Thief River Falls - Part II
northwestern Minnesota, 40 miles northeast of East Grand Forks on #59
Years Represented: 1918-1921
See team profile for Thief River Falls in the book, Daughters of the Game, on p. 280. Two photos of the 1919 and 1920 teams are featured. The photos were provided by the family of Eileen Herron.
Gayle Lobitz, daughter of Esther Hadrath provided additional information from the school yearbook. Included are two summaries of the 1920 and 1921 seasons, a photo of the 1920 coach, Gunlaugson, and a photo of the 1921 team.
Gayle reported that her mother talked about out- of-town games and that they stayed overnight. Frequently the girls and boys teams played on the same night.
The 1920 Thief River Falls yearbook wrote about "The Girls Basketball," as follows:
"It is needless to say that Thief River Falls High School will have the best girls basketball team in this corner of the state the coming year. This year they won four out of five games and I believe they would have won the fifth also, if it had not been that they were unaccustomed to playing off the home floor at that time. They have been handicapped right along because in the first place they haven't had the benefit of a thorough training enforced by a professional coach; secondly, time or practice has been limited; and finally, they haven't had good strong teams to play with for practice work. In spite of these handicaps, however, the girls have put heart and soul into the work, and the games they have played certainly have showed their superior sportsmanship and how they have excelled all of their opponents in what is called in basketball parlance, 'floor-work.' Above all, the girls have always been ladies in every sense of the word, whether on the floor, in their dealings with other teams, or on the trips we have made to other town.
East Grand Forks: the first game was played here December 14, 1919 with East Grand Forks. This being the first game, it was rather slow moving and more of a defensive game, both sides being just a little frightened of each other. The score was 3 to 6 in our favor.
Warren Expedition: Friday, February 19, found the girls basketball team on its way to Warren, where they intended to show their superior tactics at looping the loop with the basketball. The game was called at 4:30, and altho the Warren girls tried their best to give us a goose egg we didn't let them but managed to keep cool and watch them work. The game ended in a large score in favor of the Warren team. The game, however, did not end our visit at Warren. When we reached the station we found the train late. We spent an enjoyable night resting our weary bones on hat-racks and Saturday Evening Posts, and when we finally did reach home at 8;15 the following evening, Thief River Falls never did look so good to us.
The Siege at Minto: March 8th found the girls' team again moving. This time it was to attack and defeat the girls at Minto. The game was called at nine and was a whirlwind of a success all the way through. The score was 7 to 1 in our favor at the end of the first quarter. Nora and Viola gracefully guarded their fowards beside which Viola, to the horror of her opponent, gently slipped in two baskets. With one free throw and a clear arch shot from Eileen from the center of the floor, the total was 7 to 1. At halves the socre was 11 to 5 and by the end of the game it was 22 to 14 in our favor."
The 1921 TRF yearbook included the team photo and the following report: "Lincoln High School was undoubtedly this year represented by one of the best girls basketball tossers the school has ever had. Almost all of the '21 tossers were veterans in the game, having played one or more years before and this made it less difficult to build up a strong team.
The first game of the season was a contest with Holt, which was played here December 10. It resulted in a decided victory over their opponents, the final score being 2 to 34. Hallock came here with good intentions but failed to roll up more than 5 points to our 50. Throughout both games the superior skill in the tactics of basket shooting and team work was shown by our quintet.
A great deal of credit is due to Center Herron and Forward Lund who have played four years and are leaving with a worthy record. Guards Hadrath and Lindquist, and Forward Shetler, also were consistent players and Subguard McGinnity provided a reliable sub.
January 2 a journey was made to Climax which concluded rather fatally although our girls scored 3 points to their 20. The last team to be taken into camp was Holt, the basket ball which can be clearly seen by the resulting 34 points in our behalf, to their 18.
The girls were fortunate in having the able coaching of Albert Tommeraasen, who deserves a great deal of credit for his untiring efforts to make the season a success.
'Tommy' has his say: The Girls basketball team was one of the strongest that has ever represented this High School, but was unfortunate in not being able to secure games which would show up their true ability, due to conflicts in the schedule. Nevertheless, they won three of the four games played. The team next year will mixx the playing Herron, Lund and Hadrath, but with Lindquist and Shetler forming the nucleus of next year's team the outlook is very favorable. - Coach Albert Tommeraasen."
