Heyslinger, John

John Heyslinger – (1989)

 

JOHN
HEYSLINGER

John Heyslinger burst upon the hardwood scene back in 1931 as a freshman at Clearview High School. Basketball was still in its infancy, when the laced ball was still in use and almost as big around as the basket, the only stats that were logged were points scored, 16 games made a season and a six footer playing center was a wonderful sight to behold.

John happened to be a long armed, mobile 6’1″ center who could jump and who enjoyed double figures in points and rebounds in almost every game he ever played. And this in a day when a team averaging 25 to 30 points a game was a scoring machine.

In his sophomore season at center, John was selected to the All-County squad for the ’32-’33 season after he had led the Clippers to the county crown with a twelve point tournament average. Clearview repeated as titleholders the next two years and John returned to both tournament All Star aggregations. He led the scoring averages with 14 points and was bestowed with the further honor of being Clearview’s only three year All-Star.

During the 1930’s, basketball was able to flourish because of the area industrial leagues. John’s first job was with the Perry Fay Co. in Elyria where he was eagerly sought for his ability to compete in their league. In 1939 his Oakwood Dairy team won the Lorain City, County and Cleveland Inter-City togas. He received recognition as the highest scorer in each of these tournaments, outscoring the great Mel Riebe who went on to professional scoring honors. The same year, Kohlmyer Hardware featuring Al McConihe, Bozo Ursic and John, swept the Silver Medal Tournament at Amherst and, once again, John was the leading scorer. John was in great demand in the ranks of the semi-pros. He was a leader on the Birmingham Firemen and the Elyria Hi-Speed fives that won 2 Lorain, 2 Elyria, 3 Spencer and 1 Cleveland tournament.

Entering the Army in 1941, John continued his consistent scoring leadership as he sparked Camp Shelby and Indiantown Gap to titles and his Solomon Islands team to the runner-up spot in the division finals.

Upon his return from the military, he joined Sobel Jewelers to win one final championship. He put away his shoes, but in one final reflection, John felt the game had changed from the beautiful patterns of the half-court game to a racehorse-frenzy for the young colts and at age 32 it was time for the comforts of the barn.