By CHARLEs STERLING
In the fall of 1920 Edinburg High put together its first football team and in the spring of '21 its first basketball team. There was an annual put out in the year '20-21 that has a record of these first teams, but as fir as I know there is no record of the next two years since no annual was made.
 |
| 1920 Edinburg Texas Football Team |
In those years there was no class given according to the size of the school, so we played every school in Hidalgo County and the winner in Cameron County. We played what you might call sandlot basketball since there was no such thing as a gym in the Valley.
In 1920-21 we had Tom Winningham and Primo Nino as forwards, Charley Sterling as center, Trig Winningham and Bjarne Brager as Guards, and our captain Leonard Johnson for our all-around substitute. We took over South Texas without a loss and went to the state tournament in Austin. Roxanna Klossner and Lelia Williamson served as a cheering section but with no sand and no wind we lost our first game.
In 1921-22 Tom Winningham and Primo Nino were forwards, Elmer Kuper was center, and Trig Winningham and Charley Sterling were guards. This time we won easily until the state tournament, where we lost to the state champions in our second game. This year we had some subs but we seldom used them. Since I don't remember all of them I will not mention any of them.
In 1922-23 Edinburg again had a winning team with John Lipscomb and Manton Ellis as forwards, Charley Sterling for center and Bill Schupp and Marion Sterling as guards. We had no trouble until the bi-district game, played in the rain at Falfurrias, which we lost by one point.
There are only a few of these boys left in the Valley. Leonard Johnson lives north of Alamo, Bill Schupp manages McAllen, and Charley Sterling is stuck in the sand northwest of Edinburg.
How good these teams were compared to present day teams is impossible to say since the game has changed. Boys today are better coached, better equipped, and have very fine gyms, so they would have beaten us quite easily.
I do know that for three years no South Texas team ever beat us in conference play. In 1921 Edinburg had a town team that beat us a few times but in 1922 we played Brownsville all stars, Fort Brown and any other team that thought it was good enough. This team played every kind of team the Valley could put together and lost only one game in the year to the state champions.
 |
| Charles Sterling at age 85 and remembering Edinburg High School sports |
Table of Contents: https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/6813612681836200616/3382423676443906063?hl=en
