Latin School of Chicago - Sigillum Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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SIGILLUM FOOTBALL HISTORY Football teams at Latin have always been most interesting and more closely followed than either of the other two major sports. Although the records are incomplete, the first real championship teams were the squads of 1903 and '04, each of which won the cham-. pionship of the Preparatory League. During those earlier years of the twentieth century Latin played Senn, Austin, De Paul, Loyola, and other Chicago public high schools on even terms. In the 1910- 1912 regime four players who later went to Yale and were mentioned for All-American honors-Veeder, Owsley, Gallauer, and Spalding- held down positions on the Latin eleven. lt was during these years that Latin saw the best players that have yet worn the school colors. Mr. Engle was then coach of the team, and he set up a very im- pressive record considering the caliber of the opponents. At that time the school's great rival was the University School, holding somewhat the same position as the Francis Parker school at present. The high point of Latin's football record was when Latin won the high school championship of Chicago by defeating Pullman Tech at Wrigley Field. In 1923 Latin again played for the city championship at Wrigley Field against Lane, public school cham- pions, but lost 20-13. The accomplishment in the defeat was that Lane had had only three points scored against them before that. lVlcGlaughlin succeeded Engle and teams under him were very consistent, but never spectacular. Pete Fortune, who later starred at Princeton, played in '26, '27, and '28, the latter year as captain of the Latin team. Next Dewey took over the coaching and Chuck Duval, who starred at Northwestern University, played under him. During one of Mr. Dewey's years Latin played three scoreless games. Although his record was not too impressive, it could have been much better had some of the teams shown more spirit. Frank Rokusek began his coaching in '33, and with rather meager material to work with he has developed some very excellent teams. Gordon Spens and Jack Lhotka, two of the latest Latin stars, both profited much by his instruction and have used it to advantage in college. Summing up the Latin football records, we may say that Latin has always been a team to which their opponents conceded nothing, and usually playing against schools with larger student bodies than their own, the Latinites have always managed to make cred- itable showings.

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SIGILLUM g Latin's football team was a success, and although it managed to win only as many as it lost, the team defeated three of its four closest competitors: Todd, Harvard, and North Shore. The two Milwaukee schools definitely outclassed the Latin eleven, and some credit may be taken from the fact that Latin at least scored three touchdowns against their Wisconsin foes. The Harvard game was rather dull due to the greenness of both elevens, but Brent Stark managed to score the extra point after Blossom had taken Crane's pass for the six points. Harvard scored late in the last quarter but failed to convert. The Parker game was a heartbreaker and the least said about it the better. There wasn't a player on the Latin squad who wouldn't have given everything to play that one over, but we can only hope they are badly beaten next year. The Todd game was a thriller, and a break for Latin on a dis- puted play was the difference between victory and defeat. Todd's passer was extraordinarily accurate in passing to Blossom of Latin and threw away two touchdowns in this manner. The two Milwaukee games found Latin struggling most of the time to keep the score down. Superior size and number were too much and probably will continue to be. ln the last game of the year Latin easily beat a small but fighting North Shore eleven, and without several penalties deep in North Shore's territory the score would have been doubled. Ashton Graham's end runs were the feature of the game and were usually good for a first down. Latin this year scored in every game-something which is rather unusual. Although their opponents scored forty more points than the Orange and Blue, this was due to the two Milwaukee team games. Half of Latin's touchdowns were scored on passes from Crane to Blossom, and this was Latin's chief offensive threat. As a fitting climax to the season the fourth annual football banquet was held, and every one was interested in the speech of Bob Zuppke from Illinois, who taught our fine coach, Frank Rokusek. Latin will lose two fine ends in Gardner and Howell, a clever quarterback in Crane, and two excellent defensive men in Bennan and Driscoll, but Ashton Graham, who succeeds Rennie Blossom as captain, has a good line coming back although he needs two or three backfield men to round out a well-balanced team. At any rate he has the best wishes of the graduating members of this year's team.

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SIGILLUM BRENNAN, Manager, HAYS, FLANNERY, LEVINE, EELS, SECKEL, KIEFER, Cizowia. MR. BRADLEY, Btossoivr, MCCAR'I'Y, CRANE, KQARDNER, EBRIGHT, Pos'rELL. BASKETBALL Latin students can well be proud of their basketball team this year. At the start of the season, with no regular heavyweights returning and with only two members having ever played as heavy- weights, the prospects did not look very favorable. However Coach Bradley undertook the job with much patience and succeeded in developing a five that won eight of their eleven games. Under the leadership of Bob Crane the teams started slowly, but improved steadily during the season. The highlight games of the yera were the Harvard and Milwaukee Country Day contests which were thrillers up to the last minute. Especially enjoyable was the Mil- waukee victory, for it helped to attone for the football encounter. Both of the Parker games were disappointing for a victory in either would have been greatly enjoyed, but Parker's experience and Latin7s inexperience coupled to spell defeat both times. At the Private School Tournament Latin did not come up to expectations, and although they looked well most of the time they lost two exciting games. It was the experience of playing in front of a large crowd that seemed to disturb the players and was the jinx which Latin could not break. Unfortunate also was Wally Burke's leg injury two days before the tourney. Tall lWr. Burke, who had joined the team only a few weeks before, was being counted