Lewisburg High School - Oneida Yearbook (Lewisburg, PA)

Page 8 text:

One More Go At the Gridiron As near as l can determine, there had not been a football team since 1925, four years previous to the 1929 season. A group of citizens, some of them parents, some alumni and a devoted, loyal group of L.H.S. boys, together with Pro- fessor H.E. Stover, our Supervising Principal, urged me to field a team. Professor Stover, members of the school board, Professor H. U. Heckart, Director of Athletics, all told me there were no funds available to field a team. Mr. Heckart informed me that there were some old uniforms and shoes inthe basement of the South Ward Shool. The new High School gym was not yet completed, and we had no playing field of our own. I recieved 350.00 per season as coach. Needless to say, it never found a place in my pocket. I simply carried it from the Lewisburg Bank to W.L. Donehowers for football equipment. Since l may forget the names of all those who deserve thanks for their aid, our Boosters, let me just note there were many helping hands. They included the blacksmith, the shoe repair man, the tailor, the merchants, and post office employees. The first year was the tough one. John Plant and Malcolm Musser made Tustin gymnasium and Tustin field available to us. Later, we used the present Bucknell University practice field. Bucknell University was very kind to us. There were many things to plan and provide for in addition to the coachingjob. However, l had good support and willing hands to help me. 1 929-'I 931 by Coach H. A. Troutman John Stahl and Mose Quinn, both Bucknellians, were very capable and helped develop good teams. They were instrumental in getting equipment that was no longer used by Coach Snavely in the years that he had top-flight teams at Bucknell. We owed many thanks to all these donors. Mose Quinn was a senior at Bucknell, hoping to become a high school football coach. Experience, he figured, was the best teacher. John Stahl and Mose were very cooperative, despite the fact that l was from Penn State. The two schools were great rivals, and Bucknell, in those years, beat Penn State quite often. John and Mose knew the game, and we had lots of fun working out the plays for a group of talented boys. I believe that we made the most of the short time we had to explore talent and to build plays around that talent. The boys of the L.H.S. were bright, spirited kids. They took coaching well and produced accordingly. All the teams we played had much more experience, but they did not have anymore determination or will to practice the charge and pursue type of football I was taught under Hugo Bezdek, and which Quinn learned under Coach Snavely. There really were no bench warmers on our team. All the boys had a lot of ability and produced when called on to do so. Our equipment was poor and always needed a lot of repairs. Our managers must deserve great credit. They worked long hours cleaning, repairing and delivering, and our teachers showed great patience by releasing them to do chores for the sake of football. Yes, there still are a few of us young folks around - the teachers of that era. Every sportsman has his favorite stories. So does the football coach. l shall tell only three stories of the many that come to mind, dedicated to the boys and coaches of the L.H.S. The first one has to do with the games we had with the Howard High School team in Center County, an area where good quality bricks were made, and where many of their boys worked during the summer vacation. However, they produced even better football players. That was one team we could never defeat. They were big hard-hitting boys. However, after the game was over, they showed' their hospitality by treating us to a chicken and waffle dinner at a local church. All for free. Can anyone beat that? Let's bring back some of that spirit. We started home by the way of Williamsport. We got to the middle of a long hill south of Muncy. Oscar Liddick, in his bus, lit was the vehicle we generally used to go to our away gamesl cried: Out of gas! The bus had stopped. We all climbed out of the bus, pushed it up over the hill, climbed back into it again and coasted down to Mohrs Park gas station. It was getting late, but the

Page 7 text:

