Tigers Battle Canton McKinley Bulldogs To 6-6 Tie
Local Gridders Knot Count With Only Five Minutes Left To Play
By LUTHER EMERY
A brilliant 71-yard return of a kickoff by Halfback Gene Zorger, and a mighty lunge over the center of the line by Quarterback Paul Cary, rammed a touchdown right down the throat of the Canton McKinley Bulldog Saturday afternoon to gain a 6-6 tie for the Washington high Tigers in the last five minutes of their 51st meeting.
The Canton Bulldog was still wagging his tail over a 78-yard touchdown dash by Ralph Pucci, great McKinley right halfback, when the Tigers struck back in sudden fury that repaid the Bulldogs for all they had meted out just two minutes earlier.
To the capacity crowd of 22,000 fans, Pucci’s touchdown had looked like the payoff to the terrific defensive struggled that had been waged by the lines of the two teams for three and one-half periods.
They gasped when Zorger grabbed the following kickoff on his 20-yard line and raced toward the Bulldog goal.
“Go, go, go!” Massillon fans were shouting as Zorger did a tight rope walk along the sideline, stiff-arming and side-stepping when he had room. His teammates were timing their blocks well and felling Bulldog players as they came in to make the tackle. At the
50-yard line it was Zorger all alone with two Bulldogs closing in from an angle. He leveled off and made a run for it but stepped out at the nine just as a Bulldog player lunged at him and eventually brought him down on the four.
* * *
CANTON FANS who a moment before were in ecstasy over what appeared certain victory in this half century of bitter and traditional rivalry were completely stunned, while Massillon fans were gulping in amazement.
But the ball still wasn’t over. It was nine yards short of the goal and a big, stubborn, strong McKinley line stood between the Tigers and the Promised Land. It had turned back Massillon’s best efforts all afternoon and this was the final test.
It was the final test for the Tiger linesmen too and they moved into their positions in grim determination. Cary handed the ball off to Alex Giloff, who rammed his way forward three yards. It was now on the six. Then he slipped it on a quick opener to Zorger who butted through to the two.
It was a case of power from now on. Cary selected the strongest play in the Tigers’ offensive repertoire, the smash off right tackle, and carried the ball himself. He virtually threw himself atop the pile of struggling lines. They went forward then backward. There was a roar from the Massillon side of the field, where fans thought he had gone over, but Referee Titus Lobach said no and the ball was placed on the turf with its nose almost touching the goal line. Cary elected to try it again. This time there was no doubt about it. The ball was passed. The lines came together with a rattle. The Tigers hit the harder, the Bulldog forward wall bent and Cary rode on top of it for a touchdown. That was it – 6-6.
* * *
THERE WERE anxious moments left as Cary attempted to kick the extra point from placement with Dan Byelene rushed in to hold the ball. He missed, half topping his kick, just as Pucci had missed two minutes earlier when he sent the ball spinning to the side of the uprights.
And there you have all the scoring in the ball game – all of it in the space of two minutes. What a fitting climax it was for one of the greatest games ever played in the 52 years of rivalry between high schools of the two cities, and what a splendid finish for the 15 senior members of the squad, 12 of whom participated in the melee, to tie a team that had entered the game a 13-point favorite to win.
It was likewise a tribute to the coach of “Bud” Houghton and staff who patched up a Massillon line which had been weak all season defensively, and made it strong.
On defense they moved Tom Brooks from guard to left end, where he played a whale of a game. They took Morrie Eberhardt from left end and inserted him at right tackle; Tony Uliveto was moved from left to right guard, and Gene Krisher from right tackle to left guard. And there you have the realignment of the defensive forward wall that thrice threw the Bulldogs back in the first half and kept them entirely away from their goal in the last two periods save for the one time when Pucci broke away around the right side for his long touchdown jaunt.
It was a personal triumph for Zorger and Cary. A year ago the former was a mediocre fullback. He came back this year as a right halfback to become a runner-up for scoring honors in the county, second only to Pucci. Cary rushed into the game when little Al Brown was knocked out one play after the opening kickoff of the second half and played more minutes of football than he did all season. You will remember he started the year as the Tigers’ first string quarterback, but an injured knee in the second game of the season with Canton Lincoln put him out of action to such an extent that he only carried the ball twice thereafter until Saturday. But he ran the team smoothly and had the necessary drive to ram over the Tigers’ one touchdown.
