Ron Zagar DEPUE Accomplishments • A 1957 DePue alumnus, Zagar scored 1,014 points his senior season and averaged 37.6 points and 15 rebounds per game • Scored 2,514 career points, which remains the most career points ever scored by an area boys or girls basketball player • Played college basketball at Iowa from 1957-61 • Played in the American Basketball League in 1961 and averaged 11.7 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game in his 79-game career
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By Bobby Narang
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t the time, Ron Zagar wasn’t very happy about his position change in basketball. But now, the 1957 DePue High School chuckled at the thought of how a 5-foot-10 center became one of the most decorated athletes in Illinois Valley sports history. Zagar, 82, is one of the inductees into the Class of 2020-21 NewsTribune’s Illinois Valley Sports Hall of Fame. He played two sports in his illustrious high school career, starring in basketball and baseball — the only two sports offered at the time. Zagar, a Spring Valley resident, is also a member of the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame and was inducted into the Bureau County Hall of Fame. “Sports has been everything in my life,” Zagar said. “The is my third hall of fame now. All three have been wonderful feeling. I feel honored to be included with some of these great athletes, but a lot of people contributed to me being inducted. It’s funny to me because I was a 5-10 center. I jumped the ball at the start of the game. “It’s been 64 years since I graduated from high school, so not too many people can remember me. I think I’ve got two teammates left in the area. This is a last hurrah, so I feel honored. Each one was a great honor, but this one being Illinois Valley ranks up with rest of them. I’m honored and surprised, and humbled in a way, too.” Zagar said sports opened up many doors for a kid from a small school with a current enrollment of 109 students. Zagar said, “I loved basketball and our community, still to this day.” He scored 1,014 points in his senior season, averaging a robust
WHERE are they NOW
32 September 29, 2021 | Illinois Valley Sports Hall of Fame | A NewsTribune Publication
