1955-56: 11 Man Football Returns
CCS continued an uneven basketball season with a 61-59 loss to Argyle.
Charley Estramonte scored 21 points and Don Record 15 as CCS downed Hoosick Valley 61-46.
Harry Arnold was reelected president of the Cambridge Fish and Game Club.
Cambridge National Honor Society was established in 1934. Members in 1955 included James Arnold, Marie Royal, Mary Aulicino, Richard McKernon and Robert Wright.
CCS won their seventh game, defeating N. Bennington High 74-49. They defeated Stillwater 50-48 on Jan. 18th, and on Jan 26 nipped Arlington 52-51.
The Indians defeated Arlington 67-66 for their second one point victory over the club in the season. Jim Arnold "put on a one man freezing act" to consume the final seconds. Dick Dame's two-pointer provided the winning margin.
John Luke was at this time playing on the Plattsburg Teachers College basketball team. The team defeated Albany Teachers College 83-57 that season.
In February, Plattsburg had a 9-2 record.
In 1955, The Hotel Cambridge was a haven for skiers, with several buses visiting each week. Weekends saw from 90-100 visitors at the hotel.
Civil Defense continued to be a serious concern at the "Cold War" mush-roomed.
Betty Boeker was the new acting president of the Future Scientists of America Club. New members included Charles Clark, Howard Romack Jr., Ivan Purdy and Paul Schneider.
Kerry McKernon gave a project report on micro-photography, illustrating it with four "very good" pictures taken through a microscope.
CCS swamped Hoosick Valley 68-50. Jim Arnold and Charlie Estramonte led local scoring with 22 and 21 points.
The next week CCS beat Fort Ann 60-55.
That spring, NYState public school teachers lobbied hard for a bill in the Legislature that would raise the minimum salary to $4,000 and the maximum to $9,000.
Based upon an allotted percentage established by the National organization the CCS National Honor Society set out to find not more than three members of the senior class and not more than two juniors to initiate.
In April, Mary Jane Resendes and Mary Auliciano, seniors, were tapped; and Marcia Watkins and Robert Wright from the junior class.
The big news of the spring was the promise of immunity to polio. Plans were made to begin innoculating school children, first and second graders first, with the Salk vaccine.
John Luke, reserve guard on the State University Teachers College team at Plattsburgh, scored 52 points in helping the team to a 16-3 season. The Redbirds enjoyed a 29 game home court winning streak. Luke was a freshman at Plattsburgh.
By April, it was clear that the Salk vaccine was effective against the dread polio and innoculation of school children proceeded arapidly. Dr. Clayton Oestreicher, school physician and Miss Kay Nolan, nurse, were in charge.
The innoculations were given without charge, each pupil receiving three shots.
In 1955, Cambridge was a mecca for race horses. The old fair grounds barns and the track allowed for the maintenance and training of quality horses. Atwood Allen Sr. and Frank Church owned the largest local stable. Their horses trotted at Saratoga Raceway and Stateline Raceway, as well as other tracks.
Among other trainers with stables in Cambridge were Harry Motsiff (six horses), George Moultin (12) Charles Hunt (3) and Michael Akoury (4). James Bryant of Hoosick Falls, another local owner and trainer, died that spring.
O.K. Spurr was another outstanding Cambridge horse owner.
This illustrated, according to WCP Editor Gardner Cullinan, that Cambridge was not a "one horse" town.
When the US Post Office continued to drag its feet about door to door mail delivery and even considered rescinding the decision to offer it, Mayor Charley Ackley waded in with wires and letters of protest. He invited everyone to join him in writing their Senator, Irving M. Ives.
Senator Ives soon wired back that home delivery was assured, just as soon as the details were ironed out. Lynn Durfee of Ave. A had joined the Mayor in badgering the Senator.
Shortly thereafter, the US Post Office announced that home delivery service would begin July 1. It was also announced that Cambridge was shortly to have a new post office building.
Musician Garrett Albert represented CCS when the US Navy Band gave a concert nearby. Each school could send one musician. They joined the Navy Band on "National Emblem" March. Albert played Baritone horn.
The Washington County Volunteer Firemen's Assoc. held its annual dinner at Hotel Cambridge, 123 attending.
Leo Santerre sold his five and dime business on Main St. to Hugh Laverty. Laverty purchased the stock, with a long lease on the building.
CCS opened the baseball season losing to the Salem Generals 12-9, then white-washing Hartford 21-0.
The first Salk Polio Vaccine shots were administered to CCS first and second graders on Friday, May 20.
The uranium craze hit Cambridge, with local men out in the woods searching with geiger counters, the object being to strike it rich.
In a special Memorial Day game, CCS baseballers trimmed Argyle 8-2 behind the three hit pitching of Don Record.
