La Salle College High School Football: in Retrospect

La Salle College High School Football: In Retrospect

NOTE: This is the eighth 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 Eight: Historic Battlefield Sites

Recent road trips to Bergen Catholic and to Rutgers Stadium to play New York’s Monsignor Farrell proved to be the first forays into New Jersey for the Explorers since 1995, when they took on Cherokee in Marlton, after three consecutive years of battles with Holy Cross. Though the ventures outside of the Philadelphia area are now few and far between, it wasn’t that way in the early years of La Salle football.

In fact, in the early years of La Salle football, many games were played in New Jersey. This probably occurred for a number of reasons. Prior to the existence of the Catholic League, which officially debuted in 1920, a football schedule must have been cobbled together each year, and the logic of playing schools in New Jersey is a little clearer when you realize that La Salle was on North Broad Street at the time, only a mile and a half from the Delaware River, so many Jersey schools were considered close enough to be scheduled.

A game in 1903 was played against South Jersey Institute. In the teens and early twenties of the last century, New Jersey schools such as Vineland, Bridgeton, Wenonah, Hammonton, Atlantic City, Woodbury, and Palmyra played against La Salle. Cathedral in Trenton, Ocean City, Burlington, Moorestown, and Camden Catholic also took on the Explorers in the late 20’s. Only after La Salle’s re-entry into the Catholic League in 1934 did a schedule stabilize, and limit the wide variety of opponents that dotted the schedule in the early part of the century.

But, in addition to New Jersey, La Salle invaded other states as well. Delaware was a relatively frequent stop to visit the Sallies at Salesianum, and Maryland saw matchups with Calvert Hall and the Tome School on occasions. In 1965, the Blue and Gold ventured into our Nation’s Capital to do battle with St. John’s of D.C., losing 20-0. Yours truly was an eyewitness as a freshman band member, and if the band played as poorly as the team that day, it can be attributed to the box of cocoa-flavored Cuban cigars that was smoked on our bus down to the game. But I digress.

Having mentioned all of these remote gamesites, I wanted to get them out of the way and focus more on our local battlefield sites in and around the Delaware Valley, though we won’t forget to mention Hersheypark Stadium, where a State Championship was won on December 19, 2009, and a return trip a year later resulted in a loss.

First, the home sites: Our Home Citadels

Most of us can put our fingers on three homes to La Salle football over the years, namely McCarthy Stadium on the campus of La Salle University, Springfield Montco High School, and, in recent years, Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School.

In recent years, Cardinal O’Hara built their stadium, and it is ballyhooed as the first on- campus stadium for a Catholic League team. Well, they’re technically right, since McCarthy Stadium is really on the campus of La Salle University. But, with the high school located at 20th and Olney from 1929 to 1960, one could argue otherwise, since the windows of the high school building, now known as Wister Hall, overlooks the north end zone of the football field at McCarthy Stadium.

McCarthy Stadium, also seemingly referred to at times as “Olney Heights”, was dedicated in 1937, though it may be that the high school played some games in 1936 prior to the dedication. And it was a great place to watch high school football, as some games in the late 40’s drew up to 18,000 fans. The great La Salle teams of the mid to late 50’s had a distinct advantage in playing their home games at McCarthy, and large crowds followed this first Golden age of La Salle football all the way to Franklin Field several times in that era. The high school played at McCarthy Stadium into the early 70’s, but at some point they ceased to play most of their home games there. The traditional Thanksgiving clash (started in 1976) against the Prep migrated back to 20th and Olney in the early 80’s.

As the high school further distanced itself both physically and corporately from Olney Heights, it became more convenient to look at venues in closer proximity to Cheltenham Avenue. And right across Paper Mill Road was Springfield High School, a relatively small public high school, but one within walking distance from La Salle. At some point in the mid-70’s, this became our usual home, humble though it may be. Springfield High School renovated their facility at the turn of the 21st Century, installing modern stands, press box, restroom facilities, locker rooms, and a snack bar. And it was an adequate facility for a while, although the stands encompassed only one side of the field.

But La Salle football grew in popularity with the team’s successes in the mid to late 90’s, and that followed into the 2000’s. By the mid-2000’s, certain home games were played at Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School, which put in an all-purpose surface, and spacious grandstands on both sides of the field. The use of Springfield’s gridiron has now been reduced to one game per season, and La Salle looks to parlay that game day with a Homecoming event for its football alumni.

But, from the mid-20’s to the mid-30’s, prior to McCarthy Stadium, La Salle played some home games at a unique venue, none other than Baker Bowl, at 15th and Huntingdon, home of the hapless Philadelphia Phillies. Now, in the mid-20’s, the school was at 1240 North Broad Street, so the Phillies ballpark was in walking distance of the school. And, back then, there wasn’t any real concern about the Phillies playing post-season baseball, so La Salle had the field available for most of its home games.

