St Xavier College - Xaverian Yearbook (Cincinnati, OH)

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Seventy THE XAVERIAN NEWS A review of the l92l football season open?! to the writer a glorious page of success spotted with little ink-blots of failure. Triumphing over damped enthusiasm. the heritage of former mediocre teams. hampered by lack of equipment, harassed by distance of the practice field, forsaken by material that would have helped, the squad of 1921 mantully battled itself to a modicum of fame and glory. What this modicum might have been. had Dame Fortune smiled on us during the Hughes game who knows? The stage was set; for the hrst time of what subsequently proved three times we were meeting Hughes in a game for the city championship. The story of that fa- mous battle is too familiar to bear minute repetition. Three times we rushed the ball into the very shadow of the enemy's goal to lose it on fumbles. The third time a big. red warrior picked the 'oval up and dashed fully ninety yards for a touchdown. Before we could recover from the'shock caused by this stroke of bad luck our goal line had once more been crossed. Shortly after the second half began, our opponents scored again, running up their total to 15. Then hap- pened a feat of marvellous gamcness. With the score la to 0 against us, turn, battered. and bruised, we took the ball down the held to a touchdown. This was not all; lighting like made, mindful only of our opponent's handicap. we literally tore our way through obstacles to an- other score. By opening up our battery of shift plays, end runs, cross- bucks. and forward passes, we closed the gap, 18 to l4. With victory in sight, and hundreds of our frenzied supporters pleading for another score, we started down the held again. But human endurance has a limit. Ours had been reached. The big red team stopped our tri- umphant march, and with an influx of substitutes walked through our weakened line for the last score of the game; 24 to 14 was the hnal result. But no one who saw the game will say that the score tells the.true story. Hughes then first felt our metal, and since that time revenge for us has been sweet. Two other defeats much less glorious than that by Hughes mar our record.' Norwood scored 14 to our I3 points. but we gained the yard: to every one of hers. Miami Military allo is credited with 21 points, while we had but 20. Our victories were over Erlanger, Covington, Newport, Milford. and Woodward. The most remarkable feature of our season: play was our often- sive work. In only one game did we score less than two touchdowns -this a 6-to-0 victory-over Milford in a sea of mud. Erlanger tool: the short end of a l08-to-0 score; and in what was perhaps our belt played game we swamped Woodward 48 to 0. The success of the team can, in large measure. be attributed to the fact that though there were stars it was a team. Every man gave the best he had and worked as a cog in a unihed machine. Reynolds and Closterman were placed on the All-Cincy Hi First Eleven; Schmidt and Kelly on the, Second,'and King on the Third. Only those who witnessed the games or who played against us knew what a slashing. hang-up end Captain Madden was. He grew better as the season advanced, and though light. repeatedly turned plays in, or sifted through and got the man himself. Murphy, Rohs, and Wiener. the shock trio. at tackles, took and gave at will. Wiener showed himself an adept at any position on the line. Fath and Nieberding, guards. heavy and powerful, when aroused, proved .themselves veritable young hone; many a play was checked in its infancy by these charging gladiators. Kelly at center passed with unfailing accuracy on of- fenee. On defense he ranged from end to end behind the line, diag-r nosing-plays. sifting through to break them up. and making himself a stumbling block for those who might have eluded the first line of defense. Closterman and King at half-bacl: skirted ends with seeming ease; Closterrnan hits ram-like; King, the youngest player on the team. tleeted his course away from many an opposite half-baclt.. Hi! rum were ordinarily the sensation of the game. At full Reynolds tan rnels. hit the line, forward passed, and kicked with equal success. N- High School athlete in the city does more than shadow George. 'AI end Captain-elect Schmidt proved himself a sturdy barrier against those antlcipatmg a gain around hit wing. Cell is'solidly built. take: punishment, hits terrifically hard; above all he has the head and the nerve of a real general. He stabs forward passes with consummate grace. Tommy Johnson for the most part showed himself a good general; his handling of the team in the Woodward game was beyond reproach; though light, Tom has plenty of grit. He handled punts all season credttably. Tom Eagan. who played in most of the games, is a coming star; he is a player of the aggressive type. he other men who slaved to make the season a success were Jack Began. Chenal, Champ. and Brady.

