St Sebastians School - Arrow Yearbook (Newton, MA)

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HHN His Eminence, the late Cardinal WArchbishop, purchased the property of the Newton Country Day School, Saint Sebastian's became heir to a magnificent gym. While this gym might be more properly termed a cage, it lends itself quite naturally to basketball play. The court surface is of peat which becomes hard and level when wetted down and rolled. It was natural then that Saint Sebastian's second venture into the domain of Sport should be basketball. Coach Duffy called for candidates and the response was promising. There followed several weeks of arduous practice lightened occasionally by inter-squad matches. After the prospects had been surveyed the Faculty Director of Athletics decided that a limited competitive schedule could be attempted. Since most schools did not sponsor a fresh- man quintet we were necessarily limited to meeting the intermediate teams representing local parishes. We can hardly say that the results of these contests exceeded our expectations. It may be said, however, that we gave a creditable account of ourselves against the Presentation Club, Saint Columbkille's, Saint Lawrence's and the Blessed Sacrament five. Our regular representatives were George Baker and Dailey, forwards, Ed Murphy, center, Kick- ham and Donahue, guards. Uniforms were also worn by Bob Baker, Barry, Carroll, Collins, Eastwood and Glasheen. Dailey was probably the most experienced hoopster on the squad and he and George Baker took turns in pacing our scoring efforts. G 1 l S The supreme effort of our new team was made against Presentation in a return game. An earlier contest had seen us following a good neighbor policy and submitting to a 22-12 defeat. The second meeting, however, found us thirsting for revenge, which we satisfied by a 19-16 triumph. Kickham, moved to a forward post for the occasion, more than rewarded the confidence placed in him by emerging high scorer of the day. His efforts were efficiently supplemented by George Baker and Dailey who also were major factors in the win. Similar exhibitions of sharpshooting and team play falthough not always crowned with the same successl convinced us that our first year's efforts had been in the right direction and that in future years the court game would bring its share of glory to Saint Sebastian's. The second year of our scholastic and athletic history coincided with the most critical period of the rationing program. The school is entirely heated by oil and it was thought that the most appropriate con- tribution we could make to the conservation of the precious fluid was the closing of the gym-a measure that would save thousands of gallons. Consequently, we were called upon to forego the use of the gym and its facilities. Sensing that a game of much more vital importance was at stake our compliance was prompt and willing. Junior year restored the court game to the list of our activities. In this second year of its existence, however, it was called upon to

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hind the Priory goal. We missed the try that would have evened the score, and thereby found ourselves on the loser's side of the ledger, 7-6. It could have been otherwise for once we marched to the five yard stripe only to have the ball wrested from us on the final down, after we had, as we thought, made the necessary distance hands down . That decision, together with the recollection of turkeys strutting across the gridiron, will always be numbered among the memories of our trip to Portsmouth. We threw off the dejection that was a natural consequence of the above, and took part in what was to be our last Red-Blue struggle. The by-this-time traditional muddy field greeted us and Don Gibbons and Bob Shea were the rival leaders. It did not seem quite fair that the Senior should bow in defeat, but Bob Shea and his fellow Blues were far from obliging and they won the day 13-6. Don did his part by putting on one of his galloping ghost exhibitions, but Bob Baker's two scores nullified the Red lad's effort. Thus we come to the end of the football narrative, and looking back at St. Sebastian's record from the pioneer days to the present, we feel that one fact is obvious-Qthe lean years are over and our Alma Mater is ready to assume an enviable place in the scholastic gridiron world. We feel sure that time and time again, as St. Sebastian's glory increases and the school's athletes gain more and more renown, we shall glow with pride at the recollection that we were privileged to lay the foundation of the structure that has reared itself so high. l MAKING IT Baker churns through the traditional Red-Blue game mud to register a first down

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FOUL SHOT LINEUP St. Sebastian's vs. St. Lawrence's on our home grounds. Kickham shooting. contend with the presence of a rival Winter Sport, hockey, which was just being organ- ized at St. Sebastian's. As a result, the basketball squad found itself under the con- joined supervision of both Mr. Murphy and Fr. Collins who ably filled in when the coach had to direct the efforts of the icemen. Under their guiding efforts the School's quintet made notable progress and lived up to the promise engendered by the start we had made as freshmen. In molding a team for the 1943-44 season, our new mentor had the benefit of the ex- perience gained by players like Captain George Baker and Ed Murphy in the pre- vious campaign. He also had the asset of new talent which arrived in the persons of Dick Tonner, Ed Courtney, Bill O'Leary, Dan Sullivan, Frank Dermody and Bill Cryan. Practice began in earnest scarcely two weeks after the curtain had been rung down on the gridiron season. With the presence of a new coach and the introduction of new talent, competition for starting berths was unusually keen. The probation period came to an end by mid-December, and then it was seen that the following lads had won the nod: Sullivan and Tonner, forwards, Captain Baker, center, and Bob Baker and O'Leary, guards. Their status as regulars, however, was steadily challenged by Murphy, Courtney and Dermody among others. The schedule which had been arranged for our 1943-44 team was an imposing one, and provided quite a contrast to the humble beginnings of two years before. At that time our opposition was confined to thc intermediate teams of local parishes, now we were to take on top-flight prep school teams