Glouster 1914-1919

1910-1919

The Beginning

Very few game reports exist for the actual start of football in Trimble Township.  The first season with game results is 1916, but articles from that year allude to previous seasons, including the 1914 team that was undefeated.  It appears that the inclusion of football into the culture of Glouster High School coincided with the hiring of Otis Johnson in the spring of 1913.  While no record of a team from the fall of 1913 has been discovered, it is very likely that one did exist due to an article previewing the 1916 season in which they reference a group of players who contributed to the “Invincible team of 1914” that went undefeated.  While it is not impossible for a program to be created and go undefeated in its first season of competition, it does seem highly unlikely.  Otis Johnson served as coach until the end of the 1917 season.  At the conclusion of the 1917-1918 school year, Johnson left teaching to become a mining engineer and was tragically killed in an accident in Mine 267 at Hunterdon on July 30, 1919.  He was just 24 years old.  For those of you thinking that the math doesn’t work out for Otis Johnson, in order to become a teacher at the time a person had to graduate from high school and pass the teacher’s exam.  Johnson passed the teacher’s exam one year after graduating high school and began teaching at 18 years of age.

In the fall of 1918 plans were made for a season, and the first game with Murray City was scheduled, but four days prior to the game the season was suspended due to the Spanish Flu.  The following year a team was organized by one of the players, Howard McLaughlin, and two games were played against Murray City to draw the decade of the 1910s to a close.

1913 Glouster Coach Otis Johnson

1914 Glouster Coach Otis Johnson

The "Invincible team of '14", freshmen Earnest Bryson, Harry LeFever and Lloyd Antle all started on the undefeated team.

1915 Glouster Coach Otis Johnson

1916 Glouster Coach Otis Johnson

10/21/1916 Mohicans Away W 12 7

10/27/1916 Winners L 0 7

11/3/1916 Murray City W 1 0

11/17/1916 Albany no result found

The team had 35 players on the roster, the starters were Bernard-Left End, Randolph-Left Tackle, Pico-Left Guard, Bryson-Center, Carey-Right Guard, Smith-Right Tackle, Edwards-Right End, Antle-Quarterback, LeFever-Left Halfback, West-Right Halfback, Danford-Fullback

The first two games of the season were against the Sunday School classes of the Athens Presbyterian Church, called the Mohicans and the Athens Methodist Church, called the Winners.  While only the location of the Mohican game is known, it is likely that both games were played at the Athens Playground where the Athens high school team played at the time.  The game against Murray City was originally a 0-0 tie, but after the game it was discovered that only one of Murray’s players was actually enrolled in the high school.

The archive of Athens Messenger newspapers for 1916 ends on November 17, 1916

1917 Glouster Coach Otis Johnson

10/12/1917 Albany Away L 0 38

10/26/1917 Nelsonville Away L 0 30

11/2/1917 Albany Home W 6 0

11/6/1917 Murray City Home L 0 12

11/16/1917 Nelsonville Home W 7 0

Starters: Leo Dennison-Right Halfback, Carl Pico-Right Guard, Roy Carey-Left Guard, Earnest Bryson-Center, Raymond Cunningham-Right Tackle, Ted Woodruff-Left Tackle, Chas Randolf- Right End, Orvil Edwards-Left End, Harry LeFever-Left Halfback, Lloyd Antle-Quarterback, Milton Bingham-Fullback.  

The 2nd Albany game was rescheduled twice due to travel issues.

An article from 1932 stated that Glouster played Chauncey this year as the start of the rivalry

Home games were played at the Glouster Baseball Grounds.

1918 Glouster

10/27/1918 Murray City Away canceled on 10/23/1918 (Spanish Flu)

The article indicated that the game would be played at a later date after the pandemic ended.

1919 Glouster Howard McLaughlin, Captain

10/5/1919 Murray City Away L 0 14

10/18/1919 Murray City Home L 0 16

McLaughlin was listed as the person to contact to schedule games, but only two game reports were discovered.