1903 OTHER SPORTS
HOCKEY
The Montreal Wanderers were quickly establishing themselves as the class of the ULCHL and the 1903-04 season just reiterated that point as the Wanderers finished first for the third straight season and established a new season mark for points. Joseph Matheson, who was troubled by injuries a year ago, rebounded nicely and won his second league scoring title in 3 seasons. Matheson was denied a second league MVP trophy as that award instead went to Quebec Bulldogs winger Derek Edur. The 23 year old Edur set a career high in goals and points this season and looks to be one of the future stars of the league.
The Ottawa Senators, who were last in the opening season but finished third and narrowly missed the playoffs a year ago, moved up to second place this year and earned the right to play for the Stanley Cup. The Montreal Canadiens, runners up each of the past two years, sank all the way to the basement this time around.
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ULCHL STANDINGS 1903-04
TEAM GP W L T PTS
Montreal Wanderers 40 27 6 7 61
Ottawa Senators 40 20 11 9 49
Quebec Bulldogs 40 20 15 5 45
Toronto St Pats 40 13 18 9 35
Hamilton Tigers 40 11 22 7 29
Montreal Canadiens 40 8 27 5 21
SCORING LEADERS TM GP G A PTS
Joseph Matheson MonW 37 21 24 45
Bennett Hillman Tor 40 21 17 38
Sailor Hilborn MonC 40 19 18 37
Derek Edur Que 40 18 17 35
Patrick Harper MonW 40 10 25 35
Despite some brilliant playoff goaltending from Senators netminder Marco Fleming, Ottawa was unable to deny the Wanderers a third straight Stanley Cup title. The Wanderers steady defenseman Alex Gelinas, who missed 9 games during the season, was outstanding on the blueline and added 3 points of offense to earn the playoff Most Valuable Player award. What was interesting is that despite a third straight championship, the Montreal Wanderers were not the fan favourite in their own city, as the Canadiens continued to outdraw them despite a dreadful last place season. There were no franchise moves this season but one could not help but wonder if Montreal would continue to support two teams.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Duke repeats as National Champion as the Blue Devils went a perfect 13-0 for the second straight season, culminating in a Citrus Bowl 42-35 victory over Georgia in a battle of unbeatens for the National Championship. At 12-1 Georgia slipped to fifth in the final rankings. Duke was led by perhaps the greatest college football quarterback of the era in Marlan Sumner. Sumner passed for 4,952 yards and 50 touchdowns in his senior seasons -both records that still stand a decade later, after throwing for over 4200 yards and 38 touchdowns as a junior. In a 3 year career (I started the sim in 1901) he threw for over 13,000 yards and 113 touchdowns.
Texas Tech also entered New Years Day unbeaten, but the Raiders were beaten 34-29 in the Sugar Bowl by one loss Notre Dame. The win lifted the Irish to second in the polls.
Other Bowl results saw California beat Minnesota 40-34 despite a 4 touchdown passing performance from Gophers QB Berry Ippolito. Army beat Kansas 38-31 in the Orange Bowl while Furman topped Penn State 27-21 in the Orange Bowl.
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AP COLLEGE FOOTBALL TOP TWENTY RANKINGS
SCHOOL RECORD COACHES POLL
1 Duke 13-0 1
2 Notre Dame 12-1 2
3 Pittsburgh 11-2 6
4 Minnesota 11-2 4
5 Georgia 12-1 5
6 Army 11-2 3
7 Texas Tech 12-1 7
8 Northwestern 10-2 9
9 Colorado 10-2 8
10 Furman 10-3 11
11 Michigan 10-3 10
12 Washington 10-2 13
13 Xavier 9-3 15
14 New Mexico 9-3 14
15 Wake Forest 9-3 18
16 Oklahaoma 9-3 12
17 Georgia Tech 7-5 29
18 Kansas 9-4 22
19 Drake 9-3 25
20 LSU 8-4 17
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
A year ago Kansas State carried a perfect record in to the NCAA tournament only to suffer their first loss of the season in the Conference Finals. Kentucky was dealt the same fate this season after UK, who won the NCAA tournament a year ago, were 35-0 when they faced West Virginia in the South Regional Finals. The Mountaineers prevailed 74-60 to improve to 27-6 on the year and then would win two more games, beating Cal by 8 points in the National Semi-finals before topping Indiana 75-71 in the tournament title game.
