Saranac Lake High School football team pictured in the 1944 Canaras.

Wow, what a difference a hundred years makes!

I have a piece of Saranac Lake High School football history from the Adirondack, not yet daily, Enterprise dated Friday, Aug. 28, 1925 — thanks to the Adirondack Room of the Saranac lake Free Library.

I might find pictures of that first team if the library has a copy of the 1923 or 1924 yearbook, the Canaras — and for you newcomers, that’s Saranac spelled backwards. However, the chief of my research team, Michele Tucker, is on vacation — she has a lot of nerve — so I’ll see what I can find for next week when I can look through the library’s collection of yearbooks. The accompanying photo above, from the 1944 Canaras, shows that Coach Wilson was still at it almost 20 year later.

“Russell H. Sackett, who coached the 1923 and 1924 teams, the first to be put on the gridiron by the Saranac Lake High School…”

Read on…

The football fields have been dedicated, and rightfully so, to Coach John Raymond and Coach Ken Wilson.

John was a talented coach and teacher and helped out the school when he served for a time as superintendent. Great personality, he knew everyone, and greeted all with a smile and a handshake.

I believe his friend Coach and Judge Jan Plumadore is going to love this story because it is the very beginning of Coach Wilson’s career. Mr. Wilson was high school principal in the late 1940’s, when I was a student and his wife, Louise, was the 9th grade English teacher.

The school did not have all the sports activities that exist today. Art Mahoney, an Army ranger in WWII, was the only coach for all men’s sports and his wife coached the women’s teams.

Later, I remember Mr. and Mrs. Butler Sullivan as another popular and talented coaching couple.

Football and cross country sports, both in the fall, had Coach Mahoney at the football field most of the time, but he also laid out our training schedule, which we followed religiously.

One day he said he would come over from football practice and run with us. We thought he was pretty old for that — I believe he was almost 30.

The coach took off at a good pace at the head of the pack, up Route 3 to the ‘state bridge’ and back (probably 6 miles), and we were dragging to keep up.

Then, as we were getting closer to Petrova Avenue, (the high school location at that time — and remember, no LaPan Highway, just Lake Street), we are all groaning when Coach Mahoney turned left onto Edgewood Road and eventually up the Forest Home Road. God only knows how far we ran until he turned back.

By then, totally whipped, we were all thankful that he didn’t have much time to train with us.

The Page One story is loaded with headlines and sub-heads — “FOOTBALL SEASON OPENS SEPTEMBER 26,” “Saranac Lake Meets Lake Placid for First Contest of 1925,” and “New Coach Coming — Kenneth Wilson Takes Charge of Squad on First Day of School, September 8.”

“With a league game scheduled with Lake Placid High School for Saturday, September 26, the Saranac Lake High School 1925 football squad faces a huge task to whip a team into shape in the three weeks of practice allotted.

“The first practice session takes place on the opening day of school, Tuesday, September 8, and in addition to getting into condition for the opening game, the players have to get accustomed to a brand new coaching system.

“Kenneth Wilson, former St. Lawrence University quarterback and coach at Port Henry High School, is to be the successor of Russell H. Sackett, who coached the 1923 and 1924 teams, the first to be put on the gridiron by Saranac Lake high School.

“Wilson is best known in this area for the championship basketball teams he turned out at Port Henry, but he also gave Port Henry a strong football team and his knowledge of the game is expected to work further improvements in the Saranac Lake team.

“This season will mark the return to Tupper Lake High School of the Adirondack Interscholastic League so there will be more teams competing for the 1925 championship.

“Following the opening game at Lake Placid, the team will play the Malcolm School (now the Lake Placid Club School) in Saranac Lake on October 3, and Plattsburgh High School here on October 10.

“Manager Cornelius Carey Jr. is trying to book a downstate trip for October 17, or October 24, and has tentatively booked games with Mineville and Port Henry (after graduating from Saranac Lake High, he went on to Notre Dame graduating in 1930. At age 29 he became a Franklin County Judge for the 4th Judicial District, the youngest Judge in New York State).

“The final game of the year will be with Tupper Lake on October 31 at Tupper Lake, and for November 7, Lake Placid comes here for a non-league contest. This game will probably end the season.

“For the most part a veteran squad will report for practice on September 8, but the team lost four valuable men through graduation in O’Brien, Dewey, Mulfur and Petty.

“Captain Bob Herron is an experienced halfback, and Disco, Lytle and Donohoe are also experienced backfield men. Witherbee, center, Toohey and William Duprey, guards, and Ed Duprea, tackle, have held regular positions for two seasons and Wallace and Lawless last year showed promise. Fadden is a substitute lineman of two year’s experience.”