Dover seniors sport regular season record of 49-4
The honor of having the best regular season record in football, basketball and baseball in the same school year now belongs to the current Dover High School class of 2022, according to Crimson Tornado biographer Dennis Rubright.
The Crimson Tornadoes posted an overall regular-season record of 49-4 this school year, which includes 9-0 in football, 20-1 in basketball and 20-3 in baseball to surpass the great Doc Kelker-led teams of the 1930s.
It's an athletic achievement that has taken nearly 90 years to accomplish.
Much like Kelker was the common denominator for success in his era, Dover senior Ayden Hall has that distinction today.
Hall has been named to the All-Ohio team in both football (quarterback) and basketball (708 career points) the past two years and has 19-4 record as a pitcher since his freshman year.
In addition, Hall pitched Dover to two victories over rival New Philadelphia this season for the school’s 100th and 101st wins over the Quakers in a rivalry that began in 1897. Dover leads the all-time series 101-67-1.
"We talked about being different at Dover and I really think our class took that to heart," said Hall. "We took it serious. Our class had such good leadership and we wanted to be the best we could in every sport."
From the late 1920s through the 1930s, Dover, Ohio was called the “City of Champions,” due in part to the great success of its sports teams and athletes.
The Crimson Tornadoes won two state basketball titles (1927 and 1933) and finished runner-up (1929) in four trips to Columbus.
The football team was undefeated three times (1926, 1932, 1933) and won a state title in 1933, while posting a then-state-record 29 consecutive victories.
The baseball team made a claim to a state title in 1933 and that same year the Dover band was also named national champions.
Some of the best athletes of this era that contributed to this success were Kelker, Bill Beitner and Albert Zuchegno.
Kelker was the first player to be selected All-Ohio in football and basketball (1933) and the first athlete to win both a state football and basketball title.
Beitner was the first freshman to be named to the All-Ohio team in basketball (1927) and the first to be honored twice.
Zuchegno set an Ohio record in 1935 for the most points scored in a football season with 179.
The best year came in 1932-33 school when the football team finished the regular season 10-0, the basketball team was 13-4 before going on to win the state crown, and the baseball squad was 13-1.
That was a combined regular-season record of 36-5.
The class of 1927 was second with a mark of 31-6-2, while the class of 2015, was next at 48-9.
This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: Dover posted an overall regular-season record of 49-4 this year
