DOCSLIB.ORG

La Salle College High School Football: in Retrospect

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
La Salle College High School Football: in Retrospect La Salle College High School Football: In Retrospect NOTE: This is the eleventh 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 Eleven: In This Corner – Vince Zizak ‘30 La Salle has had a limited number of players make it into the NFL. Recent football parent George Winslow ‘82 punted for the Browns and the Saints in the late 80’s. The late Gus Cifelli ’43, lineman from Notre Dame, was drafted by the Detroit Lions, and also played with the Packers and Steelers before finishing up with the Eagles in 1954. And Ken “Cy” Simendinger ‘18 played in two games for the Hartford Blues in 1926, nailing a 66 yard punt in his NFL “cup of coffee”. So we had two punters and one lineman. But, according to Ted Silary’s site, La Salle had a fourth player make the big time. And our fourth NFL player was Vince Zizak. Here is the story of Vince Zizak, lineman from La Salle, Villanova, and the NFL, and also professional wrestling! Vincenzo Zizak was born in August of 1908, and grew up in Camden. His parents emigrated from a region in Eastern Europe known at the time as Dalmatia; most of this early information on Vince’s life is spotty, anyway (wink!). Vince was the oldest of 6 children; the closest to him in age was his brother Peter. Vince went on to college at Villanova, and played football for the legendary Harry Stuhldreher, one of Notre Dame’s fabulous Four Horsemen of 1924. And Vince had some great successes at Villanova, as recorded in their 1934 yearbook “Belle Air”. Here are some of the excerpts (Vince’s last name throughout his football career was alternately spelled “Zizak” and “Zizac”: WEST CHESTER: The first game of the season. Everyone waiting to see what the boys are going to do this year, and hoping that they'll win the National Championship, but doubting it. The kickoff opens the game — first kickoff of the year, too; and the teams go in to action. Vince Zizak scores the first points of the season. A safety in the first four minutes of the game. BUCKNELL: Vince Zizac opened the game by blocking Sitarsky's punt after the first exchange of kicks, and the official ball-hawk, Don Blanchard, fell on the ball. The football team of our senior year promised to be just about the best of them during our college days, and the mainstays of it were from among us. Whitey Randour was Captain, and one of the best halfbacks in the country. He was picked by several of the All- America boards, and was unanimously picked as the best in the East. His scoring led the backs of the major Eastern colleges for the 1933 season. Toby Cavanaugh was quarter, and all of us who saw him play this season, and cheered our throats raw at the Temple game, will always remember him as the coolest man on the field; and the headiest field- general that any college ever had the luck to have running their ball-club. Vince Zizac, the Grizzly Bear of Fedigan, stood as a medium sized rock wall for opposing backs to wear themselves down on, and Tom O'Donnell and several others played the season's string out as members of our last team. So Vince Zizak played well enough at Villanova to get a shot at the NFL with the Chicago Bears in the fall of 1934 after graduation. And, because he graduated from college in 1934, it was assumed that he graduated from La Salle College High School in 1930. But, if you do the math, that means he graduated high school as he was approaching his 22nd birthday! Well, unfortunately, La Salle did not publish yearbooks from 1929 to 1933, so there’s no graduation picture to easily find. But, the 1928 edition of the “Blue and Gold” offers some clues. The 1927 team was a great one by early La Salle standards, going 4-1-0 in the Catholic League, with an overall record of 5-3-0. Their one regular season loss was to St. Joseph’s Prep, and La Salle played an end-of-season title game against Catholic High, who they defeated in the regular season, 7-0. La Salle’s chance of their first-ever Catholic League football championship would have to wait another 28 years, as the Cahillites drubbed La Salle, 26-0, to capture the championship. It was bad enough that La Salle lost so convincingly to Catholic High, but they were also banned from the Catholic League for using two Jewish players from South Philly on their 1927 team!! They re-entered the Catholic League in 1934. There were some articles in the 1928 yearbook about certain games from the 1927 season that were