50 After 50: No. 5 Wildcats unbeatable during regular season, but IHSA ruling pulled plug on state title hopes

The Illinois High School Association created a second class for boys basketball for the 1971-72 school year. The 2020-21 season would have been the 50th year of the boys basketball small-school tournament. Muddy River Sports is celebrating 50 years of small-school boys basketball by ranking the 50 best teams in Adams, Brown, Pike and Hancock counties since 1972.

No. 5 — 1998-99 Warsaw

WARSAW, Ill. — Twenty-three years later, Jeff Dahl still believes he did nothing wrong regarding how Jason Edwin made it from the tiny island of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands to the small town of Warsaw in West-Central Illinois.

He also believes the 1998-99 Warsaw boys basketball team would have won the Class A state championship had Edwin not been declared ineligible by the Illinois High School Association.

“There’s not any doubt in my mind whatsoever that we would have won out,” Dahl said. “Somebody would have to be probably two times better than they’ve ever been to beat us. I saw the teams at the state tournament, and there was nobody there who would have beat us. I don’t think anyone would have given us a close game.

“At the end of the day, we did a special thing for a special guy on a special team. It’s good, man.”

Two seniors, Ryan Jacquot and Matt Froman, returned as starters from a team that went 16-10 the year before. Both played roles in Warsaw’s run to a state championship in 1997. Seniors Bobby Thomas and Shawn Bloyd were going to move into the lineup, but Warsaw fans were excited to see what 6-foot-5 Edwin could finally do on the court.

Edwin was an emancipated student, paying his own rent to live with Randy and Melinda Beeler. He had to live in Illinois for at least one full calendar year and be totally self-supporting before he could become eligible to play, so he didn’t play basketball as a sophomore. By the time basketball season rolled around a year later, Edwin was garnering national attention from college recruiters.

Dahl first saw Edwin play when he was conducting a basketball camp in the Virgin Islands during the summer of 1997.

“(John Wood Community College coach Mike) Elbe was supposed to go there and do a clinic,” he said. “He’d already known about Jason and (other) players there, because he’d had some players (from the island of Antigua, an hour’s plane flight away from the Virgin Islands). Jason was already coming to the states, and he knew the Beelers, so it already was happening.

“In hindsight, I shouldn’t have went and did (the camp). But who doesn’t want to go be in the Virgin Islands for a while and teach basketball? Here I am in a little school, making $1,300 a month, so I’m not going to Virgin Islands. But Mike was having one of his kids, and the trip already was set up. It was really fun.”

Asked how Edwin ended up in Warsaw, Dahl said, “I’m not exactly sure how that happened behind the scenes. I knew I couldn’t tell him to come. I knew I couldn’t do that. It’s a long story that probably wouldn’t be worth talking about now because of people involved who just don’t need to even be talked about.”

Edwin worked at a print shop in Keokuk, Iowa, while sitting out. When his junior year rolled around, he was eager to play.

“Coming from a small island and just playing basketball, all you wanted was an opportunity to further your education and play basketball,” he said. “To say I had high expectations or anything like that, I really was just thankful for the opportunity to play structured basketball in the states. It was an opportunity that I needed to take advantage of. When I got to Warsaw, I was really grateful and thankful that the school and the community had embraced me in terms of coming in and being a part of the program.”

Edwin introduced himself to the local basketball scene with 23 points, 11 rebounds and six blocked shots in a 74-70 victory over No. 10-ranked Quincy Notre Dame at the Gully Tip-Off Tournament. Froman made a free throw with 18.4 seconds left to break 70-70 tie.

”When we won that game, we started looking around at ourselves,” Edwin said. “The teams from before had already made a name for themselves, and we had a couple guys who played important roles in that run. This was now a chance for them to make a name for themselves. We kind of embraced the fact that we could have something special here.”

Warsaw won another nail-biter the next night, edging No. 13-ranked Pittsfield 43-41 when Brad Goewey’s 3-pointer bounced off the front of the rim at the buzzer. Twenty-point victories over Liberty and Unity helped Warsaw earn a No. 7 ranking in the Class A state poll the following week.

Five of the next six victories were blowouts. The Wildcats had to outscore Rock Island Alleman 20-3 in the fourth quarter to rally for a 49-43 victory. They received regional attention at the Coca-Cola/KMOX Shootout in St. Louis, beating Red Lake (Minn.) 71-46.

Warsaw was dominant at the Macomb-Western Holiday Tournament, winning four games by an average of 30.5 points. The most impressive victory was a 66-40 decision over QND in the semifinals. Edwin averaged 20.6 points and 16 rebounds in the final three games.

“Jason fit in wonderfully,” Dahl said. “His personality was perfect. I had to make him shoot. He was a pass-first guy, and he was a phenomenal passer. He was easy to play with because he didn’t require the ball to play and he just wanted to fit in. I knew he was probably taking minutes away from somebody who thought, ‘Hey, those are my minutes.’ That wasn’t easy, but we worked around it.

“He was humble and excited to learn, and he smiled every day.”

As Edwin learned how to fit in while living in a new country, he missed his family in Tortola.

“If you remember back in those days, you didn’t have like the communication that you have now,” he said. “You couldn’t communicate with your friends and family who would love to see you playing high school ball. It was kind of tough to be so far away. I think at one time, I had MSN Messenger. We had to dial up and try to call my family and my friends to let them know what’s going on. Today, it would be much easier with iPhones and FaceTime and video chats. It would have been a cakewalk.”

