Stan McCabe

Stanley Joseph McCabe (16 July 1910 – 25 August 1968) was an Australian cricketer who played 39 Test matches for Australia from 1930 to 1938. A short, stocky right-hander, McCabe was described by "Wisden" as "one of Australia's greatest and most enterprising batsmen" and by his captain Don Bradman as one of the great batsmen of the game. He was never dropped from the Australian Test team and was known for his footwork, mastery of fast bowling and the hook shot against the Bodyline strategy. He also regularly bowled medium-pace and often opened the bowling at a time when Australia lacked fast bowlers, using an off cutter. He was one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1935.
At the age of 19, McCabe was called up for the 1930 tour of England despite being yet to score his maiden first-class century as the selectors chose the youngest ever team to leave Australia. McCabe made his first century in a warm-up match but struggled in his month in England, scoring only 51 runs. His performance began to improve after adjusting his technique and he played in all five Tests, although he continued to have problems converting starts into large scores, failing to make a century during the tour. McCabe managed to maintain his position over the next two home seasons, playing in all ten Tests, but failed to make a century, and after 15 Tests, his average was below 35 although he had become increasingly successful at first-class level.
In 1932–33, McCabe made his breakthrough at international level in the First Test of the infamous Bodyline series, scoring an unbeaten 187 at the Sydney Cricket Ground in only four hours as his teammates fell around him. McCabe attacked the bowling vigorously, hooking relentlessly. He ended the series as the only Australian other than Bradman to score a century. McCabe missed most of the next season due to illness, but was retained for the 1934 tour of England despite his interrupted preparation. He scored 2,078 runs and eight centuries for the tour, including his maiden Test century in England. Following the retirement of captain Bill Woodfull at the end of the tour, McCabe became Australia's vice-captain and held the post for the rest of his career.
After missing most of the 1934–35 domestic season due to injury, McCabe scored an unbeaten 189 in the Second Test of the 1935–36 tour of South Africa, including a century in one session, taking Australia to the brink of a world record-breaking victory on a difficult final-day pitch in poor light before the match was called off. It was one of two Test centuries McCabe made on the tour. The following season, he made five fifties in the first four Tests before scoring a century to help Australia win the deciding final Test against the touring Englishmen. In the First Test of the 1938 tour of England, McCabe played what was regarded as his greatest innings, scoring 232 in four hours, including his last 72 in 28 minutes. Bradman regarded the innings as the greatest batting he ever saw. However, none of McCabe's three most famous innings resulted in an Australian victory; he has a reputation of being at his best when Australia was in difficulty.
During the 1938 tour, McCabe had been generally unproductive and he missed much of the subsequent Australian season due to illness and only played sporadically thereafter before cricket was cancelled due to World War II. He served in the military in a clerical position for a year before he was discharged due to a chronic feet problems. McCabe was plagued by poor health in his middle age, and was hospitalised for a liver ailment shortly before his death. He died at the age of 58 after falling off a cliff adjacent to his home in Mosman. There was innuendo that it was a suicide, but the coroner ruled that it was an accident.
Early years.
McCabe's paternal grandparents settled in Grenfell, New South Wales in the 1850s; his grandfather Constable Edward James McCabe was an Irish policeman who immigrated to Australia and served in the Victorian Police. Edward left the constabulary and moved from Melbourne to Grenfell after reports of a gold rush. Edward's wife Catherine was ambushed by bushrangers during her relocation to the town with her children three weeks later, but was unharmed. The bushrangers scoured the family's possessions, but left after finding nothing of value. Her obituary described her as "one of the greatest of the pioneer women of the Australian bush, possessing all the qualities of self-sacrifice, resourcefulness, industry, determination, and courage that left their mark on the Australian race and laid the foundation of the nation". Her grandson, one of 37 grandchildren, was likewise known for his fearless and courageous play on the cricket field against the most intimidating bowlers of his time.
The son of local barber William "Bill", McCabe was the third of four brothers, who grew up playing local cricket in his hometown. The siblings played with rudimentary equipment; a lump of wood was substituted for a bat and cork wrapped in socks improvised as cricket balls. The boys settled their differences in the traditional manner of boxing bouts, and they took their primary education at a Catholic convent staffed by nuns.
At the age of 14, McCabe won a scholarship to the Catholic St. Joseph's College, Hunters Hill in Sydney due to his sporting ability. Run by the Marist Brothers, the large school's centerpiece stone castle-like building overlooks Sydney Harbour. After a month in the Second XI, McCabe was promoted to the Senior First XI at 14 as an all-rounder. He did not make a good start, registering a duck in his first innings. However, he impressed observers with his ability to hit the ball precisely. McCabe was always short, and playing against boys three years his senior, he could not rely on brute force. Aside from playing cricket, he was also full-back in the school's championship winning Rugby union team in 1926. During his time at St Joseph's McCabe grew larger and batted more powerfully, and his exploits were regularly featured in the yearbook. In 1925, he struck his maiden century against Sydney Boys High School and score two more the following year. Such was his power that the backyard fence at the home of a friend had to be reinforced—McCabe's powerful square drives had been dislodging it. McCabe did not receive special coaching attention from the school's staff, who merely encouraged him to hit the ball hard and along the ground. In his later years at school, he was selected for Combined Great Public Schools of Sydney—a combined team from Sydney's private schools—for the state schoolboys' carnival. McCabe studied hard and placed first in the class in each of his three years at St Joseph's. At the end of 1926, he earned his Intermediate Certificate with five As and two Bs. McCabe then left school and became an accountant's assistant.
He returned to Grenfell at the end of the 1926, and spent two years playing for the Grenfell Juniors, alongside his brothers. During this time Grenfell were undefeated for two years, and McCabe regularly scored centuries against outclassed bowling, including one score of 260.
In 1927, McCabe's cricket came to high-level attention for the first time. Charlie Macartney, who had just retired from Test cricket, brought a team that included six internationals, to Grenfell. McCabe scored 17 and took 5/84 against them. Then state and future Australian selector Chappie Dwyer, who led a team of Sydney Grade Cricketers to play in the country town. The McCabe brothers defeated them, Stan scoring 19. Later, the Test leg spinner Arthur Mailey led a team that also included Test player Tommy Andrews to Grenfell, and McCabe scored 62, 35 and 62 not out in three innings against them. In the 1927–28 season, McCabe played for the Southern Districts against other regional sides within the state. He made 92 not out in one match, but failed to pass 12 in six other innings. Dwyer returned in 1927–28 and McCabe scored 70 against his team. Dwyer convinced McCabe's parents to allow their son to move to Sydney to further his cricket career.
At the start of the following season, McCabe appeared with the New South Wales Colts team in one match against Queensland, before being selected for the New South Wales Second XI to play their Victorian counterparts. McCabe scored 60 not out in the second innings and took a total of 6/100 for the match. He was selected to represent New South Wales in his first-class debut against Queensland in the 1928–29 Sheffield Shield season while the Test players competed against England. He made 60 and 34, and bowled 17 overs without success, but was later omitted when the Test players returned from international duty. In four first-class matches in his debut season, McCabe scored 197 runs at 32.83 and took a total of 1/111. McCabe played twice against the touring England cricket team led by Percy Chapman, once in a match at Goulburn for the Southern Districts of New South Wales, and the other time for his state, but managed only 24 runs in three innings.
McCabe settled in Sydney permanently in 1929, representing Mosman Cricket Club in Sydney Grade Cricket. His parents only allowed him to settle there permanently if Dwyer could help find him a job and lodgings, and McCabe subsequently began work in the accounting division of Colonial Mutual Insurance Company. Dwyer could only support one player and hard a hard decision in eventually turning down the second McCabe brother Les. Both Stan and Les were similar in batting ability but the former could also bowl.
During the 1929–30 season, McCabe totalled 844 runs at 56.27, making him the second-highest runscorer behind Bradman, as New South Wales won the Sheffield Shield. Despite his consistency, McCabe had difficulty capitalising on his starts. He passed 50 on eight occasions in the first eight matches of the season, and reached 29 in ten of his 12 innings, but failed to make a century, falling seven times between 60 and 90.
International debut.
Nevertheless, McCabe was selected to the 1930 tour of England under Bill Woodfull's Australian cricket team. The team was the then-youngest to have left Australian shores, and only four had previous experience on English soil. As a result, the team was dubbed "Woodfull's kindergarten". In the traditional warm-up matches before the team sailed for England, McCabe struck 103 against Tasmania, his maiden first-class century. One of the reasons that McCabe was chosen despite his lack of centuries was his medium pace bowling. At the time, Australia lacked fast bowlers and McCabe was seen as a makeshift opening bowler; he had taken 17 wickets at 30.82 for the season, including a career best of 5/36 against Queensland.
