Hoop fans might pick Cameron Indoor Stadium, Allen Fieldhouse or Rupp Arena. Heck, local eyes glisten at the sight of the Curry Hicks Cage come tournament time. Names sprawled across gymnasium walls in Franklin County include Nichols, Messer, Mallet and Goodnow.
But in the early days of Powertown basketball, Hibernian Hall was the hottest ticket in town.
In 1914, Turners Falls High School had no gymnasium to speak of. Instead, the basketball team played its games on the third floor of the historic three-and-a-half story building across town that also served as a popular dance hall in the early 1900s. Games were often preceded, or accompanied, by boxing matches where local fighters sought their big break, hoping to become the next Jack Johnson, Sam Langford or Jack Dempsey.
Not surprisingly, Hibernian Hall was not a swanky establishment. Conditions weren’t favorable to athletes, something Class of 1937 standout Frank Bush confirmed to legendary Recorder columnist Irmarie Jones in a 2008 edition of “Just Plain Neighbors.” Bush passed away in 2018 at the age of 97.
“We practiced basketball in the morning at Hibernian Hall and there was no heat. If it was 20 degrees below zero outside, it was 20 degrees below inside. Believe me, we wore our long johns,” he said.
The building still stands on the corner of Avenue A and 4th Street, though it was converted into an apartment complex back in the 1980s. From the street, pedestrians can still see the initials “AOH,” which stand for the Ancient Order of Hibernians, amidst the stone work at the peak of the exterior.
The AOH was an Irish Catholic fraternal organization. Members must be male, Catholic, and either born in Ireland or of Irish descent, and its largest membership holds in the United States where it was founded in New York City in 1836.
Turners Falls fit the bill for such an organization in the early 1900s. The town was inhabited by a number of citizens of Irish descent, and names on the backs of basketball jerseys included Black, Collins, Conway and Sullivan.
Fans who moseyed over to Avenue A during the winter of 1913-14 witnessed one of the best seasons of any Franklin County basketball team prior to World War II. Turners Falls High School went 18-2, one of those losses coming in a bizarre forfeiture, and went on lay claim to both the western Mass. and state championships. These were the days prior to postseason tournaments, when multiple teams declared themselves champs, though the Powertown had the resume to back it up.
Behind a 33-32 win over Pittsfield in the season-finale on March 25, 1914, Turners Falls sealed the deal on what was called a “championship campaign.”
Believe it or not, the high school basketball season began on Thanksgiving Day in 1913 — the Greenfield-Turners Falls football rivalry wasn’t played on Turkey Day until 1927. In the early 1900s, basketball was king on the holiday, and the local press touted what many anticipated as a telling season opener against Fitchburg in its preview on Nov. 26, 1913.
“The high school basketball team will open the season Thanksgiving afternoon by playing Fitchburg Normal School, one of the strongest teams on its schedule,” the article read. “The lineup for the high school team is Sullivan and Black, forwards; Conway, center; Collins and Couture, guards; and C. Stoughton and Rist as substitutes. A good game is expected as the team has progressed under the coaching of Fred Rau and Capt. Sullivan.”
In the pages of the Turners Falls Reporter the following week, subscribers read how the game was anything but competitive. In a sign of the season ahead, the Powertowners rolled to a 46-12 victory over Fitchburg.
“Captain ‘Teddy’ Sullivan of the local team threw the most baskets,” the game report read. “Much interest is being taken in the high school team this season and the boys expect to give a good account of themselves.”By 1913 journalism standards, the gushing over the Turners Falls basketball team had already begun.
Check out Wednesday’s edition of the Recorder for Part 2 of this series. Thanks to local historian Mike Cadran for his research.