Cadet William D. Higgins of Cambridge graduated from The Manlius School, a college prep school near Syracuse.
The first reported catch of the sock-eye salmon stocked in Hedges Lake four years previous went to C.E. Williams of Greenwich. It was part of an experiment to see if they could adapt to life in the ponds.
Principal Charley Bowler announced the CCS faculty for school year 1955-56, including an elementary supervisor was to be shared with Salem Central through BOCES.
CCS lost the opening game of the football season 13-0 to Hoosick Falls. They bounced back the next week, defeating Warrensburg 22-16. Don Record scored twice on runs of 60 and 20 yards. He passed to Larry Decker for the third.
Bob Wright and LeRoy Anderson were outstanding on defense.
Kerry McKernon took over as pres. of the Future Scientists Club; Betty Boeker, veep, Mary Lee Kent, sec'y-treas.; Howard Romack, reporter.
The CCS Indians over-whelmed Fort Ann 52-12. Dick McKernon made a 55 yard scoring run. Stand-outs included Record, McKernon, Tom Woodcock, Alvin Brownell, Dick Dame, Tom Woodcock, Dick Wulff, John Pemrick, and Alvin Keiski.
Teacher Ken Wilbur led the CCS Biology class on an annual field trip to Mount Colfax.
Stanley B. Ford purchased the insurance agency of Clayton D. Brownell.
Miss Alice Ashton RN was appointed CCS school nurse to succeed Mrs. Katherine Gilchrist, who resigned.
John Lylis was appointed to the CCS school board to the vacancy created by the resignation of Denver Vickers.
CCS tied for first place in the league with Warrensburg and Hoosick Falls, following a 61-12 victory over Argyle. The front page article was signed by Betty Boeker, her first "by-line".
Lions Club Community Night drew Grandma Moses to the Central School. Charles John Stevenson broadcast her chat with Seth Craig over national radio. Dr. Denver Vickers, by then at work in Chicago, wrote that he had listened to the broadcast there.
CCS six man football season ended in a 50-6 win over Schuylerville. It left them tied for first in the league with Hoosick Falls, who beat them in the opening game. Hoosick Falls declined to play it off, citing injuries. CCS had an ll man game scheduled that weekend, anyway.
CCS finished the season Co-Champions of the Tri-County, six man football league.
In a final, non-conference 11 man game, they took on Manchester on the local field, and lost 18-6.
CCS announced that for the 1956 season, the Indians would reenter the ranks of 11 man football, for the first time since the glory days before the Depression.
CCS lost the basketball season opener 66-35 to Cohoes.
CCS dropped the second game of the season 62-58 to Hartford.
Matt Meagher was elected president of the Sacred Heart Sodality.
The State liquor authority suspended for ten days the liquor license of John H. McCarty of "The Oasis" for selling to minors.
In the first evening program of its kind since the new school opened, the community was invited by Principal Bowler to attend the student's musical Christmas program.
CCS basketballers dropped their third straight 92-38 to Salem.
Their first win was 56-48 over Hoosick Falls.
Then Don Record hit 25 points in another losing effort at Bennington. Then came Burr and Burton, their fifth loss.
Lindy Strout Jr. became assistant Sports Editor on the Post-Star, where another Cambridge boy, Roger Gorman, was Sports Editor.
After some journalism study, he had been home helping his parents run Lindy's Luncheonette on East Main.
1956
The Natural Resources Locating Corporation drilled test holes on the James Cristaldi farm west of the Village seeking Uranium.
Sonny Squires was elected president of the Owlkill Rod and Gun Club.
The Indians lost their sixth basketball game, 63-49 to Argyle. But finally they won, defeating Hoosick Valley. Don Record scored 16 points. Whoever the sports writer was at this time didn't feel the need to record the final scores of the contests.
They went on to defeat Greenwich 62-59, behind Dick Dame's 19 points.Then they defeated Arlington High 67-41 for their third consecutive victory.
Charles F. Cary of Schenectady purchased the contract to build the new post office. It would be a privately owned building, leased to the US Government. Residents were polled on where they would prefer it to be located: On East Main opposite the A & P (where it was ultimately built), on the Union School property of West Main near the Library or on Railroad Park.
The straw poll showed that most residents preferred the Union School site. Nobody wanted it where it was finally built, on land Cary owned.
The bubble burst for the Indians when they lost to Fort Ann 43-41 in over-time.
CCS bounced back from defeat to defeat Arlington 64-40, then lost 52-42 to Salem. Then they picked up a non-league win over North Bennington, Brede Nennstiel scoring 26 points.
James M. Brahan, publisher of the Hoosick Falls Standard Press and treasurer of Rensselaer County, was elected president of the New York Press Assoc. at its 104th annual convention.
