Augustana College Athletics

At a time when the “little man” was being squeezed out of college basketball by hordes of skilled and agile “giants”, Dale Schweinberger was methodically going about the task of proving to all Augustana hard-court opponents that “mite makes right”.

Schweinberger, at 5’ 7” was the smallest player on Augustana’s basketball roster. By the time he graduated in the spring of 1959, however, it was crystal clear that his were going to be very big shoes to fill. He became just the second player in school history to break the 1,000 point barrier and his four year total of 1,076 points was actually the school record at the time of his graduation.

Although he didn’t play regularly as a member of the Moline High School team, Schweinberger wasted no time making his presence felt at Augustana. Early in his freshman season he broke into the Vikings’ starting lineup and he remained there for four years. He was the team’s leading scorer as a sophomore, junior and senior after being fourth on the team as a freshman.

The talented playmaker was picked on the College Conference of Illinois all-star team in 1958-59. That same year he was named the Most Valuable Player at the William Penn tournament and was picked to the all-tournament team at the NCAA College Division’s Midwest Regional. He was twice named captain of the Vikings and was chosen as the team’s MVP three years in a row.

Schweinberger also notched a milestone during his sophomore season when, in a game against Elmhurst, he connected on 22 of 25 free throw attempts. That was a school and conference record at the time.