Although you may not realize it, Philomath was playing high school basketball 100 years ago. The school, which had opened in 1911, had both boys and girls basketball teams that often played doubleheaders — just like today.
In this edition of The Philomath 5, I’ve gone back through the results of the 1924-25 season and picked out five boys basketball games to highlight. Basketball appeared to be pretty active in town at the time with the Philomath College, Philomath High and a Philomath town team all playing a schedule of games.
Here then are five random boys basketball games from a century ago.
1. Coburg 29, Philomath 21
Going up against Coburg’s high school team on Dec. 12, 1924, Philomath was outscored 11-4 in the second half to come up short on the road. “The game proved to be a very interesting one in the first half, ending with the score at 17 to 18 in Coburg’s favor,” reported the Eugene Guard. Playing for PHS were Cecil Rickard and Albert Brown at forward, Ed Sehorn and Lawrence Minton at guard, and Clifford Jones at center. Subs were True Brown and Herbert Hathaway. Coburg ended up going 10-1 with one of its wins coming over Leaburg, 149-3.
2. Philomath 26, Monroe 5
In a game played Jan. 2, 1925, in the Philomath College gymnasium, Philomath defeated Monroe by a 26-5 count. The contest took place on a Friday evening. Philomath then beat Monroe again two weeks later on Jan. 16 — those scores not reported.
3. Shedd 25, Philomath 17
Playing on the road on Jan. 23, the boys lost to a good Shedd squad by eight points. “The game was the fastest seen on the local floor this year,” according to a game report in the Albany Evening Herald. “Although the visitors were larger than the Shedd boys, they were unable to hold the fast pace set for them.” Albert Brown and Cecil Rickard each had five points to lead PHS scorers.
4. Philomath 20, Halsey 14
The Philomath boys took a road victory on Jan. 30 over Halsey, 20-14. “A reception was given at the Yellow Front after the game,” the Corvallis Gazette-Times reported. The “Yellow Front” was a nickname for the Philomath Ladies Aid parlors located on the Philomath College campus. Halsey hosted Philomath again on Feb. 20 and won the rematch, 23-20, although the PHS lineup was “mostly composed of second-team members,” according to one report.
5. Lebanon 9, Philomath 7
Playing on Feb. 13 in Lebanon, the Philomath High boys lost by two points in a low-scoring affair. No other details on the game could be found.
(Brad Fuqua is publisher/editor of the Philomath News. He can be reached at News@PhilomathNews.com).