On his first overseas trip, McCabe struggled badly in his first four weeks in England. In six matches in that time, he scored only 51 runs at 7.28 and failed to take a wicket after being asked to bowl only 18 overs. After being dismissed in the last of these matches, McCabe came off the field and despondently said that he was going to retire. Teammate Clarrie Grimmett suggested that McCabe play with a fuller face of the bat, advice that the batsman accepted. McCabe's fortunes changed in the next match against Oxford University; he scored 91 and took 1/5 in an innings win. He added 65 in the next match against Hampshire and starred with both bat and ball against Cambridge University, the final tour match before the First Test. McCabe scored 96 before being run out, and took 4/25 and 4/60, which would remain his career best match bowling figures, as Australia completed a commanding innings victory.
He made his Test debut in the first match of the Ashes series at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. He took match figures of 2/65, his first wicket being Jack Hobbs, and in his first Test innings as a batsman, he hit the first ball for a boundary but was dismissed off the next ball, before scoring 49 in the second innings as Australia chased 428 for victory. McCabe and Don Bradman were scoring quickly and had taken the score to 3/229 when McCabe lofted Maurice Tate towards mid-on. Syd Copley, a member of the ground staff who was acting as a substitute fielder dived forward and took a difficult catch. McCabe's dismissal sparked a collapse of 7/104 as England took a 93-run win. McCabe scored 44 and an unbeaten 25 as Australia squared the series with a seven-wicket triumph in the Second Test at Lords. McCabe made 30 in a rain-affected draw in the Third Test, before scoring four and taking 4/41 in the Fourth Test at Old Trafford, removing Ranjitsinhji, Maurice Leyland, Maurice Tate and Ian Peebles to reduce England to 8/251 in another wash out. With the series locked at 1–1, the Fifth and final Test at The Oval was a timeless Test. McCabe scored his first Test half-century of 54 as Australia piled on 695 to win by an innings and reclaim the Ashes 2–1. McCabe took one wicket in the deciding match, bowling leading English batsman Wally Hammond for 13. In all, McCabe scored 210 runs at 35.00 and took eight wickets at 27.62 in the Tests, and aggregated 1012 runs at 32.64 and took 26 wickets at 27.80 for the whole tour. This made him the fifth highest run-scorer for the tour. However, he was unable to register a century on tour, his highest score being 96. He continued his habit of failing to convert his starts into centuries in the tour matches after the start of the Tests. In one stretch of eight county innings, he registered scores between 34 and 79 seven times, and he ended with seven fifties for the tour. Nevertheless, "Wisden" praised his attacking ability to disrupt the length of opposition bowlers. On two occasions, McCabe took more than two wickets in an innings.
Upon his return to Australia, McCabe played all five Tests against the West Indies in 1930–31. He scored 90 in the First Test at the Adelaide Oval as Australia took victory by ten wickets. However, he struggled thereafter, scoring 31, eight and two as Australia won the next three matches by an innings. He managed 21 and 44 as the tourists took their only Test victory of their first Test tour to Australia. McCabe totalled 196 runs at 32.66 and took three wickets at 42.00. However, he managed a century against the West Indies for New South Wales in the latter part of the season and scored 161 and 53 in a match against Queensland. He took 4/46 in a Shield match against Victoria, removing Test players Hunter Hendry, Keith Rigg, Len Darling and Ted a'Beckett. Overall, McCabe finished the season with 705 runs at 41.47 and 16 wickets at 35.00.
The following year, McCabe scored centuries in all of his three Sheffield Shield innings, scoring 229* Queensland at Brisbane and 106 and 103* in one match against Victoria in Sydney, yielding a Shield season average of 438.00. His innings against Queensland was particularly lauded, showcasing his ability against the most hostile of fast bowling. Queensland's attack was led by Eddie Gilbert, an indigenous paceman who was the fastest in Australia and whom Bradman said was the fastest that he had ever faced. On one occasion, a particularly fast Gilbert delivery supposedly evaded both the batsman and wicket-keeper, travelled more than 60 metres and crashed through a fence before hitting and killing a dog on the other side. On this day, Gilbert knocked the bat out of Bradman's hand before removing him for a duck. Gilbert cut down the New South Wales top order with a spell of 3/12 and forced Alan Kippax to retire hurt after hitting him in the upper body. This left New South Wales at effectively 4/21. Undeterred, McCabe came in and bravely counterattacked in a display that featured many aggressive hook and cut shots. The visitors made 432 before McCabe took a total of 3/27 to help his state take an innings win as the hosts were bowled out for 109 and 85. In the match against arch-rivals and defending champions Victoria, McCabe added 3/57 and 1/18 with the ball as New South Wales won by 239 runs, and went on to claim the title, despite McCabe not being able to contribute in final match of the season; he injured himself while in the field and was unable to bat in a 132-run defeat at the hands of South Australia.
McCabe was unable to translate the success into the Test arena, where McCabe struggled despite his team's 5–0 sweep over South Africa. McCabe warmed up for the series by scoring 37 and 79 not out and totalling 3/108 in a state match against the tourists. After managing only 27 in an innings victory in the First Test, McCabe saved his most productive Test of the summer for his home crowd for the Second Test at Sydney. He took 4/13 in the first innings, bowling or trapping all of his victims leg before wicket, and then compiled 79 as Australia cruised to another innings win. McCabe scored 22 and 71 and took two wickets in the Third Test win in Melbourne, but managed only two runs and three wickets in the last two Tests, which Australia won by an innings. McCabe ended the series with 201 runs at 33.50 and nine wickets at 22.77. McCabe ended the season with 783 runs at 87.00 and 19 wickets at 23.94.
During the Australian winter of 1932, former Test leg spinner Arthur Mailey organised and managed a tour of prominent Australian players, of whom McCabe was one, to North America. They played 51 matches in 100 days, none of which were first-class; most were one-day matches, although not limited overs. McCabe played in 48 of the matches; he scored eight centuries and averaged 54 with the bat. He took seven or more wickets in an innings 12 times including 12 in one innings, and totalled 189 wickets at an average of six.
Bodyline.
McCabe made his breakthrough in the following Australian season in 1932–33, which went down in history due to England's use of the controversial "Bodyline" tactics. In the lead-up to the Tests, McCabe scored 43, 67 and 19 in two tour matches against the Englishmen.
In the First Test in Sydney, with England captain Douglas Jardine again employed Bodyline. This involved constant intimidatory short-pitched leg-side bowling with a leg-cordon to catch balls fended off by the batsman, in an attempt to curtail Donald Bradman, generally regarded as the best batsman ever, from scoring. McCabe came to the wicket on the first day, the score at 3/82 with Bill Woodfull, Bill Ponsford and Jack Fingleton already dismissed, and Bradman not playing due to illness. Having warned his parents, who were watching him in Test cricket for the only time, not to jump the fence if he was hit, McCabe took guard. Jardine had deployed seven men on the leg-side, usually with five close catchers and two men patrolling the boundary for hook shots. McCabe hooked the first ball he received from Bodyline spearhead Harold Larwood for a boundary. After Kippax fell with the score at 87, McCabe and Vic Richardson added 129 before Richardson fell. McCabe reached stumps at 127 not out with the total 6/290. His innings was marked by dangerous cutting and compulsive hooking of short-pitched deliveries in front of his face, unfazed by the repeated body blows which hit his teammates.
McCabe's attack forced Jardine to abandon his Bodyline approach. Jardine removed Larwood from the attack and brought on Gubby Allen. Under the professional-amateur divide of the time, England's captain was always an amateur, and professionals, such as Larwood, were obliged to obey the captain's orders. Allen was an amateur who refused to bowl Bodyline. McCabe struck three consecutive fours from Allen's conventional fast bowling, prompting Jardine to call for Bodyline field placings. Allen refused, so Jardine was forced to drop his Bodyline attack and resort to the spin bowling of Hedley Verity and Wally Hammond. The crowd responded to his instinctive aggression with wild cheering. McCabe said that "it was really an impulsive, senseless innings, a gamble that should not have been made but came off against all the odds".
McCabe scored 60 of the 70 runs that Australia added on the second day to finish 187 not out from 233 balls as Australia were bowled out for 360. McCabe added the runs in just one hour of batting and ended with 25 boundaries in his innings, which lasted a little over four hours. He was particularly effectively in farming the strike while batting with his tail end partners; in his last wicket stand of 55 with Tim Wall, he scored 50 of the runs in just half an hour.
