Glouster 1920-1929

1920-1929

The Scarlet and Grey Tomcats

The 1920s brought more consistency to the Glouster Football program as schedules began to fill up with regular opponents.  The first rivalry began to bloom with the games between Glouster and Chauncey.  For the 1920 season, no coach has been listed, but in 1921 principal and “manual training” teacher F.P. Clark took over the program.  In 1924 George Wolfe was hired as the manual training teacher and became the head coach of the team.  In 1926 Glouster hired Carl Bachman, a recent graduate of Bowling Green, to teach industrial arts and be the coach of all athletics.  Bachman was a standout athlete at Bowling Green in five sports and would later be elected into his alma mater’s hall of fame.  Under Bachman, Glouster sports began to steadily improve and by the time he left in 1930, the Football, Basketball and Baseball teams were considered among the best in the area.  Bachman would leave Glouster for Perrysville High School and then a few years later move on to Findlay High School where he would become an extremely successful basketball coach, which included a state championship in 1948.  It was Coach Bachman that introduced the Scarlet and Grey color scheme to Glouster High School.  Before Bachman was coach, there were descriptions in early game reports of the GHS team being “Maroon and White” and “Scarlet and White”.  It was also during the Bachman coaching stint that the nickname “Tomcats” became consistantly used. Prior to this, there were descriptions of our players as “Wild Cats” and “Magic Citizens”, but no nickname being regularly used.  By the conclusion of the 1920s the Glouster Football had developed into the type of program that would fit into a more modern time.  Games against the Alumni would be phased out (Alumni games are not listed in this collective, and often were only reported in yearbooks) and nine to ten game seasons with each team being played only once were adopted.  Games against Malta and McConnelsvile (M&M), and New Lexington would be the early indicator for the first league that Glouster would join in the beginning of the 1930s.  During this era very few teams had lights, and the primary form of transportation was by train.  It was very common for high school games to be played on Thursday or Friday afternoons according to the train schedule, and school to be let out early for students to attend games.  Many games would start at 2:30 or 3:30 in the afternoon.

1920 Glouster

10/8/1920 Murray City Home L 6 12

10/22/1920 Chauncey Away W 42 0

10/30/1920 Nelsonville Away L 0 67

11/5/1920 Buchtel Home W 20 6

A second game with Murray City was scheduled and then later canceled. In the newspaper statement for the cancellation of the game, it said that the Glouster team “figured Murray boys got cold feet'' This would lead to a letter to the editor of the Athens Messenger from the principal of Murray City High School that said his team was not scared of Glouster and that they had beaten them earlier in the season.  He then issued the challenge that Murray would play “anytime, anyplace” but there is no record of a second game being played.

Fullback Girard Blower was the captain, the team included McAllister (no first name listed), Earl Roberts, Paul Smith, Dwight Clark, Thomas Williams, Guy Taylor, William Duncan, Jim Hawk, Wayne Faires, Frank Gardner, Frank Heckman, Walter Yount, and Edwin Coryelle. 

The game against New Straitsville was canceled by New Straitsville, no reason was given.  A game against New Lexington was scheduled for November 18, but canceled and Nelsonville was added as a replacement game.  In the last game of the season against Chauncey, Guy Taylor returned a fumble 99 yards for a touchdown, the description in the newspapers said the ball was mere inches from the goal line when Taylor scooped it up

Frank Heckman was the captain, the team consisted of Clyde Peugh, Clayton Olson, Jim Hawk, Wayne Faires, Pryce Richards, Frank Gardner, Harold Vernon, Eddie Brown, Raymond Tudor, Kent Thompson, Guy Taylor, and Robert Thomas.  

Senior Guy Taylor would go on to dental school at Ohio State and then become the first Black dentist in Canton.  He was a prominent member of that city’s community until his death in 1982.

Coach and Manual Training Teacher Russell Huston did not arrive to Glouster until the second week of school, about a week before the opening game against Chauncey

There are a lot of discrepancies between the schedule listed in the yearbook and the actual accounts of games played.  The second game against Chauncey was originally scheduled as a game against New Straitsville, the first Murray City game was scheduled for October 19.  The New Lexington game was originally scheduled as a game against the Alumni, and the final game of the year was moved from its November 9th original date.

The first New Straitsville game ended early because of a “free-for-all fight” that broke out, the official declared that Glouster was responsible for the fight and called the game despite time remaining and the close score.

