One measly point kept the 1962 Salem Wildcats football team from an undefeated season. Unfortunately that 7-6 loss to Flora in the third week of the season not only kept the Wildcats from an unbeaten season, but an NEC championship as well.

The Jolly Green Giants, as they were nicknamed by former Salem Times Commoner sports editor Bill Larimer, used a punishing defense to shut out three opponents (Olney 18-0, Carmi 54-0, and Mt. Vernon 26-0) and limit two other opponents to a single touchdown (the 7-6 loss to Flora and a 35-7 win over Mt. Carmel).

Salem allowed just 84 points for the season, just over nine a game.
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The 1953 Salem Wildcats football team under the direction of coach Howard Thurman will go down as a squad that excelled on both offense and defense.

That season the Salem offense terrorized opponents with a scoring average of 39 points a game. On four occasions the Wildcats scored more than 50 points a game (against Flora, Fairfield, Olney, Mt. Vernon) and twice they reached 60 points in a game (against Flora and Olney).
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While Steve Hill excelled in both football and basketball at Salem Community High School, it was golf that paved his way into not only a collegiate career but a professional career as well.

A 1969 graduate of SCHS, Hill was known as a fierce rebounder on the basketball court despite his lack of size inside. That ability led to special mention on the all-state team in the 1968-69 season.

In football Hill capped off a solid high school career in 1968 when he was named to the All-South Team as a split end.

Hill was medalist during several meets as a Wildcat golfer. His biggest moment came during his junior season in 1968 when he finished second at the regional and qualified for the state meet as an individual. During state competition Hill finished 30th out of 144 golfers.
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Many of the faces which were responsible for Salem’s only unbeaten football team in 1943 were back for another great year in 1944.

Second-year coach Kenny Farrar guided the 1944 Wildcats to an 8-1 record and the North Egypt Conference championship with a perfect 6-0 record. The eight wins Salem posted that year tied the 1941 team for most school wins in a season. Only the 1985 and 1991 teams have surpassed that win total for a season. Both of those clubs won nine.
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Through the first 71 years of Salem Wildcats football, only one team has the distinction of going through the season undefeated. At the time of their induction into the Salem High School Sports Hall of Fame that one team is the 1943 squad.

The Wildcats of that season went through the campaign with a 6-0-1 mark. That lone blemish came in a 7-7 tie with Benton.

Under first-year coach Kenny Farrar, the Wildcats won the North Egypt Conference championship that season with a 5-0 mark. A key conference game against Olney was not played that season because of a polio outbreak at that school. Olney was also undefeated at the time.
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Defense was the trademark of the 1939 Salem Wildcats football team.

Out of the nine games Salem played that season, the defense posted shutouts in seven of them.

Salem blanked Pinckneyville in the season opener 42-0. The Wildcats followed with shutout victories against Albion 12-0, Fairfield 13-0, Mt. Carmel 13-0, Centralia 16-0, and Bridgeport 34-0.

The Wildcats also shut out Flora that season, but the game ended in a 0-0 tie.
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