While West Virginia had an exceptional group of freshman from the nation's top recruiting class a year ago, it was the upperclassmen who led the Mountaineers to the tile with senior guard Al Humphry leading the way. Humphry was named the National Player of the Year after leading West Virginia with 14.5 ppg and 6.2 assists per game.
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1903-04 CONFERENCE STANDINGS
WESTERN CW CL W L
Iowa 11 1 24 7
Indiana 10 2 31 4
Purdue 8 4 16 13
Northwestern 6 6 12 18
Illinois 5 7 20 10
Michigan 5 7 13 16
Ohio State 5 7 18 12
Wisconsin 4 8 12 17
Minnesota 4 8 13 17
Chicago 2 10 5 24
IVY GROUP CW CL W L
Yale 6 4 19 13
Dartmouth 6 4 16 13
Columbia 6 4 15 15
Pennsylvania 5 5 12 17
Princeton 5 5 11 18
Cornell 2 8 5 24
MISSOURI VALLEY CW CL W L
Kansas 10 2 26 6
Kansas State 10 2 25 5
Drake 6 6 11 18
Oklahaoma 5 7 15 14
Missouri 4 8 14 15
Iowa State 4 8 15 15
Nebraska 3 9 6 24
MOUNTAIN STATES CW CL W L
Denver 6 2 13 17
Colorado 5 3 15 15
Colorado A&M 1 7 8 21
PACIFIC COAST CW CL W L
Cal 7 0 32 2
Washington 5 2 25 6
Washington State 5 2 17 13
Oregon 3 4 13 16
Oregon State 3 4 24 7
Idaho 2 5 11 18
Southern Cal 2 5 13 16
Stanford 1 7 14 15
SOUTHERN CW CL W L
Kentucky 11 0 35 1
North Carolina 10 1 19 12
N Carolina State 8 3 21 13
Alabama 6 5 15 16
Georgia 5 6 13 18
Alabama Polytech 5 6 19 11
Georgia Tech 4 7 14 17
Clemson 4 7 14 16
Tennessee 4 7 16 13
Virginia Tech 4 7 14 15
Virginia 3 8 8 21
Mississippi State 2 9 12 18
SOUTHWEST CW CL W L
Oklahoma A&M 9 1 24 6
SMU 7 3 17 12
Baylor 6 4 17 12
Texas A&M 4 6 13 16
Rice 3 7 11 18
Texas 1 9 13 16
TOP INDEPENDENTS W L
West Virginia 29 6
Duquesne 28 4
Bradley 28 5
Duke 27 5
Holy Cross 25 6
Utah 25 7
New York University 24 6
Saint Louis 24 8
Vanderbilt 23 8
LSU 23 9
Cincinnati 22 10
Seton Hall 21 9
South Carolina 21 9
Tulsa 21 9
Wake Forest 21 11
St John's 20 11
Rutgers 19 10
Toledo 19 10
Santa Clara 19 12
Lafayette 18 11
George Washington 18 12
St Mary's 18 12
Dayton 17 12
St Bonaventure 17 12
Wyoming 17 13
Arkansas 16 13
Florida 16 13
Notre Dame 16 13
Marquette 16 13
Temple 16 13
Utah State 16 13
Villanova 16 13
Louisville 16 14
St Joseph's (Pa) 16 14
Fordham 15 14
Miami (Oh) 15 14
Penn State 15 14
Ohio 15 14
TCU 15 14
Connecticut 15 15
Western Kentucky 15 15
West Virginia would enjoy another outstanding recruiting class this year, landing the top ranked guard in Al St Laurent, who was Mr. Basketball in Connecticut, along with the 12th ranked recruit in Harwood, Maryland native Rupert Gray. However, the Mountaineers class this time was ranked second behind Notre Dame after the Irish convinced the nation's top ranked recruit in PF Odalis Hernandez, to play for them. Hernandez, an immigrant from Spain, played his high school ball in New York. Notre Dame also stole Kentucky native and 14th ranked recruit Ken Jamieson out from under the Kentucky Wildcats and Cincinnati Bearcats.
