1904 OTHER SPORTS
HOCKEY
The great Joseph Matheson led the Montreal Wanderers to yet another regular season title in the Upper & Lower Canada Hockey League. Matheson won his third league scoring title in 4 seasons and was named the loop's MVP for the second time as he led the Wanderers to their fourth straight regular season title. Fan support was still not there for the predominantly English speaking Wanderers and after the season the club would be sold. In addition to Matheson's usually strong season, the Wanderers got a breakout year from 31 year old goaltender Max Faucher. The veteran, who had been a backup the previous 3 seasons, set league marks for wins by a goalie in a season with 23 and goals against average at 1.77.
Francophone hockey fans in Quebec had a new team to cheer for as the Bulldogs made the playoffs for the first time in their existence, edging out the Ottawa Senators for second place. The Senators got a strong season out of 20 year JP Rustad after the 1902-03 rookie of the year missed all of last season with an injury, but fell just shy of a return to the playoffs.
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ULCHL STANDINGS 1904-05
TEAM GP W L T PTS
Montreal Wanderers 40 24 9 7 55
Quebec Bulldogs 40 17 12 11 45
Ottawa Senators 40 17 14 9 43
Montreal Canadiens 40 14 18 8 36
Hamilton Tigers 40 13 19 8 34
Toronto St Pats 40 12 25 3 27
SCORING LEADERS TM GP G A PTS
Joseph Matheson MonW 40 18 22 40
Ted Wurst MonC 40 16 17 33
JP Rustad Ott 40 10 21 31
Sailor Hilborn MonC 38 14 16 30
Samuel Sproule Que 40 9 21 30
The Wanderers again claimed the Stanley Cup, beating the Bulldogs in 3 games for their fourth straight title. Defenseman Denis Ryan, who began his career with the Canadiens before being dealt to the Wanderers two years ago, was named the playoff MVP.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
California entered the Rose Bowl at 12-0 and was one of three unbeaten teams heading into New Years Day. The number 1 ranked Bears just needed a Rose Bowl win over Western Conference champion Michigan and they would win the National Championship. Michigan had been to the Rose Bowl twice, winning in 1902 over Washington after losing to the Huskies the previous season. Cal beat Minnesota in last year's big game but this time it was not meant to be for the Bears as they lost 37-27 thanks to 184 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns by Michigan back Billy Creighton. The loss took the Bears out of the National Championship picture.
Kansas State had a chance at the title as well as the Wildcats were also 12-0 entering their Orange Bowl matchup with 11-1 LSU. The Tigers dashed Kansas State's hopes with a 23-12 victory. That left Texas Tech, 12-0 after winning the Southwest Conference title and they would play Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl. It was a down year for the Irish, at least by their standards as the entered the game with a 10-2 record. Texas Tech got a late touchdown to pull out a 20-17 victory and end the day as the only unbeaten team left - winning their first National Championship.
The other bowl games saw USF beat Duke 25-20 in the Cotton Bowl as the Blue Devils two year run of unbeaten teams came to an end with an 11-2 season. Texas Mines beat Villanova 13-10 in the Gator Bowl while Harvard topped Washington 34-27 in the Tangerine Bowl.
It was one of the few times where the Media and Coaches poll agreed completely on the order of the top 9 teams.
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AP COLLEGE FOOTBALL TOP TWENTY RANKINGS
SCHOOL RECORD COACHES POLL
1 Texas Tech 13-0 1
2 LSU 12-1 2
3 Michigan 12-1 3
4 San Francisco 12-1 4
5 Kansas State 12-1 5
6 Cal 12-1 6
7 Furman 12-1 7
8 Duke 11-2 8
9 North Carolina 12-1 9
10 Vanderbilt 9-3 13
11 Kentucky 9-3 10
12 Sewanee 10-2 12
13 Pittsburgh 9-3 11
14 Texas Mines 11-2 15
15 Northwestern 9-3 14
16 Notre Dame 10-3 16
17 Army 9-3 18
18 Tulane 10-2 33
19 Grinnell 9-3 20
20 Harvard 11-2 36
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Only one school made it to the Final Four in each of the first three NCAA tournaments. That school was Indiana, and the Hoosiers failed to win a title despite making it to two title games and a third final four. Indiana made it four for four in Final Four appearances in 1904-05 and for the first time, the emerged as the National Champion.
Despite finishing the regular season with a 24-5 record, Indiana entered the tournament on a down note after falling 67-59 to Michigan in the final day of Western Conference action. There were no conference tournaments in these days so that game was for the Conference title and the loss left Indiana at 10-2 and it forced them to share the title 3 ways with Michigan and Iowa, 2 of the four clubs to beat Indiana this year. Indiana's other losses came to Arizona in early January and twice to unranked Cincinnati- with one of those in a pre-season tournament.
