History of the A's

 
 

Charity Game Turns Sour

 
 

ATHLETICS LEAVE FOR CHICAGO TO-MORROW 

The St. Catharines Standard 

THURSDAY AUGUST 16, 1917 

Practically all the details in connection with the big Red Cross lacrosse game in Chicago on Saturday between the Athletics of the city and the Calumets of Chicago have been completed. The local team and their supporters leave tomorrow afternoon at 4:57 via G.T.R. The St. Catharines excursionists have a special Pullman sleeper which will be attached to the train at St. Catharines. Up to the present the local contingent will number twenty-six. Those who are going to make the trip are Mayor W. B. Burgoyne, Bert Gadsby, F.J.Dixon, George Kalls, William Fitzgerald, John Cunningham, Leo Purdy, Norman May, John Wiley, Mrs. John Wiley, Joseph Immel, Hedley Marriott, Percy Overholt, Corby Richards, Roy Richards, Herbert Millar, William Switzer, Harry Flynn, Gordie Pople, Clayton Glover, John Glenfield, “Tip” Teather, Mrs. Frank Dixon, Miss Flossie McCarthy, Charles Bowman and Arthur Herr. 

The party will be met at the station and transferred by autos to the Illinois Athletic Club where luncheon will be served. Sight-seeing will occupy the rest of the morning. At 2 o’clock they proceed to the White Sox grounds where the big game will be played. At the conclusion of the game a big banquet will be held at the LaSalle Hotel. The Athletics will be the guests of the Calumets Saturday evening, Sunday and Monday. The party will likely leave for home on Monday evening.   


RED CROSS MEET TO NET SOLDERS YANKEE SMOKES

by George Shaffer

The Chicago Daily Tribune

FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 1917

The Calumets of Chicago will have their last lacrosse practice today in preparation for meeting Athletics of St. Catharines, Ont., Canadian district champions, in the athletic headliner of tomorrow's events. The lacrosse manager's report states that all the Chicagoans are in good shape except for Pinky Lambe's broken nose, O'Brien's cut which required four stitches over the right eye, and a few other "scratches" in scrimmage.

The money taken in at the gate and in other ways will go direct to the Red Cross representative here. The purpose is to raise funds for keeping United States soldiers supplied with American tobacco.


SPORT CARNIVAL GETS $8,000 FOR SAMMY SMOKES

The Chicago Daily Tribune

SUNDAY AUGUST 19, 1917

Eight thousand dollars worth of makin's will go to our Sammies in France as a result of the Red Cross Tobacco day athletic carnival at Weeghman park yesterday. Six thousand spectators saw the afternoon sport. The Calumets of Chicago played a 7 to 7 tie with the Athletics of St. Catharines, Ont., amateur lacrosse champions of Canada, in the feature event of the day. Nearly every member of the visiting team has seen service in France and is home on furlough.

The Canucks started off with a wild streak of scoring, sending the ball into the net for three scores in the first two minutes of scrimmage. Towards the end of the initial period the Calumets counted the first American score. The second period was a reversal of form. After the Canadians had added one to their total the Calumets opened up a fierce passing game and tied the score with three goals.

O'Brien Scores Tying Goal

In the third period the Canadians counted three goals to two for the locals. The fourth period was a rough battle. Four minutes before the final whistle, O'Brien skidded into a mass of men, scooped up the ball, and fired it ten feet into the net for the score that tied the game. It was his fourth goal.

The Calumets and Athletics will play off their tie at 3 o'clock today at Weeghman park. Summaries:

CALUMETS (7) ATHLETICS (7)
Barrett GOAL Cunningham
Donnelly POINT Purdy
Anthony, Nichols COVER POINT May
Rubidge, Fogg 1st DEFENSE Overholt, Wiley
Hill, Tierney 2nd DEFENSE Immel
Fitzgerald 3rd DEFENSE Marriott
Graham, Van Arnam CENTER C. Richards
Tilden, Donahue 3rd HOME R. Richards
Houlding, Flinn 2nd HOME Millar, Glover
O'Malley, Crown 1st HOME Switzer
Kalls OUTSIDE HOME Pople
O' Brien INSIDE HOME Flynn

Goals - Fitzgerald, Kalls (2), O'Brien (4), R. Richards (2), Switzer, Pople, Flynnn (3)


ST. KITTS PLAYS TIE AT CHICAGO 

BIG ATHLETIC FIELD DAY IN WHICH ATHLETIC LACROSSE CLUB TOOK PART YIELDED $8,000 TO FILL AMERICAN SOLDIERS TOBACCO BAGS 

The St. Catharines Standard 

MONDAY AUGUST 20, 1917 

CHICAGO, AUG 20 – One million cigarettes and 60,000 packs of “makings!” 

