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1910 Warriors rolling, 'having not lost a game in three years.'; A century of football in HdG

Staff report

Posted 12/01/10

David R. Craig — Harford County Executive, former state delegate and senator, former Havre de Grace Mayor and city councilman, a Havre de Grace High School graduate and a member of the first class of the newly-created Havre de Grace High School Hall of Fame — is a noted Havre de Grace historian.

He recently came across a picture of the 1910 Havre de Grace High School football team, courtesy of Virginia Colburn, and is sharing his findings with The Aegis and its readers.

One of his discoveries was a Havre de Grace High School calendar for the 1910-11 school year that had a picture of the school’s football team on the front. Craig said the banners the two players standing in the back row are holding were throughout the calendar.

Among his findings are that as of Oct. 8, 1910, the team was on quite a roll “not having lost a game in three years.” Speculation was that was about to change as the Warriors “will play some of the fastest teams in the state” in a sport that was being contested under “new rules.”

The schedule had Havre de Grace playing the Trojans, the Icons, the Virginias, the Neoles, Elkton High and West Nottingham. Craig pointed out that in the 100th anniversary year of the team in the picture, Havre de Grace and Elkton most likely have one of the oldest football rivalries in the country.

Havre de Grace beat Elkton earlier this season at James R. Harris Stadium in Havre de Grace.

Two weeks later, it was reported that the 1910 Warriors “met defeat at the hands of the strong Baltimore City College team — 8-0.”

In that Oct. 22, 1910, dispatch, it was reported that the Warriors were “playing Chesapeake Academy today.” Chesapeake Academy isn’t listed on the schedule by that name.

The names of those in the photograph are familiar Havre de Grace names, at least the last names are, in those days first names were usually reported.

Among those in the picture are L. Greene, left end; Kelly, left tackle; H. Wilson, left guard; Chamberlaine, center; Lawder, right guard; Thompson and Coakley, right tackle; W. Green (captain), right end; Barrett, quarterback; Hergenrother, left halfback; Baldwin, right halfback; and Barnes, fullback.

At some point, possibly during the World War I era or shortly thereafter, high school level football stopped being played in Havre de Grace and elsewhere in Harford County. Craig said his research shows soccer became the dominant fall sport for several decades.

According to issues of The Record from 1947, football became an approved sport in Harford County that fall, and Havre de Grace got the jump on the other local schools by fielding the first team.

The “new” Warriors played and won their first game on Oct. 10, 1947, beating West Nottingham, 38-12.

In the ensuing years, Havre de Grace High has had a successful football program, with state championships in 1978, 1981 and 1986, and runner-up finishes three other times in the 1980s.

This year’s Warrior team is already a district and regional champion and will play Dunbar of Baltimore Saturday for the Class 1A state championship. Kickoff is at noon at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, as the Warriors go for their fourth state title.