Amazing Football Team of 1934

Even if the Patriots had won the Super Bowl, their “perfect season” would be nothing compared to the 1934 season of the North Attleboro High School football team: they were undefeated and unscored upon. Jem, one of the main characters in To Kill a Mockingbird would have risked more than a broken arm to play on that team.

Here’s what the Evening Chronicle article about the 1934 closing Thanksgiving game against Attleboro said about the team: “The doughty band of crimson-jerkined youngsters with spartanic grit and courage repulsed every attack of a great Attleboro eleven, which had never before tasted defeat, and when the final whistle had blown they stood on the pinnacle among Massachusetts schoolboy elevens – the only one undefeated and unscored-on in the 1934 crusade.”

Football was primarily a college sport when it began in 1869, but high schools quickly formed their own teams. The North Attleboro-Attleboro rivalry predates 1921, but had been interrupted due to a ban on the sport in the early part of the 20^th century. Without television, local sports were a popular source of entertainment. Players were on the field for the whole game, playing both offense and defense and were not as specialized as they are now. In the 1934 Thanksgiving game, the captain of the team kicked off, passed and ran for the one touchdown.

The first team is composed of, Louis Difiore fullback; Norman Poirier, quarterback; Hubert Rice, left half; Capt. Maurice Fournier, right half; Harold Tennant, left end; Russsell Smith, right end; Stanley Lycus, right tackle; Ray Bozzo, left tackle; Jack Daly, right guard; Bancroft Austin, left guard and Nate Phipps, center. Others on the team were Clifford Wise, Norman Benoit, Joe Tremblay, Ray Collard, Eli Beaupre, Walter LaRosee, Eugene Lorden, Emil Jacobs, Arthur Irvine, Cordner Stuart, Tony Difiore, William Thorp, Clinton Tingley, Herbert Ballou, Ray Brastow, Harold Hall, William Prew, Orin Armstrong, Whicott Robinson, Joseph Kivlin, Raymond Vandette and Leonard Simms. The head coach was Raymond Yates and his assistants were Roland Chandler and Charles Wettergreen.

Beatrice Montplaisir left her scrapbooks of North Attleboro life to the Falls Fire Barn. She had clippings on the reunion of the 34 team which allowed me to find the article and picture in the microfilm. Her scrapbooks are organized by theme and make for fascinating reading. This picture (wrongly labeled The Champs … 1933) was in the paper. Maurice Fournier and Eli Beaupre died in WWII.

Join the Big Read by reading To Kill a Mockingbird or the biography of Harper Lee, Mockingbird, and by attending one of the many events during the month of March. Visit the website RMLonline.org and click on The Big Read logo for more information or stop by at the library.

Flowers in the ’30s in North Attleboro

The North Attleboro community-wide Big Read will be looking at the life of the town in the 1930s as it relates to To Kill a Mockingbird. One of the aspects of small town life featured in Harper Lee’s book is the importance of gardens and flowers to the people of the town. Three of the main women expressed themselves primarily through their gardens: Miss Maudie with her azaleas, Mrs. Dubose with her camellias and Mayella Ewell with her geraniums in six chipped-enamel slop jars.

North Attleboro has been home to beautiful gardens and an active Garden Club for a very long time. The 1930s saw the Garden Club’s tenth annual June Exhibition in June 1933. To quote the Evening Chronicle, “This was the first Iris show ever held by the club and was very successful, more than 150 different varieties, many of them of very recent introduction.”

The Garden Club had monthly meetings in the Elks’ Home, usually featuring guest speakers. One talked about growing gladiolus. Sometimes they visited gardens around town, seeing in 1934, the gardens of Mr. and Mrs. Harry W. Fisher (152 S Washington St.), Mrs. Ellen L. Mason (238 S. Washington St.), Merrill Marty (florist at 46 Washington), Fred Hayward and the Birch Hill Gardens. Popular flowers included iris, lupines, petunias, peonies and rock gardens.

Roses were also popular and Mr. Raymond Hoisington (83 Leonard St.) was famous for his collection of over forty varieties of Hybrid Tea roses. One website mentioned that a 1930s garden would have lots of formal rosebeds, though none are mentioned in “TKAM.”

Throughout the month of March, Nolan’s Flower (which has been in business for over 100 years) will be displaying arrangements of 1930s styles in the Richards Memorial Library. The library is grateful to the Angle Tree Garden Club who displays arrangements at the library every month and frequently donates gardening books to the collection. The Angle Tree club was founded in 1962.

This February sees two local flower shows: Rhode Island’s Spring Flower and Garden Show at the RI Convention Center, on the 21^st through 24^th and Attleboro Arts Museum’s show at the museum on the 27^th through March 2.

Join the Big Read by reading To Kill a Mockingbird or the biography of Harper Lee, Mockingbird, and by attending one of the many events during the month of March. The opening event, at the Masonic Lodge at 1:30 on March 1, will present music and dance of the ‘30s. Visit the website RMLonline.org and click on The Big Read logo for more information or stop by at the library.