Let’s credit Norwood Mack with the first extra point ever scored for Slatington in the Thanksgiving rivalry.
Norwood Arthur Mack (1920-1967) grew up at 427 Second St. in Slatington, the son of Arthur Mack (1900-1969) and Helen née Sauerwine (1900-1974). There were seven children in the family.
He graduated from Slatington High School in 1939. The yearbook called him the “Hero of the baseball team,” and he was voted “Best Athlete” with letters in basketball, football, baseball and track. A southpaw pitcher, his World War II draft registration card listed him at 5’11” and 195 lbs.
Slatington High school opened the 1939 baseball season with modest hopes under coach Fred Maass. The last two years had not been great years. In 1937 the team had finished 4-5, and then in 1938 the team had been unable to compete in the league because of renovations to the Victory Park field. But, in 1939, Slatington beat Northampton in a playoff game to win the Lehigh Valley League championship and then played Bethlehem for the district XI title. It was Norwood "Chukker” Mack, who hurled the team to victory in the last three league games with Catasauqua, Whitehall, and then Northampton.
Norwood Mack, on the mound at Victory Park
Let’s look at Slatington’s championship 1939 season.
On May 2nd, a Tuesday, Slatington opened the season with a 2-1 win over Catasauqua in a game played at Catasauqua. Mack was the winning pitcher.
On May 5th, a Friday evening game with Whitehall at Victory Park ended in a 7-7 tie after sixteen innings. Mack pitched the entire game giving up 14 hits.
The Tuesday, May 9th game with Catasauqua, played at Victory Park, was halted by rain in fifth inning. In the 4-4- tie, Mack pitched, but I am not sure how much he pitched since that information was not in the box score.
Slatington easily won the next several games.
- May 12th, a Friday, Slatington won 6-4 against Lehighton in a game played at Lehighton.
- May 15th, a Monday, Mack went the distance in a 10-5 victory versus Emmaus at Emmaus.
- May 16th, a Tuesday, Slatington won a slug fest 17-8 against Mauch Chunk at Victory Park.
- May 19th, a Friday, Slatington crushed the South Whitehall Trojans 22-5 at Victory Park. Mack pitched for the win.
- May 23rd, a Tuesday afternoon, Slatington again beat Mauch Chunk 6-0. This time at Mauch Chunk.
- On June 1st, a Friday, Slatington again defeated South Whitehall 7-2 at South Whitehall. Mack pitched for the win. Slatington remained undefeated.
The winning streak came to an end on June 2nd, a Friday afternoon, when Slatington lost to Northampton 3-2 at Slatington in 13 innings. Mack went the distance in the loss. The Morning Call estimated that 3,000 fans had shown up to watch the game. That meant that there was a four-way tie for first place in the league between Northampton, Whitehall, Catasauqua and Slatington. The league ordered a replay of Slatington’s tie games.
On Tuesday, June 6th, Slatington beat Catasauqua 17-3 at Victory Park with Mack pitching three innings in the game.
Then, on Friday, June 9th, the rematch with Whitehall took place at Victory Park before 2,500 fans. Slatington won 5-3, and Mack pitched for the win.
On Wednesday, June 14th, at Victory Park, with over 2,000 fans in attendance, Slatington faced off against Northampton for the league championship since both teams had one loss. Mack pitched the 4-3 win over Northampton.
With three wins in a row, Mack had led Slatington to its first league championship. The Morning Call headline read “Slatington Wins Lehigh Valley League Title; Beats Northampton.” The newspaper also called out Mack’s efforts, “Winning the league championship was as much a personal victory for pitcher Norwood Chukker Mack as it was a team triumph, for the plucky senior hurled the Slatington team to victory in each of its last three playoff games with Catasauqua, Whitehall and yesterday, Northampton.”
Next up was a challenge game against Bethlehem, set for Friday, 16 June.
The previous week, while Slatington was replaying games, Bethlehem had defeated Pen Argyl and then St. Clair to win the District XI PIAA baseball title. District officials had decided that Bethlehem would be awarded the district crown because the four-way deadlock in the Lehigh Valley League was taking too long to play off, and they feared the high school academic year would end before the title could be settled.
When Slatington finally won its league title, Slatington issued a challenge to Bethlehem, and Bethlehem accepted the challenge because it didn't want a title that it had not earned. But district officials made clear that “The game however [would] not affect Bethlehem High’s District 11 championship standing.”
The “challenge fracas between the Red and Blue nine and the Slate Pickers of Slatington” was set for 6 PM on the Bethlehem Steel field adjacent to Liberty High School in Bethlehem. (I believe that this field is now part of the Moravian University Steel Athletic Complex.) Bethlehem won the game 8-2. According to the newspaper account of the game, “Bethlehem scored four runs in the first inning before Coach Maass could insert Norwood Mack his ace hurler into the game.” In the eighth inning, “Mack weakened, and four additional runs crossed the plate.”
Slatington’s season ended with the loss, but it had been a successful, championship one for the team (7-2-2) and for Norwood Mack.
According to a feature article in The Morning Call (19 May 1939), Mack “got the baseball bug as a youngster,” and for years he was the bat boy for the Slatington A.A. cardinals in the Lehigh Valley Suburban league. He also pitched for that team during the summers. After graduating from Slatington High School, he continued to pitch for local A.A. and other baseball teams.
Norwood Mack and Ruth Price (1922-2012) married on 19 April 1941, and they had two children (Gail and Bruce). He served in the US army during World War II and worked at the New Jersey Zinc plant in Palmerton after the war. He died in a car crash on Route 873 about a mile south of Slatington in December 1967.