La Salle College High School Football: in Retrospect
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La Salle College High School Football: In Retrospect NOTE: This is the fourth of, I hope, many retrospectives highlighting some unique history of the football program at La Salle. The topics to discuss seem endless at this time. Hope you enjoy these. Bill Wasylenko, ‘69 Issue Number Four: All-Catholics – Position on Positions & Divisions The banner 2009 season, culminating in a State Championship, saw sixteen La Salle players honored as first or second-team All-Catholics. An incredible number, indeed, and maybe too high a number, but I won’t deny any one of them their accolades, and their place on that listing forever. There are several reasons why so many players from one team are honored as All- Catholics. First and foremost is the classification of schools into three divisions now (AAAA, AAA, and AA); just a few years ago, the two classifications were Red and Blue; prior to that, Northern and Southern Divisions; and prior to that, just one division. But there’s another big factor, and that’s the increase over the years in the number of uniquely defined positions on the football field, at least in the eyes of the selection committee. If you can believe it, there are 14 different positions in which to slot All- Catholic players! The defensive side of the ball has some tradition and some scruples; there are just 4 defined positions on defense: lineman (DL), end/outside linebacker (E/OLB), inside linebacker (ILB), and back (DB). But offense has gone wild, with 10 defined positions: center (C), lineman (OL), wide receiver (WR), tight end (TE), quarterback (QB), running back (RB), fullback (FB), placekicker (K), punter (P), and the ever-popular multi-purpose player (MP). You one-platoon players from the 50’s must be grinding your remaining teeth by now. Well, the reason for this Retrospect is to see how we got to this point. Stability: 1940 to 1962 I started my research from 1940, though I’m aware there was football prior to that (sometimes I think that sports talk show hosts feel that football started around 1980). From the first league season in 1920, All-Catholics were named, but listing of positions was inconsistent. I do know that in 1940, only 6 positions were listed: center, guard, tackle, end, back and quarterback. There was a simple logic to those choices, even though they appear to focus on offensive positions. Line play in those days was much more revered than in current times; many of the most famous and popular players in college were offensive guards or centers; those backfield boys didn’t have all the glory feasted upon them back then. Separating the centers, guards, and tackles into separate categories was easier to do, in a lot of ways because those players weren’t just anonymous mastodons that just slugged it out with enemy pachyderms on the other side of the ball. The ends were easy to define as well, because they naturally were at the end of the line, and the backfield lined up for the most part within the tackles. No designation was given to or necessary for the type of end (tight, split, “lonesome”). The backs received a general designation, although the quarterback as signal-caller held a unique position of prominence. But that position of prominence lasted till just 1941, when the Catholic League eliminated that denotation until 1961. So, by 1942, there were just 5 positions of honor! But we haven’t talked about the defense yet, and in some respect, we don’t need to, because in the 40’s, all players played both ways. Centers, guards, and tackles played line positions on defense; ends may have played the line, or were in linebacking positions. And backs on offense were backs on defense. And, though football at all levels was evolving through the 1940’s, the period between 1942 and 1960 showed no changes in how the Catholic League denoted its honorees. And, from 1940 through 1962, the Catholic League listed both 1st and 2nd team honorees at all positions, as well as honorable mentions in many years, though “HMs” are difficult to find in print. But, the times they were a changin’, and with it, the way that the Catholic League conferred their awards. One obvious change was due to the increase in the number of schools enrolled in the League. In 1940, there were eight teams in the Catholic League: West Catholic, St. Joseph’s Prep, St. Thomas More, North Catholic, Roman Catholic, South Catholic (named “Bishop Neumann” in 1955), St. John’s (Manayunk), and La Salle. Below is a listing of additions and losses over the years from 1940 to 1962: • 1943: added St. James (Chester) • 1950: lost St. John’s • 1956: added Father Judge • 1956 to 1962: St. Joseph’s Prep dropped out for seven years, returning in 1963 • 1957: added Monsignor Bonner • 1958: added Cardinal Dougherty • 