Doug Mills entered his fourth year as the head coach of the Fighting Illini with high hopes as well as a player with national prominence. William "Bill" Hapac was the program's first consensus first-team All-American as recognized by the NCAA. During the 1939-40 season, he became the first-ever recipient of the University of Illinois Athlete of the Year award. Hapac set the Big Ten single-game scoring record on February 10, 1940, with 34 points vs. Minnesota, a point total unheard of at that time. In addition to his success on the hardwood, Hapac also was a three-year letterwinner for the Illini baseball team. During the season, the Illini won 10 of their 11 home games only losing to conference rival Purdue in the last game of the season. Unfortunately for the Illini they finished with a 4-5 record on the road to finish in a fourth place tie overall in conference action. Mills' team featured 9 returning letterman including team captainWilliam Hapac. The Illini also featured a starting lineup of John Drish at the center position and Harold Shapiro, Joe Frank, and William Hapac at forward and Victor Wukovits and future major league baseball player Walter Evers at the guard spot.[2]
Roster
1939–40 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
^University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1939–40 pg.79, FightingIllini.com
^. Archived from the original on 2015-02-10. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
January 08, 2023
1939, illinois, fighting, illini, basketball, team, represented, university, illinois, 1939, illinois, fighting, illini, basketballconferencebig, conferencerecord14, head, coachdouglas, millsassistant, coacheshowie, braun, wally, roettger, ralph, fletcherdavid. The 1939 40 Illinois Fighting Illini men s basketball team represented the University of Illinois 1939 40 Illinois Fighting Illini men s basketballConferenceBig Ten ConferenceRecord14 6 7 5 Big Ten Head coachDouglas MillsAssistant coachesHowie Braun Wally Roettger Ralph FletcherDavid M Bullock Trainer 1 CaptainWilliam HapacHome arenaHuff HallSeasons 1938 391940 41 1939 40 Big Ten Conference men s basketball standingsvte Conf OverallTeam W L PCT W L PCTPurdue 10 2 833 16 4 800Indiana 9 3 750 20 3 870Ohio State 8 4 667 13 7 650Illinois 7 5 583 14 6 700Northwestern 7 5 583 13 7 650Michigan 6 6 500 13 7 650Minnesota 5 7 417 12 8 600Iowa 4 8 333 9 12 429Wisconsin 3 9 250 5 15 250Chicago 1 11 083 5 15 250Rankings from AP Poll Contents 1 Regular season 1 1 Roster 2 Schedule 3 Player stats 4 Awards and honors 5 ReferencesRegular season EditDoug Mills entered his fourth year as the head coach of the Fighting Illini with high hopes as well as a player with national prominence William Bill Hapac was the program s first consensus first team All American as recognized by the NCAA During the 1939 40 season he became the first ever recipient of the University of Illinois Athlete of the Year award Hapac set the Big Ten single game scoring record on February 10 1940 with 34 points vs Minnesota a point total unheard of at that time In addition to his success on the hardwood Hapac also was a three year letterwinner for the Illini baseball team During the season the Illini won 10 of their 11 home games only losing to conference rival Purdue in the last game of the season Unfortunately for the Illini they finished with a 4 5 record on the road to finish in a fourth place tie overall in conference action Mills team featured 9 returning letterman including team captain William Hapac The Illini also featured a starting lineup of John Drish at the center position and Harold Shapiro Joe Frank and William Hapac at forward and Victor Wukovits and future major league baseball player Walter Evers at the guard spot 2 Roster Edit 1939 40 Illinois Fighting Illini men s basketball teamPlayers CoachesPos Name Height Weight Year HometownG 3 Colin Handlon Sr Connersville IndianaG 4 Henry Sachs So Chicago IllinoisF 5 Walter Evers So Collinsville IllinoisC 6 Robert O