Butch Honors A Truly Great Prep Cager

   As many of you are aware, Daryl Warren, a 1971 Linden High School graduate, recently received the needed votes to be inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame. The ceremony will be held in March of this coming year. I spoke with Daryl recently at a North Montgomery game in which he was recognized for the honor. My first words were, “It’s about time!” Daryl, ever so humble, just grinned and thanked me.

   Daryl was a four-year starter for the Bulldogs and led the team in scoring each year. He averaged 16.3 as a freshman, 21.7 as a sophomore, 29.7 as a junior, and 29.5 as a senior . . . for a total of 2,083 total points during his high school career . . . the most of any player in Montgomery County basketball history. Daryl was voted to the All-County tourney team all four years. During his last three years, his team had a record of 44-17, and one must remember that all games were played away, as the Linden gym was too small.

   I watched Daryl play in 1969 and 1970 when they went up against Darlington. He had a “soft touch” and could hit the basket from anywhere on the floor. If there had been 3-point baskets back in those days, I honestly believe he could have averaged close to 40 points per game. But he was also unselfish and could hit the open man when the other team put two players guarding him.

   The gym for the Linden vs. Darlington games was always packed. Daryl’s father, Jack Warren, graduated from Darlington in 1940. Jack’s brother, Damon “Mutt” Warren, graduated from Darlington in 1941. Jack and Mutt were excellent players on the Indian’s teams. My father, Bill Dale, was the starting guard on those same teams. Mutt’s two boys, Fred and Charlie, and my brother Gary were on those great Darlington teams of the late 1960s, and competed against Daryl. The competition was fierce, with Darlington usually victorious; however, Linden was able to pull off a great victory and wrestle the “County Keg” away from the Indians in a 4-way tourney in 1971, after the Indians had held on to the Keg for nearly three years. In that game, Daryl hit the basket for 38 points, and the Bulldog fans went wild! The team also managed to win the last County Tourney his senior year . . . a fitting end to a great career.

   After graduation, Daryl headed to Indiana Central College (now the University of Indianapolis) where he played all four years, was named MVP and team captain, and finished in the top 10 in scoring with 1,365 points.

   In his address to the crowd at North Montgomery, Daryl was his usual self, giving credit to his teammates and coach Tom Speaker. “I had a great coach and talented teammates. We worked well together as a team, and they had confidence in me, and let me shoot the ball,” he said with a big smile.

   Montgomery County has certainly had many great players since the early 1900s . . . Charlie Bowerman, Bill and Keith Greve, Donnie Threlkeld, Dick, Phil, and Ronnie Haffner, Howie Williams, Pete Moore, and of course Homer Stonebraker . . . just to name a few, but none of those ballplayers ever came close to scoring as many points as Daryl Warren. He was the “Jimmy Chitwood” of Linden. Thanks, Daryl, for making Montgomery County basketball such a thrill to watch!

John “Butch” Dale is a retired teacher and County Sheriff. He has also been the librarian at Darlington the past 35 years, and is a well-known artist and author of local history.