Proctor High School
Northeast Minnesota, 5 miles southwest of Duluth
Years Represented: 1917-1926
A significant team profile about the Proctor girls basketball team is in the book, Daughters of the Game, pp. 243-246. Bob Silverness, school board member, gathered information about the girls' teams for the book. He has now gathered additional historical information about the Proctor schools, compiling a booklet named, "Rails: Passion, Pride, Tradition....Legacy. Let's all acclaim, Proctor High, Proctor High!"
One section, "1921 Head of the Lake Champions," expands on the information in the book. The 1923 school yearbook, The Proctorian, reported the following:
"Proctor High has one possession indeed which other schools cannot boast of. What is it? The champion Girls Basketball team. Champions of the Head of the Lakes and St. Louis county.
"The girls began practice a month or two aftr school began last fall under the direction of Miss Higgins as coach. There were enough girls for two teams, and good players indeed were those who got on the first squad. But better still were those honored six chosen for the team to represent Proctor. The girls practiced Tuesday and Thursday nights, from four to six as Mr. Byers had his men out Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Diligence and perseverance soon had constructed a team that appeared mighty formidable, and as we now know invincible. After two or three weeks of practice, Miss Higgins began to arrange the schedule for a series of games, to be played on both our own and foreign floors.
"Well the girls played the Two Harbors six on their floor and beat them, and they played them on the home floor and beat them, and they played Ashland, Wisconsin, at Ashland, and beat them. Then they played Coleraine and beat them and they played the Duluth Normal girls and won from them. Now, you ask, who didn't they beat? That's a good question but the answer is better. Get this! The Proctor girls were beaten by no team in the United States in any set of three games for a decision! Some record hey? Do you wonder that we are proud?
"Wonderful indeed is the life of a basketball player on the Proctor High girls team, for it means not only honor and renown but trips all over the states of Minnesota and Wisconsin. So can you blame those on the team who are this year graduating for regretting the fact that they must part with old Alma Mater, even though a great future may be ahead of them? No we can hardly do that, and we are sorry they are leaving the old school never to come back, but we feel assured that the good work will be 'carried on' next year as it has been this one, and we know that the P.H.S. Girls' team will never relinquish the cup as long as there is a drop of fighting blood left in them.
"And thus we leave the situation, for a short, concise statement of facts is more readable and better than all the 'flowery' language in the world. We are satisfied if we have conveyed to you an impression of the fact that Proctor is somebody! We do things in this high school, and we are climbing up the ladder to success and renown. Now we feel that the recent success of our girls in winning the championship is a distinct step upward, another rung in the ladder." The Proctorian 1921
Under "Items of Interest," it was written, "Between 1919 and 1921, the Proctor girls basketball team played the Duluth Teachers College three times. The Proctor girls won all three games. As a result, the college team would no longer play them. (Nor would the high school team from Coleraine.)"
One section, "1921 Head of the Lake Champions," expands on the information in the book. The 1923 school yearbook, The Proctorian, reported the following:
"Proctor High has one possession indeed which other schools cannot boast of. What is it? The champion Girls Basketball team. Champions of the Head of the Lakes and St. Louis county.
"The girls began practice a month or two aftr school began last fall under the direction of Miss Higgins as coach. There were enough girls for two teams, and good players indeed were those who got on the first squad. But better still were those honored six chosen for the team to represent Proctor. The girls practiced Tuesday and Thursday nights, from four to six as Mr. Byers had his men out Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Diligence and perseverance soon had constructed a team that appeared mighty formidable, and as we now know invincible. After two or three weeks of practice, Miss Higgins began to arrange the schedule for a series of games, to be played on both our own and foreign floors.
"Well the girls played the Two Harbors six on their floor and beat them, and they played them on the home floor and beat them, and they played Ashland, Wisconsin, at Ashland, and beat them. Then they played Coleraine and beat them and they played the Duluth Normal girls and won from them. Now, you ask, who didn't they beat? That's a good question but the answer is better. Get this! The Proctor girls were beaten by no team in the United States in any set of three games for a decision! Some record hey? Do you wonder that we are proud?
"Wonderful indeed is the life of a basketball player on the Proctor High girls team, for it means not only honor and renown but trips all over the states of Minnesota and Wisconsin. So can you blame those on the team who are this year graduating for regretting the fact that they must part with old Alma Mater, even though a great future may be ahead of them? No we can hardly do that, and we are sorry they are leaving the old school never to come back, but we feel assured that the good work will be 'carried on' next year as it has been this one, and we know that the P.H.S. Girls' team will never relinquish the cup as long as there is a drop of fighting blood left in them.
"And thus we leave the situation, for a short, concise statement of facts is more readable and better than all the 'flowery' language in the world. We are satisfied if we have conveyed to you an impression of the fact that Proctor is somebody! We do things in this high school, and we are climbing up the ladder to success and renown. Now we feel that the recent success of our girls in winning the championship is a distinct step upward, another rung in the ladder." The Proctorian 1921
Under "Items of Interest," it was written, "Between 1919 and 1921, the Proctor girls basketball team played the Duluth Teachers College three times. The Proctor girls won all three games. As a result, the college team would no longer play them. (Nor would the high school team from Coleraine.)"
Proctor 1921 Champions