extracted from local newspapers. Here’s one of them: So Zizak is listed as playing in the first game of the 1927 season while La Salle was still in the Catholic League. But which Zizak? As you can see in the top row of the Class picture for the Sophomore “A” class of 1928, there are two Zizaks in the same class! It is logical to assume that Vince was the one who played football, and P. Zizak was his younger brother, Peter. Remember that Vince was about 20 in his sophomore year! Here’s a blowup of Vince from this picture: Vince Zizak, Soph Year, 1928 And football and basketball-playing Vince indeed was mentioned in the writeup of the Sophomore “A” class: And in this picture of the 1927 team offense, it certainly looks like Vince at center: The La Salle College High School Football Team of 1927; Vince Zizak at center So, let’s logically assume that Vince Zizak excelled on the football field during his Junior and Senior years at La Salle, but his exploits were not in Catholic League games, and no yearbook was printed to note them as well. So Vince went on to Villanova, and had a successful career there. And, beyond Villanova, lay the National Football League. In 1934, the NFL was just a few years away from their first official draft in 1936. The first draft pick ever was made by our Philadelphia Eagles, and they selected All-American quarterback Jay Berwanger from the University of Chicago, the first Heisman Trophy winner. The Eagles traded their rights to Berwanger to the Chicago Bears, but Berwanger could not come to terms with the Bears, and became a businessman instead; he never played pro football. But Vince Zizak did. He signed with the Chicago Bears for the 1934 season. He is listed in the Pro Football Encyclopedia as a guard and tackle, 5’-8” tall, weighing 208 lbs. But Zizak played only two games for the Bears before they traded him to our Philadelphia Eagles, where he played in the remaining 6 games in 1934. The Bears went on to a perfect 13-0 regular season, but lost to the New York Giants in the famous “Sneakers” game for the NFL Championship. The Eagles muddled along at 4-7-0. Zizak played only 4 games for the Birds in 1935, perhaps due to an injury. He played in a career-high 10 games in 1936 for the Eagles, who were progressively getting worse, going 1-11-0 in 1936. The Eagles were terrible on the field, but at least they had a dirty reputation, and our man Zizak had a hand in that Eagle “aura” in a game in 1936 (extracted from a biography of Bert Bell): In just another great football coincidence, George Vergara played for Notre Dame in 1922 and 1923; his teammate both years was Harry Stuhldreher, Vince Zizak’s coach at Villanova! Vince Zizak perhaps had an ornery disposition to start, or maybe he picked it up in his off- season profession between the 1935 and 1936 seasons. Because Vince became a professional wrestler, with several matches documented in Camden during the early months of 1936. Here are some reports noting the results of those matches: Camden, New Jersey: Thursday, January 23, 1936 (Camden Armory) … Ernie Dusek b. Al Bisignano (2-0) (Dusek worked as a heel, working fans into a fever, and, after the match, fans began to riot) (one fan punched the referee) … George Koverly b. Mike Mazurki (13:52) … Vic Christy and Joe Cox drew (30:00) … John Katan b. Laverne Baxter (7:50) … Vince Zizac b. Ernie Stevens (9:46) … (4,500 fans) Note: The Philadelphia Inquirer stated that Zizac was a “former Villanova and Eagle gridiron great.” Camden, New Jersey: Thursday, January 30, 1936 (Camden Armory) … Ernie Dusek b. George Koverly (2/3) … Joe Cox b. John Katan … Fred Grubmier b. Karl Van Wurden (8:04) … Jack Donovan and Dr. Len Hall drew (30:00) … Vince Zizac b. Al Taprof (7:17) (Taprof was a substitute for Jim Kendrick who passed away the day before) … (5,500 fans) Note: According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, “the fans paid silent tribute for one minute before the final match got under way” in memory of Jim Kendrick. Camden, New Jersey: Thursday, February 6, 1936 (Camden Armory) … Ernie Dusek b. Sergei Kalmikoff (2-0) (second fall by DQ when Kalmikoff attacked the referee) … Joe Cox b. Fred Grubmier (22:47) … Vic Christy b. Harry Finkelstein (11:07) … Laverne Baxter and Marshall drew (30:00) … Vince Zizac b.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Wally Koppisch: Great Expectations
