Ironton, a small city on the Ohio River, has a substantial history. In the 19th century, the city formed and rose to national prominence due to its iron industry. Many Civil War cannons featured metal fired in the pig iron furnaces surrounding the city. As the industrial city grew in size, sports became a key entertainment source. During the 1890s, the game of football found its way into the city. The Irontonians, a very early semi-pro team that wore a crimson and blue uniform, was the town’s team. In a November 24, 1894, home contest against Portsmouth’s Y.M.C.A. team, the Irontonians won 14 to 6. Thomas Murdock, who scored the first touchdown for the home team, played a strong game for the Irontonians. Ironton’s newspaper reported that the game was “free from any suspicion of rowdyism or viciousness.” The reporter called the members of the Y.M.C.A. squad, “gentlemen, both on and off the field.” The Irontonians travelled to Portsmouth in November 1894 to take on the Y.M.C.A. team in a Thanksgiving Day rematch. Some Ironton fans utilized the N & W tracks, but most boarded one of the White Collar boats to make the trip down the Ohio River. Before 500 spectators, Y.M.C.A. defeated the Irontonians 6 to 0. Ironton High School was on the gridiron during the first decade of the 20th century. Unfortunately, the team was not very good. In a 1909 game played at Beechwood in Ironton, Portsmouth High destroyed Ironton High by the score of 34 to 0. Roughly 200 spectators lined the field to catch the action. Following the contest on November 14, 1909, about sixty rooters from Portsmouth High were treated to a great dance in their honor at Berg Hall by Ironton. This is the 1909 Ironton High School football team. Please note the nose guards the players have around their necks and the ‘pumpkin ball’ utilized in that era. Ironton students in the early part of the 20th century attended Ironton High School at the Kingsbury Building. The school building, constructed in 1888 at a cost of $65,000 and dedicated in 1889, was named in honor of the district’s first superintendent. The building replaced the old Central School which was built in 1854 on the same ground. Kingsbury’s bell came from the Ironton Rolling Mill Company, where it was once used to summon the company’s employees. After the construction of a new high school in 1922, Kingsbury served as an elementary school until ruled a fire hazard in 1959. The aging structure was replaced with a modern elementary building bearing the same name. By 1914, other early semi-pro football squads like the Ironton Lombards and Ironton Midlands (Middies) had become household names within the community. The Lombards had a short run as the town’s pro team, before being dispatched by a team bearing the name of the feared machines that dominated the European battlefield during World War I. The formation of the Ironton Tanks in 1919 brought football to a new level. While the Tanks started out as local adults playing football mostly for the love of the game, the club turned into a full-fledged professional outfit before the end of the 1920s. The 1930 season saw the Tanks defeat the New York Giants, Chicago Bears and Portsmouth Spartans, three of the finest teams in the National Football League. With Greasy Neale as head coach and Glenn Presnell on the field, the city was football crazy. The stock market crash sent the powerful roster of the 1930 Tanks to greener pastures. There was simply no way to sustain the beloved team in a region impacted so harshly by the Great Depression. Constructed on school property, Beechwood Stadium opened in 1926 and was shared by Ironton High School and the Ironton Tanks. Yet, it was the Tanks that the fans in Ironton supported in strength. However, Ironton still had its high school football team. Despite prominent players such as Bill Brooks (1915 graduate), ‘Shorty’ Davies (1917 graduate), Harold ‘Boob’ Rolph (1925 graduate) and others throughout the early years of the school, the team never developed much community support. Losing was a primary reason for the community’s indifference towards the high school team. Ashland (KY) and Portsmouth dominated the high school gridiron game in the area. While the Tanks were unforgettable, the Tigers of Ironton High School were easily forgotten. Before the construction of the new stadium, Ironton High School and the mighty Ironton Tanks played home games on this field. This is a 1924 photo of Beechwood prior to the covered stadium we now know as Tanks Memorial Stadium. Bill Brooks, a rugged lineman, graduated from Ironton High in 1915. He would become an early semi-pro star