Lester Prairie High School - Prairiette Yearbook (Lester Prairie, MN)

Page 38 text:

FOOTBALL SEASON 1938 Silver Lake 18 Lester 38 Delano 14 Lester 44 Brownton 19 Lester 50 Delano 19 Lester 85 Silver Lake 0 Lester 38 DISTRICT TOURNAMENT Renville 24 Lester 31 From the previous season's records in football, fans in Lester Prairie realized there were football players as well as basketball and baseball in Lester High. The season opened with the entire squad of lettermen returning with the exception of Howard Ernst, center and capt. of the previous season. Other returning lettermen were Kenneth Norman, halfbackg Oscar Rolf, centerg Bud Daggett, endg Clyde Beise, quarterbackg Agmar Spleiss, end: and captain Eldor Spleiss, Ardin Gutzman was the first man to receive a serious inju1'y. A1'din received a broken arm during '38, Games were scheduled much easier in the '38 season with an increase in the interest of the sport. Five games were scheduled: two with Silver Lake, two with Delano, and one with Brownton. Coaches of the ten six-man teams in District Twelve elected to hold the first six-man tournament in District Twelve history. The winners of the eastern half to meet the winners of the western half in a grand finale at Hector. Lester being undefeated in the eastern half we1'e to meet Renville winners of the western half. The day scheduled for the championship play-off was handicapped by a wet field. Lester edged out victorious by a 24 to 31 margin. Eugene Daggett, end, and Eldor Spleiss, captain and full back received all-district nomina- tiong this completed another year of undefeated competition. .f 2 ,Af ' . .lf rs xXt Q7 L5 5 iflitgiii YLLNTS L-:ST STQMJ

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1939 - '40 Cl-IEER LEADERS Ruth Emich, Mavis and Loretta Maetzold FOOTBALL SEASON 1937 Silver Lake 14 Lester 19 Brownton 6 Lester 24 Silver Lake 6 Lester 21 With the fall of 1937 one of Lester Prairie's most successful scholastic activity was organ- nized. In six man football equipment, coach, and players were experimenting with an unfamil- iar sport. Coach Roy Foster, a Concordia College graduate, did a splendid job in developing an en- tirely green bunch of boys. Six man football being a new sport, games were hard to get. Three games were scheduled the first season, and the boys went through the season undefeated, starting a string of vic- tories yet to be unmarred.

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1939 FOOTBALL TEAM TOP ROW- Coach Falk, Merlin Groenke, Walter Schneider, Harold Lemke, Gordon Her- man, Donald Splettstazer, Raymond Radtke, Superintendent E. J. Erickson. BOTTOM ROW- Orval Birkholz, Roland Schmidt, Kenneth Norman, Captain Clyde Beise, Harry Elliott, Harold Schneider, Wayne Cutzman. 1939 FOOTBALL SEASON Silver Lake 0 Lester 45 Stewart 0 Lester 50 Silver Lake 8 Lester 44 Humboldt 0 Lester 27 Renville 7 Lester 34 Brownton 18 Lester 56 DISTRICT TOURNAMENT Hector 20 Lester 23 Four lettermen were lost by graduation: E. Spleiss, captain, Eugene Daggett, Oscar Rolf, and Ardin Gutzmann. Three of the four lettermen graduating were regulars on the champion- ship '38 team. An undefeated season was regarded as highly improbable by everyone except probably the coach and players who were an optimistic team. Mr. Foster was succeeded by Mr. Falk, a Hamline University graduate. Returning lettermen for the '39 season were A. Spleiss and Gutzmann at ends: Schmidt, center: Elliott, fullback: Norman, half: and Captain Beise, quarterback. The '39 season started out with a very impressive showing. In the first three games, the team won by decisive margins. With an increase in tougher competition, the team had to fight for its victories. The climax of season play was a 27 - 0 victo1'y over St. Paul Humboldt's six-man team played on the St. Paul Athletic Field under lights. This was some- thing entirely new to football fans and players in Lester Prairie. Another championship playoff was scheduled between the Eastern and Western half win- ners. The playoff was again scheduled at Hector, the same field the Lester boys won the cham- pionship on the year before. It was a new foe, in Hector western half winners. Hector High had an edge on the Lester team playing on their home field. This turned out to be true with Lester trailing the whole game until with 56 seconds to go, Lester behind 17 - 20, Elliott, on a pass play, ran the ball for a touchdown spelling V-I-C-T-O-R-Y for Lester High. All District awa1'ds were again presented with Elliott, from Lester, receiving the only nom- ination.