First Park in Waukesha Was ‘Horrifying’ Carroll Football ‘Waukesha Diamonds’Was North of Where Labor Temple Is Scrimmage Cost College $5,000 Just north of the Lab6r temple which is at 324 N. West av., was the site of the firs) park In 18)98 Carroll college was in a rut—a financial in Waukesha. The park opened in the 1880s and rut. con­ Financial grants were given the college only oc­ First Baseball Team Heretinued until 1905 when lack of interest on the part of casionally. Less often did the college receive grants of the fans caused the park to close down. a couple thousand dollars. Baseball got its start in Teams f't»m all over the county came to WaukeshaMiss Anna M. Sackett, Waukesha, was just that gen­ theWaukesha area in 1868 to take on the Waukesha team, Arthur Gaspar, Wauke­erous soul—generous, that is, until she saw a Carroll sha businessman, recalled recently. Although notfootball the game. or 18Q9. (In 1867, according best team in the area, the Waukesha ball club always to a sports encyclopedia, had a pretty fair season, Gaspar says. Miss Sackett was a strong believer in the best pos­ had only 25 sible education for the young. She lived in Waukesha Billy Meagher was the pitcher while still in many his years, watched the work of Carroll college and teams.) teens, as were the rest of the players. Meagher leftbelieved it was good. The elderly lady decided to assist Teams in this area had the team while in his early 20s and worked for the'that work to the best of her ability, in her will she left Colorfulnames. For exam­ Soo line as an engineer. the college $5,000, ple: Waukesha Diamonds, Harry Cahill was on the other side of the platq Caldwell Prairie Clippers, catching many of Meagher’s fast balls. After quittingDecided to Investigate Mukwonago Red Foots, the club, Cahill worked in Milwaukee for the Hudson Motor co. Under these circumstances she naturally beearn* Dodges Corners Rustics, interested in whatever concerned the college. She read Big Bend Rangers, Water­ Another Cahill — Marty — was the team’s short­ stop. Marty helped out in his father’s blacksmith a shop lot about a sport called “football.” Not knowing just ford Eckfords, Rochester after playing with the team. what the sport was, she decided to investigate. North Stars, Vernon Cen­ Dr. John Wigginton, a local-uentist, was the firstEarly in the autumn of 1899, after the season start­ ter Hickorys, Elkhorn Cen­ baseman. Fred McCoy, who went east to seek his for­ed, she drove to the football field to see one of Carroll’s trals . . . tune in the early part of the century, was at secondfootball games. She was horrified. She decided immedi­ Probably the two teams base, and Charley Morse, who worked with his fatherately she had no sympathy for the authorities of th® with the most colorful at the Morse House, a local hotel, was often seencollege at who encouraged such brutality under the name third. sport. k names were from East Troy. One was the “Shoo Wally and Bud Hartshorn played the outfield. BothShe went home that day and sent for her lawyer. boys went into the real estate business. Foster PhelpsUnder her direction, he drew up a new will which con­ — Flys” and the other the tained no legacy for the college. She signed it and de­ “Resolutes.” was the other outfielder. He later owned and operated the Park hotel. stroyed the earlier one which had bequeathed$5,000. the Used ‘Live’ Ball It was a different kind of game in those days, al­ though the fundamentals were about the same. Carroll Football Game in 1906 For one thing, a “live” ball with much more rub­ ber was used. Result: the kind of scores run up in'DIAMONDS' — Here's an I 874 picture base; Frank Blair, second base; L, Helped Revolutionize the Sport an Aug. 17,1870, game be­ of the baseball team that represented Spence, pitcher; W. Blair, catcher. Left tween the Diamonds and Waukesha in an early league in this to right standing are Street, shortstop; There were probably many significant happeningsthough the football of 1905 was not particularly suited Clippers at Waukesha, The Holbrook, left field; G. Whicher, right- Waukesha Diamonds won, area. Players are (left to right front in Waukesha on the afternoon of Sept. 5, 1906. for There passing. It was not the oblong oval of today. It was 61 to 28. row) Durfee, center field; Culver, third f ie Id; and W. Orvis, first base. was one in particular, however, that createda stir, built to be kicked. Cochems, however, experimented and Also, an Oct. 26, 1911, faded from the scene and then, several years later,learned that by gripping th® ball at Hi® laces and Waukesha Freeman story gained recognition as not onlya significant but alsoan twisting the wrist, th® ball could b® thrown forward* recalled that the players Players Named Members of the Mukwon­L. Powers, Robert and had “none of the contriv-Early members of the ago Red Foots in the earlyAaron Platner. historic event. It revolutionized football and producedCarroll was the first team to fall victim to th® ances for protecting play­Waukesha Diamonds were days: T. W. Haight, Wil- Caldwell Prairie Clip­ what has become the most feared weapon in