* * *
THAT HE DIDN’T make the extra point was no more of a disappointment to Tiger fans than was the kick that went wide of the uprights for Pucci. A 7-6 defeat would have been hard for either team to have swallowed, and if you want to be downright impartial about it, the performance was deserving of a tie.
Anyway you look at it, statistically or otherwise, the two elevens battled to a draw as represented by the score. Massillon fans like to think of their Tiger team as being in a little the better physical condition at the end than the Bulldogs. It appeared that the locals were, for they picked themselves off the ground quicker in the closing stages of the contest than did McKinley and yet the Bulldogs made three of their first downs and gained 66 yards after the Tiger score.
It was an even battle from the standpoint of clean play too, perhaps the cleanest in the history of the years of competition. Only three penalties were called, all five-yard violations for mechanical errors rather than for infractions of rules governing unclean play.
It was an even battle as far as ball carrying was concerned. The Bulldogs had more chances to score, but their chances with the exception of Pucci’s successful run, were the result of Tiger fumbles and misplays, and not out of their ability to carry the ball into Tiger territory. In fact only twice during the entire contest did the red and black succeed in moving the ball from their own territory across the 50-yard line and into Tiger land. Once was on Pucci’s long run. The other was on the last series of plays of the game when they intercepted a Massillon pass on their own 47 and executed a forward pass into Tiger territory that had no more than been completed when the gun cracked ending the contest.
The Bulldogs lost two of their scoring opportunities on fumbles and a third when the Tigers rose up and held them for downs.
* * *
THE TIGERS, who crossed the 50-yard line four times during the afternoon, likewise lost possible touchdown bids through fumbles and intercepted passes. They barely got over the mid-stripe twice in the first quarter when forced to punt. But at the start of the second half they carried from their own 35 to the Bulldog 22 where they lost on a fumble. Another mid-stripe effort came on Zorger’s fourth period kickoff return that led to Massillon’s touchdown. The locals got the ball in Canton territory on two other occasions in the second half, as a result of breaks, lost it once on an intercepted pass and forfeited it on downs on the 22-yard line, on the other occasion.
Many had expected a great offensive game Saturday. It turned out to be just the opposite – a defensive contest featuring two hard hitting lines.
The Tigers couldn’t find a hole in the Bulldog forward wall, and only once did the Massillon line crumble, and permit Pucci to break through. It was a great finish for Seniors Jim Young, Tom Brooks, Tony Uliveto, Gene Krisher ,Gene Yost, Substitute Dave Dowd and Junior Morrie Eberhardt, who comprised the defensive forward wall. Young had a particularly difficult assignment. Not only did he have to be on the lookout for ball carriers but he likewise had the job of jamming in McKinley’s fine end, Nick Stevenson to keep him from going out after passes. You didn’t see him catch any until the last play of the game, did you? And Stevenson has been about one-half of the Bulldog offense this year. In fact the Bulldogs only worked two passes all afternoon. Their other effort was a 22-yard loss to Sterling Winn in the fourth quarter.
Statistically the teams were even. Each made seven first downs. Canton out gained the Tigers’ from scrimmage for a net total of 243 yards to 142 yards, but this figure does not include Zorger’s long kickoff return and a second fine run from kickoff by Brown. Add returns of punts and kickoffs to the net yardage made from scrimmage by the two teams and you have them winding up with exactly the same total, 270 yards.
While a tie score is always an unsatisfactory way of settling a game which is played for the expressed purpose of determining which is the better team, it was in general received with enthusiasm by Tiger fans, whose team had been cast in the role of underdog for the contest. One only had to visit the dressing rooms of the two elevens to see which group was the more satisfied with the outcome. The Canton dressing quarters were quiet, but there was a hum of activity in the Massillon locker room as fathers of players and fans rushed in to congratulate the athletes on their performance.
* * *
THE LOCAL team was no entirely satisfied with the tie. It was out to win, and with such a determination that it caused many Massillon fans to pull out large handfuls of hair, when on fourth down, 45 seconds to go, and five yards needed for a first down, it elected to try a pass instead of play it safe and punt. The pass was intercepted by McKinley, which tried four plays before time ran out.
It was not the first time during the contest that the Tigers had gambled. They stuck their necks out in the second period when needing a yard to go on fourth down and still back on their own 31-yard line they elected to carry the ball. Brown tried it the hard way too, a sneak through center. There wasn’t anything sneaking about it though, but somehow or other he managed to worm and squirm for that one yard that made it first down.
