Pages

Downtown 1958

Downtown 1958

Thursday, August 14, 2014

We Are the Champions


This hangs on the wall of the reference section of the Menasha Public Library, framed and under glass, which helps to explain the bad reproduction here (you can see part of my face in the photo portion if you look closely enough.)   No great back story, no anecdotal stuff.  Just a proclamation that a team from Menasha became the champions of the Fox River Valley in 1904-05. 

C.O.F. refers to the Catholic Order of Foresters, a nationwide fraternal organization started in Illinois in the 1880's and spread nationwide as a means to promote friendship among its members.  It also provided them with death benefits and financial security through life insurance. In the days before athletics were an expected part of school life, such fraternal clubs like this and the YMCA and other civic athletic clubs provided an athletic outlet for many. 

No comments:

Post a Comment