He was praised by Larwood, who spearheaded the Bodyline attack and totalled 10/128 for the match, which ended in a decisive 10-wicket victory for England. Wisden reported that McCabe "scored off Larwood's bowling in a style which for daring and brilliance was not approached by any other Australian during the tour". Richard Whitington wrote in the 1970s that McCabe's innings "still warms the blood of the dwindling number of Australians who watched it". McCabe received a thunderous standing ovation from the 46,000 spectators. Immediately after the innings, McCabe told his teammates that he would never be able to replicate the feat because it was too difficult to hook the ball consistently without hitting it up into the air and giving away catching opportunities.
Umpire George Hele, who officiated the match said:
Australia's captain Woodfull refused to retaliate and England made 524 in reply, McCabe having Jardine caught behind for 27 to end with 1/42. McCabe was one of the few Australians to make any impact in the second innings, making 32 as Australia fell for 164.
McCabe was unable to repeat his performances in the later Tests. He made 32 and a duck as Australia gained its only victory in the Second Test in Melbourne, before managing only 57 runs in the next four innings as Australia suffered consecutive defeats. He scored 73 in the first innings of the Fifth Test in Sydney as Australia compiled 435, but scored only four in a second innings collapse, leaving England with an eight-wicket victory. He had persisted with his strategy of standing his ground attacking the "Bodyline" bowling, but was unsuccessful.
McCabe totalled 385 runs at 42.78 for the series and was the only Australian batsman other than Bradman to score a century, as the English decisively won the series 4–1. He took three wickets at 71.66, and opened the bowling in some of the matches due to Australia's lack of fast bowling. It was a far cry from the intimidation that Bodyline provided.
Away from the tumult of Bodyline, McCabe played in five of New South Wales' six Sheffield Shield matches, and he scored 348 runs at 49.71 with four fifties and took 11 wickets at 17.54. New South Wales won four of these matches and drew the other to retain their title. His most prominent effort was a 91 and a match total of 5/41 in an innings win over Queensland.
The 1933–34 season started well for McCabe. He started the season with scores of 20, 82, 110 and 8 in three matches in November, the century coming against the Rest of Australia. However, he was hampered by illness, which forced him to have an operation, which sidelined him for more than three months. The selectors nevertheless chose him for the 1934 tour of England, and McCabe returned to make 119 and 27 in two matches for the touring party against Tasmania before they departed for the northern hemisphere.
1934 tour of England.
Returning to England in 1934, McCabe scored 2,078 runs at 69.28 including eight centuries on the tour, more than any of his teammates. In the second match of the tour against Leicestershire, McCabe scored the century that had eluded him four years earlier, finishing 108 not out. He then scored 192 against the Marylebone Cricket Club at Lord's, combining with Ponsford in a record partnership for the third wicket of 389, in what was effectively a dress rehearsal for the Tests; the MCC fielded almost a full-strength England team. McCabe put in an all round performance against Hampshire, scoring 79 and taking 4/79 in the first innings. In the next match, he scored 240, the highest of his career, against Surrey at The Oval. In the next match, the last fixture before the Tests, McCabe made 142 against Lancashire.
In the First Test at Trent Bridge, McCabe made 65 in the first innings before scoring 88 in the second innings to extend Australia's first innings lead from 106 to a target of 380. The hosts fell short by 238 runs. Between Tests, McCabe registered his fifth century of the season, making an unbeaten 105 in the second innings as Australia defeated the Gentlemen of England by eight wickets. McCabe then scored 34 and 19 as England struck back with an innings victory at Lord's. Between Tests, he took 4/24 in a six-wicket win over Surrey. He then scored his first Test century on English soil during the high-scoring draw in the Third Test at Old Trafford, compiling 137 and 33 not out. The hosts gave McCabe a taste of his own medicine, and he had to bowl 45 overs for a match total of 1/133, as England's batsmen totalled 10/750 for the match.
McCabe made 27 in the rain-affected draw in the Fourth Test, the culmination of a quiet fortnight in which he failed to pass 30. He then scored fifties in three consecutive tour matches before the Fifth Test, which was timeless as the series was tied 1–1. McCabe scored 10 and 70 and took 2/5 in the second innings as Australia won the match by 562 runs to regain the Ashes 2–1. McCabe aggregated 483 runs at 60.37 and took four wickets in the Tests. At the time, Wisden said of him: "He blossomed forth as an almost completely equipped batsman of the forcing type and was probably the best exponent—Bradman himself scarcely excluded—of the art of hitting the ball tremendously hard and safely." Wisden said that McCabe had made "immense strides" in his batting technique. It said "In 1930 he gave the impression of still having a good deal to learn; he was inclined to be somewhat slapdash in his methods. The intervening years had clearly made a great difference in him. Losing nothing of his power, he displayed a wider and safer range of strokes." McCabe finished the tour with 108 against Kent and 124 in an innings win over HDG Leveson-Gower's XI a took 21 wickets for the entire season.
McCabe spent most of the 1934–35 Australian season watching from the sidelines. The first match of the summer was a testimonial for retiring Australian captain Woodfull. McCabe was forced to retire hurt when on five, and he missed more than two months of cricket. He returned for only one match, scoring 92 and 53 as New South Wales were defeated by arch-rivals Victoria.
1935–36 South African tour.
The following Australian season he became captain of New South Wales following the retirement of Kippax and the departure of Bradman to South Australia. However, with Australia touring South Africa in 1935–36, McCabe did not represent his state. However, he was made vice-captain to Vic Richardson for the tour, with Woodfull and Ponsford having retired, and Bradman ill. McCabe enjoyed more success, heading the Test batting figures with 420 runs at 84.00. After scoring 24, 65 and 29 in three warm-up matches, all of which were won by innings, McCabe hit 149 in the First Test at Durban, sharing a second-wicket partnership of 161 with Bill Brown in gale-force conditions which caused balls to make U-turns in the headwind, forced the umpires to glue the bails to the wickets using chewing gum, to set up a nine-wicket victory. In the following Test in Johannesburg, McCabe made 34 as Australia took a first innings lead of 93. However, Dudley Nourse scored 235 to help the hosts to 491; McCabe removed Nourse and ended with 2/30. Australia were set a Test world record target of 399 in the second innings to achieve victory on a turning wicket, and McCabe told captain Richardson that he would not be able to bat or run between wickets effectively because of altitude sickness. Regarding McCabe was his most important batsman, Richardson implored him to bat and told him to simply stand his ground and hit boundaries so that he would not have to run. McCabe joined Fingleton at 1/17 before taking the score to 1/85 by the end of the third day. The following morning in poor visibility on a wicket with irregular bounce and lateral deviation, McCabe resumed on 38 and scored a century in the morning session to reach lunch at 138, after Fingleton was dismissed at 2/194. The pair had put on 177 runs for the second wicket, and McCabe had done more than four fifths of the scoring. McCabe had reached his century in only 90 minutes, and continued on despite a storm that brought low dust clouds and hindered visibility, and increasingly irregular bounce and cut off the pitch. Midway through the afternoon, dark clouds gathered, along with thunderstorms and lightning, but this had no effect on the batsman. McCabe pushed the score to 2/274, and with only 125 runs needed with half the day remaining, Australia were on course to meet the target, having already scored 189 in the first half. However, Herbie Wade, the South African captain made an unprecedented appeal against the light due fear "for the fieldsmen's safety" in the face of McCabe's aggressive batting. He finished unbeaten on 189, an innings described by Fingleton as "bordering on miraculous". McCabe struck 24 fours, and was productive square of the wicket, hitting numerous cut shots past point. Fingleton further added that “McCabe never put a foot or his bat in a false position”, and that he “pulverized the South African attack into the dust”. McCabe was unable to maintain such a standard of performance in the remaining three Tests; he scored a duck, 40 and one, as Australia won each by an innings. He ended the series with three wickets at 45.33. However, he scored consecutive centuries in the tour matches, adding 115 and 112 against Border and Orange Free State.
Tension with Bradman?
The following year, having been appointed Bradman's vice-captain, McCabe had a successful Ashes series in 1936–37. McCabe scored 76, 28, 23, 83 and 46 in the lead-up, but started the series poorly; he made 51 in the first innings but managed only seven as Australia was caught out on a sticky wicket on the final day and were bowled out for 58 to lose the First Test in Brisbane by 322 runs. He then made a duck as Australia was again caught on a sticky by a thunderstorm during the first innings of the Second Test in Sydney. He made 93 in the second innings but Australia was unable to overcome the first innings deficit of 346 after being forced to follow on and fell to an innings defeat.
