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The 1945 Taylorville Tornadoes basketball team had the unenviable task of following the record setting undefeated 1944 state champions.  With only one returning letterman from that championship team, and no starter over 5’9” tall, coach Dolph Stanley had probably one of the biggest rebuilding jobs in the state!  However, all coach Stanley did was develop a team that had the second greatest number of wins in Taylorville history and the only other team to win thirty games in one season, finishing with a remarkable 30 – 6 record!

The starting five consisted of 5’4” Rich Wilson, 5’8” Lindy Noren, 5’9” Harold “Slick” Parrish, 5’8” Dean Duncan and 5’4 “ Bob Slaybaugh.  These five players accounted for almost 90% of the scoring, with Slick Parrish leading the team is scoring with 432 points and a 12.0 scoring average.  Other members of the team included Micky Ganey, Ralph Willison, Stanley Marblestone, Duane Hamell, Wayne Dozier, and Varel Fraley.

The Tornadoes let everyone in the Mid-State Conference know that just because the State Champs were gone, the new boys had something we now call “Game”.   They opened the season with a 52 – 21 drubbing of Litchfield and followed that with a 51 – 28 win over Shelbyville.  Following a win over Mt Pulaski, the Tornadoes consecutive win streak was halted at 48 with a loss to bitter rival Paris 37 -26.  However the scrappy Tornadoes won their next  seven games before a loss to Centralia in their holiday Tourney.  A win over Marion gave the team the consolation championship and after knocking off Pana 32 -16, the Purple and Gold gained revenge on Centralia with a 35 -30 victory.  Following the big win over Centralia,  the boys fell back into the losing column with a 45 -34 loss to Champaign.   The Taylorville then completed the regular season winning 13 of their next 15 games, with losses coming to Collinsville and again to Champaign.   

Coach Stanley’s boys waltzed through the regional tournament, beating Assumption, Shelbyville and Kincaid.  At the Sectional Tournament, Taylorville beat a good Lincoln team 46 -37 in the first round, but the dream season came to an end with a 36 -33 loss to the Springfield Senators.  Taylorville won the Mid-State Conference with a 12 – 0 record and repeated as Regional Champions for the 4th year in a row.