PRO BASKETBALL
The Eastern Basketball League remained at 9 teams but three clubs changed their names. The Pennsylvania Bicycle Club, were now known as the Philadelphia Wheelers while both Trenton and Camden changed their nicknames. Trenton would now be the Potters and Camden was renamed the Electrics.
The name change must have inspired the Potters as they rose from a last place finish a year ago to the top of the East Division. Orlin Burdick, a guard from Kentucky, led Trenton in scoring and made the league's first all-star team for the second consecutive year while another former Wildcat, rookie first round pick Corky Gipson gave the Potters a second scoring threat, something they lacked a year ago.
Bristol finished in second place for the second year in a row, with rookie guard Harvey Stevens, fresh off an All-American season for Kansas State, leading the way. The New York Wanderers again were third in the East, as an injury to Chester Lee, a first team all-star a year ago, slowed the team. Millville had a rough season, dropping to last place in the East with a 15-41 record after two straight trips to the League championship series.
Wilmington once again was the class of the West Division as the Peaches received another dominant season out of second year pro Dick Hauge, a former NCAA player of the year. Second place Pittsburgh improved by 13 games and looks like a serious threat in the future thanks to two-time MVP Bubba Gibson, a second year pro out of Kansas State, and this year's rookie of the year Willard McNew. McNew, from West Virginia where he was College Player of the Year last season, stepped in at center forcing Gibson to move to power forward. Gibson led the league in scoring averaging 29.3 ppg while McNew was fourth with 24.2. They were also 1-2 in rebounds with McNew's 12.7 boards per game leading the way and Gibson next at 11.1.
All-star Josef Wettermann of Philadelphia also had a position change, moving from shooting guard to small forward to make room for another Kansas State product in Joe Hubbard, who the Wheelers selected with the 6th pick of the EBL draft. The fourth place Paterson Crescents had a pair of rising stars in second year power forward Wally Baker (24.9 ppg, 9.1 rpg) and rookie shooting guard Jimmy Hurlburt (21.9 ppg, 8.0 apg) out of Indiana. It was another bad year for last place Camden, which changed from the Skeeters to the Electrics but were awful either way. Even their first overall draft pick did not work out well as Bradley guard German Krauss, while a decent player, was overshadowed by other newcomers and failed to make the all-rookie team.
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1903-04 EASTERN BASKETBALL LEAGUE STANDINGS
EAST DIVISION W L GB
Trenton Nationals 36 20 -
Bristol Pile Drivers 32 24 4.0
New York Wanderers 27 39 9.0
Millville Glass Blowers 15 41 21.0
[b]
WEST DIVISION W L GB
Wilmington Peaches 41 15 -
Pittsburgh Homesteaders 36 20 5.0
Philadelphia Wheelers 29 27 12.0
Paterson Crescents 23 33 18.0
Camden Skeeters 13 43 28.0
[b]
SCORING LEADERS TM PPG
Bubba Gibson PIT 29.3
Dick Hague WIL 27.2
Wally Baker PAT 24.9
Willard McNew PIT 24.2
Bennie Lent CAM 23.4
Orlin Burdick TRE 23.2
Jimmy Hurlburt PAT 21.9
Josef Wettermann PHI 21.6
George Green MIL 21.0
Corky Gipson TRE 20.7
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[b]
1903-04 ALL LEAGUE FIRST TEAM PPG RPG APG SPG BKPG
C William McNew Pittsburgh 24.2 12.7 1.8 1.0 5.4
C Bubba Gibson Pittsburgh 29.3 11.1 1.6 1.1 0.9MVP
F Josef Wettermann Philadelphia 21.6 5.4 5.3 1.3 0.4
F Orlin Burdick Trento 23.2 6.4 4.4 1.2 0.3
G George Green Millville 21.0 6.4 4.4 1.2 0.3
The playoffs belonged to Wilmington, as the club with the league's best regular season record had little trouble handling the East Division champs from Trenton. Wilmington took Game 1 of the best of 5 series 106-91 behind a record 55 point game from Dick Hauge. The 55 points surpassed by 1 what Pittsburgh's Bubba Gibson scored in a regular season game las year. The playoff record had been 32 set by Hauge a year ago. Hauge also added 14 rebounds in the contest. The second game saw a more pedestrian effort from Hauge, but his 28 points still led all scorers in a 104-71 blowout victory for the Peaches.
