William Sprow
By Bob Whalen
William J. ("Will" or "Bill") Sprow
Born 1-29-1885 - Died 1- 7-1953
The parents of Will were Jacob and Anna Zosel Sprow. His parents
died when he was very young. Will grew up in the home of his aunt, Mrs. Carrie Neistadt,
sister of his mother.
Will graduated from Crawfordsville High School in 1904 and from
Wabash College in 1908. Later he received a law degree from the University of Michigan Law
School.
While a student at CHS Will played baseball, basketball and
football. He also played these Sports at Wabash College. He was a three year starter on
the CHS Basketball team. As a sophomore he scored 58 points, as a junior 137 points and in
his senior year he scored 106 points.In his sophomore season CKS was 5 and 2, in his
junior season they were 6 and 1, then in his senior season CHS was 13 and 2. The two games
lost were to college teams, C'ville Business College and the University of Minnesota.
C'ville was the unofficial state basketball champion in all three years.
I believe that Will was the center on the CHS basketball team,
the fullback on the football team and the catcher on the baseball team. As far as I have
been able to find out there were no football scoring records kept at that time or if there
were they have long since been lost. The same can be said for baseball. In the three
seasons of football that Will played at CHS.the over all record was 5 and 8. As a senior
CHS played ONLY three games. They played five games in his sophomore and junior seasons.
At Wabash Will was center on the basketball team and also on the
football team and catcher on the baseball team. I have very little information on his
years at Wabash except for the Wabash records. In the four years Will played basketball at
Wabash, their record was 66 Won and 3 lost. The 1908 team was called the "Original
Wonder Five" and also the "World Champions" as they won 24 games and lost
NONE. The Wabash basketball coach was Ralph Jones.
In his years on the Wabash football team they had an over all
record of 20 won and 12 lost. The Wabash coach was Francis Cayou. In 1904 the big win was
over Butler 51 to 0. In 1905 the big wins were over Notre Dame and DePauw, losing to
Illinois, Northwestern, Purdue and Indiana. In 1906 They lost Only to I U and tied
Illinois. In 1907 they lost to Michigan and Michigan Aggies (now Michigan State). The big
wins were over Purdue and DePauw.
Page Two of "Will" Sprow
Will coached the Darlington High School boy's basketball team
during the 1907-08 season. He was their first coach since they Only started playing
basketball the year before and didn't have a coach in that first season.
Will worked his way threw both Wabash College and the University
of Michigan. Will coached basketball while working on his law degree at Michigan. I am Not
sure if it was in junior or senior high school.
Will began his career as an attorney with the firm of Crane and
McCabe. Later he opened his own practice, in the early 20's. His office was on the fourth
floor of the Ben Hur Building.
He lived for twenty years in the home of Mrs. Ethel Sparks on
Wallace Ave. Will married Beulah Livengood on May 9, 1944. Their home was 403 Binford St.
Will was active in the Republican Party all of his adult life but
NEVER ran for elective office. He did serve in many appointive offices. He also remained
an active alumni of Wabash College.
He was a veteran of World War I and a member of the American
Legion. He also was a member of the Presbyterian Church and the Elks Lodge in
Crawfordsville.
I would say the Will Sprow was maybe the greatest all around
athlete of his time at both Crawfordsville High School and Wabash College. Will and his
team mates, Harter Walker and
Ralph Wicks, (*) stared Not Only at CHS but at Wabash College in basketball.
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