After the Second Test, McCabe was involved in an infamous incident that has caused speculation ever since. His captain Bradman was known for his reserved personality, did not drink and often eschewed social activities with teammates, preferring to privately listen to music or read. Combined with his success, Bradman gained a reputation for cockiness. In the 1930s, Australia had been divided along sectarian lines, with a sizeable Irish Catholic minority that included McCabe often pitted against Anglicans and/or Protestants such as Bradman (of Anglo-Irish descent), particularly practitioners of Freemasonry, leading to speculation that the tension was fuelled by religion. Four of the five Catholics in the team, McCabe, leading bowler Bill O'Reilly, along with Leo O'Brien and Chuck Fleetwood-Smith were summoned by the Board of Control to respond to allegations that they were undermining Bradman. Bradman denied having prior knowledge of the meeting, although the alleged infighting was reported in the press. Opening batsman Jack Fingleton was not invited, speculated to be due to his journalistic background, but Bradman later alleged that he was the ringleader. After that, Bradman's relationship with O'Reilly and Fingleton never recovered. During the meeting, players were variously accused of undermining Bradman's authority, laziness, lack of attention to fitness, but the board refused to specifically accuse those summoned. The details were leaked to the media, but the board denied that the meeting had taken place. Bradman denied that he was anti-Catholic, saying that O'Reilly and Fingleton wanted to depose him from the captaincy and install McCabe in his place.
Australia were now 0–2 down and needed to win three Tests in a row to retain the Ashes. The pressure on McCabe increased when last-minute injuries meant that he had to open the bowling. McCabe made 63 and 22 and took a wicket as Australia won their first match in the series. He then top-scored with 88 in Australia's first innings of 288 and made 55 in the second as Australia won by 148 runs in the Fourth Test in Adelaide to level the series. In the deciding Test at the MCG, McCabe scored 112, one of three centuries as Australia amassed 604, a record score in Ashes Tests in Australia. This laid the platform for the innings victory that retained the Ashes. McCabe aggregated 491 runs in five Tests at 54.55, with a century and five fifties in a consistent display.
McCabe assumed the New South Wales captaincy from the 1936–37 season onwards. Due to international commitments, McCabe was represented his state only three times, but they were undefeated, winning both of their matches against England. McCabe scored a fifty in each of the matches.
In 1937–38, no international matches were scheduled, and McCabe played a full season with New South Wales, leading them to the Sheffield Shield title, with three wins and three draws. He started the Shield season with consecutive centuries against Queensland and South Australia, and finished with 83 and 122 in two warm-up matches for Australia before they departed for England. McCabe totalled 720 runs at 45.00 for the season, with three centuries and three fifties, and took eight wickets at 24.62.
International farewell.
The 1938 Ashes Tour of England was McCabe's last for Australia. He was again appointed vice-captain for the tour. In the second tour match, McCabe scored 110 in an innings win over Oxford University. His 50 against Essex in the final match before the Tests was the only other fifty in the first nine matches, in which he scored 301 runs at 37.62. He took a total of 4/50 in an innings win over Northamptonshire. McCabe's lean run with the bat was causing concern for the Australians, as the other batsmen had been productive.
McCabe's most highly rated innings came in the First Test at Trent Bridge. England compiled 8/658 before declaring late on the second day, and McCabe had toiled for 21 overs without success. McCabe arrived at the crease with the dismissal of Bradman at 2/111 to join Brown, and after two unsuccessful appeals against the light, he was 19 at the close of play after 35 minutes of batting with the total at 3/138, having seen Brown dismissed for 48. McCabe had struck three boundaries by this stage, two cut shots and an on drive, and had survived a final spell from fast bowler Ken Farnes without a sightscreen, accompanied by nightwatchman Frank Ward.
The next morning, England's bowlers continued to make regular inroads. Ward fell in the third over of the day, and the debutant Lindsay Hassett was dismissed soon after, leaving Australia at 5/150. McCabe, who had hit two boundaries thus far in the morning, was joined by Jack Badcock. The former continued to score boundaries regularly, and hit Sinfield for four and three from a leg glance and late cut to reach his 50 in 90 minutes. He then hit Hammond for consecutive on-driven fours before Badcock fell at 6/194, having made only 9 of the 43 runs in their partnership. McCabe had struck 62 of the 83 runs added since he had come to the crease. With all the other specialist batsmen dismissed, McCabe was now batting with wicket-keeper Ben Barnett and began to attack the English bowlers with powerful drives and hook shots. Hammond brought back Farnes to try and finish off the tail, but McCabe responded by hitting three fours in one over, forcing the English captain to remove his fast bowler after McCabe had hooked him for six.
Despite Hammond's best attempts, McCabe was able to gain the strike and runs came quickly. McCabe reached his century in 140 minutes and England declined to take the new ball while he was batting. By lunch, he and Barnett had added 67 in only 50 minutes, although the latter had made only 20 of these; the total was 6/261, with McCabe on 105. Having reached his century, McCabe lifted his scoring rate, scoring his last 132 runs in 95 minutes. Boundaries came much more readily and he took 44 runs from a three over spell by leg spinner Doug Wright. As he ran out of partners, he became more aggressive; in the last ten overs of his innings, he took 80% of the strike and hit 16 boundaries. He was the last man out, attempting to loft the spin of Verity, after a final wicket partnership with Leslie Fleetwood-Smith of 77 in 28 minutes, of which he scored 72. He finished with 232 from 235 minutes with 34 boundaries and one six, an innings in which Bradman summoned his players not to miss a ball, as "they would never see anything like it again." Bradman later said that McCabe "held us all spellbound", and it was reported that the Australian captain trembled while watching the innings. While McCabe was at the crease, his partners contributed a total of only 58 runs, meaning that he had outscored them by a ratio of 4:1. Upon his return to the pavilion Bradman greeted him with the words: "If I could play an innings like that, I'd be a proud man, Stan". This has also been reported as Bradman saying " I wish I could bat like that". Bradman later wrote that "Towards the end [of McCabe's innings] I could scarcely watch the play. My eyes filled as I drank in the glory of his shots". It was regarded by English captains Arthur Gilligan and Bob Wyatt to be the best innings that they had ever witnessed, as did former England bowler Sydney Barnes—regarded as one of the best of all time—who said that he would not have been able to stop McCabe. Neville Cardus said that the innings was one of the greatest in Test history. Wisden reported that McCabe played "an innings the equal of which has probably never been seen in the history of Test cricket; for the best part of four hours he maintained a merciless punishment of the bowling". McCabe's biographer Jack McHarg said that the innings “was a sort of encyclopedia of attacking batsmanship, a triumph of character, technique and judgement”. Cardus said
The innings was not enough to avert the follow on, and in the second innings, McCabe made 39 as Australia made 6/427 and the match petered into a draw. After the Test, McCabe scored 79 and took a total of 4/20 in a victory over the Gentlemen of England.
McCabe followed his efforts at Trent Bridge with 38 and 21 in the drawn Second Test at Lord's. He bowled heavily in the match, sending down 43 overs and taking a total of 2/144 as Bradman's specialist bowlers struggled to make inroads. In the first two Tests, McCabe had taken a combined total of 2/208 from 64 overs. The Third Test at Old Trafford was abandoned before it started due to rain, and McCabe contributed only one and 15 as Australia scrambled to a five-wicket win to retain the Ashes in the low-scoring Fourth Test at Headingley after chasing a target of 105 on the third day. It was part of a three-week run in which McCabe failed to pass 15 in six innings and did not take a wicket. McCabe made fifties in the two first-class matches before the Fifth and final Test at The Oval, where Australia played an extra batsman, meaning that McCabe opened the bowling. He took 0/85 from 38 overs, and with Bradman and Fingleton injuring themselves during the match, McCabe was left in control of a nine-man team. England piled on 7/903 declared in three days before defeating Australia by an innings and 579 runs, the largest winning margin in Test history. This included a world record score of 364 by Len Hutton, who was dropped by wicket-keeper Ben Barnett from McCabe's bowling before reaching 50. Neither Bradman nor Fingleton were able to bat. McCabe made 14 and two, and finished the series with 362 runs at 45.25. McCabe scored 91 and 58 in tour matches against an England XI and the Leveson-Gower's XI to finish the English summer.
