This is the first in a three-part series on the history of Shelby’s W.W. Skiles Field, which will host its final game on Friday. Part II will publish on Tuesday and Part III on Wednesday.
SHELBY — It has been home to Shelby’s high school football team for the better part of past 100 years, but the lights will soon go out for good over W.W. Skiles Field.
The Whippets will host Madison in the final game at Skiles Field on Friday before moving into their new home adjacent to the high school. Shelby’s new artificial surface field should be ready for a Week 3 matchup with longtime Northern Ohio League nemesis Bellevue.
With a seating capacity of 4,000 when it opened, W.W. Skiles Field was once among the crown jewels of Ohio high school football venues. It was named in honor of former Shelby attorney and U.S. Representative William Woodburn Skiles. Skiles died while in office in 1904 and his widow, Dora, would later donate $5,000 to the field’s construction.
The field was dedicated on Saturday, Sept. 22, 1928 and, according to the late author and historian Fred Eichinger, just about everybody in town turned out for the festivities.
In his comprehensive book, The History of Shelby Football 1894-1985, Eichinger noted that more than 3,000 people attended the dedication ceremony. Shelby Mayor E.S. Hassler spoke at the event and the game ball was dropped from a biplane piloted by Howard Palmer.
The field, which would undergo a major facelift before the 1958 season, hosted hundreds of memorable games during its lifetime. Over the next three days, the Richland Source sports department will offer our picks for the greatest games ever played at Skiles Field, in chronological order. Here is our first installment:
1928, Week 1
Shelby 12, Willard 6: The game that started it all. Dick Reidel, captain of the 1928 Shelby team, took the opening kickoff and raced 85 yards for the first touchdown. In its Monday, Sept. 24 review of the game, the Mansfield News noted, “Dick shook off several tacklers in his mad dash …”
With fullback Reidel, halfback Art LaBarge and quarterback Jack Miller leading the charge, Shelby held on for the 12-6 win. Reidel scored Shelby’s second TD on a 20-yard run after a Willard turnover.
It is widely believed that Shelby was first referred to as the Whippets in newspaper stories following the 1928 opener because of the speed in the Shelby backfield.
1954, Week 6
Shelby 20, Bellevue 19: The heavily-favored Whippets had their hands full all evening. Shelby built a 13-0 advantage and led 20-6 at the half. Halfback Ronnie Cox scored a pair of touchdowns, including a 51-yard run on a reverse. Fullback Duane Emerson scored what proved to be the game-winner after a botched Bellevue onside kick gave Shelby the ball at midfield.
The star of the game turned out to be lineman Larry Baker, who blocked a pair of Bellevue PATs.
The Whippets would go on to win their third straight Northern Ohio League championship and sixth since the league’s inception in 1944.
1956, Week 8
Shelby 20, Bellevue 7: Jack Robb took over for Bill Wilkins as Shelby’s head coach for the 1956 season, but the Whippets never missed a beat. Shelby put the finishing touches on its seventh NOL title with a Thursday night victory in front of an announced crowd of 5,500.
Bellevue jumped out to a 7-0 lead and was poised to build on it early in the second quarter before Don Loveless recovered a fumble at the Shelby 19-yard line. JR Bonecutter scored on a 35-yard run to tie the score before the Whippets took the lead for good on Russ Hepner’s 6-yard run later in the second quarter.
Bonecutter added a 20-yard TD run in the fourth to put it away.