Indiana entered the NCAA tournament with the second highest scoring offense in college basketball, and the leader was guard John Lesley, who averaged 19.8 ppg and was a first team All-American this season as a sophomore. The Hoosiers drew the second seed in the West Region, the toughest bracket as it contained the powerful Kansas State Wildcats, who were ranked number one in the nation and were the only team to average more points per game than Indiana. In addition to scoring more points than any other team, the Wildcats also gave up the fewest points in the nation and were led by two All-Americans, both seniors in first team point guard Byrd Polley and second team shooting guard Al Booth.
Kansas State, which was a perfect 12-0 in the Missouri Valley Conference and 27-2 on the season, had little trouble beating Colorado A&M in the opening round of the tournament. At the same time Indiana was handling 7th seed Utah 66-52 in their first tournament game. The Hoosiers easily got past 6th seed George Washington, which had done them a favour and knocked off #3 Bradley in the opener, in round two. Next up for the Hoosiers was an expected tussle with Kansas State but the #5 seed in the West, Oregon State, had other ideas. In the biggest upset of this year's tournament, the Pacific Coast Conference co-champs upended Kansas State 69-60 setting up a Regional Final with Indiana.
The Hoosiers, their path to another final four now much clearer, walloped Oregon State 74-52 behind 15 points from John Lesley to reach their fourth straight final four. There they would meet fellow #2 seed Holy Cross, who had beaten #1 North Carolina State in the South Region. Lesley poured in 23 points and junior guard Red Seba added 20 to lead Indiana to an 87-76 victory and a berth in the National Championship Game for the third time in four years.
Their opponent in the title game would be defending champion West Virginia, who had beaten Indiana by 4 points in last year's championship game. Despite Lesley only scoring 4 points in the first half, Indiana led 32-28 at the break. The game would be back and forth throughout the second half until Indiana took the lead for good at 59-58 with just over a minute to play. The Hoosiers would earn a 64-59 win and their first National Title. Lesley ended the day with 14 points to lead what was a balanced Indiana offense in the game. The good news for Indiana is next year's team looks even better as they would graduate only 1 of their top 9 players in the rotation, starting point guard George Burrows.
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1904-05 CONFERENCE STANDINGS
T = qualified for NCAA Tournament
WESTERN CW CL W L
Iowa -T 10 2 31 3
Michigan -T 10 2 22 8
Indiana -T 10 2 29 5
Illinois -T 6 6 20 11
Northwestern 6 6 16 14
Minnesota 5 7 14 15
Purdue 5 7 14 15
Ohio State 4 8 14 16
Wisconsin 3 9 14 15
Chicago 1 11 6 23
IVY GROUP CW CL W L
Princeton -T 7 3 16 15
Columbia 6 4 15 14
Yale 5 5 17 13
Dartmouth 5 5 14 15
Pennsylvania 4 6 11 18
Cornell 3 7 8 21
MISSOURI VALLEY CW CL W L
Kansas State -T 12 0 28 3
Kansas -T 9 3 22 9
Iowa State 7 5 19 10
Nebraska 4 8 10 20
Missouri 4 8 14 16
Drake 4 8 8 21
Oklahoma 2 10 9 20
MOUNTAIN STATES CW CL W L
Colorado A&M -T 6 2 16 15
Colorado 4 4 17 12
Denver 2 6 11 18
PACIFIC COAST CW CL W L
Oregon State -T 6 1 24 8
Washington -T 6 1 26 6
Cal -T 4 3 21 11
Oregon 3 4 14 16
Stanford 3 4 16 13
Washington State 3 4 14 15
Southern Cal 2 5 14 16
Idaho 1 6 10 19
SOUTHERN CW CL W L
Kentucky -T 10 1 29 7
N Carolina St -T 9 2 30 5
North Carolina 6 5 18 13
Alabama Polytech 6 5 12 19
Virginia 6 5 13 18
Clemson 5 6 18 13
Alabama 5 6 16 14
Tennessee 5 6 11 20
Virginia Tech 4 7 14 15
Georgia Tech 4 7 12 17
Georgia 4 7 10 19
Mississippi State 2 9 7 22
SOUTHWEST CW CL W L
Oklahoma A&M -T 8 2 24 8
SMU -T 7 3 21 10
Texas 4 6 17 12
Rice 4 6 12 17
Texas A&M 4 6 11 18
Baylor 3 7 10 19
TOP INDEPENDENTS W L
Holy Cross -T 31 2
West Virginia -T 29 5
Duquesne -T 27 5
Saint Louis -T 25 5
Bradley -T 25 6
Dayton -T 23 8
Wake Forest -T 23 8
George Washington -T 22 9
TCU 21 8
New York University -T 21 9
Penn State -T 21 9
Seton Hall -T 21 9
St Johns 21 9
Florida -T 21 9
Utah -T 21 10
Santa Clara -T 21 10
LSU -T 20 10
Vanderbilt -T 20 10
Brigham Young 20 10
Saint Josephs (Pa) 19 10
UCLA 19 11
Notre Dame 19 11
Ohio 18 11
Cincinnati -T 18 12
Louisville 17 12
Fordham 17 12
Marquette 17 12
Marshall 17 12
St Mary's 17 12
Tulsa 17 12
Pittsburgh 17 13
Davidson 17 13
Georgetown 16 13
Duke 16 13
Rutgers 16 13
South Carolina 16 13
Maryland 16 13
Rhode Island 15 14
Arizona 15 14
Temple 15 14
Western Kentucky 15 14
Mississippi 15 14
Connecticut 15 15
St Bonaventure 15 15
Despite the loss in the title game to Indiana, West Virginia can take solace in the fact they had another outstanding recruiting class. In fact, the Mountaineers 1905 class of freshman is ranked the best in college basketball with Washington, Iowa, St John's and Cincinnati rounding out the top five.
