(NOTE: This is Part 4 in a series. Check out Thursday’s edition of the Recorder for Part 3.)
Everything was in front of Teddy Sullivan, coach Fred Rau and the rest of the Turners Falls High School basketball team. Titles were in reach, the Powertown just had to win the rest of its games to claim them.
Following back-to-back losses to Greenfield (forfeit) and Fall River, Turners needed to right the ship. On March 7, 1914, the squad did just that, getting back into the win column behind a 24-12 win over Northampton.
The Powertown’s slate of scheduled games was now complete, but with teams jockeying for local and statewide bragging rights, the game of “Let’s Make a Deal” unfolded behind the scenes.
It began in the March 10 edition of the Springfield Republican. Pittsfield High School, sporting a 16-3 record, was making its claim for state supremacy.
“Pittsfield is now after the state schoolboy championship, if such an honor exists,” wrote the Republican. “The Turners Falls team has claimed this title and is now playing a series of three games with Fall River. Each team has won one game.”
The story goes on to say that Pittsfield, which was undefeated against Massachusetts teams (16-0), had only lost to New York schools (0-3), therefore giving them a legitimate claim to the state crown.
“Turners Falls has won 18 out of 19 games played, the only defeat being at the hands of Fall River,” the article continued, apparently not taking into account the Greenfield forfeiture. “Pittsfield’s players have decided that they have a right to claim the state championship — as much so as Turners Falls or any other school team.”
In order to settle the matter, the two teams agreed upon their own best-of-three series. Turners Falls and Fall River had abandoned their best-of-three campaign, the teams settling on splitting a pair of games without contesting a decisive Game 3.
As far as the Powertown was now concerned, beating Pittsfield would signal total triumph.
“The basketball game tonight with Pittsfield will end the season for the local basketball team,” the Greenfield Gazette-Courier stated in its March 21, 1914, edition. “It should be a very fast and interesting game.”
The game was also previewed in the pages of the Republican: “A lively game of basketball will be played tonight in Hibernian Hall at Turners Falls, where Turners Falls will meet the Pittsfield five. The game will have a bearing on the championship of Western Massachusetts.”
With the title on the line, the teams duked it out in the Powertown on March 21, 1914, for Western Mass. pride. Turners led 18-15 at halftime, but trailed 32-30 in the waning minutes. Reliable leading scorer Black hit a shot from the center of the hall to tie the game, and eventually scored the game-winning point from the free throw line to lead the hosts to a thrilling 33-32 victory.
“Pittsfield losing through its holding in the last few minutes to prevent the locals from scoring,” read the recap in the next day’s Republican, noting attendance was listed at 500 in the tiny quarters of Hibernian Hall. The headline was “Turners Falls By Shade.”
The ending was not without controversy. The Gazette-Courier reported, “Pittsfield complains that a Turners Falls player threw the ball into the crowd at the last of the game and that time was called before the ball could be played again. Less than five seconds of play remained when the ball was thrown into the crowd. In the previous two minutes however, Pittsfield threw the ball deliberately into the crowd twice. So the odds seem to be in favor of Turners Falls.”
From there, the rest of the season sees multiple teams declare themselves champions. Turners cancels the remaining series against Pittsfield, naming itself champion of Western Mass. Pittsfield goes on to play Fall River and wins on the road, which leads to the Berkshire County squad claiming a state title.
Records in several publications are in conflict, though the Republican has Turners Falls with a final record of 19-1. It’s a season to remember, for certain, and one that undoubtedly showed basketball fans throughout Western Massachusetts the need for official postseason tournaments in order to properly declare champions. Tournament play began in 1926, and the Western Mass. Small Schools Basketball Tournament followed two years later and ran from 1928-1952. Turners Falls claimed titles in 1933 and 1944.