The American Red Cross can furnish these for the Sammies as a result of their big Athletic Field Day at Weeghman park Saturday which netted something over $8,000, largely from boxholders and donors and partially from the 5,000 witnesses of the big mill. 

The Herald has the following: 

The feature of the afternoon was the international lacrosse game staged between the Athletics of St. Catharines Ont., and the Calumets of Chicago. After a brilliant wrangle, the curtain was dropped on a 7 to 7 tie. The St. Catharines had a lead of 3 to 1 at the close of the first period, but the locals came back in the second frame and put across four while their opponents were counting two. The next chapter was unproductive, but each team scored twice in the final period. O’Brien of the Calumets registered four goals and Flynn led the Canadians with three.   


YOUNG TORONTOS AGAIN REBUKED 

(TORONTO NEWS) 

The St. Catharines Standard 

MONDAY AUGUST 27, 1917 

The Ontario Amateur Lacrosse Association will likely overlook the fact the St. Catharines Athletics played in Chicago against two players who had received money in past years for their ability with the gutted stick and make the Young Torontos go over to St. Catharines for the final game of the senior series. In fact if the boys helped raise ten thousand dollars for the Red Cross Fund they should be commended instead of being censured. 

It appears that the committee in charge of the big affair at Chicago had quite a task securing enough players to play against the Athletics, so they asked Fitzgerald and Kalls to play against their own home town boys. The two professional stars went out and made it interesting and they played the game for the fun of the game as well as the rest of the players who competed. 

This is about all there was to the trip of the St. Catharines boys and if the O. A. L. A. wants to keep anybody interested in the good old game they will see that the Young Torontos go over to St. Catharines and play out the schedule. 


POT GETTING HOT FOR “SIMON PURE” YOUNG TORONTOS 

The St. Catharines Standard 

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 29, 1917 

The following letter is a copy of one sent to Secretary Dundas of the O.A.L.A. and it appears that the Athletics are rather proud of the fact that they went over to Chicago to help out the Red Cross, says the Toronto News, and in this respect we agree with them. 

The letter follows:

Jas. E. Dundas, Esq.,

Toronto, Ont.: 

Dear Sir, -- Your telegram received, and the confirmatory letter of same. To say the least, we are more than surprised at the action taken by the O. A. L. A. Of course there is nothing but what this organization would bow to. They have demonstrated this year after year in their dealings with St. Catharines. Apparently your organization is controlled by the guiding hand of the Toronto teams, especially the Young Torontos. Their say is the say. Whenever there happens to work out a tie or circumstances arise whereby a decision has to be given, who gets the long end? It’s simply the Young Torontos. It either means a sudden-death game played at the island or home and home games with the first game of the play-off on the opposing team’s grounds. It’s a funny thing that there was no notification sent to the Athletics of the meeting of the executive to discuss the situation regarding the tie-up this year between the Athletics and the Young Torontos. All we have to do over here is to wait and abide the ruling of the sedate body as they hand out their “justice” from time to time. 

Now, as far as the Athletics are concerned over their playing against Fitzgerald and Kalls, they are justly proud of having had the opportunity of doing so. We did play against these two men in Chicago. We also played a Sunday game. 

Now for the information of that infallible body that controls the destinies of Canada’s national game, we might offer the information that we did not receive one solitary cent for either game in Chicago. We went there purely under Red Cross purposes. On our arrival in Chicago they urged us to play on Sunday also. The Saturday game was a huge success, and the Red Cross people were so delighted that they fairly begged us to play on Sunday. Also for your information, we might state that Fitzgerald did not play on Sunday. 

As regards the Young Torontos objection to play against us, we are surely proud of this bunch of simon-pures. They are the one team for the past three or four years that have caused all the disruption in the O. A. L. A. They were practically the means of breaking up the C. L. A. Now, for them, we are going to the limit to put them just where they belong. That is right in the same class as the deposed Athletics of St. Catharines – professionals. We have all the evidence necessary to accomplish this, and we intend to carry out our promise. The members of the Young Torontos Lacrosse Club can now rest assured that they will play no hockey or football in 1917. We could enumerate several instances right in this letter which would entitle the Young Torontos to take a rest along with us, but we will abide our time. We will send a formal protest to the C. A. A. U. within the next few days, with evidence that will easily prove that they are more professionals than the Athletics of St. Catharines. 

Now the best thing that you can do is to notify the executive of the action we are going to take. Tell them just what we have told you, and get this matter straightened out or lacrosse is done in good old St. Kitts. 

We took the broader view of the whole situation when playing in Chicago where we were helping our American neighbors in their efforts to procure funds for their Sammies in France and Flanders. 

That bunch in Toronto had better draw in their horns or there is no telling where the matter will end. 

Yours very truly,

BERT GADSBY

Sec. Athletic Lacrosse Club.   


NB: special thanks to Dennis Gannon for the Chicago Tribune articles

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