200 GUESTS PAY HONOR TO COALDALE TEAM—ADDRESS BY COACH ROPER, OF PRINCETON, A TREAT—MAXWELL MADE HIT WITH HUMOROUS SKETCH OF HIS EXPERIENCES.

The seventh annual banquet of the Coaldale football team was held at Pleasure Hall Monday evening, 207 fans joining with the team and its invited guests in bringing the town’s most successful season to a fitting close. The eats were served promptly at 9.00 o’clock, Caterer Geissinger serving turkey and the fixin’s deliciously prepared and served without undue delay. The after dinner program was as follows:

Selection…Orchestra; Address of Welcome…Toastmaster Bynon; Solo…William McGeehan; Presentation of Gold Footballs to team…President Fudge of Community Athletic Association; Acceptance in behalf of team…Captain Garland; Our New Captain…James Melley; Remarks…James Bonner, Leonard Lithgow, J.H. Gildea; Monologue…William Graham; Address…R. W. Maxwell; Sideline Dope…Bill Brandt; Solo…George Mitchell; Compliment to the Champions…Frank Brumm, Esq.; Coaldale’s Spirit…District Attorney Palmer; Address…W.W. Roper; Presentation to Herman Meyer…J.H. Gildea; Address…Herman Meyer.

What They Talked About

Mr. Roper’s address was the finest football talk we ever heard. Using as his topic “Team Work” he dwelt on the fact that success in any undertaking can only come from every part of a machine being in perfect coordination with all sports. He told of the wonderful growth of football since the time back in 1905 when President Roosevelt called the=2 0leading coaches together and commanded that changes be made in the game that would eliminate as far as possible the element of danger attached to its playing and as a result said Mr. Roper we have the present open game and interest that far exceeds the capacity of the stands the country over. He was pleased with the spirit of the Coaldale team and in conclusion tendered its members an invitation to see Princeton play next fall as his guest.

R.W. Maxwell paid the members of the team individually and collectively the highest compliment in the world. He believes they measure up in ability with the best anywhere and he is pleased with their sportsmanship in accepting a decision whether it was for them or against them. His remarks were interspersed with humorous anecdotes and he advised that the team continue in the path it has been pursuing as its policy of developing the home player is the right and wise one.

Bill Brandt, of The Bulletin, drew a comparison between Conshohocken his home town, and Coaldale. They don’t banquet their team there because its members scatter to the four corners of the wind said Mr. Brandt who drew down the house by the way in which he told his story.

Garland sounded the depth of his appreciation for the cooperation given him by members of the team. He appreciated the way in which all gave their best and promised the same whole hearted support to his successor, James Melley.

The Captain-elect arose amidst thunderous applause. He expressed his thanks for the honor done him and said that even as the 1921 team made a victory over Shenandoah the goal to strive for, the 1922 eleven would set for its goal the winning of the state championship by a victory over the Quakers.

James Bonner rehearsed the different steps in the team’s growth and development since its organization in 1910. (TYPER’S NOTE: So, this means The Big Green’s 100th anniversary will be next year in 2010?) He brought out one point that bears emphasizing and that is—a team that built the game from nothing to its present standing can hardly be accused of commercializing the sport. Bonner says he loves football and has always delighted in giving his best efforts for success.

Len Lithgow voiced his appreciation to the Athletic Association for their gift of a championship emblem and promised to continue his best efforts for the further advancement of the game.

Frank Brumm, Esq., of Minersville spoke of the pride he, as a Schuylkill Countian, feels in the success of the Coaldale team. He finds in football and other competitive sport the real reason why America stands out as the greatest nation in the world and said that the loyal support of all Schuylkill County will always be given the borough on its eastern border if it but maintains the same caliber of football.

District Attorney Palmer finds the enthusiasm behind Coaldale football as its outstanding characteristic. With a community united as this is its team cannot help but be successful and he urged the same enthusiasm be put behind all other public affairs and ere long the town of Coaldale will not only be the first town in the county in football but first in everything.

The presentation of a clock mounted in coal and topped off with a coal football to Herman Meyer was in appreciation of the great good he has done the game here since his first visit in 1916. Mr. Meyer, it was, who first inspired our fans and team with respect for an official. They found in him an absolutely fair and just referee and under his guiding influence the game took great strides forward mostly because the spectators knew the rough stuff had been eliminated at Coaldale and they were assured of seeing good hard football and nothing else when they came to a game here.

Mr. Meyer’s words of appreciation were spoken from the heart and the banquet had a very happy ending in the donation of this gift from our Athletic Association to a deserving friend.

Maxwell Starts $10,000 Drive

Announcement was made that the Athletic Association would shortly open a drive for $10,000 with which to complete the grading of the field, plant grass on same and equip it as a community playground. R.W. Maxwell requested the privilege of making the first donation and did so with a subscription of $20. Edward Murphy, of Tamaqua, contributed a like amount and Bernard Boyle, of Lan sford, subscribed $5. Not wishing to turn the banquet into a subscription drive the fans were asked to curb their generosity until some later time when the entire plan of campaign would be submitted to them.

The Guests and Who They Are

Never before was a football banquet in this section honored by the presence of so many notables. Seated at the banquet board were:

W.W. Roper, Esq., of Philadelphia. An All-American half back 20 years ago and at present a member of the Rules Committee and one of the most successful college coaches in the country. He has pulled Princeton out of the rut this last three years and besides his coaching duties he is a Select Councilman in Philadelphia and an attorney. He also writes a football column in The North American and impresses you as a man who is doing big things.

R.W. Maxwell, a former Swarthmore guard, but best known as an official and sports editor of The Evening Ledger. He played with Swarthmore back around 190 5 at the time we were first starting to read football and when Vincent Stevenson loomed up as the greatest player in the game. He and Maxwell didn’t seem to hit it and we can well remember how our sympathy was all with the elusive Penn quarterback. But Maxwell played the game of life better than the more flashy star for while the football world has forgotten Stevenson, the name Maxwell is one to conjure with.

Wilmur Crowell, the best drop kicker Swarthmore ever produced and possibly as good a man in this department of the game as the country has ever known still had his football whistle with him and rescued Bill Brandt at the point in his address where words were beginning to fail him. Crowell is undoubtedly rated with the very best football officials in the game. It was he who decided that little question of impetus in the first Shenandoah game when it looked as though Bennis was going to rule the touchback a safety and give Coaldale a safety. He knows football and makes no mistakes in judgment.

Bill Clinton, of Yale, was another All-American who enjoyed the festivities. Today he is the head of the Packard Automobile Agency at Philadelphia and carries the same energy into business that sustained him in stopping=2 0the charges of Mahan and other stars of his day thru the Yale line. It was Clinton who detected Lud Wray fouling Evans in the Quaker game and that he was no respecter of persons became apparent when Wray was ordered from the game.

Nor were all the notables football men. A trio who took great pleasure in Coaldale’s success was Ray Curran, Philip Coyle and E.J. Doyle, three coal crackers, who have met with business success in Philadelphia. They are prominently identified with the Up-Stater’s Association and nobody enjoyed seeing the miners holding the Quakers better than did the members of that organization. Mr. Curran presented a silver loving cup to the winner of the coal region championship and at his restaurant, Curran and Meade’s, 1225 Market St., Philadelphia, he has an information bureau for the people from this section seeking advice or direction on how to get around in Philadelphia.

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