Here is the scorecard from the 1927 Ringgold County Annual Basketball Tournament held in the "new" gymnasium in Diagonal. Rick Wiley ran across the scorecard from sale on eBay and knew he
couldn't pass it up.The scores on the brackets are difficult to read, but here are the results:
In the first round Maloy defeated Mount Ayr, 35-18; Delphos downed Diagonal, 32-10; Beaconsfield eliminated Kellerton, 30-19; and Tingley ousted Redding, 15-9. Benton and Ellston received first-round byes.
In the second round, Benton beat Maloy, 34-8; and Ellston defeated Tingley, 29-12.
In the third round, Delphos downed Maloy, 29-17; and Beaconsfield edged Ellston, 14-13.
For Saturday evening's fourth-round
games the teams must have been seeded as Beaconsfield again squared off against Ellston, and Delphos met Maloy for the second time. In the 8 p.m. game Ellston got revenge on Beaconsfield, winning 24-16.
In the nightcap played at 9 p.m., Delphos again beat Maloy, 34-21. (The seeds could possibly be identified by the little numbers scribbled near the fourth-round games: Delphos #1, Beaconsfield #2, Maloy #3 and
Ellston #4.)
Interestingly, the two undefeated teams in the tournament, Maloy and Delphos, did not face each other during the tournament. However, Delphos is penciled in at the top of the program as the tournament
champion.
The legendary O.C. (Pop) Varner appears as the coach of the championship Delphos squad.
If anyone has more information about the tournament or its players/coaches, please contact the
Record-News at 464-2440.
Photographs courtesy of Mount Ayr Record-News
Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, August of 2016