Setting offense records for total yards from scrimmage and leading the Salem Wildcats in the rushing and passing categories his junior and senior years, led Tom Horner to All-Conference, All-State and All-American honors.

Horner, ran and passed for a total of 2,312 yards in his high school career. His senior year, when he garnered his post-season honors, he rushed 81 time for 731 yards, a nine-yard average. He also completed 30 passes for 530 yards. As a junior, he carried 55 times for 461 yards, an 8.4-yard average, and completed 23 passes for 328 yards.
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A better-than-average athlete in high school, David Meador did not let a tragic auto accident deter him from excelling in life and in his favorite sport. Meador lost his sight when a police car, in which he was riding on a trip home from completing his shift as a radio-dispatcher for the police department, gave a pursuit to a fleeing violator and crashed.

Meador, overcame his disability to become a successful businessman and one of the top golfers in the nation. He won the National Championship of the United States Blind Golfers Association (USBGA) at the Firestone Country Club at Akron, Ohio, in 1977 and has finished second seven times.
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Dale Donoho lettered in three sports at Salem Community High School as a hard running tailback and played four years of football at West Texas State University.

Donoho, a 1966 graduate, lettered four years in football and as a three-year regular ball carrier averaged over six yards per carry. His senior year was capped with 996 yards on 166 carries on the Wildcat team that finished with an 8-1 record and the North Egypt Conference Championship.

His senior year, he scored 14 touchdowns, and caught six passes for 74 yards. As a junior, Donoho scored 15 touchdowns while gaining 867 yards on 141 carries. His sophomore year, he carried 54 times for 351 yards and caught four passes for 60 yards, scoring four touchdowns and five extra points.
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Recognized as one of the top football teams in SCHS history, the 1946 Wildcats inducted in 1993 compiled an 8-1 record, outscored their opponents 216-25 and rolled up 2,594 yards from scrimmage. The Wildcats finished second in the North Egypt Conference, losing to Flora, 12-0, in the third game of the season. The only other scores against the Wildcats were in the 13-6 opening win at Lawrenceville and in the closing 20-7 win over Mt. Vernon.

With a strong line of Bud Alderson and Arlin Wade at tackle; Bill Chance and Richard Laney at guard; and Glenn Holler at center, the Wildcats had the protection to unleash the speed of Bill Hooks who scored 22 touchdowns, and the power of Gay Thomason and Carle Blackwell to dominate their opponents.
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Rod Wells, a three-sport star at Salem Community High School, rushed for 1119 yards in two years with the varsity Wildcats, averaged nearly 11 points per game his senior year in basketball, and was outstanding in the low hurdles in track.

A 1960 graduate of SCHS, he received an appointment to the United States Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs and was sixth in his graduating class in 1964. While at the Air Force Academy, he played freshman football and ended his football activity in his sophomore year after a broken collar bone and two separated shoulders.

In football his senior year in high school, he carried the ball 121 times for 742 yards, having exceptional games against Flora with 113 yards in a 40-12 victory, against Olney with 179 yards in a 25-19 win; and against Bridgeport with 92 yards in a 39-13 victory.
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A former captain of the Southern Illinois University football team who earned two high school varsity letters and two varsity letters at SIU, Charles “Bud” Parker was one of the kingpins of the line of the Salem team that earned a H-l record in 1949 to gain the co-championship of the North Egypt Conference.

An all-state honorable mention in 1949, Parker helped anchor the middle of the Salem line with Bob Bishop, a 1989 Hall of Fame inductee, and Earl Justice.

Parker played football all four years at SIU and lettered with the varsity his junior and senior years. As a 5-9, 169-pound lineman, he was chosen the Salukis’ captain his senior year. Ironically, he teamed in the line with Ron Bishop, brother of Bob. Ron Bishop had graduated from Bridgeport High School after the family moved from the Salem area.
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