Fans of both cities who do their second guessing with the word “if” had enough instances to talk about in this game to work up a good case of lock jaw.
“if we hadn’t blown two scoring opportunities on fumbles in the first half we might have won,” some Canton fans were saying.
“If it wasn’t for our own fumbles and misplays you wouldn’t have had those scoring opportunities,” Massillon fans countered.
“If a Massillon blocker would have seen the Canton safety man coming in from the side, Al Brown would have gone for a touchdown in the first period,” was another Tiger argument. Other local fans also saw Jack Zeller standing loose in the safety zone in the fourth quarter with no Canton player around him but the Massillon passer didn’t spot him and threw to a teammate who was well covered.
* * *
SOME CANTON fans also believe their team relaxed momentarily after Pucci’s touchdown run which made possible Zorger’s brilliant dash after kickoff.
Maybe the Bulldogs did, but whenever and wherever the game was discussed Saturday night and Sunday, by fair-minded folk, second guessers included, they usually wound up with the conclusion that it was a great contest, that the teams played on even terms and that the score was quite representative of their performance.
The Tigers finished the game in fairly good physical condition and without any serious injuries. Though he still didn’t know the score at the end of the game, Brown became rational in the locker room and was apparently O.K. when he left the stadium. Cary, removed in the last two minutes when he aggravated his injured knee, was able to dance around on it at the football frolic Saturday evening.
Houghton Will
Speak Tonight
Coach “Bud” Houghton will discuss the Canton game tonight at 8 o’clock at the Y.M.C.A’s open house program.
Houghton and his staff will be guests of the Y’s Men’s club at a dinner meeting prior to the open house. No Booster club meeting has been scheduled for tonight but Boosters and all Massillon football fans are invited to the free open house party.
Giloff’s nose got in his way as it has done most every game this season and was freshly pealed. Otherwise the squad was in fairly good shape.
Briefly replaying the game, it went like this. Capt. Merle Darrah won the toss and the Tigers elected to receive. They carried the ball just over the midfield stripe when they were forced to punt. They stopped Canton and got the ball again on a punt on the 33, losing some 18 yards on the exchange. Brown broke loose and ran to the 50. He had a blocker to take out the Canton safety man, the last player between him and the goal, but the blocker either did not see the Bulldog tackler or couldn’t get a good head on him. The ball was only moved three yards beyond the center of the field when the locals again punted to the Canton 28.
* * *
PUCCI made Canton’s first first down on a 15-yard run, but the Tigers braced thereafter and forced Canton to punt to the 20. Brown fumbled and Stevenson covered for McKinley on the Tiger 20. The locals turned back four Canton ball carrying attempts and took over the leather on their 15. An exchange of punts wound up with the Tigers having the ball on their 20. They moved to a first down but Pucci intercepted Brown’s pass and got all the way back to the Tiger 16. On the next play Bill Wetzel fumbled on the 13 and Brown was Johnny on the spot to cover the ball. The Tigers were tossed backward and the Bulldogs carried their punt back to the 23. Three plays only gained two yards and Tony Uliveto pounced on Pucci’s fumble to again end the threat. An exchange of punts wound up the first half activities.
McKinley elected to have the wind to its back to start the second half and accordingly kicked off to the Tigers. Brown almost got loose as he ran the kickoff back to his 35. He was knocked out on the next play in which Zorger advanced the ball 11 yards. Passes from Cary to Zeller and Eberhardt, the latter making a brilliant catch to take the ball out of the arms of two McKinley players, carried the pigskin to the Bulldog 22-yard line where Zorger fumbled and Sterling Winn covered for McKinley. Neither team threatened but McKinley started to roll late in the third quarter until Brooks stopped the forward movement by covering a fumble by Spera in a handoff to Ray Hamilton.
It didn’t gain the Tigers anything, however, and they had to punt. The Bulldogs got back to their own 44 on a pass from Spera to Winn, but Spera, trying to pass again, barely got the ball off his arm as he was tackled and Uliveto came up with the ball before it touched the ground. The Tigers moved down to the 28, where they lost the ball on downs. Zorger barely touching a pass on the 10-yard line on fourth down. Zeller at the time was loose in the end zone, but Cary didn’t spot him.
