In recent posts, I’ve neglected Wofford’s long history of intercollegiate athletics. Since we’re presently in the thick of Southern Conference basketball play, I thought it would be appropriate to put up a sketch of an earlier basketball season. This snippet comes from the 1916 Bohemian and talks about a few games from that year.
When the call was issued for candidates for the basket-ball team last winter, there were many out to try their skill at throwing baskets. There were only two regulars back from the championship team of the year before, but they made up in quality what was lacking in quantity.
Captain Patterson, All-State Guard and Collins, All-State Centre, furnished a good nucleus to build a team around. All of the second-string men of the previous year were back also, and some good material was uncovered in the Freshman class. We secured the services of Mr. L. J. Denning as coach and to his careful work the success of the team may be in large measure ascribed.
The first game of the season was played with Furman, on our court, on December 19. The Terriers were thirsting for revenge for the defeat in football, and went into the game with the intention of making it a slaughter. During the first half the weight of the heavy Baptist team offset in some degree the superior speed and passing of Wofford and the score at the end of the period was only 14 to 10 against them. The Terriers came back, however, to start the second half and, playing with a rush that swept the Furman five off its feet, went far on into the lead. The Baptists never had a chance to rally, and all the way through the last half the game was a veritable riot. The score at the end of the second half was 50 to 12, with Furman holding the smaller figure.
Presbyterian College came up on the following Wednesday [in February] and went down in one of the roughest and most bitterly contested fights of the season. Wofford got a slight lead in the first few minutes, and held it doggedly to the end, in spite of P. C.’s hardest efforts. The final count was 34 to 26, with the Terriers on top.
February 18 was set aside for Erskine’s slaughter, and the job was well done. Rushing their opponents off their feet, and with a whirlwind attack at the start, the Terriers kept them on the run, and the count at the end was 61 to 19. Turner featured the contest, with 31 of Wofford’s 61 points.
Turner would be Henry Grady Turner, whose sweater was featured in an earlier blog post.
Photographs: The 1915-16 Varsity basketball team, and individual shots of team members Patterson and Collins.