Salem, Missouri

January 12, 1956

Every so often some sportsminded person pops up with idea that Salem high school should have a football team, little realizing that Salem high once had a team and that its record is a perfect one. Every game played by the Tiger football team resulted in victory.

As a matter of fact, the team played only one game, defeating, Steelville at Steelville. A return game had been scheduled, but as the steelville suffered a broken collarbone in the first game, Steelville refused to come to Salem for the second meeting of the teams. So Salem high school's football record stands at one victory and no defeats.

How long ago did all this happen? Quite a while ago. In fact the only football team Salem high ever put on the field played its lone game in 1903, according to C. B. Jeffries, a member of the team and now a man interested in the history of Dent county and Salem.

On this page is a picture of the team, most of the members of which no longer are living. Those who still live are Lawrence McGee, now a lawyer in Lake Worth, Fla.; Howe McMurtrey, a pharmacist; Bert Lutzenberger, a railroader living at Amory, Miss.; Ernest Campbell and Charley Jeffries, both of whom still live in Salem.

Those who know these men realize that in their high school days they couldn't have formed a very heavy line or backfield. All but Lutzenberger are men of not more than average size, but as Jeffries says, "We didn't have much Weight but nearly every man on the squad was plenty fast.

The game played at Steelville, Jeffries remembers, was on field near the site of the Present State Highway maintenance shed on Highway 19. There was a pretty good crowd to witness the game and they stood or sat in buggies along side the playing field which had been carefully marked off with white lime lines. Not long after the game started, the Steelville star, Schwieder, a member of a still prominent Crawford county family, suffered a broken collarbone and the Steelville high team lost its scoring threat. Salem went on to win and eagerly practiced for a return game which never materialized.

The Tigers practiced on a lot now occupied by the homes of Miss Bertha Coiner and L. N. Coffman, just south of the Catholic Church. With the team up in good shape and "raring to go", word was received that there would be no contest and the only Tiger football team was disbanded.

Jeffries owns the accompanying photograph which was taken at Steelville on the team's only trip.