Three of the top 18 ranked recruits highlight the West Virginia class. They include #9 Yank Fishel, a center from Champaign, Illinois who passed on Indiana at the last minute to switch to West Virginia. He will be joined by a pair of Maryland high schoolers in PG Curly Tipton and SF Donie Martens.
St John's was the surprise destination for the nation's top recruit. PG Bob Hendricks, a high school All-American from Highland Park, New Jersey passed on offers from Bradley, West Virginia and Duquesne among others to join the Redmen.
Kentucky recruit Pug Marvin, a shooting guard from Buffalo, was the MVP of the high school all-star game which brought together the best high school seniors across the country. Marvin had 22 points in the game, won 95-81 by his East squad. In addition to leading in points, his 9 rebounds were also tops in the contest.
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NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
YR WINNER OPPONENT SCORE OTHER FINAL FOUR TEAMS
1901-02 BRADLEY Indiana 79-64 Holy Cross, Duquesne
1902-03 KENTUCKY Iowa 68-59 Indiana, Duquesne
1903-04 WEST VIRGINIA Indiana 75-71 Bradley, California
1904-05 INDIANA West Virginia 65-49 Holy Cross, Iowa
PRO BASKETBALL
The Eastern Basketball League added two teams but lost one prior to it's fourth season. Two Pennsylvania teams in the Reading Bears and Johnstown Johnnies joined the league while the Millvale Glass Blowers, after a dreadful 15-41 season a year ago, folded. With ten teams the league decided increase the number of games from 56 to 60 per club as well as expand the playoffs to include the top two teams from each division and not just the division winners. Each playoff round would remain a best-of-five series for the time being.
The Wilmington Peaches continued to dominate the West Division, as they feasted on the two new entries to help them post a league record .767 winning percentage. In it's 3 years in the league the Peaches are 129-43, far and away the best record of any franchise. Center Dick Hauge remains a big reason why. In 3 years in the EBL after winning the NCAA player of the year award at Bradley in 1901-02, Hauge has averaged 27.5 ppg. He was a second team all-star each of his first two seasons but broke through this year to win his first league MVP award, while leading the loop in ppg with 30.2 and finishing second to Pittsburgh's Willard McNew in rebounds with an 11.3 average per game.
As for the Homesteaders, they finished with a 30-30 record but that was still good enough to earn a playoff spot under the new system. Second year center Willard McNew (23.6 ppg, 13.1 rpg) and PF Bubba Gibson (25.7 ppg, 10.5 rpg) remained the focal point of the Pittsburgh offense but neither made the first all-star team, primarily because of injuries that forced each of them to miss about a dozen games. Their first round pick was a PG out of Syracuse by the name of Roland McIness. He was brought in to try and balance out their offense and that succeeded to a point with McIness averaging 10.7 ppg and showing some promise for the future.
The third place Wheelers narrowly missed the playoffs as second year guard Joe Hubbard, out of Kansas State, had a breakout year leading the team by averaging 22.5 ppg and giving Philadelphia a second scoring option to go along with Josef Wettermann. Philadelphia also got a nice selection with their second round draft pick, as Pretzel Tully, a center out of Tulsa, averaged 11.3 ppg and 10.0 rpg. Expansion Johnstown actually tied the Wheelers with 28 wins as the Johnnies had a balanced attack led by center Ken Wardle, who came over from Philadelphia, and forward Vic Carnevale, who was selected from Bristol in the expansion draft. The Reading Bears finished in last place despite getting guard George Green, who made his second straight first all-star team, from Millville after that franchise ceased operations.
The East Division race was a battle all season and finished with just 5 games separating the top four clubs. New York, at 35-25, and Trenton, two games back of the Wanderers, would earn the playoff spot but Camden and Paterson - both transfers from the West Division - were in the mix until late in the season. Bristol won just 16 games and was absolutely dismal.
