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2001 Annual Grant Issue
Edwin Probert: Kast Grant Report - Sayings of Old
Several years ago, I stormed into the headmaster's office. Why? Well, I had discovered that in the basement of the administration building what was the "school's history," was moldering away. "Somebody has to do something?" says I. "Well you do something!" says he (Jim Ledyard). Thus began my career as the GA archivist. That career in a few years will end, because I, soon to be 62, am looking forward to retirement.
Nonetheless, about three years ago, I knew that before I could retire, I had to write down all the "stories" I had discovered - stories that are not archived but supported by archives. I was reminded of those words in Psalm 78
I will utter dark sayings of old: Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, shewing the generations to come the praises of the LORD.
My impetus and purpose was not as lofty as the psalmist's; but I had the same motivation - to tell the stories and to make them accessible to those who come next.
Through a "leave of absence" in the spring of 2001 and a Kast Grant that summer, I started my writing of School Stories of GA. The project quickly became much bigger because I realized that "School Stories" held within it a second book that I have now completed. Athletic Sketches of Germantown Academy is a 250-page book complete with photographs, index, and bibliography. When I began, what I knew about GA athletics you could have put in a shot-glass. "Sketches" is a testimony to what I know now.
From "Sketches" are here are three transcribed facts:
The Beginnings of GA Athletic Life
William Rotch Wister '43 [the Father of Philadelphia Cricket] and John Wister '46, around 1842 "got some [cricket] implements and tried to introduce the game to Germantown Academy, but it did not take. [However] In 1843-44 a number of young men in Germantown, under the leadership of John Wister '46, formed the Germantown Cricket Club, not the club organized in 1854 [the GCC we know today] but one composed of the young men at school and the sons of the English weavers of Germantown." (from A History of Germantown Academy 1910) GA's history of organized athletics is now over 150 years old.
Athletic Programs Are Transitory
The first crew team was launched in 1896 but it failed to become a viable sport because there were not enough boys to participate in rowing as well as the already-established sports. Then in 1927 and for the next two years, crew was a major spring sport. But 1929 was the last year for crew until its rebirth in 1937. The diction of the yearbook, Ye Primer, reveals as much through implication (the text was written while the season was in progress):
"Twenty-three fellows answered the call to crew. Of this number, five were coxswains. This leaves more than enough for two crews insuring a fight to get in position." Crew is a new sport in scholastic ranks. It was tried a good many years ago but never proved successful. It was started again two years ago under the influence of several colleges and clubs. They wanted to develop the fellows for college rowing. The experiment proved to be a success. The fellows who tried crew liked it so much that other fellows came out to enjoy it. If the school will back up crew, they will undoubtedly win all their races since we are looking forward to a very successful season."
Twice more crew returned to GA - in the 1930s and in the early 1950s. Now, as this text [Sketches] is being written there is yet again another resurgence of interest in rowing. During the summer of 2000, two freshman, Meredith Kleiner '04 and Clare Guinn ‘04, became interested in rowing. Their zest for the sport became infectious. At a recent Board of Trustees meeting, a motion carried to investigate the possibility of rejuvenating the sport of rowing. If this occurs, GA will be rowing not at the old venue of Boathouse Row, but at a new up-river boathouse.
GA Girls' Athletics
When GA became co-ed for the second time (yes, GA was actually co-ed until about 1830) a girls' sports program was initiated and came to its fruition under the leadership of Phyllis Morrison Biddle. She coached field hockey, squash, and tennis and, at times, whatever team needed a coach. Her tennis teams were championship caliber. The Morrison Bowl that is awarded each year to a member of the boys' tennis team was established in memory of her late husband, Leonard. Phyllis Biddle, GA's first girls' director of athletics, had the uneasy task establishing a creditable program for girls. GA was, in those early days in Fort Washington, a man's world. The girls' coaching staff was under the aegis and budget of the boys' athletic department. Her tenacity and her diplomacy brought about a stand-alone girls' athletic department.
Earlier, as the school was evolving as a co-ed institution, Barbara B. Kling and Irene R. Berardelli were two coaches that many girls recall as teaching them the basics and who knew when it was time to start extramural competitions. With the arrival of girls to GA, the athletic life of school widened its focus by 100 percent. Phyllis Morrison Biddle, whose son and daughter attended the Academy, became the flywheel that accelerated the girls' sports program. She, like George Hartley Deacon, founded the league in which GA plays: the Girls' Interscholastic Athletic Association (GIAA).
Today, the athletic programs are so different from those early days. In those early days Jack Turner and Phyllis Morrison Biddle were forging the athletic programs that are the forebears of today. They were coordinating financial expenditures through the business office, writing their own correspondence, coaching, and teaching physical education classes. It certainly was demanding, but that was how it was, and is still today.
These are three "snippets" from the book I have written. And, I am hoping to write, as soon as I can, School Stories of GA.