Canton took over and on the first play Pucci struck out through his left tackle for a 78-yard touchdown jaunt. Two or three Tigers got their hands on him, and Zeller tried to run him down but barely brushed his shirt as he dove at him on the 15-yard line. Pucci attempted to kick the extra point from placement but the ball was wide of the upright.
Canton kicked off to Massillon and Zorger caught the ball on his 20, headed straight up the field, and along the sideline to the four, where he was downed. It was ruled he had stepped out on the nine.
On fourth down, Cary went over for the Tigers’ six points.
Gene Schludecker, sent in to kickoff, boomed the ball out of the end zone twice. The Tigers were offside on the first kick and the ball was moved back five yards. Pucci touched it the second time as the ball bounded on the ground but it too rolled out of the end zone for an automatic touchback.
Neither team threatened any more.
Good Enough
Massillon Pos. Canton
Zeller LE Winn
Young LT J. Cobett
Uliveto LG W. Wetzel
Darrah C Bourquin
Brooks RG E. Cobett
Krisher RT O’Brovac
Eberhardt RE Stevenson
Brown QB Spera
Giloff LH Hamilton
Zorger RH Pucci
Yost FB W. Wetzel
Score by periods:
Massillon 0 0 0 6 6
McKinley 0 0 0 6 6
Substitutions: Massillon – Schludecker, re; Johnson, le; Cary, qb; Dowd, rt; Byelene, qb.
McKinley – Snyder, c; Houtz, g; Bourquin, qb.
Touchdowns:
Massillon – Cary.
McKinley – Pucci.
Referee – Lobach.
Umpire – Brubaker.
Head Linesman – Jenkins.
Field Judge – Shafer.
INDIVIDUAL BALL CARRYING
Times Yards Yards Av.
Massillon Carried Gained Lost
Brown 9 39 9 3.0
Giloff 10 15 2 1.3
Zorger 12 35 0 2.9
Yost 1 0 0 0.0
Cary 11 24 0 2.1
___ ___ ___ ___
Total 43 113 11 2.4
McKinley
Spera 5 13 0 2.6
Hamilton 9 21 0 2.3
Pucci 15 138 0 9.2
Wetzel 9 39 0 4.3
___ ___ ___ ___
Total 38 211 0 5.5
Statistics
Mass. Canton
First downs 7 7
Passes attempted 9 5
Passes completed 2 2
Had passes intercepted 3 1
Yards gained passing 29 32
Yards gained rushing 113 211
Total Yards gained 142 243
Yards lost 11 0
Net yards gained 131 243
Yards punts returned 34 27
Yards kickoffs returned 105 0
Net yards covered from
scrimmage and returns 270 270
Fumbles 4 5
Lost ball on fumbles 2 3
Penalties 1 2
Yards penalized 5 10
Times punted 6 6
Average punt (yards) 28 30
Times kicked off 1 3
Average kickoff (yards) 45 45
Thrilling Tie With Bulldogs
Closes Grid Season
By KEN HARTWICK
They refused to be beaten, and they weren’t beaten!
That, in brief, is the story of what happened at Tiger stadium Saturday afternoon in the 51st renewal of Ohio’s and perhaps the nations’ most intense and most widely-known scholastic gridiron rivalry.
Massillon’s Tigers were supposed to lose that game, but they refused to lose it – and they didn’t lose it.
Usually it is only in stories that an underdog team is able to escape defeat through sheer refusal to be defeated, but that happened in real life at Tiger stadium Saturday afternoon.
For a time the Tigers were beaten, but it was a very short time because, within two minutes after the Bulldogs scored their lone touchdown following more than 40 minutes of rugged but scoreless play, the Tigers fought back into a tie and the score was still tied when the game ended five minutes later.
* * *
IT TOOK, of course, more than just a refusal to accept defeat, but the Tigers had everything else that was needed. As a matter of fact, they were decidedly the better team throughout most of the game.
Their attack was more versatile, they were more willing to take chances, they appeared to have more stamina, they definitely had more confidence and they seemingly got stronger as the contest progressed.
Actually, if a couple of plays had gone just a little differently, the Tigers might easily have come out on top, but the Massillon fans, particularly those who had fearfully anticipated a decisive Tiger defeat, and present company is not excepted, were well satisfied with a tie.
The same thing can’t be said of the Canton fans. More confident of victory than at any other time in recent Massillon-Canton grid history, the McKinley followers reacted to the tie as through their team had suffered a defeat.