McCabe's Test career ended after the tour at just 28 years of age, due to a combination of chronic foot injuries and the intervention of World War II—England's scheduled 1940–41 tour never materialised and international cricket did not resume until 1946. McCabe had also been in poor form apart from his double century at Trent Bridge and there was speculation that he was in decline. His feet had high insteps that meant that when he stood normally, his toes would not touch the floor. Curiously, none of his three most celebrated innings at Trent Bridge, Johannesburg nor Sydney resulted in an Australian victory. O'Reilly said that "All three of them were the greatest innings I have watched".
Upon returning to Australia, McCabe continued to captain New South Wales, but only played in two matches during the 1938–39 season due to illness, scoring 141 runs at 47.00 including one century. In the first match, to celebrate the centenary of the Melbourne Cricket Club, he struck 105 in only 140 minutes and timed the ball well, but made 35 and 1 in the first Shield match and then absented himself from the rest of the season. McCabe had always been susceptible to illness and was dogged for much of 1938 and 1939. In his absence, New South Wales surrendered their title to South Australia, but they regained the mantle in 1939–40 upon the return of their captain. In his first match back, McCabe scored 98 to guide New South Wales to a three-wicket win over Queensland. After losing their next two matches, McCabe's men won their last three matches to take the title. The captain scored 59 and 55 and 49 and 114 in the last two matches against South Australia and Victoria respectively. A match between the Shield champions and the Rest of Australia was arranged and McCabe scored 72 and 96, steering his team to a narrow two-wicket win. He ended the season with 699 runs at 53.76 from seven matches, with a century and six fifties.
The 1940–41 was to be McCabe's last full season, although the Shield competition was not held and matches stood alone. This was unfortunate for McCabe and his men, as they won all five of their matches. McCabe scored 88 and 57 as New South Wales scraped past Queensland by 27 runs in the season opening match, before scoring 53 in the runchase as his team defeated a combined Queensland and Victorian team by only one wicket. McCabe added two further half-centuries and ended the season with a win over arch-rivals Victoria. He had scored 432 runs at 48.00. Due to the outbreak of World War II in Europe in September 1939, the scheduled England tour of Australia was cancelled.
In 1941–42, McCabe played his final first-class match. He scored 8 and 41 as Queensland took a 17-run win. Ten days later, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, prompting the start of the war in the Pacific. With that, first-class cricket was cancelled and did not resume until 1945–46, ending McCabe's career at the age of just 31. He had 24 wins and four losses in 38 first-class matches as captain for all teams. In his last three seasons, McCabe took only one wicket, from 18 overs of bowling.
Style and character.
Australian teammate Clarrie Grimmett, regarded as one of the greatest spinners of all time, regarded McCabe as technically superior to Bradman, feeling that the latter's success was largely due to his extreme concentration and determination. Fellow state and Australian batsman Bill Brown described McCabe as the "finest strokeplayer I ever saw", further adding "When Stan was in command, he was so magnificent to watch, and he left everyone, including Bradman, for dead. Certainly Bradman scored more runs, but Stan was the batsman you most wanted to be."
The leading English batsman Hutton said that McCabe had several qualities in his batsmanship that were superior to those of Bradman, concluding that "It would be harder to think of a greater Australian batsman". The leading English cricket writer Neville Cardus said that "Genial, friendly, Stan was Australia’s most gallant and knightly batsman since Victor Trumper. In his brilliant strokeplay there was a certain courtliness. In his most aggressive innings, there was no brutality; his bat was never used as a bludgeon." E. W. Swanton said that McCabe was from "the heroic mould" and that "like those of Hobbs, Macartney and Woolley were essentially qualitative" and that McCabe "came as near as any player to one’s conception of the perfect cricketer".
The leading Australian cricket writer of the time, Ray Robinson said that "In McCabe the cricketer, you saw McCabe the man—urbane, sociable, unpretentious, straightforward, incapable of anything mean-spirited. In all the pre-war Test series he was the best liked by both his own team and his opponents."
Later years and family life.
McCabe was briefly a member of the Australian Defence Force during the Second World War, joining in late 1942. Due to his poor health and feet, he knew that his utility would be limited, and he also had a newborn son and fledgling business at the time, so he had not rushed to enlist at the start of the war. Due to McCabe's incapacitation, he was given a clerical job at the Victoria Barracks. He stayed in the role for 12 months before his feet problems resulted in an early discharge. He was appointed to serve on the Sydney Sports Ground and Cricket Ground Trust and operated a sports store in George Street, Sydney from its opening until his death. McCabe often hired cricketing colleagues as salesmen; his close friend O'Reilly worked there in the late-1930s, as did paceman Ray Lindwall after the war, Lindwall opted to work for McCabe because he was offered leave to travel overseas for Test tours.
McCabe ran for an administrative position with his local club Mosman after his retirement, but was defeated, so he never had an opportunity to serve with the NSWCA. After the end of his first-class career, McCabe became a keen recreational golfer, but stopped playing in the mid-1950s due to his foot problems and other health issues. In 1956–57, McCabe and O'Reilly were given a testimonial match by the New South Wales Cricket Association. The match was between Harvey's XI and Lindwall's XI and acted as a trial for the non-Test tour of New Zealand. The match raised 7,500 pounds, which was split between McCabe and O'Reilly, and would have bought two average-sized homes in Sydney at the time.
McCabe married Edna May Linton on 5 February 1935 at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, and the couple had two children, a son and a daughter, born in 1939 and 1950 respectively. The devout McCabe sent both of his children to Catholic boarding schools even though the family home was nearby. Plagued by ill-health in his middle age, McCabe's fitness was further hindered by his feet, which prevented him from exercising. He thus gained a lot of weight, and heavy smoking wore down his body, as did the large number of people who wanted to meet him. McCabe weakened significantly in the last two years of his life and was hospitalised for a period for liver problems. He was released from hospital soon before his death, but still aged 58, was a very frail man who moved very tentatively.
Death and legacy.
McCabe died of a skull fracture after falling from a cliff at his home in Mosman, New South Wales after attempting to dispose of a dead possum. He had earlier told Dwyer of his plan to clean out his backyard, and was told to rest, but did so anyway, falling down and rolling off the steep slope in his backyard and over the ledge of the cliff abutting the rear of his house. There was innuendo that McCabe had actually committed suicide, with O'Reilly musing "He had despatched the possum, but had gone overboard with it!". However, the coroner ruled that the death was accidental and his family strongly denied that he had chosen to end his life. The coroner's investigation noted that McCabe's hands had tufts of ripped grass in them, indicating that he had tried to grab onto vegetation in a vain attempt to stop his fall.
News of McCabe's death was made public while Australia and England were playing in the Fifth Test at The Oval. After the death was announced over the public address system, the crowd spontaneously stood up and took off their hats, and did the players, and they observed a self-initiated moment of silence. However, McCabe's friend and former teammate Fingleton, now a journalist, criticised the Australian team for not wearing black armbands.
McCabe was buried in Northern Suburbs cemetery. In 1977, the Stan McCabe Sporting Complex was opened in Grenfell as part of the new high school, and the oval was named in his honour. The complex included grounds and facilities for a number of sports. He was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 2002.


Original Celtics

The Original Celtics were a barnstorming professional American basketball team. At various times in their existence, the team played in the American Basketball League, the Eastern Basketball League and the Metropolitan Basketball League. The team has no relation to the NBA Boston Celtics, other than as an indirect inspiration. The franchise as a whole was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1959.
Early years.
The team's roots lay in the New York Celtics team that disbanded during World War I. In 1918, James Furey assembled his own team around a nucleus of those truly "original" Celtics, adding other players mostly from the West Side of New York City, and defiantly called his new squad the Original Celtics. Initially they played in various struggling professional leagues, before becoming primarily a touring squad which traveled up to 150,000 miles a year while completing a 150–200 game schedule. They won about ninety percent of their games and finished 1922–23 with the unbelievable record of 193–11–1. Hoping to claim an undisputed national championship, they challenged the nationally famous Franklin Wonder Five, but the Franklin coach refused as his team "was too tired" after a grueling year.
The team's first dominant player was "Dutch" Dehnert, a 6'1" (1.85 m) standing guard whom some credit with introducing the modern concept of pivot play. When ballhandling wizard Nat Holman (later to coach national championship teams at CCNY) was signed to play for then-coach John Whitty in 1922, the Original Celtics hit their stride.
During the 1921/22 season, the team replaced the New York Giants, whose owner also owned the Whirlwinds during the 1st half. During the 1922/23 season, the team took over the Atlantic City franchise when it was 4–7 and won five of six games before the Eastern League folded in January, 1923. They also competed in the Metropolitan League but dropped out of the league during the 1st half after going 12–0.
