The 11-man 50th Anniversary squad was selected in 1953 by PSU coaches Carnie Smith, Charley Morgan and Garfield Weede and lauded (excerpts below) in the Collegio by writer Bob Friskel, the Gorillas’ 1953 starting quarterback.    50th Anniversary Team

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Duncan Banner, Wed., Dec. 5, 2007

CHARLES "BUDDY" BALL, 77, of Duncan, died Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2007.

Service will be at 3:30 p.m. Thursday in Immanuel Baptist Church, with the Rev. Buddy Hunt and the Rev. Tracy L. Wilson officiating. Arrangements are under direction of Don Grantham Funeral Home.
Bud was born June 19, 1930, in Galena, Kan., to Charles and Thelma Ball. He graduated and was a four-year football letterman at Pittsburgh (Kan.) State College. He was the most valuable player his junior and senior years, where he earned All-American honors at quarterback.
He married Jane Marie Williams on June 10, 1951. He began his coaching career in 1954 at Uniontown (Kan.) High School with the football, basketball, track and baseball teams. He moved on to coach basketball at Joplin (Mo.) Junior College from 1955-61. In 1962, he began coaching basketball at Coffeyville (Kan.) Junior College, where he stayed for eight years while the team captured seven conference championships.
He and his family moved to Portales, N.M., to continue coaching. While at Eastern New Mexico University, 1970-75, his team won two conference championships and a trip to the national tournament.
In 1975, he moved into the insurance business in Norman, only to return to the coaching arena in 1979-84 as head football recruiting coordinator for the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. In 1984, he continued his football coaching career at the University of Minnesota from 1984-86. Upon returning to Oklahoma, he and Jane settled in Duncan to own and operate the convenience store/carwash/lube, Bud's E-Z Shop, from 1986-95. In 1996, he and Jane retired in Duncan. In September 2006, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame at Pittsburgh State.
Survivors include his wife, Jane of the home; sons, Steve and Kay Ball of Edmond, and Stan and Mignon Ball of Topeka, Kan.; daughters, Barbara and Mark Spradlin of Duncan, and Amy and David Wilk of Dallas, Texas; grand-children, Stephanie, Sara and Samantha Ball of Edmond, Braxon, Patric, Hayden and Kemper Ball of Topeka, Haley, Jill and Taylor Spradlin of Duncan, and Cooper and Hudson Wilk of Dallas.
Condolences: www.granthamfuneralhomes.com

NOTE: I believe "Little Poss" Herrelson, my classmate, and I are both related to Buddy Ball. Also, Buddy Ball would have been the basketball coach at Coffeyville JC when Howard Mahanes was the head football coach in the same conference at Fort Scott. 

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Baxter Springs Whiz Kids, Junior League, 1948

Whiz Kids, the 1948 Cardinal Junior League championship team from Baxter Springs, Kansas. Rex Heavin (utility player), Jim Kenaga (pitcher), Bob Steele (pitcher), Ben Craig (pitcher), Billy Pace (outfield), Nick Ferguson (2nd base), Walter "Barney" Barnett (owner/manager), Mickey Mantle (shortstop), Buddy Ball (outfield), Willard "Billy" Johnson (3rd base), Jack Dorrell (outfield), Gene Lindeman (outfield), Delbert Lovelace (1st base), Leroy Bennett (catcher), Roger Yocom (bat boy) and Jim Goodwin (ball shagger)., Joe Becker, a former Joplin Miner baseball team executive, newspaper man, and Boston Red Sox "bird dog."