Seventy Years Of The Worcester Polytechnic Institute: Page 229

Baseball was played only as a class competition prior to the spring of 1905, when members of the 1906 and 1907 classes were responsible for reintroducing it as a varsity sport. The first year was fairly successful, and the season of 1906 was decidedly so, for the team won six of its seven games. The next two years were not successful ones, but in 1909 there were four victories in six games, in 1910 five victories out of seven and in 1911 four out of six.

Class games, with an occasional dual meet at the Worcester Oval, constituted the track program up to 1907. In 1903, the class of 1890 presented to the Athletic Association a trophy, known as the Davenport Cup, to be awarded to the class scoring the most points in class games. The Institute was a member of the New England Intercollegiate Athletic Association until 1902, when the superiority of other member colleges became so marked that Worcester withdrew. The following year representatives of four colleges met at Boynton Hall to plan an athletic league of the smaller colleges, but no definite move was made in this direction. In 1910, when Tech track teams were beginning to produce victories, the Athletic Association applied for and gained readmission to the N. E. I. A. A.

Dual and triangular meets from 1907 on were successfully contested with college teams from Rensselaer, Union, Holy Cross, Trinity, and Brown. The advent of such star performers as P. S. Kennedy, '10, M. G. Halligan, '12, G. H. Slocomb, '12, J. W. Armour, '13, 0. S. Porter, '13, W. W. Tuttle, '13, and R. L. Keith, '14, in the track events, and of C. A. G. Pease, '10, C. C. Clough, '12, J. D. Power, '12, R. E. Harrington, '12, and D. G. Howard, '13, in the field events, made the Tech team one of the best among the small colleges. These men shattered many of the existing records, in some cases setting marks that were not equalled for at least twenty-five years. Keith and Clough were intercollegiate winners, the former setting a New England record in the mile run, and the latter taking honors in the shot put.

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Last Modified: Fri Jul 30 11:15:25 EDT 1999