Peoria Cats
From Hoopedia
The Peoria Cats were an industrial league team in Peoria, Illinois, sponsored by Caterpillar, Inc. They were enormously successful in the 1950s, winning five AAU national tournament championships in the the years 1952-60. The team sent numerous players to the U.S. Olympic teams of that era. The Cats represented the United States in the second FIBA World Championship in 1954 and won the tournament.
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1952
The 1952 Caterpillar team (pictured at left) won the first of Caterpillar's five AAU titles. The team, coached by Warren Womble, also was a dominant factor in the Olympics in Helsinki as five different players - Marcus Freiberger, Howie Williams, Dan Pippin, Frank McCabe and Ron Bontemps -- and Coach Womble played major roles as the United States won the Gold Medal in basketball. Others who played important roles on that Caterpillar team were Bob Harlow, Bob Schmidt, Bill Dempsey, George Lafferty, and John Brown.
Caterpillar finished only fourth in the NIBL with a 13-9 league record that season as the Phillips 66ers won the league title at 17-5. Confronted by perennial power Phillips in the championship game, Caterpillar won easily, taking a quick 23-9 lead and then winning 66-53 with Williams scoring 20 points.
McCabe, Bontemps and Williams were named AAU All-Americans and the team, after a brief return to Peoria, headed for New York's Madison Square Garden and the Olympic playoffs. Caterpillar whipped the Air Force All Stars 71-67 and again bombed Phillips 64-50 in New York. Then it edged the NCAA champions, Kansas, and huge Clyde Lovellette, 62-60, on Williams' clutch bucket with five seconds left. Thus Caterpillar reigned as the No. 1 basketball team in the nation.
1953
This outstanding team, coached by Warren Womble, continued Caterpillar's dominance of amateur basketball. The team was again paced by Ron Bontemps, Marcus Freiberger, Howie Williams, Frank McCabe and Dan Pippin with major assistance from Kirby Minter and Bobby Dean. Key roles were also performed by Dick Reatherford, Don Penwell, Clarence Anderson, Frank Gladson and Ed Tackett.
This team finished second in the powerful NIBL with a 12-4 regular season record and was one of 27 teams to qualify for the national AAU Tournament in Denver along with the favored Phillips team paced by Clyde Lovellette and Chuck Darling. Phillips was upset early, but Caterpillar kept winning and advanced to the quarterfinals with a series of 30 point wins. They edged the Ag Oilers 61-57 and trounced the San Diego entry 67-53 to earn another title game appearance against a heralded Navy team, led by George Yardley. Caterpillar was never in trouble and raced to its second consecutive national AAU championship 73-62 as Williams led a well balanced Cat attack with 17 points, followed by 15 each by Pippin and Bontemps. Those three, along with McCabe, were included on the ten-man AAU All American team. Williams, Pippin and Freiberger all retired following this championship season.
1954
This championship team was led by Ron Bontemps and Frank McCabe along with major assistance from Kirby Minter, Don Penwell, Frank Gladson and Dick Reatherford. Newcomers to this great team included Eddie Solomon, Kendall Sheets, Dick Axness, Dick Gott and Jim McCabe, Frank's brother. The team compiled a 10-4 NIBL record and a 21-9 season record against the top amateur teams in America. Both Bontemps and Reatherford made the NIBL all-star team, and Caterpillar was seeded as the favorite in the 25-team field for the AAU title in Denver.
Caterpillar humiliated an Indianapolis team 82-44 in the opening game of the tournament, but it took two clutch free throws by Bontemps in the final seconds to enable Cat to get by San Francisco 56-55 in the quarterfinal game. Bontemps was again the hero in the next game as his driving layup with eight seconds made possible a 61-59 win over Denver to qualify Cat for the championship game. Caterpillar won its third consecutive title 63-55 against a California team which held a 40-36 halftime lead. Bontemps, Reatherford and Frank McCabe were all honored as AAU All Americans.
In 1954 the Caterpillar team represented the United States in the Second FIBA World Championship, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They went 9-0, outscoring their opponents 614-388.
1958
The 1958 team finished fifth in the six-team National Industrial Basketball League with a 15-15 record over the 1957-58 season, surprised the basketball world by roaring through the Amateur Athletic Union postseason tournament in Denver for their fourth national championship in seven years.
The Cats, coached by Warren Womble, needed four overtimes to turn back the Denver Truckers 74-71 in the championship game following victories over the Phillips 66 Oilers 90-53 in the semifinals, 70-59 over the McDonald Scots of Louisiana and 94-58 over the Navy All-Stars.
B.H. Born, Howie Crittenden and Jim Palmer of Peoria were named A.A.U. all-Americans. The balanced team had six players whose scoring average was in the 9.1-13.7 point range - Dean Kelley, Jack Sullivan and John Prudhoe in addition to Born, Crittenden and Palmer - and held the opposition to .374 field goal shooting for the season while out-rebounding opponents 53.1 to 45.5.
Six members of this team were later named to the United States AAU All-Star squad that toured Russia.
1960
The Cats could do no better than 16-16 for the 1959-60 National Industrial Basketball League season - and needed a victory in their final game over the last-place New York Tuck Tapers to break even - before traveling to Denver for an Amateur Athletic Union Tournament bid that didn't end until a 115-99 championship game over the Akron Wingfoots.
The Cats won 90-76 in the semifinals over the Phillips 66 Oilers after edging the Cleveland Pipers 84-82 and downing the Chicago Jamaco Saints 98-73. Bob Boozer of Peoria was named MVP of the tournament and, along with teammate Howie Crittenden, earned AAU all-American recognition. Also scoring in double figures for Caterpillar in the record-breaking title game win over Akron were Jack Adams, Al Kelley, Leon Hill and Don Ohl.
Caterpillar continued to win in the Olympic Trials, and wasn't stopped until the NCAA University All-Stars. led by Jerry West and Oscar Robertson, ran past the Cats 124-97 in the championship game.
This post-season left Cats head coach Warren Womble with a 58-7 career record in AAU and Olympic Tournament games, and Caterpillar soon dropped sponsorship of the team to end a basketball era in Peoria.
