| W. FINAL (Alta): Edmonton Commercial Grads d’d Barons 56-14 CANADIAN TITLE: Edmonton Commercial Grads d’d London Shamrocks (Total: 49-29) Game 1: (women’s rules) Grads 8 Shamrocks 21 Game 2 (men’s rules) Grads 41 Shamrocks 8 |
In British Columbia, U.B.C. and Normal School finished tied atop the regular season standings, necessitating a playoff, which U.B.C. (coached by Lacey J Fisher and Al Buchanan) won 12-10 as Eve Eveleigh scored 6, Helen Tatlow 4 and Gladys Weld 2, while Eloise Angell and Viola Stevenson were scoreless. Bryer led Normal School with 4. Stafford added 4 and Mitchell 2, while Herd and Hall were scoreless.
Following the British Columbia campaign, organizers met April 21-22 to create a provincial basketball governing body to oversee the sport and provincial championships at all levels. There were well over a dozen leagues, each holding a bewildering array of playoffs. Those included various city and district leagues, a Sunday School League, various local religious demonination leagues and various military leagues. Others included the Dewdney League, the Westminster League, the Federal League, the Ladies A & B Leagues, the Inter-Church league, department store league, scout league, commercial league, etc., etc.. Some teams played in multiple leagues and multiple postseason playoffs. Occasionally, inter-league championships were held. In short, absolute hoops chaos within the province.
In the sudden-death Alberta final, the Edmonton Grads defeated the Barons 56-14 as Nellie Perry scored 32 and Daisy Johnson 10. The Grads led 28-8 at the half. It was the Grads second game of the day, having earlier played an “exhibition” match against Lethbridge (prevailing 46-11). Barons included T Harris, V Popham, D Grant, M Welsh, G Falleshead and H Blaine.
The Grads were coached by New York-born schoolteacher J. Percy Page, who’d moved to Canada as a child and then ventured West in 1912 to teach bookkeeping, shorthand and typing at Edmonton’s John A. McDougall Commercial High School. Two years later, he began coaching the Edmonton Grads, after losing a coin flip with fellow teacher Ernest Hyde over who had to start a phys ed class for the girls. Page lost the toss and decided to focus on basketball, which he played as a student at McGill. “I never took the game seriously,” he said. Page devised a series of simple shooting and passing plays and then entered his McDougall squad in a four-team school league, which they promptly won. The school lacked a gym, so the game was played outdoors. “We kept winning,” he said. “When our first class graduated, the girls asked me to keep a team going, and they became the Grads.” Over the next 25 years, Page’s record was (502-20). In 1922, he challenged the London Shamrocks for the Canadian title, which the Shamrocks they had been claiming for years without being willing to play teams from the West. But Page had convinced the City of Edmonton and its Chamber of Commerce to finance the Grads trip to the nationals. They agreed to play one of the games by women’s rules, using 6 players, and one game by men’s rules. The Grads whipped the Shamrocks and remained undefeated at the national level until they disbanded in 1940. In 1923, the Grads became champions at the international level, defeating a Cleveland team for the world basketball title, which they held unofficially for 17 years, while also racking up a series of exhibition wins at four summer Olympics. “The finest basketball team that ever stepped out on a floor,” said basketball’s inventor James Naismith.
Naismith once wrote of the Grads: “permit me to add my hearty congratulations to the many that must have poured in from your host of friends and admirers on this your 21st birthday. Your record is without parallel in the history of basketball. There is no team that I mention more frequently in talking about the game. My admiration is not only for your remarkable record of games won (which of itself would make you stand out in the history of basketball) but also for your record of clean play, versatility in meeting teams at their own style, and more especially for your unbroken record of good sportsmanship. It is the combination of all these things that make your record so wonderful. My admiration and respect go to you also because you have remained unspoiled by your successes, and have retained the womanly graces notwithstanding your participation in a strenuous game. You are not only an inspiration to basketball players throughout the world, but a model for all girls’ teams. Your attitude and success have been a source of gratification to me in illustrating the possibilities of the game in the development of the highest type of womanhood. This message would not be complete without a reference to my good friend, Mr. Percy Page, who, of course, is chiefly responsible for your success. You are indeed fortunate in having a many like Mr. Page as your coach, for I regard him as the greatest coach and the most superb sportsman it has ever been my good fortune to meet.”
Through the years, the Grads played 375 games, with a record of 355-20. They played 14 games against North American competition and were 9-5. They played 120 games for the Underwood Trophy (against American champs) and were 114-6. They played 31 games in Canadian finals and were 29-2. The Underwood Trophy challenge was retired in 1940 after being defended 49 times in challenge matches. The Grads played 21 games in Western finals and were 21-0. They played 28 games in Alberta finals and were 36-2. They played 93 exhibition games against Canadian teams and were 93-0. They played 25 exhibition games against American teams and were 22-3. They played 24 exhibition games against European teams and were 24-0. They played nine games against men’s teams and were 7-2. They compiled winning streaks of 147 and 78 games.
Page coached until 1940, when he entered provincial politics as the independent MLA for Edmonton West. In 1952, he came back to win the riding as a Conservative, and served two terms as Tory house leader. He was defeated in the 1959 election, and later that year became Alberta’s eighth lieutenant-governor, serving until 1965.
The London Shamrocks declared themselves as national champs though they hadn’t played a team outside of Ontario. The Grads challenged the assertion and demanded a playoff. CABA granted the request, provided that the Grads make the trip. Eventually, the Shamrocks offered a $600 guarantee towards the finals, so the Grads each kicked in $25 and local merchants donated the remainder of the $400 needed to finance the trip. The Grads also received $250 from Underwood typewriter manufacturer J.J. Seitz to help cover expenses in London. Team captain Winnie Martin had just been crowned Canadian typing champion and Seitz saw it as an opportunity to promote his product. The Grads carried lunches and traveled east sitting in day coaches rather than the dining car and sleepers. Six girls made the trip: Daisy Johnson, Dorothy Johnson, Winnie Martin, Connie Smith, Nellie Perry and Eleanor Mountfield.
In game one of the nationals, played using women’s rules, London prevailed 21-8.
In game two, using men’s rules, which the Grads were accustomed to, they stomped the Shamrocks 41-8 as Daisy Johnson scored 21 and Nellie Perry 20, while Eleanor Mountifield, Dorothy Johnson and Winnie Martin were scoreless. H Wooley led the Shamrocks with 6. K McEvoy added 2, while L Garrett, E Holland, C Blackwell and W Lindsay were scoreless.
M. Ann Hall asserts in The Grads Are Playing Tonight! that the results were the converse: i.e., the Grads prevailed 41-8 using women’s rules and then fell 21-8 to London in game two, using men’s rules. (This is inconsistent with Edmonton and Toronto newspaper accounts)
Upon their return to Edmonton, thousands greeted the Grads at the CN station and lined Jasper Avenue on a parade route to the Macdonald Hotel.
The runner-up London Shamrocks: H Wooley; K McEvoy; Lottie Garrett; E Holland; Carrie Blackwell; Mary Lindsay;
The champion Edmonton Grads: Daisy Johnson; Nellie Perry; Eleanor Mountifield; Dorothy Johnson; Winnie Martin; Connie Smith; Mary Dunn; Elizabeth Elrick; Abbie Scott; coach J. Percy Page