The tie was particularly crushing to those confident Canton fans who had given points in bets. It is very rarely that it is possible to get points from a McKinley follower in a bet on a Massillon-Canton game but this year a lot of Canton betters were more foolhardy than usual and gave as high as 13 points and took a financial drubbing as a result.
Certainly never again will it be possible to get points from a Canton better even if there ever should come a season in which the Bulldogs won all their games by large scores and the Tigers lost theirs which, of course, never will happen.
That not only the McKinley fans but also the McKinley players confidently expected to win was very evident to anyone who visited the Canton dressing room after the game.
* * *
THE GLOOM was so thick that it could have been cut with a knife as the Bulldogs took their showers and changed to civilian clothes in a silence that resembled that of a morgue.
Coach “Bup” Rearick said, “I’m satisfied,” when asked how he felt about the game, but the look on his face wasn’t that of a completely satisfied man.
The Tigers, particularly the seniors who have never had the satisfaction of beating a McKinley team, weren’t too happy over the outcome of the contest nor, on the other hand, were they as gloomy as their opponents.
The Massillon dressing room was filled with the usual after-the-game chatter as the Tigers took off their grid togs for the last time this season and on the whole the reaction of the players was good.
After all, hadn’t they just proved that thousands of Canton persons and, frankly, quite a few Massillon fans, can be wrong?
* * *
THE THING for which Saturday’s game will be remembered the longest will be the most thrilling two minutes in Massillon-Canton gridiron history.
Over a period of more than a half century the annual meetings of Tiger and McKinley football teams have provided a lot of thrills but none greater than those which came within the space of something like 120 seconds Saturday after noon.
The 41 minutes which proceeded that brief period and the five minutes that followed were to all intents and purposes merely the prologue and epilogue to the activity of the afternoon.
The guy who claimed that lightning never strikes twice in the same place was proved wrong with a vengeance in full view of the overflow of 22,000 persons who sat in on the happenings on the Tiger field.
Lightning did strike twice on that gridiron and it struck so rapidly that most of the fans were left stunned as a result.
* * *
IT WAS LIKE a bolt from the blue above when Ralph Pucci, undoubtedly the best McKinley player on the field on the first play attempted by the Bulldogs after a Tiger drive had been halted on the Canton 22-yard line, crashed through the Massillon forward wall and scampered 78 yards for a touchdown which sent the Canton crowd into a delirium of joy.
The cheering of the visitors didn’t abate when the Bulldogs’ try for extra point was unsuccessful, but it died to a whisper and was replaced by an even grater ovation from the other side of the field when Gene Zorger took the Canton kick on his own 20-yard line and all but got away from the entire McKinley team as he returned the ball to the Bulldogs’ nine-yard stripe before being pulled down.
The joy of the Massillon spectators knew no bounds when, on fourth down with the ball hardly more than two inches from the Canton line, Paul Cary crashed over for the touchdown which tied the score.
A total of only seven plays counting Canton’s attempt for the extra point produced all the scoring of the game and 99.9 per cent of the thrills.
* * *
THE HALF-TIME show given by the Tiger and McKinley bands ranked on a par with the game itself with both bands doing themselves proud in their final grid appearance of the season.
Undoubtedly the fact that neither team had scored in the first half made the show more enjoyable to all the spectators than would have been true if either club had enjoyed an advance at the recess.
Certainly the Tiger band’s “Study in Blues” seemed considerably better than when it was first presented at Youngstown a week earlier.
Maybe it was that the 24 senior members of the band were giving out just a little harder in their last football show that made the music a bit more jivey, the dancing a little more zippy and the entire show a great deal more enjoyable.
Certainly Majorette Mary Limbach and Obie put everything they had into their bit of jive which brought the show to a rousing finish, so much so, in fact, that Mary all but lost her hat at the end. Drum Major Warren Mathey contributed some fancy baton work. The drum soloist was Bill Drake and the cornet soloist was Andy Paul.
The Tiger band’s unannounced feature was, as though we didn’t know, a tribute to S. Earl Ackley who Saturday resigned as faculty manager of Tiger athletics after 17 years of service in that job.
* * *
IN PAYING tribute to S. Earl the band formed a large “A” as Bob Smith read over the P.A. system a brief eulogy to the retiring faculty manager. As the band sang “For He’s A Jolly Good Fellow,” Earl was presented with a fountain pen provided by the band in appreciation for his many services to the musical organization.
Expressing appreciation for the tribute, S. Earl told the crowd, “It has been a real privilege to be associated with Massillon athletics,” and expressed appreciation for the cooperation given to him.
