Wyandot Sports Hall of Fame

The 1964-65 Riverdale boys basketball team went 22-3, setting school records for wins and winning percentage in a season. The Falcons went onto become regional runner-up despite falling short of winning the North Central Conference championship.

Riverdale’s tournament success included victories against Alger, Ada, Cory-Rawson, Westwood and McGuffey. The Falcons then came up big with an 82-72 victory in the regional semifinals against tournament favorite Paulding, the largest school in terms of enrollment, putting them in the regional final against Minster.

The Falcons held a 29-28 halftime lead despite two starters not being at 100%. Wayne Dilley, who had scored 12 points against Paulding, was still recovering from a midseason knee injury, and Terry Huffman, who had 18 a night earlier, played with flu-like symptoms. Neither player was a big factor in the game, and Minster prevailed 61-58.

Riverdale’s other two losses during the season both were in NCC play. They fell 58-54 to Wynford and 53-47 to Pleasant, finishing 7-2 in league play, one game behind the Royals.

A balanced scoring team, Joe Jenkins led the Falcons with an average of 13.2 points per game. Jim Shane scored in double figures in every tournament game and led them during the postseason. On the season, Riverdale gave up an average of just 50.6 points per game, which stood as the best in school history until 2008-09.

Coached by Joel Dill and assisted by Steve Kick, team members included Jenkins, Shane, Dilley, Huffman, Denny Brown, Randy Rodabaugh, Gary Forry, Mark Miller, Jerry Landolt, Bill Tracy, Dennis Ulrich, Dale Wheeler, Ken Snider, Raymond Rose and Alan Blackburn.

The season prior, with their top players all juniors, the Falcons set a school record by scoring 114 points in a win against Hardin Northern. It included a 40-point quarter, stood as the Wyandot County record at the time and still ranks sixth all-time.