Other outstanding individual players on these squads were another "big man", Joe Lapchick; John Beckman, called the "Babe Ruth of Basketball"; George "Horse" Haggerty; John "Pete" Barry; and speedy Davey Banks.
1925–1930: ABL success.
American Basketball League owners meeting during the summer of 1926 were generally pleased by the results of the league’s inaugural session. Only Buffalo had not signed up for the second season. League President Joe Carr had signed three new members in Baltimore, New York, and Philadelphia. The latter two were of particular importance to the league’s credibility. Two Philadelphia boxing promoters, Jules Aronson and Max Hoff were recruited by Carr to finance the team and Eddie Gottlieb was hired to run the team. The situation in New York was considerably less clear. The Original Celtics signed to represent New York, but they were reluctant recruits at best. After last season, Carr had banned any ABL team from playing games against the Celtics, drying up some of their most lucrative exhibition dates. In the past, such a tactic would not have intimidated the Celtics, but they were already under financial stress due to the June indictment of owner Jim Furry for embezzling $190,000 from a New York business.
Then, in early October, just a month before the ABL season was to get underway, the Celtics bolted to the newly organized National Basketball League. The new league operated solely in and around the metropolitan New York City, but despite its geographical limitations was stocked with some of the best players in the country. After pulling off a coup by signing the Original Celtics, the NBL brashly raided ABL rosters for additional players.
The Brooklyn Arcadians were particularly hard hit, losing stars Red Conaty and Rody Cooney, while Washington lost starters Teddy Kearns and Bob Grody. Washington owner George Preston Marshall completed the destruction of the Arcadians by luring Elmer Ripley and Tillie Voss away from the Brooklyn club to fill the gaps in his lineup left by the National League raids. The newcomers joined Rusty Saunders, Ray Kennedy and George Glasco to restore Marshall’s Palace Five club to its place among the ABL pre-season favorites. Cleveland returned with championship squad intact and further strengthened by the addition of Ohio State rookie Cookie Cunningham and valuable swingman Gil Ely. With Brooklyn out of the picture, Gottlieb’s new Philadelphia entry became the third contender. The Quakers (later known as the Warriors) showcased a Who’s Who of former Eastern League stars including George Artus, Tom Barlow, Stretch Meehan, Soup Campbell, and Chickie Passon.
Three weeks into the new season, the favorites were all performing up to expectations, but the league had serious problems at the other end of the standings. Brooklyn, Detroit and Baltimore were all winless and showing few signs of improvement. President Carr acted quickly and ruthlessly to solve the dilemma. First, he moved to destroy the foundation of the upstart National League, by secretly negotiating with the Celtics to jump to the ABL. As anticipated, the Celtics’ departure triggered an immediate collapse of the rival league. Next, Carr expelled the Detroit and Brooklyn clubs from the ABL, and then awarded the latter franchise to the incoming Celtics. Finally, he bolstered the Baltimore franchise with players from the suddenly defunct NBL. In a single stroke, Carr had signed basketball’s most famous team, thwarted the upstart NBL, and provided his league with an additional pool of dozens of top players.
The Original Celtics quickly waded into the race for first-half honors of the ABL, winning 13 of 16 games, but the 0-5 record they were forced to inherit from the Arcadians was impossible to overcome. Cleveland captured first place by one game over Washington with Philadelphia in third and the Celtics in fourth place. Starting with a fresh slate, the Celtics quickly took charge of the second half of the season with nine straight victories. Fort Wayne, which had been a major beneficiary at mid-season of National League players, finished second. The most important addition to the Indiana club was Benny Borgmann, who quickly established him as the league’s premier offensive star. Washington and Philadelphia followed in third and fourth place, while first-half winner Cleveland slumped badly to fifth place. Cleveland’s fall was precipitated by the hasty mid-season departure of star Honey Russell, who was exiled to Chicago after a disagreement with team owner Max Rosenblum. The Celtics easily disposed of the weakened Cleveland team in three straight games to take the ABL championship.
In 1926, the American Basketball League, developed by sports entrepreneur George Preston Marshall, effectively railroaded the team into joining its ranks by prohibiting member teams from playing against them. The Original Celtics responded by winning the next two ABL titles. During their first full season in the ABL, their dominance was so absolute that fans in other cities took up the cry, "Break up the Celtics!" In response, the league disbanded the Celtics and apportioned their players to the other teams. The strategy backfired as game attendance plummeted and, further deflated by the Great Depression, the A.B.L. folded after the 1931 season.
During the 1926/27 season, the team replaced the Brooklyn Arcadians after 5 games, and took the name Brooklyn Celtics. By the next season they had returned to the name, New York Celtics. After winning back-to-back ABL championships in 1926/27 and 1927/28, the team was broken up. An attempt to return the team for the 1929/30 season failed, and the team dropped out of the league during the 1st half on December 10, 1929. Later the team, sponsored by popular singer Kate Smith, also played in the ABL in the 1936/37 and 1937/38 as New York Celtics and in 1938/39 as Kingston Colonials (in this last year with the ABL they won the regular season but lost in playoffs).
Mid-1930s: Travelling team.
The Original Celtics briefly reorganized as a barnstorming team in the 1930s, but never replicated their initial glory.
Notable players.
Notable players with the Original Celtics include:


Scotty Davidson

Allan McLean "Scotty" Davidson (March 6, 1891 – June 16, 1915) was a Canadian ice hockey player and soldier. He was considered one of the top wingers of the game's early years. He led his Kingston junior team to two Ontario Hockey Association championships in 1910 and 1911, when he moved to Calgary for the 1911–12 season and led the Calgary Athletics senior team to the Alberta provincial championship. Davidson turned professional with the Toronto Blueshirts in 1912 and was among the National Hockey Association's leading scorers the following two seasons. He captained Toronto to the Stanley Cup championship in 1914.
Upon the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Davidson volunteered with the Canadian Expeditionary Force; he was the first professional hockey player to do so. He was killed in action on 16 June 1915, while fighting in Belgium. Hailed as a hero by his peers, Davidson was said to have been killed after refusing to retreat during a battle. A military record reports he was "killed instantly by a shell which exploded near him in the trench." He is commemorated on the Canadian National Vimy Memorial. Davidson was posthumously inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1950.
Playing career.
Davidson was born and raised in Kingston, Ontario, and learned the game through his coach, James T. Sutherland. He first played in the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) senior division in 1908–09 where, as a 17-year-old, he led the league with eight goals in four games. He joined the Kingston Frontenacs of the OHA junior division in 1909 where he emerged as a top player in the league. He was known for his shooting ability and was considered a strong backchecker. Davidson served as team captain, and led the Frontenacs to OHA junior titles in 1910 and 1911. He was a standout in the 1911 championship, leading his team back from a 3–0 deficit to win the game.
After leaving the junior game, Davidson moved to Alberta where he played senior hockey for the Calgary Athletics. He scored three goals in four regular season games and added another three goals in three playoff games. The Athletics won the provincial championship, but were defeated by the Winnipeg Victorias for the Allan Cup. While with the Calgary Athletics Davidson played defence (either point or cover point).
He returned to Ontario for the 1912–13 season when he was signed by the Toronto Blueshirts of the National Hockey Association (NHA). Davidson made his professional debut with Toronto in their season-opening loss to the Montreal Canadiens, and finished his rookie season with 19 goals in 20 games. He started the season on defence (point), the same position he had played the previous season in Calgary, but was soon switched to right wing.
The Blueshirts named him team captain for the 1913–14 season, and he responded by finishing in the top ten in NHA goals with 23 and second in assists with 13. Tied atop the standings with the Montreal Canadiens after the regular season, the Blueshirts faced the Canadiens in a two-game, total-goal series for both the O'Brien Cup, the NHA championship, and control of the Stanley Cup, the Canadian championship. Following a 2–0 loss at Montreal, Davidson played a key role in Toronto's 6–0 victory in the return match. He scored two goals, including Toronto's third which clinched the championship. The title represented the first time a team from Toronto won the Stanley Cup.
The Blueshirts then immediately faced the Victoria Aristocrats of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association held in March 1914. It was considered an unofficial challenge for the Stanley Cup as the Aristocrats failed to arrange the series with the Cup's trustees. Toronto emerged with three consecutive victories to win the series that was on occasion violent – Davidson was involved in a fight late in the third game that touched off a melee involving most players for both teams.
Military career.
When World War I broke out in 1914, Davidson was the first professional hockey player to volunteer with the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He served with the Eastern Ontario Regiment of the Canadian Infantry, and attained the rank of lance-corporal. While on his way to England on the steamer SS Cassandra Davidson showed off his athletic skills by winning the championship in a big boxing tournament held on the boat, defeating David Carson of Kingston, Ontario in the finals.
