St Sebastians School - Arrow Yearbook (Newton, MA)

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WE were not introduced to the hoopgame at St. Sebastian's until the Winter of our Sophomore year. In 1942-43, when we were Freshmen, the School had elected to con- serve oil in the interests of the War effort, and had closed the gym in order to save some thousands of gallons of the precious fluid. That meant, of course, that we had to forego Basketball, and, naturally, the sacrifice was made cheerfully. From the con- versation of the older students we learned that St. Sebastian's had launched upon a limited competitive schedule for its basket- makers during the very first year of its existence, and that the School quintet had engaged the intermediate teams of local parishes with encouraging success. The early Winter of '43, however, found the court game resumed on Nonantum Hill once more, but it was forced to contend with a rival sport, Hockey, that was just being born in our midst. Despite the magnetic lure of the ice game, Basketball attracted its share of candidates, who were only too willing to put themselves under the tutelage of Coach Murphy and Fr. Collins. Building on the veterans of the '41-'42 season, we fielded 2 team that had Captain George Baker at center, '46's Dan Sullivan and Dick Tonner, forwards, and Bob Baker and Bill O'Leary guards. These worthies faced a schedule that was a far cry from the humble beginning of two years before, St. Sebastian's was now attempting to match the skill and stamina of top-flight private school quintets that had long been specialists at the game. O I ,li Our start was promising enough, for in its initial appearance the team managed to nose out Browne and Nichols in our cage by the slender margin of 26-24. The tension was high in that contest, and George Baker's effective covering of the enemy's Adler was in great measure responsible for our triumph. After tasting the cup of victory early, we were forced to wait some time before it came to our lips again. In three successive contests, Belmont Hill, St. Mary's and Weston High -all experienced and smooth-working units ipinned defeat upon us. Only in one of these meetings were we definitely outclassed, how- ever, and that Was in Southborough when the St. Mark's boys uncorked a scoring hurricane against us with a 78-20 score. The Belmont Hill tilt was a close affair, 19-17, and the Weston game could have been ours easily enough if we had a little more sharpshooting to avert a 28-21 reverse. Victory returned, however, when we engaged Rivers and Belmont Hill, defeating them 22-16 and 32-30, respectively. In the Rivers win, Dan Sullivan proved the hero of the day when he chalked up half of our total points. Against Belmont Hill, it was extremely gratifying to administer our opponents a 2 point defeat, the same dose that they had dealt us in our first meeting. As events turned out, the Rivers and Belmont Hill victories were the last laurels in store for us that season. The remaining contests with Weston High, Cambridge School and Rivers all had to be entered in the red, even though our hoopsters emerged bloody but unbowed. To close out the season, the first Red-Blue Basketball

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game was played, allowing Ed Courtney's Reds to crow over a barely-beaten five that had Ed Murphy for a leader. The Red edge was 29-28, Dan Sullivan figuring prominently in the winning of the placque. Looking back over the season with its grist of three wins in ten games, we could not help but pride ourselves on the fact that the School's quintet had met notable foes and had given all to realize that the court game was on the rise at St. Sebastian's. The hoop campaign of our Junior year was rather slow in getting under Way, chiefly because of the fact that, just before the season opened, the team was deprived of the coaching of Fr. Collins by his departure for Catholic University. Inasmuch as the Hockey squad was absorbing all of Mr. Murphy's time, it became necessary to replace Fr. Collins with Fr. john Redding, a young priest of the Archdiocese who had, in his pre-Seminary days, played extensively in school-boy and semi-pro circles. With some weeks of drilling under their new mentor behind them, our basketeers embarked upon a schedule similar to that of the preceding year. Nine games were attempted, and the net results totaled five victories against four defeats. To open the season shortly after the Christmas holidays, we played host to neighboring St. Columbkille High and paid the penalty for not cashing in on free tries by dropping a 28-21 verdict. To make matters worse, Belmont Hill took us into camp in our second game 36-22, a certain sharpshooter named Nemrow scoring almost half of the enemy's total. The tide soon turned over, however, and the Red and Black chalked up four successive victories to give the situation a different hue. First victim was Sacred Heart of Weymouth in a game that never left the 27-12 issue in doubt. A thriller-diller was next in order when we pulled a 36-34 decision out of the fire by scoring six points in the final two minutes of play to top St. Gabriel's, Rivers too paid tribute to our aggressiveness by bowing 28-25 in a tilt that saw us consistently taking the OPENING WHISTLE Hilton Collupy and Nangle of Sacred Heart ready for the tip-off , ball off the backboards and thereby domi- nating the play. To make it four in a row, we tacked a second and decisive defeat on St. Gabriel's with a 33-15 count. Our streak ended, unfortunately, when Belmont Hill faced us again and emerged with a 28-22 edge. That we could come back strong was demon- strated when we took on Rivers for a second time and sailed over their quintet by a 29-20 length. Cambridge School, however, was strong enough to repeat its success of the previous year against us, forcing us to bow, 26-15. That, in brief, is the chronicle of the wars of '44-'45, and obviously it represents an advance over the achievements of the team we cheered in our Sophomore year. Five wins in nine starts certainly justified us in looking for the day that Basketball would bring notable trophies to St. Sebastian's. In our Senior year, Basketball took on all the earmarks of a major sport on Nonantum Hill. Working on the theory that our basketeers could not help but benefit from competing with high-grade teams, the School authorities had arranged a twenty game schedule that brought us face to face with quintets that had long been formidable in Catholic League and private school ranks. With this prospect ahead, Fr. Redding called out his candidates early, but it was our mis- fortune to find, in mid-January, that the pressure of parish duties and special assign- ments would not permit him to continue in