Former Firelands standout Bill Szabo to be inducted into Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame

When he graduated from Firelands in 1980, he was the second leading all-time scorer in the Ohio High School basketball record book. Bill Szabo, now 61, will finally get his due at the 16th annual Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony tonight at the Hilton Polaris in Columbus. He'll be among 18 players, coaches and officials inducted in this year's class. Szabo remains Lorain County's most prolific scorer with 2,567 career points, scoring a single-season record 824 as a senior, when he averaged 32.9. He finished his career just six points short of then-leading scorer Mike Phillips of Akron Manchester, who just happend to be one of tonight's inductees. Szabo is still the 10th-leading scorer in Ohio history, averaging over 30 points a game during his career with the Falcons. He's also among the career leading rebounders with 1,119. Szabo, who could shoot from the outside as well as the inside, can only imagine how many points he would have scored had the 3-point line been around when he played. "I know for a fact I'd have had 40 for two or three years," he said. "I would have. I shot 20-footers all day." Firelands coach Keith Sooy knew he had something special in Szabo even when Szabo was just a freshman. "Bill was one of the most confident and fearless players that I've coached in my whole career." said Sooy, a Keystone and Findlay College grad who was 188-45 over 11 years as Firelands' coach. He also coached at Elyria High and Medina, winning 423 games, and has been inducted into the Keystone, Findlay and Ohio Coaches halls of fame. "He had that confidence with scoring binges that he couldn't miss. He wasn't afraid of anybody even as a freshman. He battled the big kid (6-foot-10 Sam Johnson) from Elyria West. He was just a confident guy — didn't think he was going to miss and most of the time, he didn't. "He was 6-1, 180 pounds as a freshman. We had no post presence so I had little choice but to throw him out there. He was just amazing that he could do the things shooting-wise, dribbling-wise and rebounding-wise at that young of an age. "I remember Sam blocking two of his first three shots and then Bill decides to take him to the basket, so he drives around him for a couple of layups. He didn't back down." "We played Elyria West my sophomore year," Szabo said. "They had Sam Johnson, 6-10, and I was 15 years old. It was at a neutral site, Elyria High School. The game was close the whole game. The final was 50-48 and we beat them and I had 30 of the 50. I missed one shot that game but Sam blocked seven." While Szabo's memory might be a little fuzzy, he did score 30 of the 50 but it was a tournament game his freshman season. Szabo grew to be 6-5, 220 by the time he was a senior. Firelands won 71 games and lost only 16 during Szabo's years. The Falcons won 24 straight to start the 79-80 season and advanced to the Sweet 16 where the regional was loaded with four undefeated teams. They lost 88-60 to Napoleon despite Szabo scoring 28 points. Willard advanced out of that regional but lost in the state semifinals. "This was the only time I think it's happened in high school history," Sooy said. "There were four undefeated teams." "There was a lot of tough basketball around Elyria here," Szabo added. "Elyria West, you had Elyria Catholic loaded. Elyria West loaded. There were other good teams there too." Szabo scored 43 points in a memorable district semifinal win over Elyria Catholic. Firelands then beat Oberlin to qualify for the stacked regional at Bowling Green. "That was a trophy game," Szabo said. "We won 83-81. Elyria Catholic had Bob Warden and Billy Jo Williams. They had three guys with over 20 points. (Ken Thomas 25, Warden 24, Williams 20). That's how good those players were. We beat them on a last-second shot — a bank shot from half court by Danny Muschitz. Those back-to-back games (EC and Oberlin) were probably the best games I ever played in. "Hey, they said Firelands is out in the country. They're just a bunch of farmers. Those guys don't know how to play ball." After graduating from Firelands, Szabo was given a full ride to play at Bowling Green but the honeymoon didn't last long. Relegated to being the Falcons' sixth man, Szabo felt he wasn't used properly and left after his sophomore season. He transferred to Defiance College where he became a star for the Yellow Jackets. In just two years at Defiance, Szabo managed to score 1,490 points, still 10th all-time in school history. The Jackets had a combined two-year record of 47-14, winning the Hoosier-Buckeye Conference title both years. Szabo led them to a 20-game winning streak as a junior when the team finished 26-4 and lost in the NAIA district finals to Walsh in overtime. Walsh was led by Williams of Elyria Catholic. Szabo's career average of 24.4 remains the best in Defiance history. He earned second-team All-American honors as a junior and was honorable mention his senior season. He was Defiance's Athlete of the Year twice and the first Yellow Jacket to be named National Player of the Week. Szabo, who works at Norwalk Furniture, is proud of his accomplishments as a player. "I'm top 10 scoring, top 10 rebounding in the state," Szabo said. "This is a real double-double." Contact Tim Gebhardt at (440) 329-7135 or at timothygeb@msn.com.