Middletown High School - Optimist Yearbook (Middletown, OH)

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,ff 3, .N .lv sf. at s 5 ff Athletic Board Elmo Lingrel, Athletic Director Rayner Greene, Basketball Coach J. F. Winkelman, Athletic Manager Alheri Hamm, Student Manager H071

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Message from Coach The 1931 football season is now his- tory, but long will it stand out in our memories as one of the greatest in many years. No team in the past had so many boys who could do so many things well. Our blocking was better, our running more deceptive, and our passing attack far superior to any previous season. The Lockland game gave our practi- cally new team just the right kind of work-out to prepare us for the Kiser game the next Saturday. The Kiser game, to my way of seeing things, was the best game of the season. We were harder pressed in that game than the score indicates. The following Satur- day we were to meet Steele of Dayton. Steele had the heaviest team, perhaps. in the State. We had very little hope of doing anything to their line, particularly their tackles. who weighed 208 and 216 pounds. Our only hope was going around end. You, who saw the game, will remember the long jaunts by Romans and McMann. Wendt and Strong gave as good a demonstration of blocking in that game as any one could hope to see. Our better running attack and the completion of a fine forward pass found us leading, 19 to T, at the end of the game. For years we have been fearing Hughes, our next. week's opponent. Hughes had its best team in years, an d we were all set for another real battle. Had Hughes been permitted possession of the ball more in that game, they would have caused us no little trouble. They had a good running attack but were quite weak defensively. We surprised our- selves more than we did them by win- ning 45 to 7. Lioej The season was half over and from the fact we had met with such success, our followers had begun to predict an un- defeated season. This feeling, I think, crept into the team. The things we had been doing so well up to t.his time were conspicuous by their absence at Ports- mouth. Don't forget, however, that the Portsmouth team was mostly responsible for our lack of doing things, as in the previous games. Their team was by far the best we had met. They were a well coached, good blocking, great defensive team, and that day, de- served to win. We came home, of course, with heads bowed, but not dis- couraged. Lima Central, the fol- lowing Saturday, met a different and better team and was defeated, 41 to X 0. While we were doing 1 g battle with Lima Central, ' Roosevelt, our next opponent, was downing Stivers, 24 to 13. We had not met Roosevelt in three years and to learn they had handed Stivers such a drubbing looked anything but promising for us. The Portsmouth defeat was still doing good. We had no trouble defeating Roosevelt, 38 to O. After eight years we were to renew athletic relations with our ancient rival, Hamilton, the following Saturday. No doubt a good many people went to that game expecting a renewal of scenes which took place several years ago on our own Field. We had a beautiful day, no disturbances whatever. and a good ball game. I have nothing but praise for the fine way which our boys conducted themselves on the field and I shall always remember that fighting spirit of the Ham- ilton players. We won this year, but re- member, next year is another year. Let's get ready now!

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Paul Lawson, Captain Captain Lawson's migration from guard to end this season only added to his importance in the Middie attack. Early in the season, Ruben mastered the art of snagging passes out of the ozone, and many touchdowns were scored by him via the air. But his work was not limited to catching passes, for he was also well versed in blocking and tackling, and many an opposing tack1er's weary condition was due to Lawson's sock 'em and rock 'em tactics. Men like Lawson are hard to find, and Coach will have a hard time replacing him. Earl Kinney Although this was Earl's first year as a regular, he played like a veteran. Kinney had an innate propensity for getting in the road of those enemy short line jabs, and he made a general nuisance of himself by being here, there, and everywhere. The bottom of the pile was usually Earl's favorite position, and he was also an efficient blocker and tackler. In the Portsmouth game, Kinney played his best, and got many tackles by kniting through the Trojan's forward wall. Paul Diver A guard does a lot of work on a football team and gets little of the glory, and Paul Diver is an excellent example of this. His second year on the squad. but his first as a regular, proved Diver to be a real linesman. Pulling out of the line for interference, and going down under punts were his specialties, but his hard tackling on the line gained him the name of Morphine . His performance at Portsmouth was excellent. Diver had more than his share of guts and very seldom complained of his injuries. John Carmody Irish , following in the steps of his brother, held down an end position this year in a Hrst class manner. Although John was our lightest linesman. his end was hard to skirt, and was very seldom passed. He always played a good game and his foes rarely got the best of him. No matter how hard the game, it seemed as if Irish never tired, for he was usually the first man back after a touchdown. Carmody played especially well against Steele's big veteran tackle. fiosi