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VETERAN SPORT FOLLOWERS CHOOSE STARS OF OIL CITY HIGH SCHOOL 'S GRID TEAMSTask Difficult One is Opinion of Majority-— Selections Range From 1904 to 1924; Many Men Named Later Became Prominentill ti::e starsof former Oil City high school of sport fans of Oil City. The tem of points, each man being I number of points he receivedAMirkSECOND TEAM F. Lowers Pollard Cummins Jim Oram Russell Buckham Percy Lancaster R. Maddox, B. Hilton Doug Wade S. Alexander Robert Lamberton Frank Berry Dick O’NeillBy CY KING.(Derrick Sports Editor)While the memories of the last football season are fast fading into history and grid talk is gradually giving way before the basketball and flgnl hordes, it is rather interesting at this time of the year to look back—with the help of some of the older sport followers of this vicinity—to the seasons and players that have gone before and the history they made while members of Oil City high school football teams.Inquiries were directed to several well known followers of sport in Oil Cliy asking them to choose an all-time, all Oil City high school football team, and, if their memories sustained them to that extent, to choose second and third teams. Composite teams were chosen from the answers by a system of points awarded on the players' popularity with those questioned and appear in the box at the left.— —................................'♦ On the face of it, it would, seemthat it would be a simple matter to choose 11 men or 22 men from the many stars that have worn the Blue and White in the past but all those who consented to choose the teams stressed the fact in their answers that It was very difficult. Undoubtedly there are some deserving players omitted, but if so. they have been forgotten by those who received a questionnaire and are not being discriminated against. The teams are composed of players who were members of the Oil City high school grid squads as far back as 1901 and as near the present as 1921. During that period of time there were hundreds of boys who were gridiron aspirants and to some of them came success. The all-time, all Oil City high school teams are good indicators of the measure of their success, in that, the players had to be outstanding men to be remembered out of the hundreds who have been graduated and have left the local school.One of these players Is Polly Logan. a strong man while in high school and who later became ona of the best known players in the collegiate world. Logan played a guard for several years with Oil City high and then went to Lafayette where he became a star. In either 1903 or 1906. Logan was given honorable mention by Walter Camp, the dean of All-American choosers and whose word In those days carried unquestionable authority. Polly Logan is now connected with the Pierpont Motor company of Pittsburgh.In contrast to Logan, a player of over two decades ago, there are three stars of high school teams of not so many years ago, Ken Porter, Stew Wilson and Kay Vaughn.‘Absurdity’ so Stagg SaysPr*mmiinoi Alonso Stagg of the Unlver-tans today to attend the annual in of Football Coaches with the American team is an absurdity.'' ted. “Why, it takes a football Is men two or three weeks and i the best player on his own teamSo how can a so-called football expert who has to pick from the entire United States, know which man in the country is the best for a particular position? It can t be done.'1There was a time, perhaps, whan the coach was in sympathy withthe custom. That was back In 1889! Porter. Wilson and Vaughn plays when Walter Camp picked the first together on the. championship --- “‘*k Amos team of 1924. Porter and Vaughnwithend.theail-Amerlean team Alonzo Stagg, Yale elevenIn those days it was recognized that Yale, Harvard and Princeton had the best football teams In the country and It was easy to pick an all-American team, Stagg said But in a few years players from other colleges were included and It soon became an impossibility to select the best playersAsked his opinion of the proposals to begin the second half of a football game where the first left off and. in the case of a tie, to declare the team victorious which had the most flrat downs, he said the fans seemed satisfied with the present rules,It does seem unjust,” ha added, to let one team make a touchdown by driving the ball down the field and then let the other tie the score by a lucky fumble, but that is a thrill the football fans enjoy This keeps the element of luck In the games and nearly everybody has some gambling Instinct.Failure of football teams to attempt more field goals puzzled the coach.‘ I suppose it is the old gambling Instinct,” be said. ”The quarterback figures that three points from a field goal would not do much good, white six or seven points from a touchdown would help awere graduated in 1925 and Wilson went to prep school in the following seasons Porter was a Stas at Eld in boro State Teachers college and is now employed In OM City. Vaughn has been a prominent athlete at Colgate for foui years, being a star of the freshman team of 1925 and a member of the varsity squad in the three years since. He displaced Duks Shaughnesay, who received All-American mention, in his juntos year, and this year, despite serious i'lnesa in the spring, regained his old time vigor to be one of the strongest men In the Colgate backfield. Wilson was the driving power of the Washington and Jefferson freshman team'thie year and n regular berth on the W-J. varsity is practically a certainty for him next season. In the Pittsburgh district, sports writers are predicting he will make the All-American a year after next. Wilson, because of his strong left handed passing, sterling work as a tackle and hi* extraordinary punling ability has greatly impi eased football critics who have seen him. None of the players of the past four years were mentioned for the ail-time teams.Tt is also interesting to know where the various stara Have gonalot. So he tries for a touchdown since they played football for Oil instead of a field goal,” j City. Hare, Trax. Koeas. Currt-But I believe that more points I mine, Buckham, Maddox. Wade, would be made bv trying for every | \Iexander and Berry are aU tn OHfield goal within reach Inetcad of taking a chance on a touchdown. But better football Is played now than in the good old days.Why, they start playing now when they are knea high, to it is no wonder they can play batter.”The coaches' meeting opens tomorrow.the first week Jan. 7—Bethel vs. Grace; Christ Lutheran t. Second Presby.Jan. 8— nptist vs First Prssby; Evangelic* vs. Trinity.Jan. II—Good Hope vs. Y M. C.A.City. Jack Cleaves, who la one ofPrinceton's immortals, Is in the gas business In Bollver, N, Y. Exact information as to the others was not available to The Derrick s sources of Information.The athletic situation tn Oil City, especially in regard to football, la due to rise. It la believed, as a result of the school board s move toward supplying a good field npon which to play and other accessories to the game and as some of the ‘oldtimers’ expressed it. It is the sincere hope that Oil City will soon be on the athletic map again.
Newspaper Details
Oil City Derrick
Oil City, Pennsylvania, US
Thu, Dec 27, 1928
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Penny W.
NA, 26 Oct 2023
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