    THE COFFIN CORNER: Vol. 23, No. 6 (2001) Wally Koppisch: Great Expectations by Jeffrey Miller Walter Koppisch was a local hero. While playing high school ball at Masten Park High--now City Honors-- in Buffalo, he led his team to three consecutive Harvard Cup championships. He went on to star at Columbia University, where he captained the Lions for three seasons--playing in a backfield which also featured future New York Yankee immortal Lou Gehrig--and was selected to Walter Camp’s All-America squad in 1924. So when it was announced in September 1925 that Koppisch would be returning to Buffalo to coach--at 23 years of age, making him one of the youngest head coaches in league history-- and play for the Bisons, local sports enthusiasts were indeed delighted. But Koppisch’s signing almost didn’t happened. The New York Giants, a new N.F.L franchise in 1925, were seeking a big name around which they could build a team, and Walter’s was the top name on their list. Koppisch’s four brilliant years at New York- based Columbia gave him name recognition and the Giants instant credibility in the league. However, according to Giants historian Dr. Harry March, the Gothamites called off their pursuit at the request of the Buffalo Bisons. As March later recounted in his book, Pro Football--Its Ups and Downs: Koppisch was a distinct asset in New York by reason of his four years at Columbia, but when the Buffalo management came to us and pleaded that he would be the making of the Buffalo team-- his home town--we turned Santa Claus and let them have him to manage, play, captain, and coach.
    [Show full text]
  • Statistical Leaders of the ‘20S
    THE COFFIN CORNER: Vol. 14, No. 2 (1992) Statistical Leaders of the ‘20s By Bob GIll Probably the most ambitious undertaking in football research was David Neft’s effort to re-create statistics from contemporary newspaper accounts for 1920-31, the years before the NFL started to keep its own records. Though in a sense the attempt had to fail, since complete and official stats are impossible, the results of his tireless work provide the best picture yet of the NFL’s formative years. Since the stats Neft obtained are far from complete, except for scoring records, he refrained from printing yearly leaders for 1920-31. But it seems a shame not to have such a list, incomplete though it may be. Of course, it’s tough to pinpoint a single leader each year; so what follows is my tabulation of the top five, or thereabouts, in passing, rushing and receiving for each season, based on the best information available – the stats printed in Pro Football: The Early Years and Neft’s new hardback edition, The Football Encyclopedia. These stats can be misleading, because one man’s yardage total will be based on, say, five complete games and four incomplete, while another’s might cover just 10 incomplete games (i.e., games for which no play-by-play accounts were found). And then some teams, like Rock Island, Green Bay, Pottsville and Staten Island, often have complete stats, based on play-by-plays for every game of a season. I’ll try to mention variations like that in discussing each year’s leaders – for one thing, “complete” totals will be printed in boldface.
    [Show full text]
  • Starting from the Bottom
    THE COFFIN CORNER: Vol. 14, No. 5 (1992) Starting from the Bottom More ‘Other’ Leaguers Who Worked Their Way to the Top Compiled by Steve Brainerd This is the latest installment in the list of players who graduated from pro football’s minor leagues or independent teams (or in some cases, outlaw major leagues) to the majors – that is, the NFL, the AFL of the 1960s, or the AAFC of 1946-49. The teams listed for a given player are the last minor league or independent team he played with before moving to the majors, and then his first major league team after that. The great majority of these guys also played quite a few more years in one classification or the other, if not both. Player Pos College Teams Nelson Munsey DB Wyoming 71 Norfolk Neptunes 72 Baltimore Les Murdock K Florida St. 66 New Bedford 67 New York Giants Chip Myers WR NW Okla. St. 68 Huntsville Hawks 69 Cincinnati Ross Nagel T St. Louis 50 Paterson Panthers 51 N.Y. Yanks Harvey Nairn WR Southern 68 Bridgeport Jets 68 New York Jets Bob Naponic QB Illinois 69 Bartlesville T-birds 70 Houston Andy Natowich HB Holy Cross 42 Holyoke 44 Washington Steve Nemeth HB Notre Dame 47 Paterson Panthers 47 Baltimore AAFC Allen Nichols HB Temple 40 Paterson Panthers 45 Pittsburgh Walt Nielsen FB Arizona 39 Jersey City Giants 40 New York Giants Jerry Niles QB Mississippi St. 46 Jersey City Giants 47 New York Giants Jack Nix FB New Mexico St. 40 Paterson Panthers 40 Cleveland George Nock RB Morgan St.
