Salem Wildcat Sports Hall of Fame » 2005

Don Jones

admin — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 14:00:42 +0000

In the early 1970′s no other athlete displayed more ability to excel in three sports than Don Jones. Don played football, basketball and baseball for SCHS and was a large contributor to the success of all three teams.

As a quarterback on the football team, Don was a 1st Team North Egypt Conference quarterback. His head coach, Gary Brandt, stated “Don does a fine job of running the club and I have not seen any other quarterback as good as Don this season.” He was also named the “Player of the game” vs. Mt. Carmel on October 15, 1971.

Basketball was the sport that Don excelled in probably more than any other. He was part of the 1971-72 team that was inducted in 2005 to the SCHS Hall of Fame. This team won the Salem Invitational and finished with a strong 17-9 record. Head Coach, Lee Emery, said “Jones is truly a standout playmaker and a very smooth guard”. He led the team in scoring with a career total of 964 points, which was impressive considering the three point shot had not been introduced. Don was selected 1st Team North Egypt Conference and was selected to the Southern Illinois Basketball “All-Stars”.

In the spring of 1972, Don was also a standout baseball player for Coach Bob Jamison. Bob stated “Donnie was a standout baseball player that was a good student and fun to be around. He was our best pitcher”. The highlight was when Don hit a home run in the last inning in the District Championship to win the game played at Kaskaskia College.

Following high school, Don considered numerous offers to play basketball at the college level. He chose Millikin University and became a starter with the Big Blue as a freshman. Don, along with another freshman guard, Brian Peters, became two of the best guards in the conference. Don scored 150 points in 23 games for the Big Rlue. Millikin Head Coach Jerry Gray said “Don is much better than his statistics indicate and he provides the intangibles which are necessary to win. He is one of our most talented ball handlers and is a clutch performer,” During his second year Don suffered a leg injury that kept him sidelined after scoring 73 points for that season. Don ended his basketball career following the 1973-74 season.

He graduated from Millikin University in December of 1975 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and Finance. Jones returned to Salem and became a Certified Public Accountant. He remains in Salem and continues to work as an accountant. He is the son of Clark and Vivian Jones of Salem. His brother, Rick Jones, lives in Centralia. Don and his wife Dena have been married for almost 27 years, and have two children, Danette and Doug, both former SCHS athletes.

1971-72 Basketball Team

admin — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 13:58:15 +0000

The 1971-72 Basketball team, Coached by Lee Emery in his third year, achieved success in many ways. Their 17-9 record was one of the best in several years. Led by senior guards Don Jones and Dick Kagy, the Wildcats worked a ball control offense that also relied heavily on the inside game. Jim Sager, Greg Malan and Jack Sechrest provided much of the inside game. Jim Sager, Greg Malan and Jack Sechrest provided much of the inside scoring and rebounding while sophomore Ron Eller was a defensive player that helped with rebounding and inside scoring.

Salem was an early contender for the North Egypt Conference race battling Olney all season for conference title. Early wins against Mt. Carmel (58-50), Lawrenceville (70-62) and 1971 NEC Champions Fairfield (55-51) set the tone for a good season and the Centralia Holiday Tournament. A forth place finish in the tournament was Salem’s only trophy in their history in this tournament. Salem eventually finished second in the NEC but wins against Centralia, the first in fifteen years, and winning the 21st Salem Invitational Tournament, were definitely bright spots of the season.

The championship win over Olney by a score of 70-59 in the Invitational was the highlight of the season. Jack Sechrest led the way in scoring with 22 points while Greg Malan had 18 points and Don Jones had 13 points. The tournament championship was the first since 1966. Coach Emery said that “this was a fun team to coach that enjoyed a lot of success.”

Bob Plaschke

admin — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 13:56:52 +0000

Since Salem added tennis as a team sport in the early 70′s, most observers consider Bob Plaschke, a 1981 Salem Community High School grad, to be the best player produced by the program.

There is much to support this:

He is the first tennis player to be elected in the SCHS Sports Hall of Fame.
Bob has won more singles matches than any player in Salem history.
He was the North Egyptian Conference Singles Champion in 1979 & 1981.
In 1979 Plaschke and his double partner Mic Martin won the IHSA district meet and
advanced to the state meet. In 1981 Plaschke and Jay Henke won the IHSA district and advanced
to the state meet.
He lettered in tennis all four years at SCHS under coach Bill Morgan.
Bob was a member of the 1981 Junior Davis Cup Team.
He was rated the #1 tennis player in Southern Illinois for those 16 & under and then again for those 18 & under.
He also played tennis for Northwestern University his freshman year there.

Bob started playing tennis at an early age in Louisville, KY. His father Grover was one of his first tennis teachers and he credits the support and encouragement of his dad and his mother Mary for getting him started in the sport.

After graduating from SCHS, Rob received his undergraduate degree in computer engineering from Northwestern. He then earned an MBA with honors from the University of Chicago.

Bob currently lives in Menio Park, CA and has recently served as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Sutter Hill Ventures focusing on wireless investments. Prior to that, he was the Senior Vice-President of Worldwide Client Services at Info Space. At Info Space, he was responsible for the implementation of wireless data solutions for the company’s group of carriers. During his tenure there, he was responsible for bringing eighteen wireless operators online across the globe. Before joining Info Space, Bob was the CFO and VP of Business Development for Prio, a wireless and wire-line promotion infrastructure company.