A Brief History of Alamo High School
Alamo High School was established in 1891, when the men of Alamo worked together to cut down trees from the grove directly back of the present building to build a small frame building. In 1910 Alamo became a four year high school. The new building was completed in 1913 and dedicated in 1914.
In 1913 the basketball team made their own uniforms because they did not have the money to buy them.
In 1941 the Alamo Gymnasium was built by the WPA, and added to the facilities. This project was headed up by trustee Walter Fink and it more than doubled the available floor space in the school. The architect was Carroll Beeson.
Several names come to mind when you think about basketball at Alamo. Among them are the Melvin’s and Bowerman’s. Tom Bowerman starred at Alamo before graduating in 1932. Then, after graduating from Wabash College he returned to Alamo where he taught and coached for 22 years. He retired as the coach with the most wins in the history of Montgomery County basketball with a combined total of 265 wins while at Alamo and Waynetown.
Charlie Bowerman played for Alamo from 1954-57. He played his Sophomore, Junior and Senior years with his father, Tom Bowerman, as his coach. After graduation he played basketball at Wabash College for 4 years. He scored a total of 1408 points, which places him 9th on the all-time list. He went on to play for the Phillips 66er’s. He was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995.
The Melvin family contributed several good basketball players over the years. Among them were Howard, Leland (Bill) and Fred who were all on the starting line-up of the 1936 team. Other Melvins who played were Joe 1957-59 and Mike 1961.
Another outstanding player for Alamo was Lawrence “Whitey” Reath, who graduated in 1959. He was the all-time leading scorer for Alamo with a total of 1030 points in 54 games.
Alamo won County Crowns in 1934, 38, 46, and 57 under Coach Bowerman, but was one of only three schools never to win a Sectional. The other 2 schools were Linden and Ladoga.
One coach and nine players from Alamo are in the Montgomery County Basketball Hall of Fame. The coach is Tom Bowerman. The players are Howard Melvin (1936), John Bowerman (1939), Leland “Bill” Melvin (1939), George Gillis (1956), Charles Bowerman (1957) & Wabash (1961), Lawrence “Whitey” Reath (1959), Joe Melvin (1959), Mike Melvin (1961), and Leslie Reath (1964).Charles Bowerman was also inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995.