    [Show full text]
  • Test Your Trivia Here
    EATS & TREATS: September 2011 A GUIDE TO FOOD & FUN HOW MANY AGGIE TEAMS WON NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS IN 2010? NAME 5 TEXAS A&M ATHLETES WHAT IS THE OLDEST BUSINESS WHO NOW HAVE PRO SPORTS CAREERS ESTABLISHMENT IN COLLEGE STATION? TEST YOUR B RAZ OS VALLEY TRIVIA HERE September 2011 INSITE 1 2 INSITE September 2011 20 CONTENTS 5 MAKINGHISTORY Headed to the White House New exhibit shows what it takes to become President by Tessa K. Moore 7 LIFESTYLE Wanted: Texas Hospitality Families can share much with Aggies far from home by Tessa K. Moore 9 COMMUNITYOUTREACH A Legacy of Love Bubba Moore Memorial Group keeps the giving spirit alive by Megan Roiz INSITE Magazine is published monthly by Insite 11 GETINVOLVED Printing & Graphic Services, 123 E. Wm. J. Bryan Pkwy., Everyone Needs a Buddy Bryan, Texas 77803. (979) Annual walk raises more than just funds 823-5567 www.insitegroup. by Caroline Ward com Volume 28, Number 5. Publisher/Editor: Angelique Gammon; Account Executive: 12 ARTSSPOTLIGHT Myron King; Graphic Wanted: Dramatis Personae Designers: Alida Bedard; Karen Green. Editorial Or, How to get your Glee on around the Brazos Valley Interns: Tessa K. Moore, by Caroline Ward Megan Roiz, Caroline Ward; INSITE Magazine is a division of The Insite Group, LP. 15 DAYTRIP Reproduction of any part Visit Houston without written permission Find the metro spots that only locals know of the publisher is prohibited. Insite Printing & Graphic Services Managing Partners: 19 MUSICSCENE Kyle DeWitt, Angelique Beyond Price Gammon, Greg Gammon. Chamber concerts always world class, always free General Manager: Carl Dixon; Pre-Press Manager: Mari by Paul Parish Brown; Office Manager: Wendy Seward; Sales & Customer Service: Molly 20 QUIZTIME Barton; Candi Burling; Janice Feeling Trivial? Hellman; Manda Jackson; Test your Brazos Valley Trivia IQ Marie Lindley; Barbara by Tessa K.
    [Show full text]
  • 1924:The Third Time Is Charmed
    The Professional Football Researchers Association The Third Time is Charmed 1924 By PFRA Research On Sunday, September 21, the Bears and Packers played a bang- That win represented half of Kansas City's victories for the season. up game at Green Bay. After a scoreless first quarter, the Pack They spent most of their time huddled at the bottom of the caught Chicago's "Duke" Hanny with the football behind his own standings, along with Akron, Dayton, Kenosha, Minneapolis, and goal line and dumped him on his dignity for a safety. Green Bay Rochester. held its narrow two-point lead into the final quarter when Pack veteran "Cub" Buck tacked on three more points with a perfect Most of the league members, teams like Green Bay, Racine, and placekick. The Bears needed only a touchdown to win but Green the Chicago Cardinals, were respectable, middle-of-the-deck Bay never gave them the chance. The final was a 5-0 Packer performers. They pulled an occasional upset, played each other victory. well, and were out of the race before Halloween. Nevertheless, once in a while they could do something notable. Green Bay gleefully chalked up a shoutout win over the team that would become through the years their most bitter rival. They still At Chicago, in the Cardinals' opener, "Paddy" Driscoll nailed a 52- claimed the victory in their record book until only a few years ago. yard placekick in leading his team over Milwaukee. It would be ten years before any NFL player cashed a longer field goal. Chicago knew better.