CCS dropped a one pointer to Argyle, 65-64, then took a win from Hoosick Valley, giving them a season record of four wins and six losses.
Anticipating an enrollment of 900 by 1961, the BOE began a study to see what could be done to expand a facility designed to accommodate 700 pupils.
CCS took their second victory from Greenwich 69-60. In the last game of the season, the Indians avenged an earlier loss to Fort Ann 63-57. Don Record scored 21.
CCS would again host the Tri-State Music Festival in mid-May.
The Cambridge Lions Club would sponsor this gathering, just as it did the first several years previous.
The Cambridge Fish and Game Club assisted the State in stocking 2,400 trout in the Battenkill.
Don Record starred on the mound that spring as the baseball team got by Hartford and Salem in extra inning games. Record struck out 13 in the Salem game. Then they lost to Argyle and Hoosick Valley.
Prof. W.T. Scott, who grew up in Cambridge, was honored at the tenth annual Northwest Speech Tournament at Montana State Univ. Walter Todd Scott, an out-standing athlete at the old Cambridge Union School in track, was Professor Emeritus at Montana School of Mines.
Professor Scott was honored for originating the parliamentary style of debating then used by many western universities aqnd colleges. For 35 years he was director of speech activities at the School of Mines.
By Memorial Day, 1956, CCS and Old Cambridge was approaching the apex of bands. Principal Bowler, himself a tubist of no mean talent, had inspired a high school band that could and did march at every opportunity. The Cambridge Band was itself was in a modern incarnation that led to a reputation upon which the unit still rode in 2006.
That Memorial Day parade included both bands, just as it still did in the 1990s. "Twirlers", however, seem to have become something of the past.
Bowler then staged a hiring coup, stealing away the principal of Charlestown, New Hampshire School. Thirty-nine year old John Herbert joined the CCS faculty to teach math and coach basketball. He would stay to build a rep of personal deportment that remains a standard for all who aspire to teach at CCS. He himself would eventually serve as principal of the high school. Upon his retirement, he would enter the catholic priesthood.
Rowland Ross, principal of Hastings, NY High School, received a doctor of education degree at NYU's 124th commencement. Ross was a former principal at CCS, preceded by a tour at Millbrook. He was liberal and progressive and wrecked a premier sports program, dismantling a State Champion football program and banning a women's basketball program that was so good local teams stopped playing them and their only competition came at the college level.
Virgil Cruz of Cambridge was ordained to the ministry at the Coila UP Church that June. He graduated CCS in 1947.
John Lylis was inducted president of Cambridge Lions Club.
At the annual CCS District meeting, Lylis ran for reelection unopposed.
Jerome E. Wright donated the historic fair grounds bandstand to the Village of Cambridge. A Vermont museum wanted it, but Wright preferred that it stay in Cambridge. The plan even then was to remove it to the park north of the central school on S. Park St.
John Lylis accepted the Band Stand on behalf of the Lions Club. It was to be placed in what was to be known as "Lions Club Park". So, at this point in its history, it leaves possession of Jerome E. Wright to become property of Cambridge Lions Club.
CCS was about to launch an ll man football season in the Saratoga County League.
The Cambridge Post Office opened for business at its new East End location on August 30th.
CCS opened Sept. 5th. James Leone was appointed to the role of shared elementary supervisor, with Salem Central. Maurice O'Connor was new, as was Mr. Roewer and Mr. Herbert.
Cambridge Central opened with another record enrollment, 888, with 33 additional at the Eagle Bridge and Buskirk rural schools.
There were 82 in kindergarten, 107 in 4th grade. The lowest grade was 12th, with 34. Thereafter it leaped by tens to the ninth grade, where 76 were enrolled.
Leo J. Cantwell, 54, popular teacher and coach at Lake Placid High School, died at Albany Veterans Hospital. He was the brother of Police Chief Charley Cantwell.
Born in Hoosick Falls, he graduated from CHS in 1921. From there he went to the University of Notre Dame, class of '26. Prior to Lake Placid, he taught at Belmont Abbey College, N. Carolina, where several local football heroes of his era once studied.
Cantwell teams won several northern state championships. He was State Coach of the Year in 1953, honored by the Touchdown Club of NYCity.
In WW II, he was a Navy Lt. Commander of Reserves, assigned to Union and Williams colleges.
He was buried in St. Patrick's Cemetery, Cambridge.
Coach Carson Fuller had the following veterans to lean on as they began ll man football: Leroy Anderson, Ed Cantwell, Larry Decker, Rich Evans, Dick Greminger, Wayne Laverty, Al Keiski, Joe O'Malley, Wes Mook, John Pemrick, Cliff Phillips, Don Record, Bob Shay, Ernie Trinkle, Bruce Wands, Dave Wilkie, Dick Wulff and Bob Wullf.
