Dolph Stanley
Encyclopedia
Dolph Stanley was an American
basketball
player and coach
. Nicknamed the ”Silver Fox”, Stanley is best known for holding the "unbreakable" record of guiding five different Illinois High School Association
(IHSA) schools into the state tournament. He gained national prominence by coaching Beloit College
to a 238–57 basketball record from 1945 to 1957 while guiding them to an NIT
berth and a final AP Rank
of #16 in 1951. Collectively, Stanley coached six high school teams as well as Beloit College, compiling 943 total victories (705 high school, 238 college). He finished his career in 1989 at Keith Country Day School
in Rockford.
, becoming a three-year letterman
in basketball while attending Marion High School. Following high school, he attended Southern Illinois University
and the University of Illinois. In 1930 Stanley became the head coach of Equality High School in Equality, Illinois
. In just two years of coaching, he took the Cardinals to a third-place finish in 1934. Stanley left Equality after winning 94% of his games, finishing with a record of 36 wins and only 2 losses.
Stanley next took the reign of Mt. Pulaski High School and led them to a fourth-place finish in 1936. In his three years of coaching the Hilltoppers, Stanley coached teams produced 70 wins with only 18 losses. During his time at Mt. Pulaski, he married Laura Jane Dial on August 26, 1934 in Mt. Vernon, Illinois.
In 1938, he became the head coach of Taylorville High School
. During his seven years at the helm, the Tornadoes won four regional titles, two sectional titles and, in 1944, Stanley directed them to a perfect 45–0 record. This was Stanley's only state championship team and the first undefeated titlist in Illinois history. That team included future Hall of Fame coach, Johnny Orr
and 1952 Olympic gold medalist, Ron Bontemps
. His final record at Taylorville was an astounding 196–42.
, Stanley's teams won six consecutive Midwest Conference
titles from 1946 to 1951. In 1957, he finished his career at Beloit with an overall record of 238 wins with only 57 losses.
The 1950–51 season provided some of the most memorable games in Midwest Conference history. The two most prominent events occurred when the Stanley’s Buccaneers devastated Cornell
(Iowa) 141–53 to establish a Beloit College Field House scoring record, and crushed Ray Meyer
's DePaul
team 94–60 to break the Chicago Stadium
scoring record.
Stanley was very familiar with several starters on his Beloit teams. Examples include, Ron Bontemps, (class of '51), who went on to captain the 1952 Gold Medal Olympic team; Johnny Orr, (class of '49), who later coached at the University of Michigan
and Iowa State; and John Erickson
, (class of '49), who was the head coach at the University of Wisconsin, director of basketball operations for the Big 8 Conference, and served as the general manager for the Milwaukee Bucks
.
. That career was short-lived, however, as his desire to coach brought him back to the high school ranks of Illinois. Stanley became the head coach of Rockford Auburn High School
in 1960. His tenure at Auburn was so well received that the gymnasium at the school was named the Dolph Stanley Gymnasium. For 10 seasons Stanley coached the Knights to four regional and three sectional titles, advancing to the state quarterfinals in 1963. Though his teams didn’t make the finals of the IHSA tournament, Stanley's Auburn teams produced 176 wins to 78 losses.
In 1970, at the age of 65, Stanley retired from the public school setting and focused his coaching in the arena of private school, taking the reign at Boylan Catholic High School
, also in Rockford
. During his first year at Boylan, Stanley led the Titans to a state quarterfinal appearance. He remained at Boylan until 1980, winning an additional regional title in 1977 while totaling 137 wins. Boylan, however, was the school where Stanley met his most difficulties, losing 130 games – nearly half of his high school total. Stanley finished his career at Rockford’s Keith Country Day School. During his time at Keith, Stanley compiled a record of 90 wins and 43 losses. He retired in 1989.
Stanley died Monday July 9, 1990 at St. Anthony Medical Center
in Rockford.
In 1977, he received the honor of being named the NIC-10 Coach of the Year.
Stanley was inducted into the Beloit College Athletic Hall of Honor in 1971.
In 2007, the Illinois High School Association named Stanley one of the 100 Legends of the IHSA Boys Basketball Tournament.
Stanley was also inducted into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame posthumously in October 2009.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
player and coach
Coach (sport)
In sports, a coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.-Staff:...
