{"id":705,"date":"2022-01-06T10:00:10","date_gmt":"2022-01-06T15:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsfive.net\/wp18\/?p=705"},"modified":"2022-01-08T14:08:57","modified_gmt":"2022-01-08T19:08:57","slug":"stickball-in-the-street-a-players-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsfive.net\/wp18\/2022\/01\/06\/stickball-in-the-street-a-players-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Stickball In the Street: A Players\u2019 Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Some of the most interesting lacrosse games played in Geneva are staged on the asphalt pavement on the south end of Exchange Street<\/em>.
\n– Geneva Daily Times June 4, 1921<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In a LAX LINES piece on SportFive.Net, \u201cNew Sport for School,\u201d Coach Paul Wilson introduced Geneva as the pioneering scholastic program in Section Five nearly a century ago. What was the source of the idea and where did the impetus for the sport\u2019s first adoption come from? The Daily Times\u2019 \u201cSports Notes\u201d author continues:<\/p>\n

\n

The Exchange Street youngsters have cut crotched limbs from trees. . . . These they have whittled smooth. Ordinary hemp bagging has been sewed over the crotch, making the stick into a fairly decent crosse. With these homemade <\/em>sticks they play lacrosse in the street (There) is constant traffic . . . and the game is frequently interrupted . . .<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

According to the author, \u201cYouth must have its sport,\u201d and \u201cthe boys cannot afford baseball equipment,\u201d citing the \u201cpractically prohibitive high price of athletic goods.\u201d Thus, Geneva\u2019s Roaring Twenties version of the seemingly eternal tug-of-war between the two American-born pastimes.<\/p>\n

\n

In former years the sandlots of the city grew baseball players, today their only crop is weeds. Geneva at present is lax in sport for youths. <\/em>(Note: pun likely unintended)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"\"Continuing his indictment of the lack of organized youth sports in town, the writer asserts that street lacrosse \u201cindicates a desire on the part of these boys for healthy sports,\u201d noting that without their \u201ccrude attempt to play . . . it\u2019s highly probable they would be engaged in other afternoon sports . . . the movies and shooting craps.<\/p>\n

Coupled with the desire for healthy sports, the influence of the already popular and respected lacrosse program at Hobart College would have been well-recognized by the \u201cstreet laxters\u201d as exciting and entertaining. \u201cThe Fastest Sport on Two Feet\u201d as labeled by a promoter of a later generation must certainly have inspired their crosse-crafting and asphalt activities.<\/p>\n

\n

LACROSSE TEAM AT GENEVA HIGH: Much Enthusiasm Spreading to Organize New Spring Sport<\/em>
\n\u2013 Geneva Daily Times headline, January 31, 1922<\/p>\n

. . . the topic of lacrosse has taken a firm hold on the fellows at Geneva High School. It is believed that there would be much more popularity in this sport than baseball.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

There\u2019s that indictment again. GHS baseball had evidently garnered little success or popularity. 1921\u2019s Sports Notes scribe had called that year\u2019s loss to Rochester East a \u201cdisgraceful debacle\u201d and despite being \u201cgiven a try-out spring after spring . . . the lads seem unable to develop much of a team.\u201d resulting in Geneva not getting \u201cdeeply interested in the Red and Black baseball games.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

SCHOOL MENTORS FAVOR LACROSSE: Geneva High may make plans for a new Spring Sport<\/em>
\n– Geneva Daily Times headline, February 7, 1922<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The lacrosse wave of Spring \u201922 washed across Geneva \u2013 Hobart planned for its first ever freshman team \u2013 and to the east, Laurie Cox, pioneering coach at Syracuse University, Hobart\u2019s closest and fiercest rival, announced sponsorship of a league composed of two nearby high schools, a Native American reserve team and their own freshman team. Geneva\u2019s fledgling \u201cstickwielders,\u201d as sportswriters referred to lacrosse players of that era, would not lack for opponents and challenges.<\/p>\n

\n

Central to have 100 Lacrosse Candidates; C.B.A. Has 40 Applicants:<\/em><\/p>\n

Cox to Teach School Boys; Start Next week
\n\u2013 <\/em>Syracuse Herald headline, March 3, 1922<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The decision made by the GHS Athletic Association, competition commenced, the first on-field action a 3-2 victory for the high schoolers over the Hobart \u201cyearlings.\u201d A contemporary account of the confrontation conveys a scene familiar to anyone who has witnessed a game between novice teams of any age or era.<\/p>\n

\n

Both teams slashed as hard as they could for the first ten minutes . . . Most of the time the ball was rolling around on <\/em>the ground with about a half a dozen men of both teams madly scrambling to get it.<\/em>
\n\u2013 Geneva Daily Times, April 4, 1922<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Both the game and the season forecast an auspicious future for the sport at GHS \u2013 \u201cAfter a while . . .\u00a0 the men (tired) and the game became more settled.\u201d The teams split a pair of later games granting the \u201cMilton Street lads\u201d (i.e\"\"., the high schoolers) city bragging rights.<\/p>\n

The rivalry ignited that first season ultimately became both figuratively and literally a \u201cfraternal\u201d one. Numerous Geneva High players would exchange the school\u2019s Red and Black for the College\u2019s Orange and Purple over the next two decades and oppose former teammates and occasionally actual siblings.<\/p>\n

Geneva could also lay unofficial claim to be scholastic champions of Central New York,\u201d based on their undefeated record against other high school teams. Under coach Dr. J.B. Covert, captain of Hobart\u2019s first lacrosse team in 1898 and HC coach-to-be in 1923-4, the Red and Black achieved an auspicious genesis for a program with nearly a century \u2013 albeit an interrupted one \u2013 as the seedbed of Section Five lacrosse encompassing some eighty seasons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some of the most interesting lacrosse games played in Geneva are staged on the asphalt pavement on the south end of Exchange Street. – Geneva Daily Times June 4, 1921<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsfive.net\/wp18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsfive.net\/wp18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsfive.net\/wp18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsfive.net\/wp18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsfive.net\/wp18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=705"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/sportsfive.net\/wp18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":716,"href":"https:\/\/sportsfive.net\/wp18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705\/revisions\/716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsfive.net\/wp18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsfive.net\/wp18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsfive.net\/wp18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsfive.net\/wp18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}