1917 Yearbook
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Title
1917 Yearbook
Description
The Midgets in Athletics
WHO ARE these "Midgets"? Well, up to last year they were
usually a conglomeration of several small boys held together
long enough to play a scrub game or two and to have their
picture taken in a group. But that day is past. Now it is an
organized team, strictly disciplined and so under the eye of
the Junior coach well trained that they are a formidable foe
for any foreign invader that may venture to cross arms with them. Yes,
they are still small boys, ranging in ages from 13 to 15 years, but a more
wiry, fiery set of lads you would have to go a long way to find. In every department of athletics they have put out a representative team,—in football,
basket-ball and baseball.
In football they were perhaps less strong than in the other two sports.
The game is a little strenuous for lads of this age, and besides there being
so few teams of their size to compete with, enthusiasm was inclined to lag.
Yet they managed to hold the heavier St. Mary's team of Clinton, a team
which had defeated the Junior Clinton High, to a 12-13 score; they also defeated several local teams of a like calibre. Among the best performers on
the gridiron for the midgets must be mentioned C. Hauer, Woeber Bros.,
Nhare, Hines, Lucier and Nieters, several of whom were drafted for the
Junior squad before the end of the season.
But it was in basket-ball that they played the star role. When the
midgets were scheduled to play a curtain-raiser to a Junior or Varsity game,
the spectators were almost as anxious to see the little fellows play as the
big ones; they had all the fight and pep and clever team work of their big
brothers. During the season of ten games played, they met defeat only
once, losing to the much too big St. Patrick's team of Iowa City by a 15 to
16 count. They met, too, such teams as the St. Mary's team of Moline, the
fastest of the teams of the Grammar School league of the city and even
combinations of the stars of all these teams. Paul Nhare, the captain of
the squad, was easily the star player; his fast floor work and clever basket
shooting, whether from the field or from free throws, netted most of the
points for his team. The work of Devereux at center and J. O'Donnell and
E. Woeber at guards also featured. These with Dorgan, Barry, Mackin,
Maher, Miller and Powers made up the squad.
In baseball they are but just beginning to play real ball and give
promise of a snappy, hard-hitting team. Already they have dangling at
their belts the scalps of the thoroughly alive St. Mary's team, of two Sacred
Heart teams, and of the North Davenport Sluggers.
With R. Healey receiving and two south-paws like Powers and E.
Woeber doing mound duty; with E. Gorman, Woeber, Dorgan, and O'Donnell playing a fast, steady game on the infield, and two Barry's and a
Mackin in the outfield, the Midgets of 1917 may well have visions of an
unbroken string of victories until the June days come.
WHO ARE these "Midgets"? Well, up to last year they were
usually a conglomeration of several small boys held together
long enough to play a scrub game or two and to have their
picture taken in a group. But that day is past. Now it is an
organized team, strictly disciplined and so under the eye of
the Junior coach well trained that they are a formidable foe
for any foreign invader that may venture to cross arms with them. Yes,
they are still small boys, ranging in ages from 13 to 15 years, but a more
wiry, fiery set of lads you would have to go a long way to find. In every department of athletics they have put out a representative team,—in football,
basket-ball and baseball.
In football they were perhaps less strong than in the other two sports.
The game is a little strenuous for lads of this age, and besides there being
so few teams of their size to compete with, enthusiasm was inclined to lag.
Yet they managed to hold the heavier St. Mary's team of Clinton, a team
which had defeated the Junior Clinton High, to a 12-13 score; they also defeated several local teams of a like calibre. Among the best performers on
the gridiron for the midgets must be mentioned C. Hauer, Woeber Bros.,
Nhare, Hines, Lucier and Nieters, several of whom were drafted for the
Junior squad before the end of the season.
But it was in basket-ball that they played the star role. When the
midgets were scheduled to play a curtain-raiser to a Junior or Varsity game,
the spectators were almost as anxious to see the little fellows play as the
big ones; they had all the fight and pep and clever team work of their big
brothers. During the season of ten games played, they met defeat only
once, losing to the much too big St. Patrick's team of Iowa City by a 15 to
16 count. They met, too, such teams as the St. Mary's team of Moline, the
fastest of the teams of the Grammar School league of the city and even
combinations of the stars of all these teams. Paul Nhare, the captain of
the squad, was easily the star player; his fast floor work and clever basket
shooting, whether from the field or from free throws, netted most of the
points for his team. The work of Devereux at center and J. O'Donnell and
E. Woeber at guards also featured. These with Dorgan, Barry, Mackin,
Maher, Miller and Powers made up the squad.
In baseball they are but just beginning to play real ball and give
promise of a snappy, hard-hitting team. Already they have dangling at
their belts the scalps of the thoroughly alive St. Mary's team, of two Sacred
Heart teams, and of the North Davenport Sluggers.
With R. Healey receiving and two south-paws like Powers and E.
Woeber doing mound duty; with E. Gorman, Woeber, Dorgan, and O'Donnell playing a fast, steady game on the infield, and two Barry's and a
Mackin in the outfield, the Midgets of 1917 may well have visions of an
unbroken string of victories until the June days come.
Date
1917
Identifier
http://cdm16810.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16810coll2/id/2134