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THE XA VERIAN NEWS FIRST HIGH K TOPeW'eir. RieskampLConners, Sweeney, Scanlon, Hilbert. Fischer. i ,Mitchell; Leonard, Molleran, Budde, fSaalfeld, McGowan. LOWERmHeheman, Beall, Willie,- Mr; Breiding, Mees. Eitzgerald, Hoffman. CENTEReKehoe. Strauh, Sixly-nirie OUR CLASg First Year K has gone in for' every branch of athletics in the High School. Victory has not always perched on our banner. yet we rise from defeat with unclaunt- ed spirit, determined to succeed the next time. Our students are of'the type of the genuine American boy. We are not over studious. yet we are a jolly. good-naturecl crew, possess- ing an ample share of humor, yet withal limiting that humor when duty commands it. We. have a good class organization, .with an efficient president. secretary and custodian of the cash. High School Sodality From the earliest days of the school the tradition has existed that devotion to Our Lady is a requisite for success, andtthe students of the past have an enviable record as mem- bers ot the Soclality; It is dbubtful. however. whether at anytime more devotion and self-sacriflce has been shown than during the year just closing. In fact. so great was the enthusiasm manifested by the boys that it made ya division of the Soclality necessary, and so it was thought advisable to form a branch for the Freshmen alone, with a full set of officers and a different clay of meeting. 50 we had the meet- ing of the higher classes on Wednesday and the Freshmen on Mondays-and after class. This last, meeting after class, meant a great sacrifice for many, and yet all made it, and continued to be faithful to the final meeting of the year. Of course, there were many outstanding features in the meetings. and out of them. that made the year a memorable one; hut space does not allow us to do justice to all of them. However. the wonderfhl celebration of the feast of the lm- maculate Conception will long linger in the memories of those present, when nearly four hundred and fifty from all parts of the city and suburbs met to receive Holy Com- munion in honor of their Queen, and the older members re- newecl their act of conseciation, whilst the Freshmen made their first act to uOur Queen. Our Advocate and Our Mother. And the Blessed Virgin blessed our year and made it a happy one, and, we hope. a successful one. Much of the success and'enthusiasm of the year in the concluct of the Sodality and its activities was owing to our splendid and faithful oHicers, and the names of Joseph Egan, Prefect, and George Nunner, with Herbert Barn- hom the assistants of the Senior Sodality; of Louis Keller. Prefect, and Paul Naish and Paul Baurichter, assistants, deserve to be handed down to the officers of coming years for remembrance. Rev. George Leahy, S. J.. was the Director of the Junior and Senior Sodalities.

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THE XAVERIAN NEWS Enthusiasm for basketball ran high from the very start. The mooted question was: Will this year's team be as good as last? Three stars had thinned the ranks of the veterans by graduation. When the first call was issued for practice, the gym was full of hopeful aspirants; and under the skill- ful hands of Coach Davis they were Welded into a team which answered to satisfaction the wondering question of the fans. The curtain dropped in a blaze of glory with the defeat of Hughes before a packed house at the Y. Revenge was ours for defeat in football, and with our victory came the coveted championship of the city. The success of the season in no small way was due to the efforts of our sterling coach. Herb won a place in our affections, as well as a title to our lasting gratitude. With Untiring effort he worked to make us the best team in the sur- rounding territory; and the best we were. Besides being. a player of renowun on the College team. Herb has qualities that destine him for success as a University coach. ' He knows how to get others to perform the feats he himself ex- eciites with such ease. Team work with short, snappy pass- ing featured the season's play. . e - . Captain Kelly, as running guard, gave the mltial impetus to our speedy game. Kel was no mean shot himself, and With our forwards covered frequently rimmed them from the center of the floor. It was such a shot as this. that turned what looked like certain defeat into a sweet v1ctory over Hughes during the toumament.. Tom Eagann the other guard, was a leech. No one in hlgh school Circles could take them off the backboard like Tom. Crolley en- tered our midst at the beginning of the basketball season and won our admiration at once. John jumped center. It Swenly-one was his ability to get the tip-off to Kelly that was respon- sible for our whirlwind oEense. At forward Wiener worked like a twin with Reynolds; he was a good shot. and played the Hoor well. Reynolds was perhaps the outstand- ing star in basketball as in football. His Hoor work never failed to advance the ball; as a goal-shooter George was very accurate. J. S. Reardon worked well as a substitute running guard or forward. Closterman's greatest asset as guard was his ability to break up enemies' plays under the basket. The other members of the squad deserve great credit for their faithful work in practice. They frequently made the hrst team extend themselves, and thus prepared them for hard battles. The schedule, including the best teams in this section of the country, was a clean sweep, except for one defeat in the Tri-State tournament. After beating our first three op- ponents in this meet Mount Healthy eliminated us from the semi-hnals. Some of the best teams'beaten were: Hughes, East Side,,Woodwarcl, Norwood, Milford, Carroltown. Middletown, O. M. I. and Lawrenceburg. The fine record of the team aroused great enthusiasm among the student body, and every game found the fans present in large numbers. In fact. our rooting at the more important games was a subject of comment by the news- papers. Besides supporting the team the fans wishedito show their playing ability. To satisfy this desire a noon- league was organized. Nine first-year teams battled for supremacy. After a hard race First H came off with the honors. Eight teams from the other classes composed an- other league. Third A won the championship in this league. The basketball season of l922 was one to remember.