the building was taken over by the grade school. I went there my 7th and 8th grade graduating in 1950. I had older siblings who attended Alvin High School. My older sister, Thelma Ross, put together the last High School reunion held there. I believe that was about 1970. I knew the Bill Bivans you mentioned. I believe you have that item correct. Bill never married to my knowledge. He use to take vacations out west to add to his large rock collection.”
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If You Wish To Share Any Information…
…regarding the many successes and memories created by Alvin High School please share them with us. Alvin High School has alumni and carried with it a lot of town pride at one time. Help us recapture that pride on this page. You can e-mail information and, if you have one, a photo of the original Alvin High School building. Our e-mail address is ihsgdwebsite@comcast.net.
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