for the Ironton Tanks. Bill Brooks anchored the 1914 Ironton High squad. Despite numerous losing seasons before 1930, there were a few good football seasons at Ironton High. T.C. ‘Shorty’ Davies, one of the school’s early stars, was captain of an excellent 1916 Ironton High team. The only blemish on the schedule was a 14 to 0 loss against Charleston. Ironton easily defeated Portsmouth twice that season. Ironton’s gridiron team was the self-proclaimed ‘champion of Southern Ohio’. Ironton also defeated Cincinnati Norwood, 17 to 7. Norwood entered the contest as the self-proclaimed ‘champion of Southwestern Ohio’. With a win over Norwood, Ironton staked claim to that title, too. After a stint on Ohio State’s football team, Thomas Charlton Davies returned to teach at Ironton High School. On Sundays, he played for the Ironton Tanks. Following his playing days, Davies became a principal at his alma mater. Harold Rolph was a star player on the 1924 Ironton High football team. He was a lineman on the leegendary 1930 Ironton Tanks squad that defeated the Chicago Bears and New York Giants at Redland Field in Cincinnati. This is how Ironton High School looked in 1924. The school was constructed in 1922. The new Ironton High School boasted a basketball gym and an indoor swimming pool. The pool was later filled in. The space, sometimes called the Auxiliary Gym, was used as a wrestling room in the 1970s. With the famous Tanks out of business, the door was open for the high school team. All the school needed was the right coach and a few good players. The fortunes of Ironton High School football changed when a family named McAfee moved to town in 1921. John McAfee gave the Tigers a powerful team in 1930. He went on to letter in football and baseball at Ohio State. At the time, he was the most famous athlete in Ironton High School history. In 1933, the school hired Dick Gallagher, a 1927 graduate of Ironton High, to coach the football team. After directing nearby Pedro to two perfect seasons, Dick proved he was the type of coach the school needed for its football team. Inside the building were three McAfee boys that would take the school into the gridiron stratosphere. With George, Clellan and Wesley McAfee in the starting eleven, the Tigers completed an impressive, perfect season in 1935. It was a season where the Tigers could lay claim to at least a share (with five other teams) of the mythical Ohio high school football championship. The debt on the football stadium was retired due to football fans flocking to see a future member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, George McAfee, and a future Philadelphia Eagle, Wes McAfee, play for the undefeated Ironton Tigers. The school eventually ran out of McAfee boys. Jack McAfee played his last year of football at Ironton High in 1938. Dick Gallagher, the greatest coach in school history at the time, departed the school to accept a college position at William and Mary. The 1940s presented a new challenge to the Ironton football program. Many boys from Ironton High School during the war years elected to leave school early in order to serve their country during WW II. Some brave kids never returned home, and those that did make it back to Ironton often brought the scars of war, both physical and mental, with them. It was a challenge to field a high school football team during the war years. Coach Davies was an icon in the Ironton community for many decades. This 1945 story highlighted his extensive gridiron accomplishments. With WW II over, a little sense of normalcy returned to the halls of Ironton High School in 1946. Some war veterans returned to Ironton High School to finish their academic studies. One of the four ‘students’ in the distinguished color guard for an Ironton high gridiron contest, William ‘B.J.’ Hannon, would later become a school board member at his alma mater. Dick McClary got into the football coaching business in the 1970s. Dick succeeded Bob Ford as head coach of the West Ironton Bears. Two members of his West Ironton squad became key contributors on Ironton’s first state title team in football. (L) The 1946 backfield at Ironton High School featured Carl White ( 65) at quarterback, Richard ‘Meat’ Boykin (63) at fullback. Jim Koukos (63) as the featured halfback and Jim Porter (80) at the blocking halfback spot. (R) The Gryphon, the school district’s impressive newsletter, published this story on Boykin in 1947. The 1950s and 1960s saw great instability within the Ironton football program. With winning seasons few and far between, coaches came and departed at Ironton High at an alarming pace.