Location: 10 AM, Delaware Avenue Field, Palmerton
Final Score: Slatington 14 - Palmerton 19
Weather: fair weather, warm, Allentown reached 57 degrees
Coaches: William Reese (1910-1971) for Slatington and John C. Young (1906-1981) for Palmerton
1942 Slatington High School yearbook photo of the 1941 football team
This same photo with identifications appeared in The Morning Call, 20 Nov 1941.)
First row, left to right: Roy Schleicher, Dick Yenser, James Rex, Charles Buzinski (captain), Dale Meagher, Warren DeLong, Harold Meagher
Second Row: Assistant Coach Clayton Clifford, Victor Lukasevich, Sherwood Snyder, Owen Roberts, Carl Hankee, Donald Roberts, Kenneth Stahley, Head Coach William Reese
Third row: Charles Person, Charles Creasy, Leonard Owens, Joseph Buzinski, Harold Mack, John Schleicher, Howard Hoffman, George Dieter, Carl Greenawalt.
Candidates for Slatington's 1941 football team first reported to Smith Hall on Tuesday morning, 26 August 1941. Practices began at Victory Park the next day, 10 to 12 and 2 to 4, just a few days before Labor Day. The Slatington News (28 August 1941) reported that a "seven-man sledge is being built" for the team at Victory Park. This was the first year that Slatington fielded a junior varsity football team with just a very few games being scheduled. (The Slatington News, 11 September 1941).
Slatington's Schedule before the Thanksgiving game with Palmerton
Wilson 0 – Slatington 7 (27 September)
Slatington 8 – Lehighton 12 (4 October)
Emmaus 0 - Slatington 7 (11 October)
Slatington 2 - Northampton 13 (18 October)
Catasauqua 19 – Slatington 0 (25 October)
Whitehall 0 - Slatington 13 (1 November)
Slatington 13 - Stroudsburg 13 (8 November)
Slatington 7 - Coplay 6 (15 November)
It proved to be an exciting season for Slatington. On 12 October 1941, The Morning Call headline read "Slatington High Pulls Real Upset, Registering 7-0 Win Over Favored Emmaus Team." Emmaus was a team that had previously been unbeaten. Slatington was "usually easy picking for leading Lehigh Valley league teams," but in the game played Saturday afternoon at Victory Park, "the Slate borough squad, amounting to only 19 players at full strength," pulled off the upset late in the game. "On the first play of the final quarter Carl Hankee faked a reverse to Don Roberts and skipped around right end for the payoff goal."
The wildness of the Slatington season continued in the following week's game against Northampton, in Northampton. The Morning Call (19 October 1941) headline told the tale, "Fists Fly as Northampton Defeats Slatington 13-2." It was a "bristling Lehigh Valley League contest played under murky skies at the Cement borough."
Northampton got out to the lead in the first quarter on a 40-yard pass from Steve Hluschak to Ed Shirk. (I found that strange because I would associate those last names with people that I knew in Slatington, not Northampton.) It was still 6-0 as the 4th quarter began. After several exchanges of punts with Northampton getting closer and closer to scoring, eventually Phil Damore ran for a 15-yard TD, and the extra point by Hluschak on a fake pass play made it 13-0.
"At this point the game was held up as referee G. W. Walt warned a Slatington player about rough play. Pent-up feeling at the boiling point, fans rushed out from the Slatington side, supporters poured out from the Northampton side, and there were 10 minutes of hopeless confusion before police cleared the gridiron." The newspaper repeatedly added that it was just a "hopeless melee during which several fist-fights broke out."
It got even stranger after the subsequent kickoff when Paul Sottalano intercepted a Slatington pass but ran the wrong way giving Slatington a safety.
1942 Palmerton High School yearbook photo of the 1941 football team
Palmerton's Schedule before the Thanksgiving game with Slatington
Whitehall 0 – Palmerton 18 (27 September)
Stroudsburg 6 – Palmerton 6 (4 October)
Catasauqua 7 – Palmerton 6 (11 October)
Palmerton 6 – Bangor 27 (18 October)
Northampton 0 – Palmerton 6 (25 October)
Palmerton 6 – Emmaus 24 (8 November)
Lehighton 0 – Palmerton 15 (15 November)
For the 1941 season, John C. Young replaced Bill Wilhelm as football coach. Young was also the coach of the baseball team. Practice started a week before Labor Day with 72 candidates reporting for practice on Monday, 2 August 1941. Practices were still held on the leased field north of Palmerton.
