Ten years after his father went into the Salem Sports Hall of Fame, Howard Thurman Jr. now joins him in this elite group.

The son of former Salem coaching great Howard Thurman Sr.,Thurman Jr. was a strong athlete in basketball, track and football during his days as a Wildcat.

A 1952 graduate, Thurman Jr. set school records in both basketball and track at Salem. He set a single game scoring record of 34 points during a game in the 1951-52 season.

During that same year he broke the North Egypt Conference track record in the 180 yard low hurdles with a time of 22.9.
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A three-sport standout at Salem Community High School, 1964 graduate Mike Gibbs probably made his biggest impact for the Wildcats on the basketball court.

Late in the 1963-64 season Gibbs became the first player in school history to score 1000 points. His career total of 1023 points stood as the school record for 18 years until Jim Gaule broke it in 1982. He led the North Egypt Conference in scoring in both his junior and senior seasons and was an All-NEC First Team pick both years.

During his senior season he averaged 20 points and 12 rebounds a contest, both team highs. Those accomplishments led to Special Mention to the Champaign News Gazette All-State team.
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The sports cliche defense wins championships applies to the 1952 Salem Wildcats football team.

While Salem did not have an overpowering offense that season with a 21 points per game average, the defense picked up the slack and carried the squad to a North Egypt Conference championship with a 5-0-1 record. The Wildcats overall record that season was 7-1-1.

The 1952 Salem defense gave up just 63 points that season, an average of only seven points a game. The Wildcats posted three shutouts against Fairfield 34-0, Mt. Carmel 28-0 and Centralia 7-0. Lawrenceville, Flora and Olney were all held to seven points or less.
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After a highly successful decade of football in the 1940’s that saw the Salem Wildcats go 68-19-2, the 1950 squad carried over that tradition with one of the best years in school history, As a result, the team earned selection to the Salem Community High School Sports Hall of Fame.

Not only was the 1950 squad one of the most successful in Salem history, it was also one of the best overachieving groups.

Headed into the season the Wildcats had only 3 returning starters and it did endure some early growing pains with a 20-0 loss to Lawrenceville in the season opener.
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A four-sport participant during his days in high school, Dan Wile made his name on the gridiron at Salem Community High School.

Wile’s football success at Salem in the 1953 season led him to a collegiate career at the University of Illinois and enshrinement into the Salem Community High School Sports Hall of Fame.

Wile, whose older brother Don was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1986, played a big role in the Wildcats 8-1 season in 1953. Wile, a fullback, carried the ball 116 times for 890 yards, a 7.7 average. He was especially tough near the goal line, as he scored 13 touchdowns that season. That included a trio of scores in a 19-6 victory over Centralia.
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The 1949 SCHS Wildcat football team, while lacking some of the size of earlier teams and much smaller than later teams that carried the banner, had a quickness and hard-hitting quality that led them to a 7-1-1 record. The 1949 team, tied 7-7 by Lawrenceville in the season opener, gained a Co-Championship of the North Egypt Conference with Lawrenceville with a 5-0-1 1eague record.

The 1949 team, with three members· Bob Bishop, Charles “Bud” Parker and Bill Spratt, previously inducted into the Salem High Sports Hall of Fame, were involved in close games all through their schedule. Only a 25-0 win over Bridgeport, following the tie with Lawrenceville, and a 26-7 victory over Fairfield could be considered “cake walks.”
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