Miller City in Putnam County, Ohio — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)
The “Cinderella Kids” of 1950 / The Miller City Wildcats
1950 Class B Boys State Basketball Champions
— 29 Wins, 0 Losses —
Photographed By Michael Baker
1. The "Cinderella Kids" of 1950 Marker
The “Cinderella Kids” of 1950. The 1949-1950 season of the Miller City Wildcats boys’ basketball team is one of Ohio’s great sports stories. First year coach C. Norris Simpson assembled an undersized group of farm boys and led them to 29 straight victories, including 11 tournament wins. The Wildcats played home games in “The Barn” which was heated by two pot-bellied stoves. (later the site of the Miller City Sportsman’s Club). Sportswriters nicknamed the team the “Mighty Mites” and “Cinderella Kids”, among others, because the underdog squad regularly beat bigger opponents. The Wildcats defeated the Eaton Eagles in the Class B state championship game on March 25, 1950 and became the only one of more than 1,100 teams in Ohio to end that season with a perfect record of all wins and no losses. Thousands of fans welcomed the state champs home to Miller City, then a village of approximately 150 residents.
The Miller City Wildcats. Standing, L to R: Coach C. Norris Simpson, Donald Alt, Bill Ziegler, Roy Meyer, Jerry Kuhlman, Karl Inkrott, Vern Schroeder, Mel Lammers • Kneeling, L to R; Joe Lammers, Junior McDonald, Frank Schroeder, Ralph (Skip) Meyer, Dick Barlage, Team manager Charles Warnimont • Cheerleaders: Betty Lou Meyer, Agnes Riepenhoff, Clara Schroeder, Audrey Wischmeyer • School
this page online
“You have got to have the boys, and I had the boys” —Coach C. Norris Simpson
Erected 2010 by Miller City-New Cleveland Community, and The Ohio Historical Society. (Marker Number 5-69.)
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Education • Sports. In addition, it is included in the Believe It or Not, and the Ohio Historical Society / The Ohio History Connection series lists. A significant historical date for this entry is March 25, 1950.
Location. 41° 6.289′ N, 84° 7.666′ W. Marker is in Miller City, Ohio, in Putnam County. Marker can be reached from Main Street. This marker is located on the Miller City-new Cleveland High school grounds in the northeast area of Miller City, near the main front entrance. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 5400 Rd 13C, Miller City OH 45864, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 6 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Miller City Veterans' Memorial (approx. ¼ mile away); Saint Joseph Catholic Church (approx. 5.4 miles away); Mini Golf Course Story (approx. 5.6 miles away); Glandorf (approx. 5.6 miles away); Silent Witness (approx. 5.7 miles away); Sesquincentennial Memorial 1834-1984
Photographed By Michael Baker
2. The Miller City Wildcats Marker
Related marker. Click here for another marker that is related to this marker. It's about another high-school farm team at the opposite side of Ohio who won the championships in 1934 and 1935.
Also see . . . Miller City's 1950 state title team created a magical memory. Ashland Source website entry (Submitted on September 28, 2022, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York.)
Photographed By Michael Baker
3. The "Cinderella Kids" of 1950 Marker
Credits. This page was last revised on August 1, 2023. It was originally submitted on January 4, 2017, by Michael Baker of Lima, Ohio. This page has been viewed 1,397 times since then and 91 times this year. It was the Marker of the Week March 15, 2020. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on January 4, 2017, by Michael Baker of Lima, Ohio. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.