. Nicknamed the ”Silver Fox”, Stanley is best known for holding the "unbreakable" record of guiding five different Illinois High School Association
Illinois High School Association
The Illinois High School Association is one of 521 state high school associations in the United States, designed to regulate competition in most interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level. It is a charter member of the National Federation of State High...
(IHSA) schools into the state tournament. He gained national prominence by coaching Beloit College
Beloit College
Beloit College is a liberal arts college in Beloit, Wisconsin, USA. It is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, and has an enrollment of roughly 1,300 undergraduate students. Beloit is the oldest continuously operated college in Wisconsin, and has the oldest building of any college...
to a 238–57 basketball record from 1945 to 1957 while guiding them to an NIT
National Invitation Tournament
The National Invitation Tournament is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. There are two NIT events each season. The first, played in November and known as the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off , was founded in 1985...
berth and a final AP Rank
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
of #16 in 1951. Collectively, Stanley coached six high school teams as well as Beloit College, compiling 943 total victories (705 high school, 238 college). He finished his career in 1989 at Keith Country Day School
Keith Country Day School
Keith Country Day School is a private, fully accredited, independent, nonsectarian, college-preparatory school located in Rockford, Illinois, USA...
in Rockford.
Early years
Stanley was born in Marion, IllinoisMarion, Illinois
The city of Marion is the county seat of Williamson County, Illinois. The 2010 census counted 17,193 residents, making Marion the 25th most populated city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area, in Illinois, and the second most populous city in Southern Illinois, outside of the Metro-East, behind...
, becoming a three-year letterman
Letterman
A letterman, in U.S. sports, performing arts or academics, is a high school or college student who has met a specified level of participation or performance on a varsity athletic team, marching band, or in other performance school-sponsored activities....
in basketball while attending Marion High School. Following high school, he attended Southern Illinois University
Southern Illinois University
Southern Illinois University is a state university system based in Carbondale, Illinois, in the Southern Illinois region of the state, with multiple campuses...
and the University of Illinois. In 1930 Stanley became the head coach of Equality High School in Equality, Illinois
Equality, Illinois
Equality is a village in Gallatin County, Illinois, United States. The population was 721 at the 2000 census. Near the village are two points of interest, the Crenshaw House and the Garden of the Gods Wilderness.-History:...
. In just two years of coaching, he took the Cardinals to a third-place finish in 1934. Stanley left Equality after winning 94% of his games, finishing with a record of 36 wins and only 2 losses.
Stanley next took the reign of Mt. Pulaski High School and led them to a fourth-place finish in 1936. In his three years of coaching the Hilltoppers, Stanley coached teams produced 70 wins with only 18 losses. During his time at Mt. Pulaski, he married Laura Jane Dial on August 26, 1934 in Mt. Vernon, Illinois.
In 1938, he became the head coach of Taylorville High School
Taylorville High School
Taylorville Senior High School is a four-year public high school located in Taylorville, Illinois. The mascot are the Tornadoes.THS is part of TCUSD #3 which also includes a middle-school, four elementary schools located in Taylorville and Mt. Auburn Elementary School and Stonington Elementary....
. During his seven years at the helm, the Tornadoes won four regional titles, two sectional titles and, in 1944, Stanley directed them to a perfect 45–0 record. This was Stanley's only state championship team and the first undefeated titlist in Illinois history. That team included future Hall of Fame coach, Johnny Orr
Johnny Orr
John M. "Johnny" Orr is a retired American basketball player and coach, best known as the head coach of men's basketball at the University of Michigan and at Iowa State University.-Life as a player:...
and 1952 Olympic gold medalist, Ron Bontemps
Ron Bontemps
Ronald "Ron" Yngve Bontemps was an American basketball player who competed in the 1952 Summer Olympics. He attended Beloit College....
. His final record at Taylorville was an astounding 196–42.
Beloit College
The success Stanley had demonstrated caught the interest of Beloit College, where he became coach and athletic director in 1945. During his twelve years at BeloitBeloit, Wisconsin
Beloit is a city in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2010 census, Beloit had a population of 36,966. The greater Beloit area is home to more than 91,000 residents.-Claim to fame:...
, Stanley's teams won six consecutive Midwest Conference
Midwest Conference
The Midwest Conference is a college athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division III. Member institutions are located in the Midwestern United States in the states of Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin...
titles from 1946 to 1951. In 1957, he finished his career at Beloit with an overall record of 238 wins with only 57 losses.