Davidson earned the respect of his fellow soldiers who wrote of his bravery and fearlessness. He once rescued a wounded officer while fighting in France, and one account of his death asserts that he was shot in the back and killed while attempting to carry an injured soldier to safety. Another account held that he died while on a bombing raid after refusing to retreat until he had spent his ammunition. He was said to have used his final grenade to kill a German officer before being killed himself. Yet another version of Davidson's death was reported in the August 18, 1915 issue of the Calgary Daily Herald and claimed Davidson was sitting in the trenches playing cards with four other soldiers when a shell dropped in the midst of the party killing Davidson and his friends.
Legacy.
By the time he left hockey to fight in the war, Davidson was considered one of the top all-around players in the NHA. Noted for his skating ability, it was said that he could skate faster backwards than most players could forwards. In 1925, "Maclean's" named him the top right wing when it determined its all-star team of the game's greatest players, an opinion shared by his former junior coach, who stated that he was "as good as any player to ever patrol a wing position".
Davidson was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1950, and is honoured by the International Hockey Hall of Fame. The Kingston Frontenacs erected a monument to his memory shortly after his death. He was 23 years old when he was killed, and his name is commemorated on the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France.


Black Helen

Black Helen was an American Thoroughbred race horse who was named the Champion three-year-old filly of 1935 after winning eight races that year including the Coaching Club American Oaks, Florida Derby, Maryland Handicap and American Derby, becoming only the second filly to win the latter. Black Helen was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1991, one year after her full-brother Bimelech.
Black Helen was the first foal to race by La Troienne, later acknowledged as one of the most influential American broodmare of the twentieth century. Black Helen herself did not produce any stakes winners but several of her daughters went on to do so. Her descendants include Kentucky Derby winner Go For Gin and champions But Why Not, Princess Rooney, Pleasant Tap and Travelling Victor.
Background.
Black Helen was bred by Colonel Edward R. Bradley and was foaled at his Idle Hour Stock Farm in Lexington, Kentucky. In 1930, Bradley purchased a well-bred mare named La Troienne, in foal at the time to Gainsborough, for 1,250 guineas at the Newmarket sales and imported her to America. La Troienne was a homebred for the notable French breeder Marcel Boussac, but went winless in seven starts. After the Gainsborough foal died, La Troienne was bred to Bradley's foundation stallion Black Toney, a moderate racehorse known for his stamina and toughness. La Troienne was bred to Black Toney three times in all, resulting in two Hall of Fame racehorses (Black Helen and her younger brother Bimelech) and the outstanding producer Big Hurry. La Troienne produced seven other winners and seven of her daughters were stakes producers. Her female family (designated as 1-x) is one of the most successful of the twentieth century, from which numerous classic winners descend.
Black Helen was small, weighing only 900 pounds when fully grown and standing barely high. Because she was so small, Black Helen was not nominated to enter any important two-year-old stakes races. Instead, Bradley assigned her to the farm's second string trainer, Bill Hurley.
Racing career.
1934: two-year-old season.
Black Helen won her first seven starts before losing her last two races at age two. Despite these losses and not being eligible for any major stakes races, she was the second-rated filly of 1934, to Nellie Flag, according to "The Blood-Horse" magazine.
She started racing in the Chicago area, winning two races at Washington Park in June and two at Arlington Park. She first attracted national attention when she won the West Pullman Purse at Washington Park on June 18 by four lengths. Her time of 0:59 for the five-furlong sprint was only one-fifth of a second off the track record. On July 3, she won by six lengths and set a track record at Arlington Park by running five furlongs in 0:58, leading the "New York Times" to call her the best juvenile filly of the season.
A throat ailment kept her from racing during the summer, but she returned on October 16 at Laurel Park, where she ran her winning streak to five when she won the Anne Arundel Purse as the heavy favorite. She pressed the early pace and then went to the lead after half a mile, eventually winning by lengths. Her time of 1:11 was just a fifth of a second off the track record.
On October 23, Black Helen extended her winning streak to six in the Ellicott Purse at Laurel. "Leading from flagfall to finish", she won by two lengths despite being eased up by her jockey down the stretch. She was the shortest priced favorite of the Laurel fall meet, paying just $2.20 for a $2 bet.
On October 30, Black Helen won her seventh straight race in the Pikesville Purse at Pimlico at a distance of one mile and seventy yards. It was her first race beyond six furlongs, but she was favored at odds of 1-4. She got off to a very fast start and was never challenged, winning by three lengths.
Black Helen finished the season as the beaten favorite in both the Walden Handicap and Pimlico Handicap.
1935: three-year-old season.
In her three-year-old season, Black Helen was a sensation. After winning eight of thirteen starts, several of them against colts and older horses, she was named the 1935 American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly.
She made her first start of the season on February 27, 1935 in an allowance race at Hialeah Park Race Track, winning by two lengths in a wire-to-wire performance. Her next start was on March 9 in the Florida Derby (later renamed the Flamingo Stakes), in which she faced colts for the first time. She pressed the early pace set by Brannon, then went to the lead when challenged by Mantagna around the final turn. Down the stretch, she drew away to win by four lengths.
For her next start, Bradley nominated her to run in the Preakness Stakes where she was expected to be one of the main rivals to Kentucky Derby winner Omaha. However, he decided against entering her shortly before the race. Instead she won the Drexel Purse on opening day, May 25, at Washington Park.
She made her next start in the Coaching Club American Oaks on June 1, where she and entry-mates Bloodroot and Bird Flower were made the even money favorites in a field of thirteen. Black Helen carried 121 pounds, conceding 10 pounds to Bloodroot. The start of the race was delayed for seven minutes due to the antics of Good Gamble, earlier winner of the Acorn Stakes. When the field was finally released, Good Gamble broke inward and bumped with Black Helen. The pair then rushed up on the outside to join Bloodroot in a group behind the early pacesetter, Vicaress. When Vicaress tired after a mile, Bloodroot made her move and opened a length-and-a-half lead on Good Gamble, with Black Helen a length further back in third. In deep stretch, Black Helen cut over to the rail and closed ground to move into second, then won the race by a nose in the final strides after Bloodroot's jockey eased up on his filly. (At the time, stables with multiple horse entries declared in advance which horse was intended to win and jockeys rode accordingly.)
On June 15, Bloodroot turned the tables by winning the Prospect Purse at Washington Park, with Black Helen finishing third in her first loss of the season. On June 22, she returned in the American Derby against a top-class field of colts and old rival Nellie Flag. Black Helen went wire-to-wire to win by half a length, becoming the first female to take the American Derby since Modesty in 1884.
On July 13, Black Helen recorded her sixth win of the year in the Blackstone Purse at Arlington Park, completing nine furlongs in a time of 1:50 flat, just three-fifths off the track record. On July 21, she and Bloodroot were entered in the Arlington Classic against Omaha, the third American Triple Crown winner. The fillies "ran at him in relays" but tired to finish fourth and third respectively. Omaha set a track record in one of his most impressive performances.
Black Helen suffered several more losses during the summer, including a seventh place finish behind Good Gamble in the Potomac Handicap and a third place finish in the Roseland Purse at Havre de Grace. She returned to the winner's circle on October 15 in the featured race at Laurel Park. She followed up with another win in the Maryland Handicap again against colts, with Bloodroot finishing second and Good Game well beaten in fifth.
Stud career.
Black Helen produced no stakes winners in her long career as a broodmare, five years of which were spent at Claiborne Farm after Bradley's death. But several of her daughters did, and this meant that Black Helen’s influence continues to be felt to this day. Her most important offspring include:
Black Helen died at the age of 25 on August 17, 1957. She was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1991.


Tommy Ivan

Thomas Nathaniel Ivan (January 31, 1911 – June 25, 1999) was a Canadian ice hockey coach and general manager. He served as a National Hockey League (NHL) head coach for the Detroit Red Wings from 1947 to 1954 where he won three Stanley Cups, and was the general manager for the Chicago Black Hawks from 1954 to 1977, winning a Stanley Cup in 1961. He produced an overall record of 288–174–111.
Ivan was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to Macedonian immigrant parents. He never played professional hockey, as a severe facial injury shortened his career while playing in the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association. His junior hockey days in Ontario, on up to his first pro coaching job with the Omaha Knights in the Central Hockey League, were the first steps in a distinguished Hall of Fame career. Ivan was a keen judge of talent that helped discover young prospects like Gordie Howe and several other National Hockey League players that would go on to Hall of Fame careers.
