Slatington High School - Reflections Yearbook (Slatington, PA)

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T HE H ISTOKY OF ATH' 'FTIC S .nl IN SLA'flN6TON HIGH SCHOOL With the building of Smith Hall, Slatington High School has achieved one of its greatest triumphs for athletics. With the recent publicity that Smith Hall has justly received,we have learned with a certain sense of pride that Slat- ington High School has almost always been athletically-minded. Do we, the athletes and their sup- porters of 1938, know that our former high school athletes did not have the opportunities that we have? We are in- clined to accept all our conveniences too complacently, as if they had always existed. Today, under able supervision, with good equipment and in our new gymnasium, or on the newly improved athletic field, we engage in basketball, football, base- ball, and track. Our pioneer athletes had very little equipment, but a great deal of that which it takes to bring success--determination and team work. The first sport engaged in by our high school was basketball: it is still our foremost activity. The first high school team was organized in 1907. The games were played in the old Lyceum Hall on the third floor of the Post Office building on Saturday afternoons. Out- standing in this sport at that time were Roy Campbell and Charlie Moyer. The team was not restricted to pupils only, for occasionally outsiders participated. When the team came out on the floor, it was not greeted by cheer leaders or by a band. The players came out with only one purpose in mind--to win. This first basketball team was coached by members of a local team, one of whom was John Richards. In 1912, Mr. Miles, a teacher in the high school, who had had considerable experience in ath- letics, accepted the position of coach. During the next three years many good basketbaD.players represented Slat- ington. Among them were Carl Ritter, William Keener, Herbert Jones, Fred Williams, Raymond F. Kern, Norman Smith, David F. Kern, Russell Geist, Ray Hand- werk, Russell Handwerk, Harold Jones, Harry Jones, Alfred Neff, Russell Rauch, Roy Kern,WEddieN Maeselon, Ray Stettler, Allan Kester, who was one of the best foul shots ever to attend Slatington High School. During this 1915-1914 season, the team consisted of Norman Smith, sell Geist, David F. Kern, UJimmien der, and John Roberts, Catasauqua Slatington, two undefeated teams, met in a game that ended in the thirdequarter with Slatington leading, 14-ll, in a ufree-for-allu among the players. This misunderstanding resulted in the sever- ance of athletic relations between the two schools for several years. While Mr. Miles served as coach, games were played on the Band HaD.f1oor, until the time when the Band Hall was remodeled. Basketball was then dllcon- tinusd until the winter of 1917. With the completion of the new high school building in 1917, with its new gymnasium, which was one of the largest in Lehigh Valley at the time, a new era in basketball in Slatington High School opened, with Mr. Elmer Hausman, a teach- er in the grade schools, as coach, Some of our early opponents were prep schools, such as Bethlehem Prep, Y.M.C.A.'s, Catholic High of Bethlehem, Fleetwood, Northampton, Mauch Chunk, Muhlenberg College students, Lehighton, and also teams that did not come from schools, such as the NNeff's Bunchn, the nMajesticsn, and the nstars anduSatel- litesu. Since many of the other high schools had neither a gymnasium nor fa- cilities for playing basketball, most of these teams came to Slatington to play. Return games were infrequent. Their mode of transportation con- trasted strangely with ours. The teams came with the trolley or train, and of- ten, if they came a long distance,stayed when Rus- Sny- and i1l..........i--11 IUQSBSZ

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QD MZ EW H To Professor J. W. Snyder, our supervising principal, whose inspir- ing personality and untiring and loyal service have linked him inseparately with memories of our high school days, this annual of Slatington High School is affectionately dedicated.

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UQD8'-1 i.i,-,.....l----- overnight. Our high school team, when it played in Lehighton, remained over- night. These first games were independent ones, not league games: for it was not until shortly after 1918 that the Lehigh Valley Interscholastic Leaque admitted Slatington as a member. Games between the different high schools were sometimes planned just at a moment's notice. For instance, in the 1919 season, our varsity team had a game scheduled with Stroudsburg, and on the same day Northampton wanted a game with Slatington. Our second team was sent to Northampton: it emerged victorious after playing an extra period. A few of the outstanding basketball stars developed during the seasons of l9l7-l918-l9l9- were George Rauch, Allen Rauch, and Irl Rauch, three brothers, Russell Keener, Wallace Kern, Walter Dettmer, Carl Schertzinger, and Allen Keener. In the 1920 season George Rauch, Willis Ringer, John Craig, Malcolm Meagher, Paul Craig, Homer Paules, Dale Smith, Elvin Costenbader, Chalmer Evans, Daniel Rauch,and Webster Mann starred on the court. In 1918 Mr. Hausman was succeeded by Mr. Norman Smith as coach. Under Mr. Smith's coaching, the Slatington teams gradually improved until in the 1924-25 season, the team composed of William Beidleman, Harrison Dilliard, Richard Newcomer, Samuel Newcomer, and Lloyd Williams, our present instructor in phy- sical education, and the substitutes Carl Fritzinger, James Fritzinger, Del- mar Hartline, Sherwood Peters, and John Williams took second place in the league Other high schools that belonged to the league that season were Allentown, Both- lehem, Catasauqua, Northampton, Palmer- ton, Tamaqua, and Easton. In the following season of 1925-26, Slatington took first place kxthe league with Carl Fritzinger, Sherwood Peters, James Fritzinger, John Williams, and Delmar Hartline playing on the first team, with William Beckley, Robert Da- vies, Robert Pierce, Robert Prestwood, and Dean Shenton as substitutes. During the 1925-26 season Lehighton Whitehall, Emaus, and Stroudsburg took the places in the league which had been vacated by Allentown, Easton, Bethlehem, and Tamaqua. It was during the uoffn season that Slatington High School lost by death one of its best loved and greatest basket- Mr. Norman Smith. In his ball coaches, place as head coach was elected Mr, Da- who won for us the champi- vid A. Kern, onship in the league in the 1926-27 sea- son. For three years after the winning of the pennant, Mr. Kern kept the team in second place in the league: since then our standing has been variable. From 1932 to 1934 we placed from third to sixth. In 1935 we were definitely back in third place. At present we are in an athletic slump. Mr. Kern was succeeded at the coaching helm in 1955 by Mr. Fred T. Maass and assistant coach Lloyd Wil- liams. Our boys apparently went into a slump because the playing conditions of all those other league schools far sur- passed those of Slatingtonz but new that we have the best floor in the league we may look forward to the time when our team will again be a leader in the cir- cuit. Although boys' basketball was begun in 1907 in the high school, it was not until 1917 that the first girls' basket- ball team was organized. The Girls' basketball was a member of the Girls' Lehigh Valley Scholastic League until the league was abolished two years ago. Coaches for those teams were the Misses Helen Williams, Dorothy Maxwell, Maude Evans, Agnes Caskie, and Dorothy Berlin. Outstanding among the