The 1921 photo identified the team players, many who were on the earlier teams - left to right: N. Lindquist, Esther Hadrath, Coach Tommeraasen, McGinnity, V. Lund, Eileen Herron, Shetler.
Gayle Lobitz, daughter of Esther Hadrath provided additional information from the school yearbook. Included are two summaries of the 1920 and 1921 seasons, a photo of the 1920 coach, Gunlaugson, and a photo of the 1921 team.
Gayle reported that her mother talked about out- of-town games and that they stayed overnight. Frequently the girls and boys teams played on the same night.
The 1920 Thief River Falls yearbook wrote about "The Girls Basketball," as follows:
"It is needless to say that Thief River Falls High School will have the best girls basketball team in this corner of the state the coming year. This year they won four out of five games and I believe they would have won the fifth also, if it had not been that they were unaccustomed to playing off the home floor at that time. They have been handicapped right along because in the first place they haven't had the benefit of a thorough training enforced by a professional coach; secondly, time or practice has been limited; and finally, they haven't had good strong teams to play with for practice work. In spite of these handicaps, however, the girls have put heart and soul into the work, and the games they have played certainly have showed their superior sportsmanship and how they have excelled all of their opponents in what is called in basketball parlance, 'floor-work.' Above all, the girls have always been ladies in every sense of the word, whether on the floor, in their dealings with other teams, or on the trips we have made to other town.
East Grand Forks: the first game was played here December 14, 1919 with East Grand Forks. This being the first game, it was rather slow moving and more of a defensive game, both sides being just a little frightened of each other. The score was 3 to 6 in our favor.
Warren Expedition: Friday, February 19, found the girls basketball team on its way to Warren, where they intended to show their superior tactics at looping the loop with the basketball. The game was called at 4:30, and altho the Warren girls tried their best to give us a goose egg we didn't let them but managed to keep cool and watch them work. The game ended in a large score in favor of the Warren team. The game, however, did not end our visit at Warren. When we reached the station we found the train late. We spent an enjoyable night resting our weary bones on hat-racks and Saturday Evening Posts, and when we finally did reach home at 8;15 the following evening, Thief River Falls never did look so good to us.
The Siege at Minto: March 8th found the girls' team again moving. This time it was to attack and defeat the girls at Minto. The game was called at nine and was a whirlwind of a success all the way through. The score was 7 to 1 in our favor at the end of the first quarter. Nora and Viola gracefully guarded their fowards beside which Viola, to the horror of her opponent, gently slipped in two baskets. With one free throw and a clear arch shot from Eileen from the center of the floor, the total was 7 to 1. At halves the socre was 11 to 5 and by the end of the game it was 22 to 14 in our favor."
The 1921 TRF yearbook included the team photo and the following report: "Lincoln High School was undoubtedly this year represented by one of the best girls basketball tossers the school has ever had. Almost all of the '21 tossers were veterans in the game, having played one or more years before and this made it less difficult to build up a strong team.
The first game of the season was a contest with Holt, which was played here December 10. It resulted in a decided victory over their opponents, the final score being 2 to 34. Hallock came here with good intentions but failed to roll up more than 5 points to our 50. Throughout both games the superior skill in the tactics of basket shooting and team work was shown by our quintet.
A great deal of credit is due to Center Herron and Forward Lund who have played four years and are leaving with a worthy record. Guards Hadrath and Lindquist, and Forward Shetler, also were consistent players and Subguard McGinnity provided a reliable sub.
January 2 a journey was made to Climax which concluded rather fatally although our girls scored 3 points to their 20. The last team to be taken into camp was Holt, the basket ball which can be clearly seen by the resulting 34 points in our behalf, to their 18.
The girls were fortunate in having the able coaching of Albert Tommeraasen, who deserves a great deal of credit for his untiring efforts to make the season a success.
'Tommy' has his say: The Girls basketball team was one of the strongest that has ever represented this High School, but was unfortunate in not being able to secure games which would show up their true ability, due to conflicts in the schedule. Nevertheless, they won three of the four games played. The team next year will mixx the playing Herron, Lund and Hadrath, but with Lindquist and Shetler forming the nucleus of next year's team the outlook is very favorable. - Coach Albert Tommeraasen."
The 1921 photo identified the team players, many who were on the earlier teams - left to right: N. Lindquist, Esther Hadrath, Coach Tommeraasen, McGinnity, V. Lund, Eileen Herron, Shetler.
Thief River Falls 1920 Coach Gunlaugson
Thief River Falls 1921