Western High School - Occident Yearbook (Bay City, MI)

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BASKETBALL

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Elhrrr Qlupn in 09112 that K' l SINGULAR circumstance in connectibn with the Valley Association 152 s-'IA' ., is the fact that three of the four cups yvere in the possession of West- Q ern High school, the smallest school in point of numbers of pupils of any of the schools afliliated with the3Valley Association. . -X uf . 5 Elgin' WY-stern had the basketball, football and base balk cups as con- crete evidence of its. prowess in three of the four lines of sport in which the Valley organization specializes. It is said to be the first time in the history of the organization that a sin le school has at one time pos- sessed three out of four cups. V Western's record in the realm of athletics would be remarkable under any circumstances, but particularly is it so by reason bf the unusual handicaps which it has encountered through the school attendancel There have been times when it has looked well nigh impossible to muster enough men to make up a team. Notable among these instances was the case of last fall when in several of the important games a. bare eleven men were availab e for them. So severe was the handicap in this respect that the team was at tim s crippled through the physical condition of the p'ayers as a result of previous injtiries. The unusual records made by the teams are due principally to the coach. VV. WV. Morris. His success in turning out a winning aggregation in the face of what early each season looked like insuperable obstacles has arrested attention through- out the state. Starting the season with green players for the most part, he has coached the fresh timber in a manner that has ,resulted not only in a. thorough knowledge of the game on the part of the athlete, but in many cases has uncovered talent that has attracted wide attention. Some o these players have gained ath- letic honors elsewhere, but there are still some in, school. l One example is Toutzxnt, who playing his first game of football last fall. was unanimously chosen All-Valley football center and who was spoken of by some as a candidate for all-state center. Another who is still in school is Pacynski, the all-valley choice for end and a candidate for all-valley basketball honors. Nickols, a member of the school, was easily all-valley center last year. Lefler, a lineman on last fall's football team. was elected to the all-valley football team and men- tioned outside of Bay City as an all-state candidate. Shaver, another man in school, who played On the football team, was alsoi on the all-valley team and men- tioned as a. candidate for all-state tackle. There are other instances now in school of Mr. Morris' success. Never has the athletic ability of VVestern been at the high standard that it is at present, many west siders attribute the fact fto -Mr. Morris. He commands the respect of every boy who has ever been under his tuition and to this circumstance many fol-lowers of the school point as an explanation of the success of the teams. 62 I

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Basketball Starting the season with Pittsley, Hershey, Pacynski and Nickols, the four veterans of last year's championship team, everyone in the valley thought we would again win the championship. Owing to the fact, however. that We lost the two hard-fought games to Eastern and one to Flint, we were eliminated from win- ning the championship. ' Mr. Morris. who is the best coach in the Saginaw valley, with the help of his four veterans of last year and plenty of raw material, succeeded in rounding out a good team in a short time. New uniforms were purchased this year and they were well worth working for. This year for the first time, every team in the val- ley had to play all the other teams two games, and the one with the highest per eentage of games won would win the championship. This method proved much bet- ter than the one of last year. A Vve started the season with two preliminary games, one with St. Louis and one with Midland, in both these games we easily defeated the opposing team by a large score. In these games Shaver and Vvoods, two new players, were given a try out and both came up to the standard. A week later we played our lirst valley game with Saginaw Eastern and won the game by a 'arge score. Saginaw only scored two field baskets, which shows the ability of our two guards, Hershey and l'ittsley. This game did us a lot of good because we were now even with Saginaw for beating us last year in football. The next game was with Eastern and as they were the visitors all the door receipts went to Western. The gallery was packed with about four hundred people and intense rivalry was shown between the two schools. Throughout the Hrst and part of the second half the game was close an-d in doubt all the time, but the last part of the second half Eastern start- ed to rally and ended up by winning the game. VVe next played Grand Rapids Vnion, a contender for the state championship, and won by a close score. In this game Toutant played center for the first time and did remarkably Well. While Nic-kols played forward. This was Nickols' last game. he being ineligible on ac- count of the new eight semester rule. The game at Flint a week later Was won by Flint by three points. This was not so bad considering that the referee favored Flint. VVe won from Arthur Hill a week later in a close game. This time Soder- Stronl, who had just entered school. played his first game, and did himself justice. lNe easily beat Saginaw Eastern again at Saginaw with the aid of about one hundred routers, who accompanied the team. The next game with Eastern we were the visitors and Eastern received all the door receipts. In this game VVestern was again defeated by a close margin of four points and were practically eliminated from getting the championship. With 1'ittsley in quarantine and Lefler ill and Toutant with a sprained ankle, VVestern was defeated in Grand Rapids by a C'-use score. At the next game with Flint we de- termined to have revenge and did so by defeating them by a large score. The re- maining games with Arthur Hill and Midland were easily won, and thus our bas- ketball career ended. Eastern. by losing only two games won the valley championship and VVestern received second place. Pittslcy and Pacynski were our mainstays on the team, however, the rest of the team also did fine work. Pacynski is one of the best for- wards in the valley and always plays a hard, consistent game. Plttsley, one of the all-valley guards always plays hard and can keep the best of forwards from throwing baskets. Soderstrom, who just started in high school, did well this year and next year he may prove to be a wonder. The team worked steady and hard, and was always on hand for practice. However, this was partly due to Coach Morris, who was always at hand to coach the team and whose wisdom and ex- perience built up and made the team what it was. f igh t:-, wi? ' -:l.. .., .,,, 'f ,... 64