100 Years of West Lafayette Football

[nmsu_aggie]

Want to give a shoutout to the game tomorrow night at Gordon Straley Field in West Lafayette.  It will be a special night not only because the Red Devils will be playing one of their most respected rivals in the Rensselaer Bombers, and not just because it will be homecoming, but more importantly they will be celebrating 100 years of playing football at West Lafayette High School. There will be many alumni players, coaches and others there to celebrate a storied history.

Through 2020, West Lafayette HS had the fourth most wins of any school in the State.  They have numerous other accomplishments that are listed in the IFCA record book as well.

I hope to take some pictures of some of the festivities associated with this special night and post them on this thread.

[BendNotBreak]

5 hours ago, nmsu_aggie said:

Want to give a shoutout to the game tomorrow night at Gordon Straley Field in West Lafayette.  It will be a special night not only because the Red Devils will be playing one of their most respected rivals in the Rensselaer Bombers, and not just because it will be homecoming, but more importantly they will be celebrating 100 years of playing football at West Lafayette High School. There will be many alumni players, coaches and others there to celebrate a storied history.

Through 2020, West Lafayette HS had the fourth most wins of any school in the State.  They have numerous other accomplishments that are listed in the IFCA record book as well.

I hope to take some pictures of some of the festivities associated with this special night and post them on this thread.

Awesome!  Pop was a Sr on the 42 team. Still have his letter sweater... Great Depression kids thew nothing away! 

[Coach Nowlin]

we had our 125th year last year, fun stuff.  

I am sure I will get my pre or post game Hoodie Hooo from ya my friend 

Cheers 

[Ballhawk]

Just think of what HS football was like 100 years ago.  You see a lot of small colleges on the schedules in the early 1900s.  Think about WL playing Wabash back in the day.  I know Wabash shows up on the Sheridan schedule a few times.

Sheridan celebrates their 100th Homecoming tomorrow night.  The Blackhawks were reportedly the first school in Indiana to celebrate homecoming.

We could probably ask Coach Wright what the festivities were like 😂

 

[nmsu_aggie]

West Lafayette put together this hype video for the team and tonight’s celebration. 
 

 

[Tippy]

19 hours ago, nmsu_aggie said:

Want to give a shoutout to the game tomorrow night at Gordon Straley Field in West Lafayette.  It will be a special night not only because the Red Devils will be playing one of their most respected rivals in the Rensselaer Bombers, and not just because it will be homecoming, but more importantly they will be celebrating 100 years of playing football at West Lafayette High School. There will be many alumni players, coaches and others there to celebrate a storied history.

Through 2020, West Lafayette HS had the fourth most wins of any school in the State.  They have numerous other accomplishments that are listed in the IFCA record book as well.

I hope to take some pictures of some of the festivities associated with this special night and post them on this thread.

I think the best team WL ever had was the 1950 team. Jeff was number 1 in the state and WL played them the last game of the season and almost beat them.  The score was 7-6.  The score of the game tonight will probably be 42-6.

[BendNotBreak]

39 minutes ago, Tippy said:

I think the best team WL ever had was the 1950 team. Jeff was number 1 in the state and WL played them the last game of the season and almost beat them.  The score was 7-6.  The score of the game tonight will probably be 42-6.

WL lore says the undefeated 42 team.. scored on once.. coached by Malcomb Mackey ast coach Gorden Straley..was National Champs. As members of that team forming the Meridian Athlectic Club, were said to have defeated the National Champ Junior Bears at Soldier Field... at least it's how I heard the story.. 😁

[nmsu_aggie]

These are some great memories/anecdotes… Keep ‘‘em coming. 

[Tippy]

1 hour ago, BendNotBreak said:

WL lore says the undefeated 42 team.. scored on once.. coached by Malcomb Mackey ast coach Gorden Straley..was National Champs. As members of that team forming the Meridian Athlectic Club, were said to have defeated the National Champ Junior Bears at Soldier Field... at least it's how I heard the story.. 😁

I think some of the South Bend teams were better than WL in 1942.  WL did beat Jeff 6-0 on Oct. 2, 1942, but Indy Shortridge also beat Jeff 13-7 in 1942.  Frankfort was the team that scored on WL that year.  WL beat Frankfort 20-6.  In 1942 there was a mix up and WL played a very bad Monticello team twice.  WL beat Monticello 72-0 on Oct. 9, and had to play them again on November 6.  WL won that game 53-0

[BendNotBreak]

9 minutes ago, Tippy said:

I think some of the South Bend teams were better than WL in 1942.  WL did beat Jeff 6-0 on Oct. 2, 1942, but Indy Shortridge also beat Jeff 13-7 in 1942.  Frankfort was the team that scored on WL that year.  WL beat Frankfort 20-6.  In 1942 there was a mix up and WL played a very bad Monticello team twice.  WL beat Monticello 72-0 on Oct. 9, and had to play them again on November 6.  WL won that game 53-0

I never won that argument.. 😆  42 has a rightful claim... their members beat the so called National Champs and they were never beaten... hard to argue that... think the final state poll had them around 5th?

[Tippy]

8 minutes ago, BendNotBreak said:

I never won that argument.. 😆  42 has a rightful claim... their members beat the so called National Champs and they were never beaten... hard to argue that... think the final state poll had them around 5th?

