Professional Athletes

By Michael Dunbar

Odin has been the home of a few professional athletes. The only professional basketball player was John "Junior" Sebastian. Sebastian was a stellar player at Odin from 1935-1938. He followed that with a year at Salem High School where he now resides in the Hall of Fame. Sebastian went on to play at S.I.U. Sebastian played for several pro teams and was eventually signed by Abe Saperstein to travel and play against the Harlem Globetrotters. John is also found in the Guinness Book of World Records for most consecutive free throws made blind-folded. The record stands at 63. Sebastian retired from basketball in 1953 after his marriage to Marie Petek. He went on to teach and coach at Decatur High School.

The Lowdermilk brothers, Lou and Grover, both grew up in Odin and went on to play professional baseball. Lou played for the St. Louis Cardinals for two years – 1911 and 1912. He continued playing in the minors until 1918. He served in the First World War during this time as well. Afterwards he went on to work as a miner and an artist. His brother Grover played for several pro teams including the Cardinals, St. Louis Browns, Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians, and the Chicago White Sox. He played 13 professional seasons finishing with a 23-29 record and a 3.58 ERA. Grover was known for his blazing fastball. Grover played in the 1919 World Series which is known as the Black Sox scandal due to the White Sox throwing the series. Grover had no ties to the throwing of the games.