Thanksgiving Day Football
Slatington v. Palmerton, Thursday, 26 November 1942

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Location: 10 AM, Victory Park, Slatington

Final Score: Palmerton 6 - Slatington 3

Weather: warmer, Allentown reached 60 degrees, ending several days of rainy weather

Coaches: William Reese (1910-1971) for Slatington and Anthony Rovinski (1908-1973) for Palmerton

Slatington High School football team 1942

1943 Slatington High School yearbook photo of the 1942 football team

Slatington’s Schedule before the Thanksgiving game with Palmerton
Lehighton 0 – Slatington 36 (3 October)
Slatington 13 - Emmaus 0 (10 October)
Northampton 0 – Slatington 0 (17 October)
Slatington 33 – Catasauqua 0 (24 October)
Whitehall 18 – Slatington 14 (31 October)

(Several turnovers in the Whitehall game ended the Slatington effort for an undefeated season. But reading the account of the game, it reminds me how much different football was played eighty years ago. Here is an account of some of the action in the Whitehall-Slatington game. “After being sacked while attempting to throw, Schleicher fumbled. Scarbo recovered [on Slatington’s 12] for Whitehall. With Whitehall again threatening Smith intercepted Tomasic’s pass on the 3. Schleicher punted out to his own 12 where Slatington held and took the ball on downs. On the first play, Hankee broke through the Whitehall line and raced 85 yards for the first Slatington score.” (The Morning Call, 1 November 1942)

Stroudsburg 0 – Slatington 12 (7 November)
Bangor 0 – Slatington 39 (14 November)
(According to the box score in The Morning Call, my uncle Victor Lukasevich scored a touchdown in this game, although his name was misspelled in the paper as “Tukasevich.”)

In total, for Slatington’s season, Carl Hankee scored 10 TDs and Roy Schleicher 6 TDs.

As a side note, Slatington was forced to cancel the opening game with Wilson because of transportation difficulties. During the season there were issues throughout the region with bus operators claiming that tire and gasoline rationing restrictions did not allow use of buses for athletic purposes.

Palmerton High School football team 1942

1943 Palmerton High School yearbook photo of the 1942 football team

At the end of August, Anthony Rovinski was named the new head coach for Palmerton. Only eight lettermen returned from last year’s squad as the players reported for their first practice at Kern’s field on Wednesday, 2 September.

Palmerton’s Schedule before the Thanksgiving game with Slatington
Summit Hill 0 – Palmerton 0 (19 September)
Palmerton 0 – Whitehall 0 (26 September)
Palmerton 18 – Stroudsburg 7 (2 October)
Catasauqua 0 – Palmerton 21 (10 October)
Banger 0 – Palmerton 7 (17 October)
Palmerton 12 – Northampton 32 (24 October)
Emmaus 0 – Palmerton 19 (7 November)
Palmerton 32 – Lehighton 0 (14 November)

Both teams had a good year heading into the Thanksgiving game. Slatington, 5-1-1, had outscored its opponents before the Palmerton game: 147-18. Like Slatington, Palmerton, 5-1-2, had also outscored its opponents: 109-39.

Excitement always built in the week leading up to the Thanksgiving game.

On Monday, The Morning Call reported “The Blue raiders, the name given to the Slatington team recently by the student body, will go into the game confident of bringing home its first victory against the Blue Bombers of Palmerton .... It has proven the miracle team of the Lehigh Valley, for Coach Bill Reese had to build an entirely new team. There are only three ‘veterans’ on the squad. They are Meagher, Schleicher, and Hankee.” (The Morning Call, 20 November 1942)

The Morning Call followed up the next day with another short article on Slatington’s hopes of finally winning versus Palmerton, “Slatington High Has High Hopes of Scoring First Win over Palmerton, Old rivals to Clash at Victory Park in Turkey Day Morning Game.” The article continued, “in past seasons the best that Slatington High ever got out of these annual tilts was a 0-0 tie. That happened two years ago. However, the picture this year looks different .... The Slate Belt fans are virtually football mad and look forward to the first win for the Blue raiders since it has hooked up against the Zinctown Blue Bombers .... Coach Bill Reese reports the entire squad in tiptop shape for the Thursday tilt.” (The Morning Call, 24 November 1942)

It was not clear, however, how good the field conditions were going to be for the clash. “While the student body of the Junior and Senior High schools of Slatington High school was conducting a big pep rally in Smith Hall in Slatington on Wednesday afternoon, a force of men was feverishly at work draining the water from the football field at Victory Park … The continued rains made part of the playing field a quagmire. The heavy rains ended late in the afternoon and the following high winds were expected to help put the field into condition for the important game with Palmerton High school.” (The Morning Call, 26 November 1942)

The Slatington High School band led “the parade of students and fans up Main St. to the field on Thursday morning.”

See the team rosters (PDF) from The Slatington News, 26 November 1942.

The headlines on the game:

"The Palmerton Blue Bombers upset the dope when they turned in a 6 to 3 victory over the local high school Blue Raiders before a record-breaking crowd of more than 3,000 fans." (The Slatington News)

"Getting off to a good start, it looked as if the local fans would finally turn the tables on its old rivals, when Meagher converted a neat field goal from the 38-yard line."

That was first field goal ever kicked for Slatington in the Thanksgiving rivalry. It was also the first successful field goal in the Lehigh Valley League that season. Meagher also had the first Thanksgiving place kick extra point of Slatington the previous year.

"Victor Lukasevich, a veteran lineman and rated the outstanding Slatington player this season, was denied the opportunity to play by a PIAA ruling which limits the number of absences from school in any semester. As an emergency measure, Lukasevich had exceeded this limit to help his father on the farm. All appeals in his behalf were denied, however, and he was forced to watch the game from the bench."

[My mom always had said that there was some dispute connected with her brother's playing on the Slatington football team and that it had something to do with Palmerton objecting to his playing for Slatington. She never knew the exact details of what had gone on, since she was still pretty little at the time, but the newspaper article explains what the issue was.]

This account of action in the second quarter clearly indicates the flavor of football in the 1930s-1940s.

"With the ball in Palmerton's possession at the start of the second quarter, Carazo carried the ball to the 28-yard line for a 12-yard gain. Babyak then intercepted a Palmerton pass but Smith was thrown for a loss on the next play. Hankee then carried the ball for a first down. Schleicher bucked the line for 2 and Buzinski lost 2 yards on the next play. Losing the ball to Palmerton, Carazo then carried it for 12 yards on two plays. The local line stiffened and Anewalt kicked for 41 yards. Hankee carried the ball for 10 yards on two plays. On the next two plays Palmerton held and S. H. S. was forced to kick. Schleicher's kick was blocked. Shupp, for Palmerton, recovered the ball as the half ended."

There was no scoring in the third period, but at the end of the quarter Schleicher's kick was blocked, and Palmerton took over at the Slatington 20-yard line. Seven plays later Carazo plunged in for a one-yard run. His extra point kick was wide, leaving the final score at 6-3.

The Lineups (The Slatington News, 3 December 1942; The Morning Call, 27 November 1942)
Position Palmerton Slatington
Left end Krex Babyak
Left tackle Hendrixson Meagher
Left guard Smalle R. Jones
Center Hauser Mack
Right guard Wentz Owens
Right tackle Skorinko Zellner
Right end Balliet Yale
Quarterback Carazo Buzinski
Left halfback Bomba Hankee
Right halfback Pocaloko Smith
Fullback Anewalt Schleicher

After this game, the Thanksgiving rivalry stood at Palmerton 7 wins, Slatington 0 wins and 1 tie.

Newspaper sources