The posted coordinates will bring you to the gravestone of the coach of the Franklin Wonder Five, Coach Griz Wagner. You might be thinking, Griz? Yep, as in the current mascot of both the Franklin Community High School and the Franklin College! Go Grizzlies!!
Coach Ernest "Griz" Wagner led the Franklin High School team to three consecutive state championships (1920, 1921. and 1922). He then went to Franklin College along with star players "Fuzzy" Vandivier and Johnny Gant. They went undefeated winning the national championship in 1923, and also won the championship in 1924 while only losing 1 game.
Griz Wagner was hired as a commercials, or business teacher, at Franklin high school in 1913, as well as coaching the second team. He continued to act as assistant coach for the next two years under Coach C. L. Reagan. In 1916 he was offered the head coach position. He jumped at the opportunity as he loved the game.
It was the third year of Wagner coaching the team that they began the Wonder Five years. In order to be classified as a Wonder Five player, you had to have played under Coach Griz Wagner and also played with Robert "Fuzzy" Vandivier. There were 14 players that made this distinction.
James Wendell ‘Ike’ Ballard (1920-26)
Harold Borden (1919-21)
Sima Comer (1919-20)
Hubert ‘Darby’ Davis (1921-22)
Burl Friddle (1918-20, 1922-25)
Carlyle Friddle (1920-26)
Johnny Gant (1919-26)
Ralph Hicks (1918-20)
Harvey ‘Pete’ Keeling (1919-20)
Harry King (1920-22, 1924-26)
Jimmy Ross (1920-22)
Robert P. ‘Fuzzy’ Vandivier (1918-26)
Paul White (1918-20)
Charlton ‘Butter’ Williams (1920-22)
Seven of the players and also Coach Wagner are buried in this local cemetery, Greenlawn Cemetery. In order to receive credit for the virtual geocache, you must send me the answers to the following questions and post a picture of you (or a personal item) at Coach Wagner's grave and also a picture at 1 of the 7 players. (you will post 2 pictures to receive credit).
Posted coordinates: Ernest "Griz" Wagner
P) Who is the WW2 veteran buried next to the coach?
Waypoint 1: Burl Friddle
1) Which family is buried to the right of Burl as you look at his gravestone?
Waypoint 2: Charlton "Butter" Williams
2) Turn around and look for a cylinder grave marker. What family name is on it?
Waypoint 3: James "Ike" Ballard
3) Look for a long flat marker nearby with a death date in 1958. What is their last name (no relation to anybody from this team)?
Waypoint 4: Johnny Gant
4) Who is buried to the left of Johnny as you look at the gravestone?
Waypoint 5: Paul White
5) Look to the right of Paul's stone and what is the first name?
Waypoint 6: Robert "Fuzzy" Vandivier
6) Look to the right of Robert's stone and what is Betty's last name?
Waypoint 7: Harvey "Pete" Keeling
7) Look to the right for another flat metal grave marker. What is her first name?
Please leave the following text at the bottom of the page, so cache finders understand the Virtual Rewards 4.0 project.
Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.