The 1950–51 season provided some of the most memorable games in Midwest Conference history. The two most prominent events occurred when the Stanley’s Buccaneers devastated Cornell
Cornell College
Cornell College is a private liberal arts college in Mount Vernon, Iowa. Originally called the Iowa Conference Seminary, the school was founded in 1853 by Reverend Samuel M. Fellows...
(Iowa) 141–53 to establish a Beloit College Field House scoring record, and crushed Ray Meyer
Ray Meyer
Raymond Joseph Meyer was an American men's collegiate basketball coach from Chicago, Illinois. He was well-known for coaching at DePaul University from 1942 to 1984, compiling a 724–354 record...
's DePaul
DePaul Blue Demons men's basketball
The DePaul Blue Demons Men's Basketball program is the NCAA Division I intercollegiate men's basketball program of DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois...
team 94–60 to break the Chicago Stadium
Chicago Stadium
The Chicago Stadium was an indoor sports arena and theater in Chicago. It opened in 1929, and closed in 1994.-History:The Stadium hosted the Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL from 1929–1994 and the Chicago Bulls of the NBA from 1967–1994....
scoring record.
Stanley was very familiar with several starters on his Beloit teams. Examples include, Ron Bontemps, (class of '51), who went on to captain the 1952 Gold Medal Olympic team; Johnny Orr, (class of '49), who later coached at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
and Iowa State; and John Erickson
John E. Erickson (Wisconsin politician)
John Erickson was a former general manager of the Milwaukee Bucks NBA team and the losing Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Wisconsin in 1970.-Background:...
, (class of '49), who was the head coach at the University of Wisconsin, director of basketball operations for the Big 8 Conference, and served as the general manager for the Milwaukee Bucks
Milwaukee Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks are a professional basketball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. They are part of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was founded in 1968 as an expansion team, and currently plays at the Bradley Center....
.
Later years
After leaving Beloit , Stanley became the athletic director at Drake UniversityDrake University
Drake University is a private, co-educational university located in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. The institution offers a number of undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional programs in law and pharmacy. Today, Drake is one of the twenty-five oldest law schools in the country....
. That career was short-lived, however, as his desire to coach brought him back to the high school ranks of Illinois. Stanley became the head coach of Rockford Auburn High School
Rockford Auburn High School
Auburn High School is a public high school located in Rockford, Illinois, USA. The school is divided into two campuses: one a campus for freshmen and the other for upperclassmen....
in 1960. His tenure at Auburn was so well received that the gymnasium at the school was named the Dolph Stanley Gymnasium. For 10 seasons Stanley coached the Knights to four regional and three sectional titles, advancing to the state quarterfinals in 1963. Though his teams didn’t make the finals of the IHSA tournament, Stanley's Auburn teams produced 176 wins to 78 losses.
In 1970, at the age of 65, Stanley retired from the public school setting and focused his coaching in the arena of private school, taking the reign at Boylan Catholic High School
Boylan Catholic High School
Boylan Catholic High School is a private Catholic school located in the city of Rockford, Illinois. Founded in 1960, Boylan is the only Catholic high school in Rockford, and has 1187 students at the start of the 2010-2011 school year...
, also in Rockford
Rockford, Illinois
Rockford is a mid-sized city located on both banks of the Rock River in far northern Illinois. Often referred to as "The Forest City", Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County, Illinois, USA. As reported in the 2010 U.S. census, the city was home to 152,871 people, the third most populated...
. During his first year at Boylan, Stanley led the Titans to a state quarterfinal appearance. He remained at Boylan until 1980, winning an additional regional title in 1977 while totaling 137 wins. Boylan, however, was the school where Stanley met his most difficulties, losing 130 games – nearly half of his high school total. Stanley finished his career at Rockford’s Keith Country Day School. During his time at Keith, Stanley compiled a record of 90 wins and 43 losses. He retired in 1989.
Stanley died Monday July 9, 1990 at St. Anthony Medical Center
OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center
OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center is a hospital located located in Rockford, Illinois. The medical center is part of the OSF HealthCare System.-History:...
in Rockford.