    [Show full text]
  • Reading, Writing and Playing Games Inspire Students to Explore Brick City, Make Connections and Succeed (They Just Have to Press Play)
    The University Magazine Spring 2012 Reading, writing and playing Games inspire students to explore Brick City, make connections and succeed (They just have to press play) Alumni are conduits of life-saving donations Momentum grows for RIT’s new hockey arena Measuring RIT by student success RIT: The University Magazine From left to right: Luticha Doucette, the RIT Quidditch team celebrating second place and Adam Walker. Executive Editors Deborah M. Stendardi Government and Community Relations As we draw closer to the end of another academic year, I anticipate being asked about the Bob Finnerty ’07, University News Services “health” of the university. It is certainly easy to boast about our numbers—enrollment (an all- Editor time high of 17,652), endowment ($640 million), annual research funding ($52 million), eight Mindy Mozer, University News Services degree programs ranked in the top 10 nationally—to rattle off a few statistics. Contributing Editors Yet what better way to measure the health of the university than to recount success stories Lisa Cauda, Development and Alumni Relations of our students from the past year. Our students make us proud in many ways. Here are a few Lydia Palmer ’09, Development Kelly Redder, Alumni Relations examples: Craig Smith, Development Luticha Doucette, a fourth-year bioinformatics student, is the reigning Ms. Wheelchair Alumni Relations Staff New York 2011. She won second runner-up at the 40th annual Ms. Wheelchair America Art Director Pageant. Doucette also is developing a motorized wheelchair app for the Android phone. And Colleen McGuinness-Clarke ’87, ’08 University Publications she stays busy doing a research project on protein algorithms that determine the surface area Designers: University Publications of proteins.
    [Show full text]
  • 1926 Buffalo Rangers Ken Crippen
    1926 Buffalo Rangers Ken Crippen 1926 BUFFALO RANGERS By Ken Crippen After a dismal 1-6-2 season in 1925, Buffalo needed to make a change with their pro football team. Jim Kendrick was hired to replace Wally Koppisch as manager. Kendrick, a former Texas A&M player who played seven games for the Buffalo Bisons in 1925, planned to put together an all-Texas team. This team was sometimes called the “Texas” Rangers or “Cowboys,” but they represented the Queen City in the National Football League (NFL). Made up of “Southwestern products,” Kendrick believed that if the players had no outside interests or anything to divert their minds from playing football, they would play better. The player’s families would remain in the southern states, while they were alone in Buffalo. This was an experiment for the new manager and the season would determine if his theory was correct. Professional football had gained popularity since the NFL was formed. The 1926 season saw the emergence of a rival to the NFL: the first incarnation of the American Football League (AFL). Illinois gridiron legend Red Grange and sports agent Charles C. “C.C.” Pyle – sometimes referred to as “Cash-and-Carry” Pyle – started the league after NFL President Joe Carr refused the pair a franchise in New York City. The league only lasted one season, but it was the first competition for the relatively new NFL. While they were waiting for their new home in Bison Stadium to be ready for football, the Rangers practiced at Grover Cleveland Park on Bailey Avenue.