Here are the WL 1943 Season Results.  The SB Washington game was to be for the State Championship.

39 Indy Washington 0

21 Hoopeston, IL 0

14 Lafayette Jeff 0

20 Peru 0

41 Frankfort 0

27 Monticello 2

14 Lafayette Jeff 0

25 Crawfordsville 7

  0 SB Washington 27

[BendNotBreak]

Tippy if u can find a higher one class State ranked WL team than 42 u mite have a case... 😊

[Tippy]

1 hour ago, BendNotBreak said:

Tippy if u can find a higher one class State ranked WL team than 42 u mite have a case... 😊

I think WL was ranked 8th in 1950 when they played Jeff.  8-0 Jeff played 8-0 WL on November 9, 1950.  7000 fans showed up for the game despite snow flurries and bitter winds.  Jeff scored on a 76 yard pass play from Bill Bone to Carl Braun in the 1st.  WL scored on a 6 yard run by Bill Ellis in the 3rd.  WL was called for a penalty on the extra point, and the longer extra point was missed.  Jeff won 7-6.  The bad weather might have hurt Jeff's great passing game, so its hard to say if the 42 team or the 50 team was better.  I'm going with the 1950 team.  That penalty caused WL to miss the extra point.  The game could have ended in a tie and WL Would have been ranked higher.  I talked to someone that played on the 1950 Jeff football team.  I told him the WL players thought the refs made a bad call on that extra point try.  He said to me, "Oh Boo Hoo."

[BendNotBreak]

5 hours ago, Tippy said:

I think the best team WL ever had was the 1950 team. Jeff was number 1 in the state and WL played them the last game of the season and almost beat them.  The score was 7-6.  The score of the game tonight will probably be 42-6.

Sadly we all know that rivalry came to an end due to the continual riots that accompanied them... glad that's in the past.. 😇

[WCGrad92]

100 years of Football is outstanding. Monrovia is celebrating 50 years of Football this year. So awesome to see Indiana Football and where it has been, where it is, and where it is going. No matter who you root for, you cant go wrong at any game on an Indiana Friday Night.

[Tippy]

One more WL Story!  I knew Gene Swank, and he was the QB for the 1932 WL football team.  I talked to him a few years before he died.  On Sept. 23, 1932 WL played Lafayette Jeff at Purdue's Stuart Field.  Shortly after the second half started, Swank received a bump on the head that left him semi-conscious for a time.  He did not return to the game and Jeff won 20-0.  I asked Swank about that game, and he just kept telling me, "that was a bad mistake."  I never did find out exactly what happened.  Maybe he went right when he should have turned left.

[BendNotBreak]

1 hour ago, Tippy said:

I think WL was ranked 8th in 1950 when they played Jeff.  8-0 Jeff played 8-0 WL on November 9, 1950.  7000 fans showed up for the game despite snow flurries and bitter winds.  Jeff scored on a 76 yard pass play from Bill Bone to Carl Braun in the 1st.  WL scored on a 6 yard run by Bill Ellis in the 3rd.  WL was called for a penalty on the extra point, and the longer extra point was missed.  Jeff won 7-6.  The bad weather might have hurt Jeff's great passing game, so its hard to say if the 42 team or the 50 team was better.  I'm going with the 1950 team.  That penalty caused WL to miss the extra point.  The game could have ended in a tie and WL Would have been ranked higher.  I talked to someone that played on the 1950 Jeff football team.  I told him the WL players thought the refs made a bad call on that extra point try.  He said to me, "Oh Boo Hoo."

N if a frog had wings it wouldn't bump its a$$ ... no shame staying with 50.. jus 42 will always be higher.. 😊

[dazed and confused]

1 hour ago, Tippy said:

One more WL Story!  I knew Gene Swank, and he was the QB for the 1932 WL football team.  I talked to him a few years before he died.  On Sept. 23, 1932 WL played Lafayette Jeff at Purdue's Stuart Field.  Shortly after the second half started, Swank received a bump on the head that left him semi-conscious for a time.  He did not return to the game and Jeff won 20-0.  I asked Swank about that game, and he just kept telling me, "that was a bad mistake."  I never did find out exactly what happened.  Maybe he went right when he should have turned left.

have to agree

[dazed and confused]

21 hours ago, BendNotBreak said:

Awesome!  Pop was a Sr on the 42 team. Still have his letter sweater... Great Depression kids thew nothing away! 

Evidently neither do their kids !

[BendNotBreak]

28 minutes ago, dazed and confused said:

Evidently neither do their kids !

Couldn't do it... thickest warmest wool sweater.. he wore alot... still in great shape... n it fits me!  🤣😄

[Rudy]

On 9/15/2023 at 3:53 AM, Ballhawk said:

Just think of what HS football was like 100 years ago.  You see a lot of small colleges on the schedules in the early 1900s.  Think about WL playing Wabash back in the day.  I know Wabash shows up on the Sheridan schedule a few times.

Sheridan celebrates their 100th Homecoming tomorrow night.  The Blackhawks were reportedly the first school in Indiana to celebrate homecoming.

We could probably ask Coach Wright what the festivities were like 😂

 

Actually I did a book about Indiana high school football in 1923!

Please check it out if you’d like 😊

https://www.amazon.com/Indiana-High-School-Football-Machine/dp/B0C2S7VJ85