Yoho and Talpas making history this season

Of the all the thousands of area (Greene County plus Union) high school boys basketball players to ever play in a varsity game, 62 (unofficially) have been credited with scoring 1,000 points in a career on the hardwood. I am sure a few old timers might have slipped through the cracks.

It is even more rare to have two players achieve that lofty mark in the same season. Marc Allen of Shakamak finished his career in 1999 with 1,150 points, No. 32 on the all-time area boys scoring list. Dane Perigo of Linton-Stockton finished with 14 points less in his career as a Miner and also graduated in 1999. Even though I worked for the then Linton Daily Citizen, I can only assume they passed 1,000 points as seniors.

Joey Hart of Union and Michael Allen shared the LDC's Player of the Year award as seniors in 1990, but Allen scored almost 450 more points in his career than Hart.

The Bulldog guard, who played at Vincennes University and Coastal Carolina, scored over 700 points (30.7 ppg) as a senior. That means he did not eclipse 1,000 points until his final year, where he finished with 1,388.

Allen scored 661 points as a senior, which gave him a career total of 1,822 points, seventh best in area history. Even a non-math major like me can figure out that Allen went over 1,000 as a junior during the 1988-89 season.

There are a few other than might have, but I want to focus on the two most recent additions to the 1,000-point club, if you will -- JT Yoho of Eastern Greene and Union guard Tyler Talpas.

Yoho, who entered this season with 954 points, has been Mr. Consistency this season. The 6-6 Yoho, who will be attending Wright State University this fall, has scored 291 points in 13 games, giving him an average of 22.4.

Yoho, who scored 32 points earlier this season, four points short of his career high of 36 (Bloomfield, Nov. 2010), always seem to be around 20 points per game. He had 24 points and 10 rebounds against Linton-Stockton Tuesday.

He is quickly rocketing his way up the career scoring list. His 1,245 points currently rank his No. 25 all-time.

He needs just 50 points to tie EGHS standout Michael Burris for 20th all-time and No. 3 on the all-time Thunderbird list.

J.B. Neill is next on the EGHS ladder with 1,301 points. It is just a matter of time before Yoho passes Burris and Neill, the current boys coach at White River Valley.

It is unlikely Yoho catches current EGHS assistant Levi Carmichael, 12th among area scorers and No. 1 at Eastern Greene with 1,603 points.

Talpas, who had 33, four shy of his career best, in a win over New Harmony Saturday. He needed 17 to become the 12th Bulldog to make his mark in history and he reached that total midway in the second quarter.

He was limited to a season-low 13 against Hutsonville-Palestine, Ill. Tuesday, giving him a total of 1,029 points.

That is 47th best all-time and now No. 9 all-time in Bulldog history.

Talpas, who lead the area in scoring at 24.5 ppg, should catch 1977 Union graduate Ray Beaver, who has 1,100 points.

He would need 230 points to reach Marty Hale, who is seventh on the UHS list with 1,259 points.

I find it remarkable that a school the size of Union has had 12 players that scored at least 1,000. I was going over the list with former Bulldog point guard Chriss Jobe, who recited the list of players from memory at halftime of the game against the Rappites.

Jobe said he only knew because he had seen them in my story earlier after Yoho went over 1,000 points. I was still impressed at his recall of Bulldog history, which in my opinion included him being a stellar high school point guard that started on the 1989 sectional championship team.

Eastern Greene, which has only been around since 1961-62, has just seven. Even if you count Solsberry graduates Walt Yoho (1956) and Jim Lindsey (1955), who both scored 1,000 points, that is just nine.

Shakamak, which officially started in 1963-64 as a consolidation of Midland, Jasonville and Coalmont, if I remember correctly, only has nine. Midland's Paul Stone, who scored 1,000 for the Middies, would make it 10.

Bloomfield only has five and Linton-Stockton seven.

If you include all the schools that eventually ended up as part of White River Valley, that list would have 18. There were players from Lyons, L & M, Switz City (Central) and Worthington as well as six that played all or concluded their careers at WRV.

That in itself is an impressive list and story for another day.

An interesting note about Talpas reaching the magical mark last week was the attitude of New Harmony coach James Little. When they stopped the game after Talpas reached 1,000 points, he quipped, "You could have at least waited until the second half to get it."

After the game when I was interviewing Tyler and someone was taking a picture of him, Little jumped in the frame beside Talpas. "Hey, take a picture of the coach that he scored his 1,000th point against."

It has not been a great year for Little and the Rappites (2-11), who are playing their final season before consolidating next season. But you can say the man is going out with class.

All I can say about Yoho and Talpas, I have been lucky to watch their careers develop over the past four years. It has been my pleasure to see a part of history unfold.

B.J. Hargis is the sports editor at the Greene County Daily World. He can be reached at (812) 847-4487, ext. 12 or at hargisbj@gmail.com.