Newcomers were John Bell, gary Brown, Dick Chase, Frank Cristalki, Glen Davis, Albert Davis, Dick Ferrara, Mike Grady, Albert Helnen, Jim Kazimes, Ed Kyer, Neal Laverty, Jim Lull, Rich McLenithan, Randall Oestreicher, Carmen Olff, Bill Randles, Ed Robitaille, Dan Severson, John Uscinacuski, Pete Van Name, Don Vitello, John Ublacker, Bob Wallace and Berry Wullf.
With ll man football returning to CCS, the enthusiasm for cheerleading increased. Forty-six girls tried out for 12 positions. A committee, headed by Mrs. Eva Hopkins, the girls phys. ed. instructor, chose Elsie Lister, Barbara Wocell, Yvonne Bushee, Dorothy Taylor, Helene Gann, Dolores Skiff, Diane Gonyea, Marion Bell, Linda MacMorris, Jane Kenyon, Jane Falkenbury and Helen Wilbur. Doris Andrew and Wilma Bassett were subs.
Robert McWhorter had his building up on the corner of W. Main and S. Union, and planned to open a super market on Oct. 4.
CCS won its first ll man game, 7-6 at Ballston Spa. Ballston recovered a fumble and scored first, but Bruce Wands blocked the PAT.
Cambridge scored when Don Record plunged in from the three, then passed to Dick Wulff for the winning point.
Starters were: Lary Decker and Dick Wulff, ends; Bruce Wands and Wayne Laverty, tackles; Wes Mook and Rich Evans, guards; Dick Greminger, center; John Pemrick, QB; Don Record and Bob Shay, HBs; and LeRoy Anderson, FB.
The next week the Indians trimmed St. Peter's of Saratoga 19-0 behind six passes by Record.
Due to the impact of the poorly located new Post Office, right across from the A & P where there was virtually no off-street parking, the Village Board met to consider a plan that would have prohibited parking on the north side of East Main from the Methodist Church driveway to Washington St.
The bubble burst at CCS as the 11 man team dropped a game 14-6 to Corinth. Bob Shay scored the lone TD.
CCS lost their second straight football game 13-6 to Burnt Hills. The correspondent thought Cambridge had won "a moral victory against so large and rough a team". Larry Decker debuted in the backfield.
Robert Wright, CCS '56, that fall played end on the Colgate Univ. freshman football team.
John Henry "Jack" Shay, son of the Edward Shays of E. Main St. and brother to Bob, enlisted in the US Navy on Oct. 10th. He was a CCS grad.
CCS bounced back from two tough losses to overrun Greenwich 38-0. Dick Record, Don Record, John Pemrick and Larry Decker all scored.
In the Nov. 1 issue. Henderson Van Surdam made his debut in the Hoosick Falls Standard Press as a football columnist. He did so by writing a tribute to Leo Cantwell, born in Hoosick Falls, who played for Cambridge High.
Van Surdam was a former president of the Touchdown Club, NYCity. He recalled that they honored Leo by giving him the first award to the "high school" coach of the year.
"Leo was not only a great coach--he was a moulder of boys. He left his mark on the youth of this North Country...."
In the general election that fall, Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon swept past Adlai Stevenson and Estes Kefauver. The GOP swept Washington County, which it usually did in those days.
CCS finished its first 11 man football season in years with back to back victories over arch-rivals. Greenwich fell, then the Indians finished the season with a 39-6 walloping of Salem, in which the second and third teams saw much action.
They finished the season with a 4-2 record, good for second place in the Saratoga County League. The two teams they lost to, by a touchdown in each, went on to be co-champions of the League.
John Luke was goalee for the Plattsburgh College soccer team. He was also outstanding in basketball.
Forty-six candidates reported for the CCS basketball team. They were led by 6 ft. 8 inch William "Duke" Nennstiel, at center. The other varsity players were expected to be Larry Decker, John Bell, Don Record, Dick Record, Frank Cristaldi, Tony Olff and Jim Lull.
Bennington took their measure 69-40 in the non-league opener.
Then they bounced back to swamp Fort Ann 71-42 in the first league game.
The National Honor Society inducted Jane Falkenbury and Richard Greminger, seniors.
A special meeting of the CCS BOE was called for January 24th, when the tax-payers would be asked to vote a $320,000 bond issue to expand educational facilities.
The CCS Indians kept rolling in the League, whipping Hartford 81-52. Salem was next to fall, 74-57. Coach John Herbert's Indians were riding the crest of a five game winning streak. It was the first Indian victory over the Generals in the last seven meetings.
posted by SPORTS2CAMBRIDGENY at 8:09 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home