Ells Myers

The football opponents of Washington High School, especially teams with state championship aspirations, were smiling after the prospective 1951 Tiger varsity took a 66-13 thumping from last year’s seniors in the annual spring game a Tiger Stadium.

However, by the time November and the 10th game rolled around, that same varsity team had erased all those smiles as they chalked up another state championship for Massillon. Giving the Steubenville “Big Red” (9-1-0) and the Barberton “Magics” (8-1-0) their only losses was the key to the state title. Steubenville and Barberton were ranked #2 and #5 respectively in the final state poll.

The 40-0 win over Canton McKinley gave Massillon its first edge in the series between the schools (26-25-5).

This was the first year the annual football banquet was jointly sponsored by the Board of Education and the Booster Club. This change was quite significant. Supt. L. J. Smith served as master of ceremonies for a program provided mostly by officials and students of WHS. Arranged by Supt. Smith and Coach Chuck Mather, the program opened with the pledge of allegiance led by the Tiger co-captains followed by the singing of the national anthem by the WHS choir. The program was closed with the showing of the RKO film “Touchdown Town USA” and the singing of the Alma Mater.

Paul “Bear” Bryant, head coach at the University of Kentucky, was the principal speaker. Booster Club president Ells Myers introduced James M. Hess as the Booster Club president for 1952.