    [Show full text]
  • 2015 Team Guide MEN's Soccer
    CORTLAND MEN's soccer 2015 TEam Guide 2015 Season Preview In 2014, the Cortland men’s three league titles and a county soccer team produced its best championship. season in more than 20 years. The Red Dragons equaled the school Three midfielders are back record for victories after posting a in 2015, including two starters. 16-5-1 record. The team set a new Senior captain Robby Reiser program mark with six consecutive earned third team All-SUNYAC shutouts that was part of a 12- honors in 2014. Reiser, one of game unbeaten streak and finished four players to start all 22 games, the campaign by tying for ninth finished second in scoring with 19 nationally after winning a pair of points on eight goals and three NCAA Div. III playoff games. assists. Junior Daniel Friend also earned the starting nod in every This season, fourth-year head match last season. Friend totaled coach Steve Axtell brings back 14 12 points on three goals and a players, including six starters. He team-best six assists. Senior Tyler also welcomes 17 newcomers, so Marsh saw the field in 16 games competition will be intense for with one start in 2014, netting a Senior Andrew Troisi. playing time as the team looks to pair of goals on the season. Senior Tyler Marsh. make a return to the postseason. Six players join the program The team will seek a new starting goalkeeper this season after in the midfield. Junior Hauke Nehrhoff comes to Cortland with the graduation of four-year starter Tim Beauvais, who now serves as extensive club experience in Germany.
    [Show full text]
  • 1927 Hominy Indians Defeat N
    In 1927 the Hominy Indians won a football game that has become the stuff of legend and, in 2018, the focal point of a movie, Playground of the Native Son. This caught my attention because the game was billed as Hominy vs. the 1927 NFL Champion New York Giants. The Giants, the story goes, were making a post-season swing out to California and stopped in Hominy thinking it would be an easy scrimmage for them but got beaten 13 – 6. This raised questions for the research I was doing on Steve Owen, who started every game for the Giants that 1927 season at left tackle. He went to college in Oklahoma and after he played in 1926 with the Giants, newspapers in Tulsa, Oklahoma, reported he signed on with Jim Kendrick’s Buffalo Rangers for the final game in a series of three contests with the Hominy Indians. But I had no evidence he actually played against Hominy in 1926 and no mention anywhere that he played in 1927 A 1992 article by Arthur Shoemaker in The Coffin Corner (the newsletter of the Professional Football Researchers Association) was entitled: Hail to the Real ‘Redskins’ - All Indian team from Hominy, Okla. , Took on All Comers. In it Shoemaker talks about the 1927 game and notes: “Newspaper accounts of the Indians-Giants fray tell of outstanding plays made by Giant halfback Ben Hobson and tackle Rudy Comstock. Interestingly enough, neither of them played for the Giants in any league games that year (Comstock played for Frankford, Hobson for Buffalo), which suggests that this was a barnstorming team with a number of “ringers” filling in around a nucleus of players from the champs.
    [Show full text]
  • Rochester HISTORY an Annual Newsletter of the Department of History of the University of Rochester
    Rochester HISTORY An Annual Newsletter of the Department of History of the University of Rochester Now available online at http://www.rochester.edu/College/HIS/news/index.html History 2016 Volume 10 Several faculty received prestigious fellowships and hon- A WORD FROM THE CHAIR ors over the past academic year. Tom Devaney was offered a Fulbright for an academic year of leave at There is much good news to report this year. From University of Turku, Finland, as well as a fellowship creative teaching, to community outreach, to prestigious from the University of Helsinki’s Collegium for fellowships and an important new tenure-track hire, the Advanced Studies, also for a full academic year (Tom History Department is thriving. Details of all can be accepted the latter). Dorinda Outram pursued her re- found within, but I’d like to emphasize a few of the search into laughter in the Enlightenment during a one highlights. semester fellowship at the Herzog Georg Library in Wolfenbuttel, Germany in the fall of 2015. She will fol- We welcome to the department Thomas Fleischman low this up in fall 2016 with an in-residence fellowship (PhD NYU, 2013), our new assistant professor of from University of Gottingen’s Lichtenberg Kolleg, an modern German history. Tom works on industrial interdisciplinary center of humanistic and social science agriculture in East Germany and the environmental cri- inquiry. Dick Kaeuper was inducted as a Fellow of the sis occasioned by the introduction of factory pig- Medieval Academy of America, and Pablo Sierra was farming along capitalist lines in the 1970s and 1980s.