The first game of the season, scheduled for 20 September 1941 against Summit Hill was canceled because Summit Hill had postponed opening its schools until 22 September because of an outbreak of infantile paralysis (polio).
25 October 1941, team photo with names in the MC (This same photo with identifications appeared in The Morning Call, 20 Nov 1941.)
As the teams prepared for the Thanksgiving game, both teams had put together solid seasons: Slatington 4-3-1 and Palmerton 3-3-1. "With the smallest squad in the history of football in the local school, oddly enough Slatington so far has turned in its best season." (The Morning Call, 26 November 1941)
Both teams went through the usual pregame pep rallies and final practices. Palmerton's "Coach Johnny Young's grid aggregation will complete their final drill this afternoon after a week and a half of steady practice which has whipped the team into shape." (The Morning Call, 26 November 1941) "A record crowd of more than 2,000 persons are expected to turn out for tomorrow morning's clash."
| Position | Palmerton | Slatington |
| Left end | T. Krex | Rex |
| Left tackle | Lipics | Yenser |
| Left guard | C. Shupp | D.Meagher |
| Center | Derkocz | Delong |
| Right guard | Smale | Stahley |
| Right tackle | Pierce | Buzinski |
| Right end | Fedor | J. Schleicher |
| Quarterback | Lopez | Roberts |
| Left halfback | Romig | H. Meagher |
| Right halfback | Anewalt | Carl Hankee |
| Fullback | Kresge | Leroy. Schleicher |
"The traditional Thanksgiving Day Classic between SHS and Palmerton on the Zinc Borough field boasted 3,500 fans or more who saw that Blue Bombers of Palmerton nose out the Slate Borough lads 19 to 14." (The Slatington News, 4 December 1941)
In the first quarter, after Palmerton blocked a Schleicher punt, Palmerton had a first down on Slatington's 14-yard line. Three plays later fullback Don Kresge ran in for the score.
Slatington drove to Palmerton's six-yard line in the second quarter, but Palmerton's Johnny Derkocz intercepted a Slatington pass at the three-yard line, ending the scoring threat.
The defensive first half ended with the score at 6-0.
Palmerton's Don Kresge scored again in the middle of the third quarter to make it 13-0, and then on the ensuing kickoff, Leroy Schleicher fumbled with Palmerton recovering on the 20-yard line. A few plays later Palmerton's quarterback Manuel Lopez snuck it in to make it 19-0.
As the game looked like it was pretty much over, Palmerton sent in its second team at that point in time.
With about four minutes to play, Slatington took to the air. Schleicher, the fullback, tossed the ball to halfback Carl Hankee, who crossed the goal line for the first Slatington score. The placekick was good by Dale Meagher, and as a side note, that was the first place-kick extra point by Slatington since the Thanksgiving Series had started in 1935. The score was now 19 to 7. Less than three minutes later, Slatington scored again after two Schleicher passes to Don Roberts and Hankee brought the ball to the five-yard line. Schleicher then hit Roberts for the TD pass, and the extra point was good, making it 19-14.
With about a minute to go, Palmerton's Coach Young, sent the first team back out onto the field to finish the game.
Looking back through Slatington High School football teams, the 1941 football team was the first to which I had several personal connections.
The first was to my uncle, Victor Lukasevich (1927-1982) who was a halfback on that team. He was in the class of 1944 but never graduated as he enlisted in the navy in June 1943.
The second connection was to Owen "Truck" Roberts (1925-1998), class of 1942, who would later teach eight-grade US history to me back in the very early 1970s. He was also the dad of my friends John and Linda. Over the years, I spent so many hours up at their house on Kuehner Hill in Slatington.
The last connection was to Donald George Roberts (1924-2022), class of 1942, who was the dad of my great friends the twinners, Bruce and Brian, and their sister Donna who was a classmate of mine in high school. They also all lived up on Kuehner Hill.
Newspaper sources
- The Morning Call
- The Palmerton Press
- The Slatington News