Tribute also was paid to Jack Paramore who always will be remembered as one of the finest Obies in Tiger band history. His parents and brother presented him with a wrist watch.
The most noteworthy thing about the early part of the Tiger band show was the fact that Drum Major Mathey missed his baton when he tossed it over the goal post. It was his second miss of the season and gave him a season record of seven catches and two misses. He will be back next year to try to better that record.
The highlight of the show of the McKinley band was a routine in which the band went into formations resembling various musical instruments while the musicians who played those instruments moved to the front for a bit of fancy playing. Instruments featured included cornets, trombones and drums.
* * *
THE DAY OF the Massillon-Canton game traditionally is the day for flowers and, in keeping with tradition, majorettes of both bands were presented with bouquets, the Tiger majorettes getting orange chrysanthemums and the McKinley majorettes white mums.
The Massillon cheerleaders who kept the Tiger student section in an uproar all afternoon, presented the bouquets to the Tiger majorettes and in turn were given flowers by six girl students.
Director Orin “Dykae” Ford directed the show of the Tiger band despite the fact that he carried his right hand in a sling to protect a finger which was badly cut when struck by a piece of glass Thursday afternoon.
The band’s closing performance must have been a memorable one for “Dykae” because it brought to an end his first season as director of the Tiger swing band during which under his guidance the famed musical organization carried on in the same fine manner as during the preceding eight years when it was under the supervision of George Bird who created it.
“Dykae” incidentally, already is looking forward to next season and, in fact, already has written several of the shows which the band will do in 1947.
* * *
A PERMANENT record is to be made of all the shows done by the band this season. During its regular class sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday the band will make recordings of every show it did this year so that in future years it will be possible to hear just what the Tiger musicians did in 1946.
For some of the persons at the game the biggest laugh of the afternoon was provided by the reaction of some of the Canton fans to the statement made by Bob Smith, in his eulogy to Ackley, that the Massillon football program today is undoubtedly the outstanding scholastic grid setup in the nation.
The reaction of the Canton spectators indicated that they think that Canton’s setup is better which, to anyone who knows the facts, is a big joke. And we could furnish a lot of facts to prove it.
* * *
THE DAYS festivities got off to its usual colorful start as the Tiger and McKinley bands joined forces to play the national anthem as the flag was raised with R. Donald Stump, director of the Canton band, as conductor.
Immediately after the selection was played a sky bomb was exploded and from it floated a small American flag attached to a parachute.
It is doubtful if anyone had a bigger time at the game than Jack Paramore in his final appearance as Obie.
Among other things Obie served as guardian for a small scaffold in front of the Massillon student section from which hung a bulldog, and on one occasion he raced half way across the gridiron in pursuit of a Canton cheerleader who had attempted to remove the bulldog from its humiliating position.
Later Obie tore the bulldog to pieces after the McKinley team scored its touchdown.
The Tiger student section, incidentally, was particularly colorful as many of the students constantly waved orange and black crepe paper streamers.
* * *
AT A MASSILLON-McKinley game there are no impartial spectators, and that goes for person in the pres box. Usually sports writers try to act strictly impartial and not show any undue reactions to what happens on the field, but not when Massillon is playing McKinley.
On the day of the big game the press box workers are fans just like any of the other spectators and they react accordingly.
Saturday, for instance, the Canton sports writers and the others who wanted to see a McKinley victory had themselves quite a time when Pucci got away on his long touchdown run, but it was the Tiger followers among the newspapermen who got the last cheer, and cheer they did when Cary went over for the Massillon touchdown.
It also was the Tiger followers who appeared to be the most satisfied when the game was over and the post-mortems started.
The press box, incidentally, was well filled with writers representing many newspapers in this section of the state, but the number of newsmen was small in proportion to the number of photographers who were on the field during the game.
* * *
IT IS DOUBTFUL, if a Massillon-McKinley game ever attracted a larger battery of photographers. There were at least nine of them, that many being counted when they gathered in front of the coaches and captains of the two teams to take the traditional just-before-the-game pictures.
If one of the picture takers had taken a picture of the other picture takers taking pictures of the coaches and captains he would have come up with a much more interesting picture than the pictures that were taken by the picture takers. If you get what we mean.
Perhaps on a few occasions in the past there were more autos in and around Stadium park than on Saturday afternoon, but that is doubtful.
