Scandal in 1921

In 1921, in just its third year of formal tournaments, the Oregon Activities Association has their first scandal on their hands.

Coach Ad Dewey of Baker showed up in Salem for the 1921 state tournament with a wonderful team. Led by star center Roy Stoddard, Baker rolled to three wins in the first two days of the tournament. Baker beat Molalla 25-17 in their first game and then beat Franklin in their second game.

Enamored with Stoddard, the March 12 issue of the Oregonian proclaimed, “Stoddard easily surpasses in playing ability any high school player ever seen on a local court (Robinson, Bob; Baker’s red-headed ringer produced 1921 tourney uproar).”

Stoddard, Dewey and the Bulldogs knocked off McMinnville the evening of the second night to set up a championship game against Salem on Saturday. Word had filtered back to Baker that the hometown five was cruising in the state tournament against the states top quintets and school principal George McIntire was skeptical.

McIntire had previously declared Baker’s star player, Harry “Red” Blakely ineligible because of academic shortcomings so it was highly unlikely that Stoddard could have risen up so quickly to take the state by storm.

He sent a telegram reading, “If Stoddard is a big guy with red hair, send him home; he’s ineligible” (Ibid).

McIntire was right. The Stoddard in Salem was Blakely and the real Stoddard was playing under the name Luce.

The state association questioned the Baker coach who feebly offered, “I knew our team didn’t have a ghost of a chance in the tournament without Blakely” (Ibid). Without hesitation the board expelled Baker from the tournament immediately and the three defeated opponents were let back in the tournament.

Franklin star Howard Hobson recalled later that it was “the craziest thing that has ever happened to me.” Thinking they were out of the tournament, the Quakers had already “broken training” which amounted to eating ice cream cones. Suddenly, they were back in the tournament (Ibid).

The Quakers played a hastily arranged game Saturday morning, defeating Molalla 23-17 and then came back later in the evening and defeated defending state champion Salem 26-19 for the state championship.

In Baker, loyalties were divided as some felt that McIntire shouldn’t have spoken up. In fact, things got so heated he required a police escort for a time. Coach Dewey retired in shame as the true identity of Blakely came to light.

Robinson writes:

He (Blakely) came to Baker for his senior year after spending two years in the Navy. Previously, he earned basketball all-state honors in Illinois after leading Centralia to the 1918 state championship.

Later, he flunked out of Oregon Agricultural College (later named Oregon State University) before going to North Dakota State with Dewey and becoming a star player on Dewey’s team there (Ibid).”

Ironically, the story does not end there for Baker. In fact, less than a year later, Baker came under scrutiny AGAIN for using an ineligible player, this time on the gridiron.

The February 2nd edition of the Joseph Herald in 1922 details the story of Lloyd Tunnicliffe a star on the football field for Baker. Tunnicliffe came under scrutiny early in the season yet Baker continued to use him despite the scrutiny. Allegations abounded that Tunnicliffe was too old to be playing high school football. Despite the protests and allegations, Baker continued to use Tunnicliffe for the rest of the season.

Finally, Prairie City brought forth a formal complaint to the board of control proving that Tunnicliffe was in fact over 21 years of age and had played more than four years of high school sports. The state association had no choice but to suspend Baker from the association for the balance the school year.

I have no idea why Baker would run afoul of the association less than a year after the Blakely situation. Perhaps the school district didn’t have proper documentation for Tunnicliffe. If that was the case, how did Prairie City? Is it possible that they merely didn’t care and played Tunnicliffe regardless of the consequences? We may never know for sure but it makes for an interesting story.