Wakefield High School Football 1918

For a while, Wakefield football records always started with the 1919 season. The man who writes the Looking Backward column on page 2 of the Wakefield Daily Item discovered the ‘lost season of 1918.’ The 1918 team was the first team in thirteen years to represent the Wakefield High School but it was not a good beginning. Twenty-six candidates reported for practice but in the course of a week an epidemic broke out (called influenza or Spanish Grippe) and three games were cancelled besides all practices. The Wakefield Board of Health closed the churches, schools and movies after five deaths occurred on one day in town,

There was a plea for donations of football equipment before the season started. The games were held on the Common next to the high school which was located where the Town Hall is today.

The Arlington game was listed in both papers as a tie but Leo Douglass in his 1919 yearbook summary states, “Arlington, after a tie game, ‘came across’ by forfeiting to us.” There was a second Woburn game which The Item seemed to have missed but the Woburn based paper had Woburn winning 6-3. Again, Leo Douglas wrote in the yearbook, “Woburn was beaten in a second game on their own field.” Who would lie for all their classmates forever to see and how could it get past the editors? Adjustments were made to reflect his notes.

Front Row: Left to Right — E. Frizzell, Capt. L. Douglass, G. Seabury

Second Row: Mgr. 0. W. Howland, Jr., G. LaFave, R. Draper, R. Calahan, R. Surrette, A. Burke

STANDING: R. Batten, L. Cummings HOF, R. Muse, H. Teakie, F. Magoir F. ONeil, Coach Raymond P. Dower

Captain Leo Douglass

1918

Coach Raymond Dower 3-5

Points Scored	Opponent		Points Against
0		Medford		27
0		Watertown *		40
0		Lawrence		29
12		Melrose *		7
0		Wakefield AllStars		19
7		Arlington *		7
6		Woburn *		14
6		Woburn *		3
31		* Mystic Valley League		146

Scorer

Leo Douglass 31

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