    [Show full text]
  • Expore-Rochester.Pdf
    Three locations, endless choices. Athleta l Bar Louie Barnes & Noble Carter’s l Charming Charlie Field & Stream Forever 21 RED l Francesca’s LEGO LOFT l Regal Cinemas RPM Raceway The Melting Pot l Vera Bradley Von Maur THE MALL AT GREECE RIDGE • EASTVIEW • THE MARKETPLACE MALL WWW.ROCHESTERMALLS.COM GET THE ROCHESTER MALLS’ MOBILE APP TODAY! CONTENTS 4 UPFRONT 58 SHOPPING 87 EASY DAY TRIPS 14 SPECIAL EVENTS 62 SPORTS & RECREATION 92 ACCOMMODATIONS 26 ENTERTAINMENT & THE ARTS 72 PARKS & GARDENS 94 MAPS 38 DRINK 78 MUSEUMS 98 FOR MORE INFORMATION 46 FOOD 84 EDUCATION INDEX TO ADVERTISERS The Agitators EDIA at Geve Theatre Features M Center 12 YEAR OF DOUGLASS 56 THE PUBLIC MARKET Celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth Hailed as one of the greatest NTERTAINMENT ACTORY of famous Rochesterian Frederick Douglass. outdoor markets in the country, E F the Rochester Public Market 24 CITY OF THE ARTS draws tens of thousands of OAT G Rochester proudly boasts one of the visitors each weekend. most vibrant arts and culture scenes you’re likely to fi nd in a midsize city. 70 120TH ANNUAL LILAC FESTIVAL 36 CRAFT BEER DESTINATION Rochester’s famous festival of fl ora Some 40 breweries dot the Greater Rochester turns 120 years old this spring. region, including several within city limits. / 24 76 DELIGHTFUL DETOURS 44 DOWNTOWN ROCHESTER COM REBIRTH Get lost in these fun experiences . at Rochester’s coveted Hip new eateries are popping up USCEMI Memorial Arts Gallery. throughout the center city, breathing B new life into downtown 86 THE CRYSTAL CITY NDY A 44 A short jaunt away, Corning, N.Y.
    [Show full text]
  • 1926 Buffalo Rangers by Ken Crippen
    THE COFFIN CORNER: Vol. 24, No. 4 (2002) 1926 Buffalo Rangers by Ken Crippen After a dismal 1-6-2 season in 1925, Buffalo needed to make a change with their pro football team. Jim Kendrick was hired to replace Wally Koppisch as manager. Kendrick, a former Texas A&M player who played seven games for the Buffalo Bisons in 1925, planned to put together an all-Texas team. This team was sometimes called the Texas Rangers or “Cowboys” but they represented the city of Buffalo. Made up of “Southwestern products,” Kendrick believed that if the players have no outside interests or anything to divert their minds from playing football, they can play better. This was an ‘experiment’ for the new manager, and the season would determine if his theory was correct. Professional football has gained popularity since the National Football League (NFL) was formed. 1926 saw the emergence of a rival to the National Football League (NFL) called the American Football League (AFL). Red Grange and C.C. Pyle (sometimes referred to as “Cash-and-Carry” Pyle) started this league. There was only one significant rule change for the 1926 football season: A 5-yard penalty would be assessed on all incomplete passes (except for the first pass in a series of four downs). The Buffalo Rangers would start their season with a practice game against the soldiers of the 174th Infantry Regiment. Captain Kline of the 174th bolstered their roster from last year by adding Mike Goldback of last years South Buffalo team (city champions), Mat “Sailor” Hearne who some considered to be the best fullback in Western New York, former Niagara University star Cy Hatch, Harvey Yeates of Colgate, along with Dutch Henning and Freddie Nuschel.
    [Show full text]