So was much of the rest of the regular season.

Warsaw, now No. 2 in the state poll, won five games by more than 35 points. The Wildcats twice beat No. 14-ranked Nauvoo-Colusa, the defending Class A state champs, by scores of 67-36 and 57-47 in a two-week span.

Three of the last four games were tight. The Wildcats beat Nokomis 60-53, then needed 35 points and 12 rebounds from Edwin to win 56-49 at Pittsfield. They ended the regular season with a 25-0 record after beating Central 55-51.

About two hours before Warsaw’s opening game against Hamilton in the regional at LaHarpe, Edwin learned he would not be allowed to play.

“We went to the gym to practicing for the regional, and (Warsaw school officials) were hesitant to give me all the information,” he said. “They weren’t sure what they could do or what was really going on (with) the coach and the family I was staying with. They were dealing with the information that was coming to us from the IHSA. We learned when we were traveling to the regional game I might not be able to play, or if they decided to play me and the ruling came back against me, those games would have been obviously forfeited.

“We were still hopeful that talking to the powers that be that they will understand that it was obviously a situation where we were trying to do the right thing. Not knowing the ins and outs of the rules is what really we were at fault for. I had followed the rules for being an emancipated student, where you will be totally self sufficient and doing all your studies. It was just a technicality of the rules where I came up short in that regard. It was no fault of mine, because at 16 years old and going to school in a foreign country, I relied on the adults to lead me in the right direction as to what I needed to do.”

“QND and Quincy and Camp Point had people from the islands. It was kind of a little thing going on back then,” Dahl said. “For us to be singled out like that … you know, I don’t know for sure who complained, but … they created the most extensive scheme I’ve ever been in my life. There was enough talk about who did what. The bad thing is (the IHSA) never found anything. They never accused me of anything or our school of anything. Looking back, we should have just filed an injunction, played Jason all the way to the state tournament and figured it out later.”

Without Edwin, the Wildcats thrashed Hamilton 60-53, then beat Nauvoo-Colusa 64-58 to win the regional.

“That was the most intense game of my life,” Dahl said.

Warsaw then beat Brown County for the second time, cruising to a 64-35 victory in the semifinals of the sectional at Lewistown.

Meanwhile, Edwin kept hoping the IHSA would reinstate him. He was no longer working for the Keokuk print shop when the initial ruling was made, but Melinda Beeler said he was working for an embroidery business she owned in Keokuk. Edwin eventually picked up two new jobs and changed residences to help sway the IHSA.

“I had sat out a year, abiding by the rules,” he said. “I thought it would mean, ‘OK, you know what? You misunderstood this rule, and this is what you get.’ Maybe I’d get suspended for a game or I would have to fix the issue, but then I would get back on the court.”

It never happened. Warsaw’s unbeaten run ended at 28 games when QND won 75-59 in the sectional championship game. The postseason dream was over, while two teams (QND and Pittsfield) which had lost twice to the Wildcats met in the super-sectional at Macomb.

“We could have, should have, done a lot of things different,” Edwin said. “I would love to know what would have happened if things would have just played out on the court. Let us play everything out. If you say later the school is in violation, you take it back, but the experience for the school or the community, you can’t take that away.

“We had good chemistry that year. The ball is round and anything can happen, but I would have liked a chance of going into any arena with that team.”

Edwin never played again for Warsaw. IHSA Executive Director David Fry ruled on Aug. 24 that Edwin violated recruiting by-laws and declared him ineligible to play for the Wildcats as a senior.

Dahl left a month later to become an assistant coach at Southeastern Community College in West Burlington, Iowa. Edwin signed a letter of intent in November to play at Saint Louis University.

“In general, everything worked out,” Edwin said. “A kid from a small island got an opportunity to play basketball in a small school, got a scholarship, graduated from college, then went overseas and played professionally. If you look at it from that perspective, I had a great experience. Warsaw gave me the stepping stool to do that.”

Edwin played two seasons for the Billikens, then played for two years at Kent State University. He played professionally in Syria, Germany, South America, Mexico, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay. Now 40, he’s teaching science and physical education at Elmore Stoutt High School in Road Town on the island of Tortola. He also is the vice president of the Virgin Islands Basketball Federation and organizes several three-on-three tournaments on the islands.

After years of coaching stops at the high school and college levels, Dahl now coaches at West Hancock High School.

“It took me a long time to ever want to be around the IHSA again. Let’s put it that way,” he said. “I’ve learned not to dwell on the negative things about it. I think about all the positive things that happened.”

Edwin played two seasons for the Billikens, then played for two years at Kent State University. He played professionally in Syria, Germany, South America, Mexico, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay. Now 40, he’s teaching science and physical education at Elmore Stoutt High School in Road Town on the island of Tortola. He also is the vice president of the Virgin Islands Basketball Federation and organizes several three-on-three tournaments on the islands.

After years of coaching stops at the high school and college levels, Dahl now coaches at West Hancock High School.

“It took me a long time to ever want to be around the IHSA again. Let’s put it that way,” he said. “I’ve learned not to dwell on the negative things about it. I think about all the positive things that happened.”