FOOTBALL AT CAMDEN CATHOLIC
by Harry Rasmussen
Camden Courier-Post sports writer and game committee member

Only an infant in the fall sport in comparison to Mooseheart (Illinois) High School, Camden Catholic High School's football teams have had phenomenal success on the gridiron.

There probably isn't a high school in this state than can show as fine a record during the past four years. The "Fighting Irish" resumed football in 1946 after a lapse of several years.

Perhaps the major credit for the success attained by Green and White clad teams since 1946 is due mainly to the knowledge of the game imparted by Head Coach Tom Kenney, and his assistants, to the youngsters.

Mustered out of the Navy as an officer early in 1946, Kenney, who was a former star lineman at St. Joseph's Prep in Philadelphia, and later an All-New England quarterback at Holy Cross College, started from scratch and built Camden Catholic into one of the football powers of the state.

Assisted by Lou Wray, former college and professional coach and player who instructed Kenney at Holy Cross; Athletic Director Johnny McCarthy, a star in his own right at St. Francis College and later a professional gridman, and Frank Law, former All-Philadelphia lineman, Kenney has coached his teams through two undefeated seasons and were considered mythical state champions in 1948 and 1949.

During the past four years, Catholic's teams have engaged in 36 games, turning in the enviable record of 30 victories, three deadlocks and suffering only three setbacks.

Although playing its first season ( 1946) under severe handicaps, the "Irish" came up with a record of five victories, one tie and two losses, the most any Catholic team suffered in one campaign. The team that year chalked up 76 points against 93 for the opposition.

But since that inaugural season, the Broadway and Federal street institution has outclassed its opponents each ensuing year. The 1946 squad lost 6 to 0 to Audubon High and 20 to 6 in an upset to Florence High and also played a stalemate with Riverside High.

Since then the "Irish" have performed notably on the gridiron, capturing city series championships each succeeding year. In 1947 they came up with their first undefeated season with a record of seven triumphs and two ties, 6-6 with Audubon and 13-13 with Palmyra High. During that campaign Catholic rolled to 163 points to 52 for the opposition.

Then in 1948, Catholic had a memorable season. Winning their first eight games of the campaign, the "Irish" cropped their final regularly scheduled contest to Merchantville High on Thanksgiving Day, 19·12. However, they had been chosen to play Memorial High of West New York at Jersey City for the mythical state championship.

Entering the game as the underdog, Catholic surprised its most ardent admirers by grinding its way to a 19-12 victory for a season's record of nine wins and one defeat. That year they continued to surpass previous seasonal scoring by tabbing 256 points and holding the opposition to 69.

Then last year the Green and White came up with its second unbeaten season, compiling the best record of its four years of competition under Kenney. It won nine straight contests, rolling up 299 point to only 19 for its opponents.

In the 36 games played, Catholic has chalked up 794 points against 233 for its rivals, or an average of a little more than 22 points per game against 6 for the opposition.

During the past three years Catholic has pitched camp at Bamber Lake, a site owned by the Knights of Columbus near Whiting in Ocean County, for pre-school training. This has proved to be a successful venture as its records can attest. 

And the squad that takes the field today for Camden Catholic will be protecting a record of having been beaten only once in its last 30 starts, but it is a club that is looked upon by many to repeat the successes attained by its predecessors. 

FOOTBALL AT MOOSEHEART
by Harry Rasmussen

Looking down on the greensward of Collingswood High School's gridiron today you will see a group of youngsters who are orphans or part-orphans from many states in this country who are representing one of the nation's outstanding high schools in football.

They are standard-bearers of friendship and good will of Mooseheart High School, an institution sponsored and supported by member's of the Loyal Order of Moose.

They come from what is known throughout the country as the "Child City" in Illinois, located about 35 miles from the windy city of Chicago and on the fertile lands adjacent to the Fox River valley.

These youngsters, who are given such training that when they graduate need not take an entrance examination at any college in the country, are as adept on the grid­iron as they are in the class room.

The records compiled by Mooseheart elevens speak for themselves.

Considering the fact that these youngsters play more than half of their games away from their own environment each year, traveling around 7,000 miles each season, they deserve much credit because they continually encounter opposi­tion much heavier and taller.

Since 1917 when football records were first compiled at Mooseheart, the Red. Ramblers have played 267 contests, winning 186, losing only 65 and engaging in 16 dead­locks.

During this period the teams have racked up a total of 5,112 points to only 1,648 for the opposition. They have averaged 155 points per year to 50 for their opponents.

Nine times the Red Ramblers have gone through seasons undefeated, their best years being in 1920 and 1925 when they were not only undefeated but also unscored upon. There have been two other seasons when only one touchdown was scored against them.

This team today comes here protecting a record of having been beaten only once in its last 23 games, the string starting in the fourth game of 1947 when it won five straight before ringing down the curtain.

Then in 1948 it waded through nine straight games without a defeat or tie and last year compiled a record of six victories, two ties and one loss. The lone setback came in the next to the last game of the season when Waterloo High won in the last minute of play by a 32 to 27 score.

In 1949 the team compiled a total of 311 points against 62 for the opposition and in 1948 rolled up 234 points to 51 for its rivals. In the five victories of 1947 the Ramblers scored 119 points to 25 for their opponents, making a total of 664 points against 138 for the opposition in the last 23 games played, or an average of 29 points per game against 6 for the Ram­bler opponents.

Once a year the team is per­mitted to make a long trip either to the east or west and in this skein of games, Mooseheart defeated Cumberland, Md., 46-13, in 1947; Tacoma, Wash., 14-6, in 1948 and played a scoreless tie against New Kensington, Pa., in 1949.

The team is coached by Johnny Williams, a former Mooseheart student, who took over the head coaching reins in 1935 and since then has had remarkable success. His teams do not huddle, getting in approximately 25 plays per game more than their huddle-minded opponents.

Some of the formations include the single wing, double wing, "T," short pant, Notre Dame box, and various spreads with a repertoire of 150 plays.

That in a nutshell is the back­ground of Mooseheart's football history.