Ivan won three Stanley Cup while coaching Detroit, in 1950, 1952, 1954. He took the reins as Black Hawks coach-general manager in 1954, after winning six straight regular-season championships with Detroit. At the time the Hawks were a franchise in trouble. Ivan led a rebuilding effort, adding farm teams and stocking the Hawks' farm system with good prospects. He also made key trades that would help fortify the Hawks into a contending team for the next several seasons. Rudy Pilous was hired to coach the Hawks by Tommy Ivan and he would eventually guide the team to the 1961 Stanley Cup. The 1961 Hawks team produced the results that Ivan's rebuilding process began back in 1954. The Black Hawks also reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 1962, 1965, 1971, and 1973. Ivan served 25 years as Black Hawks GM and then served as the Black Hawks' vice-president and alternate governor (NHL Board of Governors) in the years following his GM tenure.
He died of complications of a kidney ailment in 1999.


Lefty Grove

Robert Moses "Lefty" Grove (March 6, 1900 – May 22, 1975) was an American professional baseball pitcher. After having success in the minor leagues during the early 1920s, Grove became a star in Major League Baseball with the American League's Philadelphia Athletics and Boston Red Sox. One of the greatest pitchers in history, Grove led the American League in wins in four separate seasons, in strikeouts seven years in a row, and had the league's lowest earned run average a record nine times. Over the course of the three years from 1929 to 1931, he twice won the pitcher's Triple Crown, leading the league in wins, strikeouts, and ERA, while amassing a 79–15 record and leading the Athletics to three straight AL championships. Overall, Grove won 300 games in his 17-year MLB career. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1947.
Early life.
Grove was born in Lonaconing, Maryland, one of eight children of John Robert Grove (1865–1957) and Emma Catherine Beeman (1872–1959). His father and brothers mined coal.
Grove was a sandlot star in the Baltimore area during the 1910s. Grove didn't play organized baseball until he was 19 years old. In 1920, he made his professional debut with the Martinsburg Mountaineers of the class-D Blue Ridge League, where he appeared in six games. In 59 innings pitched, Grove gave up just 30 hits, and he had an earned run average (ERA) of 1.68. His performance attracted the attention of Jack Dunn, Sr. (1872–1928), the manager/owner of the minor league Baltimore Orioles, who also discovered Babe Ruth.
Baltimore Orioles (minor league).
Grove joined the Baltimore Orioles in 1920, while they were playing a half-century in the minor leagues of first the old Eastern League (1903–1914) and then after 1916, in the reorganized International League of AAA ball. Grove broke into the team's pitching rotation at midseason and had a 12–2 record the rest of the way. The Orioles were in the middle of winning six straight IL titles from 1919 to 1925. Over the next four seasons, Grove posted marks of 25–10, 18–8, 27–10 and 26–6, leading the International League in strikeouts each season.
Grove remained in the minor leagues through 1924, as owner Jack Dunn refused several offers from the majors to acquire him. At the time, the Orioles were an independent operation with no major league affiliation and the International League had declared its players not subject to a major league draft. Since the reserve clause in all contracts was honored throughout organized baseball, this meant that Grove had no way to reach the majors until the Orioles became willing to trade or sell his contract. Finally, early in 1925, Dunn agreed to sell Grove's rights to Connie Mack (1862–1956) and his Philadelphia Athletics in the American League for $100,600 (equivalent to $ million in ), the highest amount ever paid for a player at the time.
Philadelphia Athletics.
Grove battled injuries as a major league rookie and posted a 10–13 mark (which would prove his only losing record in 17 major league seasons), despite leading the league in strikeouts. Grove then settled down in 1926 and won the first of a record nine earned run average (ERA) titles with a mark of 2.51. In 1927, Grove won 20 games for the first time, and a year later he led the league in wins with 24.
The Athletics won the AL pennant in three successive seasons from 1929 to 1931, as well as consecutive World Series championships in 1929 and 1930. During the Athletics' championship run, Grove led the way as the league's top pitcher, posting records of 20–6, 28–5 and 31–4. In 1931, Grove led the league in wins, ERA (2.06), strikeouts (175), winning percentage, complete games, and shutouts. His 2.06 ERA was 2.32 runs below the league average. He was also chosen as league MVP in 1931, making him one of only a handful of pitchers to achieve this honor. His MVP award is the only one not enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, instead being housed at the George's Creek Library in Lonaconing, Maryland.
The Athletics contended for the next two seasons, but finished second to the New York Yankees in 1932 and third behind the Washington Senators and Yankees in 1933. In 1933, Grove became the first player in Major League Baseball history to strike out five times in a nine-inning game. On December 12, 1933, team owner Connie Mack traded Grove, along with Max Bishop and Rube Walberg, to the Boston Red Sox for Bob Kline, Rabbit Warstler and $125,000.
Boston Red Sox.
Grove was unable to contribute substantially during his first year in Boston, an arm injury holding him to an 8–8 record. In 1935, however, Grove returned to form with a 20–12 record and a league-leading 2.70 ERA. In the 1936 season, he had a 2.81 ERA (winning his 7th ERA title) while recording a 17–12 record and 130 strikeouts. Grove won his eighth ERA title a year later while having a 17–9 record along with 153 strikeouts. He pitched 262 innings for the season; this was his 11th and final season where he pitched over 200 innings. Grove continued to post outstanding records, including 14–4 in 1938 and 15–4 in 1939, as well as lead the AL in ERA four times between 1935 and 1939. He had a 7–6 record in 1940 while recording a 3.99 ERA with 62 strikeouts in 153.1 innings. In his last season, he won and lost 7 games, winning his 300th game on July 25 (giving up 6 runs on 12 hits, but winning 10–6), before losing his last three major league games, ending his career on September 28, pitching just one inning in the 2nd game of a doubleheader.
Personal life.
Grove married his childhood sweetheart, Ethel Gardner, in 1921. They had two children, Robert and Doris. The couple would later divorce after Grove had an affair with another woman.
Grove was elected to the town council in his native Lonaconing in the 1950s and also served as the town's police chief. During offseasons and after retiring, Grove operated a bowling alley in Lonaconing. Grove often donated equipment to local youth baseball players in his retirement.
Legacy.
Grove retired in 1941 with a career record of 300–141. His .680 lifetime winning percentage is eighth all-time; however, none of the seven men ahead of him won more than 236 games. His lifetime ERA of 3.06, when normalized to overall league ERA and adjusted for the parks in which Grove played during his career, is fifth all-time among pitchers with at least 1,000 innings pitched (behind Mariano Rivera, Clayton Kershaw, Jim Devlin, and Pedro Martínez) at 48 percent better than average.
As a hitter, Grove posted a .148 batting average (202-for-1,369) with 119 runs, 15 home runs, 121 RBI and 105 bases on balls. From 1929 through 1932, Grove had 56 RBI. Defensively, he recorded a .954 fielding percentage.
Grove was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1947. He died in Norwalk, Ohio, on May 22, 1975, and was interred in the Frostburg Memorial Cemetery in Frostburg, Maryland.
In 1969, Grove was voted the left-handed starting pitcher for Major League Baseball's 100th anniversary team. In 1999, Grove was ranked number 23 on "The Sporting News" list of Baseball's Greatest Players. He ranked second, behind only Warren Spahn, among left-handed pitchers. That same year, Grove was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. In the 2001 book "The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract", Bill James ranked Grove as the 19th best baseball player of all time and the second-best MLB pitcher of all time.
Memorial Park.
The objective of the Lefty Grove Memorial Committee is to preserve the memory of Grove. The Lefty Grove Memorial committee is based in Grove's hometown of Lonaconing, Maryland. The memorial was completed and opened to the public on June 22, 2019.


Gary Ward (baseball coach)

Gary Ward (born September 9, 1940) is an American former baseball coach. He was the head baseball coach at Oklahoma State University from 1978 to 1996, compiling a record of 953–313–1. Ward won 16 Big Eight Conference championships at OSU, including 14 in a row from 1982 to 1995. He led his team to 18 40-win seasons, and 12 times his teams finished in the top 10. He later became the head baseball coach at New Mexico State University. During his tenure, he became only the 24th coach in college baseball history to gain 1,000 career wins.
From 1971 to 1979, he served as the head baseball coach at Yavapai Junior College. He compiled a 240–83 record, including two national championships in 1975 and 1977. From 1963 to 1969, he was the head baseball and basketball coach at Collinsville (OK) High School. He played baseball and basketball at New Mexico State.
Ward now serves as the Chairman of the Advisory Board for 3D Sports Partners, Inc.