1920–21 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1920–21 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

1920–21 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
1920–21 record	11–7 (7–5 Big Ten)
Head coach	Frank Winters David M. Bullock (Trainer)[1]
Captain	Charles Vail
Home arena	Kenney Gym

1920–21 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Michigan	8	–	4		.667			18	–	4		.818
Wisconsin	8	–	4		.667			13	–	4		.765
Purdue	8	–	4		.667			13	–	7		.650
Minnesota	7	–	5		.583			10	–	5		.667
Illinois	7	–	5		.583			11	–	7		.611
Indiana	6	–	5		.545			15	–	6		.714
Iowa	6	–	5		.545			9	–	9		.500
Chicago	6	–	6		.500			14	–	6		.700
Ohio State	2	–	10		.167			4	–	13		.235
Northwestern	1	–	11		.083			2	–	12		.143
Rankings from AP Poll

"1920-21 Fighting Illini men's basketball team"

Regular season

The 1920–21 season began a new era for the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team. New head coach Frank Winters was coming to the University of Illinois after 5 very successful years as head coach of Rockford Central High School in Rockford, Illinois. During his tenure in Rockford, he guided his Rabs teams to three round of 16 finishes, one quarterfinals finish and one team finished their season as state champions. Unfortunately, Winters inherited a team whose best player, Chuck Carney, had just severely injured his knee in the last football game. Nonetheless, the team went on to an overall record of 11–7.[2] The Big Ten record for the Illini, at the conclusion of the 1920–21 season would be seven wins five losses and a tie for fourth place. The starting lineup included All-American Chuck Carney, Laurie Walquist, and Norton Hellstrom at forward, Henry Reitsch at center, and Charles Vail, John Sabo and Walter Collins as guards.[3]

Roster

1920–21 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown F 1 Chuck Carney — — Jr Evanston, Illinois G 2 Walter Collins — — Jr Rockford, Illinois G 3 John Sabo — — Jr Toledo, Ohio C 4 Henry Reitsch — — So Rockford, Illinois C 5 Leland "Slim" Stillwell — — Fr Olney, Illinois G 6 Otto Vogel — — So Iowa City, Iowa F 7 Roland H. Popken — — Fr Oak Park, Illinois F 8 Norton Hellstrom — — So Ft. Pierce, Florida F 9 Glenn E. Potter — — Fr Yuba City, California G 10 Hubert Tabor — — Jr Sullivan, Illinois F 11 Charles Milton White — — So Chicago, Illinois F 12 Harry Clay Neville — — So Pinckneyville, Illinois G 13 John Wilbur Hansen — — So Brookston, Indiana F 14 Cecil Reynolds Danielson — — So Rockford, Illinois G 15 Charles W. Vail (C) — — Jr Chicago, Illinois G 16 Lawrence Walquist — — Jr Chicago, Illinois F 17 Julian Mee — — Sr Chicago, Illinois	Head coach Frank Winters (Springfield (MA)) (1st year) Assistant coach(es) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt All-Time Illini Rosters Roster

Source[4]

Schedule

Source[5]

Date time, TV	Opponent	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-Conference regular season
12/8/1920* no, no	vs Millikin University	L 24–29	0-1 (0-0)	Kenney Gym (2,994) Urbana, IL
12/20/1920* no, no	@ Illinois Normal	W 32–21	1-1 (0-0)	John W. Cook Hall (-) Normal, IL
1/1/1921* no, no	vs Nebraska	L 25–30	1-2 (0-0)	Kenney Gym (441) Urbana, IL
1/3/1921* no, no	vs Nebraska	W 26–24	2-2 (0-0)	Kenney Gym (3,044) Urbana, IL
1/10/1921* no, no	vs Illinois Normal	W 42–17	3-2 (0-0)	Kenney Gym (2,759) Urbana, IL
1/14/1921* no, no	@ Millikin University	W 26–20	4-2 (0-0)	Millikin Gymnasium (-) Decatur, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/18/1921 no, no	vs University of Chicago	W 33–29	5-2 (1-0)	Kenney Gym (4,233) Urbana, IL
1/22/1921 no, no	@ Wisconsin	L 18–23	5-3 (1-1)	University of Wisconsin Armory and Gymnasium (-) Madison, WI
1/24/1921 no, no	@ Minnesota	W 23–22	6-3 (2-1)	University of Minnesota Armory (-) Minneapolis, MN
2/5/1921 no, no	@ Purdue	W 39–26	7-3 (3-1)	Memorial Gymnasium (-) West Lafayette, IN
2/7/1921 no, no	vs Ohio State	W 46–11	8-3 (4-1)	Kenney Gym (4,272) Urbana, IL
2/12/1921 no, no	vs Minnesota	W 24–20	9-3 (5-1)	Kenney Gym (4,272) Urbana, IL
2/19/1921 no, no	vs Wisconsin	W 17–9	10-3 (6-1)	Kenney Gym (4,283) Urbana, IL
2/22/1921 no, no	vs Purdue	L 19–29	10-4 (6-2)	Kenney Gym (4,283) Urbana, IL
2/26/1921 no, no	@ Michigan	L 18–24	10-5 (6-3)	Waterman Gymnasium (-) Ann Arbor, MI
2/28/1921 no, no	@ Ohio State	W 35–32	11-5 (7-3)	Ohio Expo Center Coliseum (-) Columbus, OH
3/5/1921 no, no	@ University of Chicago	W 35–32	11-6 (7-4)	Bartlett Gymnasium (3,260) Chicago, IL
3/7/1921 no, no	@ Michigan	L 26–28	11-7 (7-5)	Kenney Gym (4,294) Urbana, IL
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Bold Italic connotes conference game

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Field Goals	Free Throws	Points
Henry Reitsch[6]	18	55	0	110
Charles Vail[7]	18	22	59	103
Julian Mee[8]	15	24	26	74
Laurie Walquist[9]	18	36	1	73
Norton Hellstrom[10]	13	25	4	54
Charles Carney[11]	8	19	0	38
Walter Collins[12]	14	12	0	24
John Sabo[13]	14	6	0	12

Awards and honors

Chuck Carney was elected to the "Illini Men's Basketball All-Century Team" in 2004. Carney was also selected as the Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year for his play during the 1921–22 season.

References

1. National Athletic Trainer Association
2. A Century of Orange and Blue: Celebrating 100 Years of Fighting Illini Basketball By Loren Tate, Jared Gelfond pg.18 ISBN 1-58261-793-7
3. Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
4. FightingIllini.com
5. University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1920-21 Archived 2013-12-17 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com
6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-12-17. Retrieved 2013-12-17.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-12-17. Retrieved 2013-12-17.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-12-17. Retrieved 2013-12-17.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-12-17. Retrieved 2013-12-17.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
10. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-12-17. Retrieved 2013-12-17.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
11. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-12-17. Retrieved 2013-12-17.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
12. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-12-17. Retrieved 2013-12-17.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
13. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-12-17. Retrieved 2013-12-17.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)