The series shifted to Trenton for Game Three and the Potters would get their only win of the series as Orlin Burdick had 27 points and rookie Corky Gipson 21 in an 81-73 Potters victory. Hauge was held to 18 points, still tops for Wilmington on the night. Two days later the series would end as the visiting Wilmington Peaches claimed their second straight EBL title with a 101-100 victory. Hauge was the star of the show once more, cementing his series MVP award by scoring a game high 38 points.
GOLF
1903 gave us four first time winners of Major Tournaments. The top of The 1903 Masters leaderboard was dominated by Americans including Gus Carlson, a Boston born golfer who's win at Augusta was his first as a professional, never mind a major. Carlson was 7 under par after two days and coasted to victory, winning by 5 strokes on Calvin Baumgartner, a man with 4 major titles under his belt.
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1903 MASTERS LEADERBOARD
NAME NAT SC MONEY
Gus Carlson US -2 $1,619
Cal Baumgartner US +3 $990
Mark Brice US +4 $720
Len Tucker US +4 $720
Jackie Adams US +5 $360
Emil Stanway US +6 $341
Albert Lichtman GER +6 $341
International players had much more success at the US Open, which was held in the Washington DC area this year. Ireland's Evan Costello was the winner with countrymen Liam Hogan and Michael Kiloren also cracking the top five. Hogan, as time would show, seemed to be destined to join another high finisher from this event, Walt Berry, as perhaps the best golfers to never win a major.
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1903 US OPEN LEADERBOARD
NAME NAT SC MONEY
Evan Costello IRE +6 $1,799
Harris Murphy SCO +7 $1,100
Walt Berry US +8 $800
Liam Hogan IRE +9 $500
Michael Kiloren IRE +10 $400
Andrew Sexton US +10 $400
BRITISH OPEN
Englishman Lord Lovett, a dominant player on the European Tour, claimed his first major as he held off the pack at the Royal Edinburgh Golf Club to win The British Open. Lovett was under par in each of his four rounds, carding scores of 71-69-70-70 enroute to a three stroke victory. Vern Thomas, who won a PGA Championship in 1899, finished in a 3-way tie for second that also included Masters champ Gus Carlson.
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1903 BRITISH OPEN LEADERBOARD
NAME NAT SC MONEY
Lord Lovett ENG -8 $1,754
Vern Thomas US -5 $1,072
Furman Purdy ENG -5 $1,072
Gus Carlson US -5 $1,072
Thoms Milne SCO -4 $390
Everett Andrews ENG -3 $370
Ezekiel Lette US -3 #370
PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
Oakland Hills in Michigan was the site of the 1903 PGA Championship, it's first turn at hosting a major event. The weather was very bad for most of the event and the scores reflected it as the co-leaders after 72 holes were at +12. It took two playoff holes for American Owen Houle to beat Ireland's Colin O'Higgins and claim his first major title. O'Higgins, you might recall, was the winner of the 1902 British Open. James Fox, a two-time major champion who won the first PGA Championship in 1896, missed the playoff by a single stroke.
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1903 PGA CHAMPIONSHIP LEADERBOARD
NAME NAT SC MONEY
Owen Houle US +12 $1,709
Colin O'Higgins IRE +12 $1,045
James Fox US +13 $760
Finn Drysdale AUS +15 $475
Luke Dawson ENG +15 $475
Here is the list of all-time major winners thru 1903 (minimum 2 titles)
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MAJOR TOURNAMENT WINNERS
Calvin Baumgartner 4
James Foxx 2
Milo Lawrence 2
Walter Mathis 2