Recognition
Of the six Illinois high school teams that Stanley coached, five qualified for the Illinois High School Association state quarterfinals. His 1944 Taylorville team won the state championship with a 45–0 record and featured Olympian Ron Bontemps and former Iowa State University coach Johnny Orr. It was the first undefeated champion in the state's history.In 1977, he received the honor of being named the NIC-10 Coach of the Year.
Stanley was inducted into the Beloit College Athletic Hall of Honor in 1971.
In 2007, the Illinois High School Association named Stanley one of the 100 Legends of the IHSA Boys Basketball Tournament.
Stanley was also inducted into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame posthumously in October 2009.
Head coaching record
| School | Season | Record | Postseason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Equality HS | 1930-34 | 36-2 | 3rd Place |
| Equality HS | 1930-34 | 36-2 |
| School | Season | Record | Postseason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mt. Pulaski HS | 1934-35 | 20-7 | District Champions |
| Mt. Pulaski HS | 1935-36 | 26-7 | 4th Place |
| Mt. Pulaski HS | 1936-37 | 24-4 | Regional Champions |
| Mt. Pulaski HS | 1934-37 | 70-18 |
| School | Season | Record | Postseason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taylorville HS | 1938-39 | 19-14 | |
| Taylorville HS | 1939-40 | 21-11 | State Quarterfinals |
| Taylorville HS | 1940-41 | 26-4 | |
| Taylorville HS | 1941-42 | 28-5 | Regional Champions |
| Taylorville HS | 1942-43 | 28-3 | Regional Champions |
| Taylorville HS | 1943-44 | 45-0 | State Champions |
| Taylorville HS | 1944-45 | 29-5 | Regional Champions |
| Taylorville HS | 1938-45 | 196-42 |
| School | Season | Record | Postseason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beloit College | 1945-46 | 15-6 | Conference Champions |
| Beloit College | 1946-47 | 22-5 | Conference Champions |
| Beloit College | 1947-48 | 24-3 | Conference Champions |
| Beloit College | 1948-49 | 29-4 | Conference Champions |
| Beloit College | 1949-50 | 25-3 | Conference Champions |
| Beloit College | 1950-51 | 24-3 | Conference Champions Final AP Rank 16 |
| Beloit College | 1951-52 | 17-5 | |
| Beloit College | 1952-53 | 16-4 | |
| Beloit College | 1953-54 | 19-3 | |
| Beloit College | 1954-55 | 22-4 | |
| Beloit College | 1955-56 | 14-9 | |
| Beloit College | 1956-57 | 17-6 | |
| Beloit College | 1945-57 | 238-57 |
| School | Season | Record | Postseason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rockford Auburn HS | 1960-61 | 10-14 | |
| Rockford Auburn HS | 1961-62 | 13-13 | Sectional Champions |
| Rockford Auburn HS | 1962-63 | 28-3 | State Quarterfinal |
| Rockford Auburn HS | 1963-64 | 20-6 | Sectional Champions |
| Rockford Auburn HS | 1964-65 | 16-7 | |
| Rockford Auburn HS | 1965-66 | 21-5 | |
| Rockford Auburn HS | 1966-67 | 13-9 | |
| Rockford Auburn HS | 1967-68 | 18-9 | Sectional Champions |
| Rockford Auburn HS | 1968-69 | 15-8 | |
| Rockford Auburn HS | 1969-70 | 22-4 | Regional Champions |
| Rockford Auburn HS | 1960-70 | 176-78 |
| School | Season | Record | Postseason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rockford Boylan HS | 1970-71 | 23-9 | State Quarterfinals |
| Rockford Boylan HS | 1971-72 | 19-7 | |
| Rockford Boylan HS | 1972-73 | 7-18 | |
| Rockford Boylan HS | 1973-74 | 12-13 | |
| Rockford Boylan HS | 1974-75 | 18-9 | |
| Rockford Boylan HS | 1975-76 | 15-12 | |
| Rockford Boylan HS | 1976-77 | 17-11 | Regional Champions |
| Rockford Boylan HS | 1977-78 | 15-11 | |
| Rockford Boylan HS | 1978-79 | 7-20 | |
| Rockford Boylan HS | 1979-80 | 4-20 | |
| Rockford Boylan HS | 1970-80 | 137-130 |
| School | Season | Record | Postseason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rockford Keith HS | 1984-89 | 90-43 | |
| Rockford Keith HS | 1984-89 | 90-43 |