WOODROW WILSON HIGH SCHOOL HISTORY

A Concise, Far From Complete, Thumbnail Sports Sketch (1963)

No thorough review of Beckley can be complete without the sports picture, which is a very bright one as far as Woodrow Wilson High is concerned. With its illustrious coach of more than 25 years-Jerome Van Meter-and its many championships won in basketball and football, sports has built Beckley into a highly-thought of community in the state of West Virginia.

But it would be impossible to say that the athletes of the 50s are better than those of the 30s, or try to compare those of the 20s against the 40s. So, in picking an All-Time Woodrow Wilson football and basketball team the natural thing to do was divide them into two eras. In the 20s and 30s the sports were not the same as they were in the 40s and 50s. This was especially true in basketball, which underwent many radical changes once the center jump was eliminated.

Football, too, changed-but more from the coaching standpoint as newer and better offenses were displayed to put offense in the limelight and make it difficult for the defense to get its share of glory. It was easy to pick a football squad because Woodrow Wilson started a football Hall of Fame some five years ago with this writer as its secretary and the men, elected by themselves, to this select group made it easy for the writer to assemble two teams from each era.

For the writer to say he's an expert on Woodrow Wilson athletics, would be an attempt to "fool the public", for he has only seen the team from the first championship basketball team in 1946, on down through the years.

But to go back before that time was easy. So many folks who remember basketball and football of the 20s and 30s were willing to talk about the stars, that the teams fell quickly into place. It was easier talking to players rather than the great "Grey Eagle" coach, who'd say, "They're all good. I couldn't pick one boy over another."

So with Van Meter sidelining himself from making comparisons, the writer had to rely on the boys them. selves and came up with the teams.

While Woodrow Wilson sports were great in the early years, they have become greater in the latter. One way to compare is the number of boys that made official All-State teams. In basketball, for instance, only five Flying Eagles were All-Staters through the basketball season of 1940.

In football, Woodrow Wilson had more. . .a total of nine. A list of those all-Staters before the 40s would read like this:

In basketball: 1934, Aldo Cipolat and John Calloway, second teams; in 1939, Ted Cook, first team; in 1940, Jimmy Bakalis, first team, and Arnold Yost, second team.

In football: 1929, Tom Covey, second team fullback; 1932, Ned Quinn, second team tackle; 1933, Frank Huffman, first team end; 1935, Charles Stansbury, second team end; 1937, Stan Huffman, second team guard; 1938, Jesse Hanson, first team end; Buster Smith, first team back; Vic Peelish, second team guard; 1940, George Davis, first team guard.

But since the turn of the 40s the honor roll of Beckleyans on All-State teams has kept increasing in both football and basketball and besides the names you read on the All-Time teams, you come across such names in football as Dick Davis, 1947; Jack Davis, 1948; Joe Conte, 1949; Bob Davis, 1951; Bob Bruce, 1952, and in basketball, Bob Davis, 1952.

Humbly the writer submits these all-time all-star teams knowing that perhaps someone else could pick a few more than are mentioned here.

But let the writer say, an honest attempt was made to pick the best, that all those interviewed were most cooperative and that maybe 20 years hence, someone will come up with a 1961-1980 list that would start of course with such names as Bane Sarrett, 1962; Billy Karbonit, 1963, and so on.