the mod­new piece of strategy. With the score tied in the ers from injuries.” TheEdward Rankin, G. F. Bar­ Ham Stickles, E. S. Kel­ pers included Capt. Johnern game. second half, St. Louis quarterback Brad Robinson saw ber, F. M. Slawson, W. L. logg, H. M. Youmans, W. Porter, Warren H. Smith, writer said, “For some On that afternoon the great equalizer, the forwardCochems pacing th® sidelines. years, players accepted Rankin, A. J. Frame, A. C. H. Stockman, M. B. Clif­ William A. Gault, A. Van- Nickel!, Charles Gaspar, ton, Edward Blood, George Valin, Arthur Peacock, pass, was publicly shown to the football world. TheHe called the play on the next down and threw the broken fingers and oth­ premier showing was held in Waukesha where Carroll Milton Olin and Frank C. Stockman, Duane Free­ Frank Gault, E. Utter, A. one downfield, only to see it fall incomplete. Carroll er minor injuries as a mat­ college was playing St. Louis university. ter of course.” Blair. man, Clement Andrews, C. H. Craig, Julius Gault. took over, but minutes later Robinson found end Jack The play was the “baby” of Eddie Cochems, for­ mer Wisconsin star who coached St. Louis that year.Schneider He alone 20 yards downfield. He wobbled a shot introduced it after the football rules committee decidedto Schneider, who pulled it in for th® . St. in 1905 to allow the ball to be thrown forward. Louis went on to win, 22-0. WHS Entered Suburb Conference Th® Billikins kept on winning forth® rest of th® It was a result of mounting public opinion against the increasing roughness of the game. President Theo­season, running up ll straight wins without a loss. dore Roosevelt had even spoken out against football and spurred a group of college officials to suggest For some reason the pass did not immediately In ’25, but Had Teams Before Thenmethods of opening up the game. catch the fancy of th® coaches of that era, and foi* many years th® invention of the pass was credited Before the debut of the pass, football was power.to and , who worked th® play Waukesha High school had a football and basket­“It is hard to say whether the teams years agoThe man-crushing flying wedge—later outlawed fromfor Notre Dame against Army1913. in were better than they are today. Not many people ball team before the turn of the century but not until the game—and similar formations were the stock in But both admitted Cochems was the man to whom 1925 did the school take part in any conference play.could agree on something like this,” said Saubert. trade of football coaches. the credit belonged and th® Football Hall of Fame of­ Cochems believed th® pass had possibilities,al­ ficially lists him as th® inventor of the . Lee Saubert, athletic director, and Edward Seifert, “Years ago there was more of a desire to play than then superintendent of schools in Cudahy, were thethere two is today.* If a team scores BO or 70 points in a main cogs in building the conference. game today they think they are good. Years Six teams entered the suburban conference in ago its the scores were in the vicinity of 25-24, If you first year. West Allis Central, Cudahy, Shorewood,were able to make two or three free throwsa in game South Milwaukee, Wauwatosa and Waukesha were you in were pretty lucky.” the conference in 1925 with West Allis Hale, Whitefish Saubert said that nowadays the kids are taughtto Bay and Greendale entering at later intervals. shoot—just run down the floor and shoot, whereas “I was coaching everything here 1920from up until years ago it was a matter of ballhandling. 1938 when I dropped football. I kept on coaching basket­ ball until four or five years ago,”said Saubert. “The game today is more interesting because It is a faster game. The kids today have a better chance “We had a good team back in the ’20’s,” he con­of scoring than thetype of ball that was played tinued. “In ll years we won seven football champion­years ago. Now, if a team isn’ttall it most likely ships and went to the state championships five isn’t times any good. Years ago if you had a 6 foot 2 man on in nine years. the team you were lucky,” Saubert continued. “In 1923 Waukesha High school won its state championship. It was more or less a mythical cham­Saubert also criticized the type equipment of used pionship though. That was before my time.” today in football. He said that thereis no difference in the equipment except that bulkier. “ifs The kids According to Saubert, many of the ideas introducedtoday haveso much junk on them thatstuff the is hard into the conference in 1925 have been changed. “Someto carry around.” cf the things‘'we thought were beneficial turned out to be a little harmful so they changed them,” he said. “And“The equipment is too bulky for little kids to carry after they changed them, they weren’t as beneficialaround as with them. I think ifs a detriment rather than they thought they would be. This means there area many safety factor because there is so much weightifs a people working on the conference board who arehandicap. still There is good protection with the equipment trying to better the conference rules.” but I think it could be lighter.”