Neill Jr Pitman New JerseyG 8 Harry Lasater Jr Fairfield IllinoisC 9 J Frederick Townshend SoF 10 Norman Cusick So Chicago Heights IllinoisG 12 Robert Richmond Jr Johnston City IllinoisC 13 Victor Wukovits So Mishawaka IndianaG 14 Howard Cronk Jr Anderson IndianaF 15 Rex Sherman So Pekin IllinoisG 16 William Hocking So Evanston IllinoisF 17 Joe Frank Sr Urbana IllinoisG 18 Kenneth Brown Fr Catlin IllinoisF 19 William Hapac C Sr Cicero IllinoisG 20 Harold Shapiro Jr Chicago IllinoisF 21 John Drish Jr Evanston IllinoisF 22 Scott Gill SoF 24 David Miller So Taylorville IllinoisF 28 Leonard Sharp So Kewanee IllinoisF 29 Howard Cronk SoF 30 Paul Milosevich So Zeigler Illinois Head coachDouglas Mills University of Illinois 4th year Assistant coach es Wally Roettger University of Illinois 5th year Howie Braun University of Illinois 3rd year Ralph Fletcher 1st year Legend C Team captain S Suspended I Ineligible W Walk on Injured Current redshirtAll Time Illini Rosters RosterSource 3 Schedule EditDatetime TV Opponent Result Record Site attendance city stateNon Conference regular season12 6 1939 no no Monmouth IL W 37 19 1 0 0 0 Huff Hall 4 346 Champaign IL12 6 1939 no no Wabash W 60 21 2 0 0 0 Huff Hall 4 346 Champaign IL12 15 1939 no no Carleton W 46 15 3 0 0 0 Huff Hall 4 164 Champaign IL12 18 1939 no no Princeton W 41 25 4 0 0 0 Huff Hall 4 346 Champaign IL12 27 1939 no no Notre Dame W 42 29 5 0 0 0 Huff Hall 3 747 Champaign IL12 29 1939 no no Drake W 35 34 6 0 0 0 Drake Fieldhouse Des Moines IA1 1 1940 no no Butler W 37 18 7 0 0 0 Hinkle Fieldhouse 4 000 Indianapolis INBig Ten regular season1 6 1940 no no Indiana Rivalry L 36 38 7 1 0 1 Wildermuth Intramural Center 6 000 Bloomington IN1 8 1940 no no University of Chicago W 34 33 8 1 1 1 Huff Hall 5 200 Champaign IL1 13 1940 no no Ohio State L 31 37 8 2 1 2 Ohio Expo Center Coliseum 4 046 Columbus OH1 15 1940 no no Michigan W 48 43 9 2 2 2 Yost Fieldhouse 4 500 Ann Arbor MI2 3 1940 no no Notre Dame L 40 58 9 3 2 2 Notre Dame Fieldhouse 5 500 Notre Dame IN2 10 1940 no no Minnesota W 60 31 10 3 3 2 Huff Hall 5 402 Champaign IL2 12 1940 no no Northwestern W 35 33 11 3 4 2 Huff Hall 5 400 Champaign IL2 17 1940 no no Purdue L 27 33 11 4 4 3 Lambert Fieldhouse 8 800 West Lafayette IN2 19 1940 no no Wisconsin W 37 35 12 4 5 3 Huff Hall 5 400 Champaign IL2 24 1940 no no Michigan W 51 28 13 4 6 3 Huff Hall 5 692 Champaign IL2 26 1940 no no University of Chicago W 42 40 14 4 7 3 Henry Crown Field House 3 500 Chicago IL3 2 1940 no no Iowa Rivalry L 47 62 14 5 7 4 Iowa Field House 7 000 Iowa City IA3 4 1940 no no Purdue L 31 34 14 6 7 5 Huff Hall 7 172 Champaign IL Non conference game Rankings from AP Poll Tournament seedings in parentheses All times are in Central Time Bold Italic connotes conference game Source 4 Player stats EditPlayer Games Played Field Goals Free Throws PointsWilliam Hapac 18 95 54 244Walter Evers 17 40 33 113Victor Wukovits 19 32 28 92Colin Handlon 19 23 23 69Joe Frank 19 25 10 60John Drish 18 20 7 47Harold Shapiro 15 17 5 39William Hocking 13 13 9 35Henry Sachs 18 15 2 32Robert Richmond 10 10 9 29Robert O Neill 10 10 6 26Howard Cronk 10 3 2 8Rex Sherman 4 3 0 6Paul Milosevich 1 1 1 3Scott Gill 1 1 1 3Frederick Townshend 4 1 1 3Norman Cusick 1 1 0 2Kenneth Brown 1 1 0 2Edward Evers 5 0 2 2Harry Lasater 5 1 0 2Leonard Sharp 1 0 1 1 5 Awards and honors EditWilliam Hapac Helms 1st team All American Consensus Converse 1st team All AmericanReferences Edit National Athletic Trainer Association Fighting Illini Basketball A Hardwood History By News Gazette Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1 58261 356 7 FightingIllini com University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1939 40 pg 79 FightingIllini com Season Stats Archived from the original on 2015 02 10 Retrieved 2014 04 23 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title 1939 40 Illinois Fighting Illini men 27s basketball team amp oldid 1085506097, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
