Sterling man remembers playing against Reagan and John Wooden

CBS 2 Chicago ^ | January 16, 2005 | AP

[Land_of_Lincoln_John]

STERLING, Ill. (AP) A man who lives to be 94 years old is bound to have some good stories to tell.

Harold Eshleman certainly does. The lifelong Sterling resident has had more than his share of special experiences in his life, especially in his athletic career at Sterling High School in northwestern Illinois and at the University of Iowa, where he lettered in basketball in 1932 and 1933.

In his playing days he suited up against both a future political legend, Ronald Reagan, and a future coaching legend, John Wooden.

Eshleman, in his Hall-of-Fame career at SHS, was the star of the basketball team and quarterbacked the football team until he graduated in 1929. The Warriors' arch rival was Dixon, just as it is now, and Eshleman still takes pride in the fact that Sterling defeated the Dukes twice in his senior football season. He also recalls one particular Dixon defensive lineman.

``We all knew about Ronald Reagan, even back then,'' Eshleman says. ``The girls all thought he was great, and would always go to the park so they could see him when he was a lifeguard. In the huddle, the guys on the line always wanted the play to go toward him, because they wanted to clobber him.''

Of course, no one suspected Reagan was presidential material back then, but Eshleman was not surprised to see him receive the support of an entire nation.

``He was the right kind of guy,'' Eshleman remembers. ``He had the attitude where he could always create enthusiasm, and people always wanted to be around him.''

After leading Sterling to a one-loss basketball season and a sectional appearance in 1929, Eshleman was recruited to play at the University of Iowa. There were no athletic scholarships in those days, but schools were allowed to find small jobs for their players. Eshleman visited Iowa with classmates Ralph Bowden, Jack Wyatt and Lynford Pigg, and all four decided to attend the university.

While playing for the Hawkeyes in a reserve role, Eshleman had another encounter with a man who would go on to achieve great success later in life. Big Ten rival Purdue's best player in the early 1930s was John Wooden, who would coach UCLA to 10 national championships in 12 years from 1964-75, and is generally considered the greatest basketball mind of all time.

``He was a guard, and he was an All-American for two years, but at that time, we didn't know who Wooden was like everybody knows him today,'' Eshleman says. ``One thing I remember about him is that he would shoot one-handed, and none of us had ever seen that before. Of course, today they shoot one-handed, but it's different. He shot just with one hand, a lot of times from the corner. I'm sure that was John.''

One of the biggest events of Eshleman's tenure at Iowa serves as a reminder that college sports may never have had an innocent era. Even at the onset of the Great Depression, Iowa was caught in a pay-for-play scandal that led to the Hawkeyes' ouster from the Big Ten for the 1928-29 sports season.

``It was quite a story,'' Eshleman remembers. ``One of the officials in the athletic department was giving financial help to some of the athletes. They got caught, and it went on and on for a period of about seven months. We kept trying to get reinstated, but we they didn't let us back in until a year had passed. In '29, we were able to play, but anybody who was involved in the problem was not eligible, and we were not able to play other Big Ten teams.''

[virgil]

I thought they were talking about Don Wooten, the former weather man on WOC-TV and Gov of Iowa.

[newgeezer]

Don Wooten, the former weather man on WOC-TV

Don Wooten was at WHBF in Rock Island.

and Gov of Iowa.

??? This I'll have to look up.

[newgeezer]

Nope. Don Wooten was never the Governor of Iowa.

[newgeezer]

Here you go:

Wooten, Don (b. 1929) of Rock Island, Rock Island County, Ill. Born in Memphis, Shelby County, Tenn., March 16, 1929. Democrat. Member of Illinois state senate 36th District, 1973; delegate to Democratic National Convention from Illinois, 1980. Still living as of 1980.

[newgeezer]

Here's the whole story on Don Wooten. Google rules. :-)

[virgil]

I thought it was WOC and Govenor. I was a little kid at the time when he was on TV and we only got 3 channels through a roof antenna and I was more worried about watching Capt Ernie. I was a teenager when he was in politics and not paying close attention. But I remember seeing him on Spectrum.