1962: Monsignor Bonner missing for just this year (banned due to practice violations) In 1961, the quarterback position returned, and the “back” was now known as a running back (RB). And the honorees stayed within 6 position designations through 1964. Resistance to Change (1963 to 1968) 1963 saw the start of the Northern and Southern Division, with the Mason-Dixon Line being somewhere just north of Girard Avenue. La Salle, North, and the relatively new additions of Father Judge and Cardinal Dougherty, were joined by the upstart “Three Holy Bishop” schools, namely Egan, Kenrick, and McDevitt. The South had more of the old guard, as the Prep, Roman, Neumann, Tommy More, West Catholic, and St. James were joined by Bonner, as the prodigal son of 1962 was back in the fold. Though divisional play was a dramatic change onto itself, the selection of All-Catholics in 1963 were for just the first team for each division; any 1963 All-Catholics were surely a select few. For 1964 through 1967, first and second team honors by division were selected, but 1968 reverted to just first team honors. Honorable mentions were also conferred. Note that we haven’t yet discussed the separation of offensive and defensive honors. Though now fully immersed in the age of two-platoon football (we’ll hope to have a separate retrospect on the history, rules, and ramifications of one-platoon/two-platoon football someday), the awards committee resisted that separation until 1969. One subtle positional change occurred during this short era: the guards and tackles were now grouped together as linemen when it came to All-Catholic awards. So now, it could be conceivable that all lineman awards went to just guards, or just tackles, or a mix of both. From this point on, the All-Catholic guard and tackle positions were always and forever combined. Other team additions and losses during this short era: • 1965: added Cardinal O’Hara to the Southern Division • 1966: added Archbishop Wood to the Northern Division • 1968: added Archbishop Ryan to the Northern Division Also, in 1969, Archbishop Carroll was added to the Southern Division, making it two groups of 9 teams. At this point, the 18-team Catholic League was at its peak of participation. Both Sides of the Ball (1969 to 1978) Even though two-platoon football dominated the sixties, it took the Catholic League until 1969 to award All-Catholic honors to each side of the line of scrimmage. Offensive honors were the same as the previous year, with centers, linemen, ends, quarterbacks, and running backs occupying the traditional 5 categories. But defensive honors delineated linemen, ends, linebackers (for the first time), and backs. A subtle change occurred in 1978, as linemen were now referred to as “interior linemen”. These two terms fluctuated back and forth till 1994, when “linemen” won the arm-wrestling contest for good. For these years, there were no second-team honors, but there were now twice as many All-Catholics as before due to the separation of the offensive and defensive awards. There was one more subtle change in the awards: offensive ends were referred to as “receivers” in 1978, and eventually became “wide receivers”. Logic says that some of the spread formations had flankers (backs) and ends interchanging positions right before the snap, so the generic “receiver” term came into being to cover all the bases (whoops, back to football terms!). Here were the team additions/losses during these 10 years, and some sub-divisional concepts: • 1969: added Archbishop Carroll to the Southern Division • 1971: lost St. Thomas More from the Southern Division • 1973: each Division broken into two sections, City and Suburban; North City included Ryan, North, Judge, and Dougherty; North Suburban included La Salle, Wood, McDevitt, Egan, and Kenrick; South City included Prep, Roman, West, and Neumann; South Suburban included Carroll, O’Hara, St. James, and Bonner. This was probably done to provide a playoff game within the Division before the Catholic League Championship game, even though each Division played a round robin (playing each division team once). This concept lasted through 1980. New Status Quo, Specialized Positions (1979 to 1998) Though two more years of City and Suburban sections loomed, the next two decades returned to a first and second team All-Catholic award, now for each side of the ball, and for each Division. So it’s logical to assume that many more fine area football players brought home the hardware of an All-Catholic honor than ever before. And it was probably even more than you’d think, because the basic positions expanded to include more categories. The placekicker was added in 1979, and the award in 1981 was augmented for just one year to denote placekicker-punter; this can officially be called the “George Winslow” decision, the Explorer winner of the award.