All-Time

Union High School

Boys Basketball

Career Scoring List

As of 1-19-2012

(Unofficial, incomplete)

Rank, Player, Year -- Points

1. Brody Boyd, 2000 -- 2,632 points

2. Jared Chambers, 1997 -- 1,835 points

3. Ben Boyd, 1994 -- 1,744 points

4. Doug Boyd, 1982 -- 1,570 points

5. Joey Hart, 1990 -- 1,388 points.

6. Clark Golish, 2000 -- 1,319 points

7. Marty Hale, 1987 -- 1,259 points

8. Ray Beaver, 1977 -- 1,100 points

9. *Tyler Talpas, 2012, 1,029 points

10. J. T. Golish, 1998 -- 1,026 points

11. Ryan Gambill, 2006 -- 1,011 points

12. Benji Boyd, 1974 -- 1,000 points

*Active

All-Time Area

Boys Basketball

Career Scoring List

As of 1-19-2012

(Unofficial, incomplete)

Rank, Player, School, Year -- Points

1. Brody Boyd, Union, 2000 -- 2,632 points

2. A.J. Graves, WRV, 2004 -- 2,041 points

3. Rusty Miller, Switz City (Central), 1975 -- 1,978 points

4. Tony Patterson, L & M, 1985 -- 1,909 points

5. Billy Newton, Shakamak, 2010 -- 1,904 points.

6. Jared Chambers, Union, 1997 -- 1,835 points

7. Michael Allen, Shakamak, 1990, 1,822 points

8. Matthew Graves, WRV, 1993 -- 1,800 points

9. Ben Boyd, Union 1994 -- 1,744 points

10 (tie). Jeff Oliphant, L & M, 1985 -- 1,695 points

10 (tie). Andrew Graves, WRV, 1996 -- 1,695 points

12. Levi Carmichael, Eastern Greene, 2001 -- 1,603 points

13. Doug Boyd, Union, 1982 -- 1,570 points

14. Shane Miller, Bloomfield, 1994, 1,476 points

15. Mike Frye, Worthington, 1989 -- 1,471 points

16. Tom Shelton, L & M, 1970 -- 1,409 points

17. Joey Hart, Union, 1990 -- 1,388 points.

18. Clark Golish, Union, 2000 -- 1,319 points

19. J.B. Neill, Eastern Greene, 1991 -- 1,301 points

20. Michael Burris, Eastern Greene, 1997 -- 1,295 points

21. Scott Poe, Linton-Stockton, 1982 -- 1,284 points

22. Larry Hasler, Lyons, 1958 -- 1,260 points

23. Marty Hale, Union, 1987 -- 1,259 points

24. Marc Hostetter, WRV, 1993 -- 1,253 points

25. *JT Yoho, Eastern Greene, 2012, 1,245 points

26. Rob Mowery, Switz City (Central), 1983 -- 1,234 points

27. Mike Sherrard, Bloomfield, 1988 -- 1,212 points

27. Gary Wier, Shakamak, 1978 -- 1,206 points

29. Matt Burgess, WRV, 1991, 1,199 points

30. Chad Gater, Eastern Greene, 1993 -- 1,171 points

31. Tom Edwards, Eastern Greene, 1990 -- 1,166 points

32. Marc Allen, Shakamak, 1999 -- 1,150 points

33. Dane Perigo, Linton-Stockton, 1999 -- 1,136 points

34. Don Hines, Worthington, 1971 -- 1,134 points

35. Dwayne Phipps, Linton-Stockton, 1974 -- 1,127 points

36. Jared Rehmel, Shakamak, 2006 -- 1,126 points

37. Troy Halt, WRV, 1993 -- 1,109

38. Larry Simmons, Linton-Stockton, 1977 -- 1,102 points

39. Ray Beaver, Union, 1977 -- 1,100 points

40. John Bucher, Bloomfield, 1995 -- 1,094 points

41 (tie). Jeff Barton, Shakamak, 1994 -- 1,060 points

41 (tie). Kyle Antibus, L & M, 1988 -- 1,060 points

43. Jeff Barton, Shakamak, 1994 -- 1,059 points

44. Terry Glover, Bloomfield, 1965 -- 1,051 points

45. Kenny Vandeventer, Bloomfield, 1956 -- 1,048 points

46. Kyle Lindsey, Eastern Greene, 1995 -- 1,031 points

47 *Tyler Talpas, Union, 2012, 1,029 points

48. J. T. Golish, Union, 1998 -- 1,026 points

49. Glen Heaton, Worthington, 1970, 1,023 points

50. Josh Hall, Linton-Stockton, xxxx, 1,016 points

51. Ryan Gambill, Union, 2006 -- 1,011 points

52. (tie) Roger Carrithers, L & M, 1965 -- 1,000 points

52. (tie) Benji Boyd, Union, 1974 -- 1,000 points

52. (tie) Jay Yagle, L & M, 1979 -- 1,000 points

52. (tie) Walt Yoho, Solsberry, 1956, 1,000 points

52. (tie) Jim Lindsey, Solsberry, 1955, 1,000 points

52. (tie) Paul Stone, Midland, 1,000 points

52. (tie) Keith Sims, Shakamak, 1971 --1,000 points

52. (tie) Rick Crynes, Linton-Stockton, 1974 -- 1000 points

52. (tie) Greg Davis, Switz City (Central), 1969 -- 1000 points

52. (tie) Jim Yeryar, Shakamak, 1966 -- 1,000 points

52. (tie) Max Woolsey, Linton-Stockton -- 1,000 points

*Active