La Salle playing at Baker Bowl, 1927

Playing at a major-league stadium sounds like a real treat, but Baker Bowl was on its last legs; in 1938, the Phillies became tenants of the Athletics about 6 blocks west on Lehigh Avenue at Shibe Park, abandoning Baker Bowl a year or two after the Explorers cleared out. While the Phils became tenants, La Salle played at their own new place, & McCarthy Stadium became one of the great high school gridirons in the city. Other teams also played some of their home games at 20th and Olney while La Salle was on the road. The La Salle College (University) football program fielded a team from 1931 to 1941, but dropped the sport, probably due to the war. In a few years, German POWs, housed at the Pennsylvania National Guard Armory, used the field for exercise, playing soccer. The La Salle University football program experienced a rebirth in the 1990’s, but dropped the sport after the 2007 season, and McCarthy Stadium is no longer used for football. But the ghosts of the Explorer greats can still be heard, if you open up the windows in a top-floor classroom at Wister Hall, and listen closely.

McCarthy Stadium looking west; 20th and Olney is in the upper right corner; Wister Hall overlooks the north end zone The Road Fortresses

We’ve mentioned some of the more remote game locations, so let’s turn inward to the Delaware Valley.

La Salle has played a football game at each of the “Big 5” football fields: McCarthy Stadium, Franklin Field, Temple Stadium, Villanova Stadium, and Finnesey Field at St. Joseph’s. They’ve gone to virtually every corner of the City of Philadelphia, playing the referenced teams at the following locations:

• 12th and Bigler (South Catholic/Bishop Neumann/Neumann-Goretti • G and Erie (North Catholic) • Pechin and Seville Streets (Roxborough) • Penmar Park, 44th and Parkside (St. Thomas More) • Houston Field, site unknown (St. Joseph’s Prep, 1917) • Cahill Field, 29th & Clearfield (Catholic/Roman Cath, St. Thomas More, Villanova Prep) • Passon Field, 48th and Spruce (West Phila High) • Bartram Field (West Catholic) • Lincoln High School (Father Judge, North Catholic) • Northeast High School (Father Judge, Cardinal Dougherty, playoff games) • Shibe Park/Connie Mack Stadium (South Catholic) • Frankford Stadium (North Catholic)

• Chestnut Hill (Pennsylvania School for the Deaf) • Field behind St. John’s in Manayunk (a “rockpile”; goalpost at just one end) • George Washington High School (Archbishop Ryan) • Germantown Supersite (Roman Catholic)

And La Salle in 1939 played South Catholic in Philadelphia Municipal Stadium, only 15 years old or so, with seating capacity of 100,000, at Broad and Pattison in South Philadelphia; you can look it up!!

Philadelphia Municipal Stadium (changed to John F. Kennedy Stadium)

And there were games just outside of the city limits, including these sites:

• Community Field/Garthwaite Stadium/The A Field, Conshohocken (St. Matthew’s, Roman Catholic) • Lloyd Field, 6th and Lloyd St, Chester (St. James) • Roosevelt Field, Norristown (Bishop Kenrick) • Widener University, Chester (West Catholic, playoff games) • Upper Darby High School (Monsignor Bonner) • Neshaminy High School, Langhorne • Wilson High School, Levittown (Bishop Egan) • Truman High School, Levittown (Conwell-Egan, playoff games) • William Tennent High School, Warminster (Archbishop Wood) • Council Rock High School, Newtown (Archbishop Wood) • Downingtown High School (Downingtown, Coatesville) • Germantown Academy, Fort Washington • West Chester East Stadium (West Chester Henderson) • North Penn High School, Lansdale • Springfield Montco • Springfield Delco (Cardinal O’Hara) • Cheltenham High School (Bishop McDevitt) • Upper Dublin High School, Fort Washington • War Memorial Stadium, Doylestown (Central Bucks East) • Radnor High School (Archbishop Carroll) • Malvern Prep High School • Frank Banko Field, Bethlehem (Easton Area HS; Nazareth HS) • Hersheypark Stadium (State College High School)

Summary

La Salle football has competed at many different gridirons in their glorious history. Many are in the Philadelphia city limits or near suburbs, but the Explorers have spread their wings back into New Jersey in recent years, and someday, they may indeed take their battles even farther, as the program has gained recognition nationally. Who knows, even foreign shores may welcome the Blue and Gold some day!!

Coin toss vs. Monsignor Farrell at Rutgers Stadium, September 2012

I welcome your comments, corrections, and additions. Go La Salle!!

Bill Wasylenko, ‘69 [email protected]

October 26, 2010, revised April 27, 2013