the most valuable player at the University of South Carolina, in 1957, where he played under one of his dad's teammates, Max Reed, one ofthe greatest players from the Lewisburg area. We had to travel by train for away games, Attorney Johnson recalls, and we usually had to play not only the opposing team, but the officials and the crowd. This was especially true in Williamsport and Shamokinf' Recalling the 'game of games that year in Williamsport, Skeet Smith asked us to picture our squad, all 13 of us, with no band and only several devoted fans who accompanied us on the train and then sat on the bench to help fill it up. However, all the players had only one purpose in mind: 'Beat Williamsport! ' As Skeet remembers: We played straight football in that game, with very little passing. We just waited for a break. lt came in the fourth quarter when they had to punt from behind their own goal line. Our brilliant center, Max Reed, crashed through the line, blocked the punt, and fell on the ball for a score. We won 6-O Both Skeet and Don had high praise for the business and professional men in town who donated funds to equip the squad. Congressman 'Ben Focht and Attorney Andrew Leiser each gave 510, a big amount in those days, to start the fund, Attorney Johnson recalls. We raised S200 and Billy Donehower sold us 13 complete uniforms and one football, a football we used throughout the season for practice and for play. Both men noted that the team members, with a little help, rigged up a shower in the high school basement, a shower which was connected to the cold water pipe only. Nobody hung around in that shower for too long, the former team captain stressed. Who were the members of this small but mighty band that won the first championship for L.H.S.? We list them here with comments of Skeet Smith and Don Johnson: MAX REED: Now deceased: the center of the squad who had a brilliant career as a player and coach. Carl Snavely called him one of the greatest football minds in the nation. Max coached at Bucknell, Cornell, and the University of North Carolina under Snavely. He later was line coach at the University of South Carolina and for the Washington Redskins. DAVIS ARNOLD: Now de- ceased: tackle on the the squad, he served as a civil engineer with the Pennsylvania Department of High- ways. WILLIAM DUCK: Now de- ceased: a really fine end and a man of high intelligence, he served as Dean at Gettysburg College. GORDON SCHOLL: Now de- ceased: a tough-nosed guard, he operated a successful florist business in Florida. HAROLD PAINTER: Now de- ceased: the versatile man who played all positions as a substitute, he served for many years as manager of the Reading Office for Bell Telephone. LEISER EISENHOWER: Now deceased: our other crashing tackle, he was a high school principal for over 30 years. His son, Marine Lt. Col. Steve Eisenhower, was team captain and an All-Ameri- can at the U.S. Naval Academy. ALBERT JOHNSON, JR.: One of the ends on our team who is now a practicing attorney in Roaring Spring, Pa. ROBERT HEIM: The flashy halfback of the team is now retired from a successful career in investment banking. He now resides in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. DALE WAGNER: The second speedy halfback is now retired from his teaching career and resides in Owensboro, Kentucky. GLENN MORROW: Our se- cond all-position substitute now resides in Lewisburg. He is retired after a successful career in electrical engineering. LUTHER BINGAMAN: The other hard-hitting guard is now retired and living in Endicott, N.Y. FULLBACK: Skeet Smith OUARTERBACK AND CAP- TAIN: Donald Johnson, who also played one year of pro ball in Millville, NJ. A BRIEF INTERLUDE ...1924-1925 No records of L.H.S. teams from 1920 to 1923 could be found, but football was on the scene in 1924 and 1925. As the Saturday News reported on November 8, 1924: Lewisburg boys deserve much credit because they have been without a coach or equipment the greater part of this season. The 1924 team defeated the Milton iunior varsity tor Second team i by a 19-0 score. They lost to Picture Rocks, 12-O: to Sunbury, 47-0: and to Lewistown, 53-0. Team Captain was Charles W. Kalp, a halfback. Other backs included Paul Johnson, Milton Wagner, R. Henry Coleman, and Burtoff Koser. Ends were Bill O'Brien and Raymond Pearson: and the linemen included Warren Sherman, H. John Stahl, Harry Stahl, Thomas Zeiber, Charles 5 Liddich, Charles Lewis, Willard Poeth, Floyd Kline, Edward Kleck- ner, and Orvis Campbell. Bill O'Brien was elected captain of the 1925 team, which posted a 2-6 record. The Green Dragons defeated Watsontown and St. Joseph's tAshlandi, but lost the rest. This was only their second season after a lapse of several years, and inexperience took its toll. Some interesting data uncovered during our research: the Picture Rocks team outweighed the Dra- gons by 25 lbs. per man: and the Milton game was the highlight of the season, being played on a snow-covered field on Thanks- giving. Seniors on the 1925 squad were Bill O'Brien, Paul Johnson, Clifford Leitzel, Walter Angstadt, and Robert Krebs.

Page 9 text:

Row 1 - llelt to rightl - Gilbert Wagner, Kenneth Herrold, William Beck, Alfred Benson, Joe Francovich, Wendell Eggleton, Paul Stover, Richard Harder. Row 2 - Bill Woodson, Edgar Furman, George Reish, Fred Lucas, Captain Frank Lewis, Albert Shannon, John Eisenhauer, Russell Conler, Lynn Kling. Row 3 - Assistant Coach John Stahl, Robert Cox lmgr.l, Robert Reitz, Jim Baker, Charles 0'Brien, Horace Hall, Richard Benson, Robert Rupp, Herbert Croyle, Head Coach Harry Troutman. attendant filled the gas tank and we arrived home at a late hour. Another away game was played at Picture Rocks on a very cold afternoon. After the game was scheduled, we heard about a monster team up there which would destroy us. Jules Priest, a Bucknell player, gave us this advance information. They were mostly farm boys and worked on lumber tracts. Their field was rough and had quite a slope at one end, toward the goal post. We prepared our team in advance. Speed, sure tackling and sharp blocking must prevail. The boys, through fear, daring and team spirit did just that. They brought home the bacon, 13-7. The borough fathers breathed more easily after that one. The boys had really proven themselves a solid team. The last episode I wish to tell about was a game played with the Susquehanna University Junior Varsity. We had played them in a O-0-tie game at the beginning of the season. They asked for a return game near the end of the season. It was played on the Bucknell practice field on a very cold day. Their team was much improved. Likewise, our team had also improved and had gained real confidence. In studying their defense in the first half, which ended in no score, we noticed their left end and tackle were far out of position when we were in an unbalanced line left on 7 the offense. Mose Quinn set up a special play formation between halves, drawing both guards on a reverse. We used the play twice and scored two touchdowns. We had two fast halfbacks and they carried the mail. The final score was 14-0 L.H.S. The team had come far. They knew the game and disciplined themselves. I will not name the players, but our center did his job well, along with two guards to make the play work. All the players had filled their assignments. Finally, l have a kind of last word. Coaches John Stahl and Mose Quinn, as well as some of the players, are no longer with us. To the last man, they were a great group of kids. When you look at each one in the picture, you can bet they had what it took to make a good team. L.H.S. got a full time physical education program the next year, and a better football program was in the making. We had a lot of fun on a shoe string sort of opportunity.