A game against Alumni was played on 10/10/1924

The Trimble Independents team was one of many amateur teams that were formed in the area.  

Team Members: Captain-Jim Hawk, Pryce Richards, Sam Nagles, Harold Vernon, Jim Steadman, Curley Rothery, Raymond Tudor, Virgil Grandy, Paul Kelly, Bill Gibbs, Bob Angle, Dick Carey, Pete Pieri, Walter Oliver, Everett Leadbetter, Walter Gayton, Ingam Jones, 

Manager: Ralph Nida

Team members: Walter Oliver (Captain), Darrell Gatchel, Austin Edwards, Joe Wolfe, Pete Pieri, Roland Hoffman, Everett Leadbetter, Dick Carey, Ralph Gatchel, Edward Noon, Robert Angle, Bill Gibbs, Raymond Tudor, Bernard Nagle, Lester Zimmer, Bob Bullock, Myron Sayre, Eldon Antle, Paul Kelly, Walter Stoecklein

With the growing popularity of semi-pro football in the area, the Glouster American Legion built a field for its team to host games.  The High School would use this field as their home until the WPA built Glouster Memorial Stadium in 1940.

Starters: Captain - Pieri, Gibbs, Hoffman, Wolfe, Bulloch, Levindosky, Stedman, Gatchel, Meredith, Stocklein, Zimmer

The summary of the season in the 1927 yearbook stated that the team finished 6-3 which was quite a surprise considering the amount of underclassmen that were in the starting lineup.  The yearbook did not have a schedule listed. While researching the season, the three losses were found, so one of the wins is missing.  It was very common during this era to play on or as close to Armistice Day as possible, and there is no record of a game being played by Glouster, it is very likely that the missing game was played on that date. It is also possible that this was a game against the Alumni, which would not technically be counted in an official season record.

Starters: Gibbs, Bulloch, Foraker, Wolf, Hook, Fierce, Stedman, Cornwall, Meredith, Anderson, Davis

Because of the surprise success of the 1926 season, the preseason article regarding the ‘27 team anticipated Glouster would be one of the best in the area.  The only loss this season was to Nelsonville, which was, at the time, a much larger school who was in the SouthEast Ohio Athletic League 

The final game of the season against New Lexington was played at 3:15pm. All grades of Glouster schools let out early and over 30 stores in the town shut down from 3-6pm for the game, including The Atlas Store, Kroger, First National Bank and the Glouster State Bank.  Every business that closed for the game was listed in the Athens Messenger the day prior to the game.

Starters: W. Johnson, Hook, Brunton, Parker, Blower, Gibbs, Foraker, Cornwell, Kittle, Wallace, C. Johnson, Steadman

1sr row: Wolf (mgr.) B. Johnson FB, B. Eddy E, Foraker HB, Parker T, Hook C, Hemsley G, Brunton T, Blower T, Craft E,

2nd row: Bachmnan Coach,Carter T, Marshall HB, V. Eddy G, C. Johnaon HB, L. Stedman FB Capt., Wallace HB, R. Steadman QB, Kittle T, Gatchell T, Vickeroy G, Boyer G, M. Johnson Mgr

The October 14, 1928 article about the M&M game is the first Athens Messenger article to reference the “Glouster High School Tom Cats”

Most of the articles after the Corning game list the number of injuries that the team had.  Captain Ralph Steadman broke his leg and was out the second half of the season which was described as a “massive loss to the Glouster offensive unit”

Starters: Eddy, Yocum, Colley, Hemsley, Golding, Parker, Craft, Wallace, Marshall, Kytta, Steadman; Substitutes: Yocum, Beshara, Vickroy, Colley, R. Henry, E. Henry, Gatchel, Boyer, Leach

Row 1: Ralph Henry, Evart Henry, William Colley, Belford Hemsley, Henry Golding, John Vickroy, Alfred Craft

Row 2: Robert Clark, Harry Morgan, Edmund Beshara, Robert Eddy, Andrew Chute, Floyd Sikorski, Francis Wolf

Row 3 George Wolf Coach Bachman, Gail Wallace, Mat Kyatta, Carl Parker, Robert Marshall, Ralph Stedman, Lester Conaway

Absent: William Yocum, Earl Boyer

Five ties in a season is obviously a school record that will never be broken.  The second Corning game had to be rescheduled twice due to flooding in Glouster.