(NOTE: This is Part 2 in a series. Check out Tuesday’s edition of the Recorder for Part 1.)
An impressive start to the 1913-14 season on Thanksgiving Day had the Turners Falls High School basketball team feeling pretty good about itself.
A 34-point win over an overmatched Fitchburg side? Not a bad way to show the rest of the state what to expect from the Powertown.
As the calendar turns to December 1913, optimism rules in Turners. The Ford Motor Company introduces the first moving assembly line, reducing framework time for each vehicle by some 10 hours.
On the hardwood, the Powertown continues to move along. The win over Fitchburg is followed up by a 45-18 thumping of Northampton at Hibernian Hall.
A week later, the squad officially has a winning streak on its hands, thanks to a 50-19 win over Mass. Aggie in another home tilt on Avenue A.
“Turners Falls were scheduled to play the Ware High School team, but the game was cancelled by Ware at a late hour, and the independents booked instead,” the Turners Falls Reporter wrote. “The Turners Falls boys played a fast game and the visitors were no match for them.”
The 3-0 start set the stage for the first of four meetings with neighboring Greenfield High School during the ’13-’14 season. The rivals met for the first time on Dec. 17, 1913, and Turners cruised to a 31-11 victory. As players were rarely referred to by their first names in print back in those days, the article in the newspaper mentioned that “Black with six baskets, and Sullivan with five were the high scorers.
“The game gave the players on both sides and the spectators as well, a number of surprises,” it continued.
Keeping with the holiday theme, Turners closed out 1913 on Christmas Day at Hibernian Hall, this time meeting the Greenfield High School Alumni team. The Powertown moved to a perfect 5-0 with a 46-10 thrashing, as the hosts stormed out to a 28-4 halftime lead and never looked back.
“The game was a one-sided affair, and the local boys outplayed the visitors from the beginning to the end of the game,” the Reporter wrote.
Ringing in 1914, Turners faced another challenge — at least it expected one. Three-time defending eastern Massachusetts champion Winthrop came to town, waltzing into Hibernian Hall with hopes of ending the Powertown’s undefeated start to the season.
If it was a fight, they would’ve stopped it.
Turners led 20-0 at halftime, overpowering the eastern Mass. powers, and ultimately scored a 28-7 victory in a defensive-minded tilt on Jan. 3, 1914.
“In the second half, the visitors played a hard blocking game, and as Winthrop outweighed the locals, the game was a trifle rough,” offered the Reporter of the affair.
The month of January was full of laughers. Following the win against Winthrop, Turners made two straight against neighboring Greenfield thanks to a 27-14 victor, and followed that with the only tight game of the month — a 25-23 win over Williston Academy at Hibernian Hall.
Game 3 against Greenfield offered more of the same, a 38-15 win at Hibernian Hall, and back-to-back blowouts saw Turners dismantle Deerfield High School (54-8) and the Athol YMCA (70-23) to close out a dominant first month of 1914.
Sitting at 11-0 entering February, Turners capped a 6-0 month of January where it beat opponents by an average margin of 25.3 points per game. The 70-point total against Athol was the club’s highest output to that point, and they allowed single digits to both Winthrop and Deerfield in the six-game span.
Riding high with confidence, Turners took its talking to the media. In the Feb. 1, 1914 edition of the Springfield Republican, captain Teddy Sullivan wrote to the newspaper in hopes of lining up new opponents for the stretch run of the season.
“The crack Turners Falls high school basketball team is out with a challenge to meet any team in the state for the championship of Massachusetts,” the article began. Sullivan went on to say that, “As captain of the Turners Falls high school basketball team, I wish to challenge any high school team in the state for a series of games, for the championship of the state. Westfield, Springfield, Holliston, Quincy, Wellesley and any other team having a claim to the championship are welcome at any convenient time.”
Those interested were asked to write team manager H.M. Rupp for particulars. The paper mentioned how Turners had “been drubbing all comers by big margins” over the past two or three weeks.
Check out Thursday’s edition of the Recorder for Part 3 of this series.