1906 TEAM— This is the Carroll row (left to right) A. Fries, "Dutch" Kiefer, Bill team against which the game's first forward pass was Williams. Front row (left to right) Jim James, Doug thrown by St. Louis university's team. (See story Douglas, "Tubby" Meredith, D, Montgomery, J. E. above.) The date: Sept. 5, 1906. Back row (left to Orgeman. Note mascot, probably a bull terrier, symbol right) Jack Fries, Pat Wheeler, Chick Hamm. Middle of team "fight." CMHS Baseball Teams Have Won Both State and Conference Championships Catholic Memorial High school’s mark in the ath­Perhaps one of the greatest days in Crusader % letic world in the past decade has been made largelysports history came on Nov. 13, 1952. On that chilly through the prowess of its baseball teams. fall afternoon, Memorial won its first conference foot­ ball game, beating Don Bosco, 6-0, in the last game In the eight years that Memorial has been a mem­of the season. ber of the Milwaukee Catholic conference, Crusader Since then Memorial grid squads have been build­ 4 baseball teams have stirred up more talk than hasing slowly, and it remained until 1958 for the Crusaders any other CMH athletic team. Ifs understandable,to have a winning football team. Last fall Memorial for in that short span of eight years, Memorial won base­ four conference starts, losing three, and was 5-3 I ball teams have won three conference titles and tiedoverall. for another while taking two state Catholic champion­Basketball has been slow in coming on the Cru- • ships. sader campus. Memorial followers have yet to be re­ warded with a winning team. The best season record Actually, athletics have been ap important on part the hardwooods came in 1956-57, when the Crusad­ of the curriculum at Memorial since the doors wereers finished their slate with a 12-12 mark, going 6-10 first opened in 1949. In the early years, however,in league play. competition was kept on a junior varsity plane while the school grew to a full four year institution. Baseball, though, has been the apple in every Memorial fan’s eye. After tying for the conference Early in 1952, one year before the school hadcrown a in 1952, the Crusaders won it outright in 1953, senior class, Memorial was admitted to the conference.took it again in 1956 and repeated in ’57. That same spring it made a surprisingly auspicious debut by tying Racine St. Catherine for the confer­State titles came Memorial’s way in 1953 and 1956, ence baseball crown with a 5-1 record. and for six straight years, 1952 through 1957, the Cru­ saders were invited to the annual meet at Menasha. 1897 WHS TEAM— These stalwarts carried the colors Arthur Gaspar, Henry Bidwell, "Punk" Hardy, L. D. That title tie came under the direction of AllanIn only one year, 1957, did Memorial fail to survive Eiger. When the school opened, he accepted the task of Waukesha High school onto the football field 62 Blott, Nathan Lockney, Hartwell, Melvin Wright the first round of play and twice the Crusaders battled of tutoring Crusader athletes in the three major sportsl.ito the finals before bowing out. years ago. While we can't identity a1! of them com­ (farthest dne to right). Standing behind them (left of football, baseball and basketball. He was largely pletely, here are the available names Front row (left to right) are Roy Beason, Ed Blair, Bill Davis, Aaron responsiblefor bringing Memorial from junior varsity Memorial’s athletic history is a brief but colorful to right) "Punch" Meyers, Henry Mueller, Ben Bug- Putney (manager) and Frank Jac!'ron. Back row (left competition to a promising place in one of the one most arid, with the addition of track, tennis, golf and bee, Rex Warden (seated between front and second to right), Ed Cahill, Carl Lantry, Dick Jones. Note resnected conferences in the state before leaving wrestling in as team sports, promises improvement over row) and Harvey Phillips. Secor d row (left to right) skimpy equipment. 1957. its past short history. Page 12 — Section F — Waukesha Freeman Centennial Edition