The first place Wanderers scored more points than any other club in the EBL, but did so without a true star as 6 players averaged double-figures in points led by small forward Chester Lee's 21.1. Ciriaco Ferrer, a rookie center out of Cal, had a strong debut season. Second place Trenton was again led by Corky Gipson (22.4 ppg) and Orlin Burdick (21.7 ppg) and were now joined by a third scoring threat in rookie Rags Hockett, the 9th pick of the draft out of North Carolina State.
After winning just 13 games a year ago, the Camden Electrics improved to 31-29 this season with much of the credit going to rookie of the year Rufus Nickerson. The first overall pick out of Kentucky averaged 21.0 ppg and gave them a second option to go along with guard Bennie Lent (21.3 ppg). The fourth place Paterson Crescents placed two players on the league's first all-star team in forward Wally Baker and guard Jimmy Hurlburt. Add in rookie guard Al Humphry, the college player of the year from NCAA champion West Virginia, and the Crescents future looks very bright. Things in Bristol, however, were not so bright as the Pile Drivers endured a terrible campaign even though they had a couple of very good players in Harvy Stevens and rookie Ed Brayton, an All-American out of Indiana.
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1904-05 EASTERN BASKETBALL LEAGUE STANDINGS
EAST DIVISION W L GB
New York Wanderers 35 25 -
Trenton Potters 33 27 2.0
Camden Electrics 31 29 4.0
Paterson Crescents 30 30 5.0
Bristol Pile Drivers 16 44 19.0
WEST DIVISION W L GB
Wilmington Peaches 46 14 -
Pittsburgh Homesteaders 30 30 16.0
Philadelphia Wheelers 28 32 18.0
Johnstown Johnnies 28 32 18.0
Reading Bears 23 37 23.0
SCORING LEADERS TM PPG
Dick Hauge WIL 30.2
Wally Baker PAT 25.8
Bubba Gibson PIT 25.7
Willard McNew PIT 23.6
Joe Hubbard PHI 22.5
Corky Gipson TRE 22.4
Orlin Burdick TRE 21.7
Bennie Lent CAM 21.3
Chester Lee NY 21.1
Rufus Nickerson CAM 21.0
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1904-05 ALL LEAGUE FIRST TEAM PPG RPG APG SPG BKPG
C Dick Hauge Wilmington 30.2 11.3 1.7 0.5 4.6 MVP
F Wally Baker Paterson 25.8 8.7 1.6 1.2 1.4
F Corky Gipson Trenton 22.4 6.0 3.9 1.5 1.4
G George Green Reading 20.8 5.9 9.2 1.4 0.2
G Jimmy Hurlburt Paterson 19.0 6.3 9.4 1.3 0.2
The extra round of the playoffs provided some exciting basketball as the West semi-final needed the full five games for Wilmington to advance past Pittsburgh. As he was last season in the playoffs, center Dick Hauge was the difference as he averaged over 30 ppg in the series. The East Final was a mild upset as second place Trenton topped the New York Wanderers in 4 games. New York took the opener before Trenton roared back with 3 straight wins including an 85-84 overtime victory in Game Three.
The finals were a rematch of last season when Wilmington prevailed in 4 games. However, Trenton shocked the defending champs by winning the first two games on the road. Game one's score was 95-76 despite Dick Hauge getting 44 points in a losing effort for Wilmington. The Potters won by being the better team with Otis Burdick (21 pts), Corky Gipson (19), Rags Hockett (18) and center Dick Pfeil (17) all contributing at both ends of the court. Game Two was much the same story as Hauge scored 31 but his Peaches lost 85-68 with Burdick, Gipson and Pfeil all topping 20 points each for Trenton.
Trenton returned home looking for a sweep but it didn't happen as Hauge's 33 points and some help from his supporting cast kept Wilmington alive with an 87-66 win. The series did end the next night as the Trenton four proved better than Wilmington's one star in a 100-91 win. Hauge had 40 points but Pfiel (23), Gipson(22), Burdick (19) and Hockett (18) more than negated it giving Trenton it's first Eastern Basketball League title.
Despite averaging a league high 34.4 ppg to go along with 11.0 rpg, Hauge did not win his second playoff MVP award. The honour instead went to Trenton's Corky Gipson, who was third in playoff scoring with 20.6 ppg behind Hauge and Pittsburgh's Willard McNew.
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EASTERN BASKETBALL LEAGUE CHAMPIONS
01-02 Paterson Crescents defeat Millville Glass Blowers
02-03 Wilmington Peaches defeat Millville Glass Blowers
03-04 Wilmington Peaches defeat Trenton Potters
04-05 Trenton Potters defeat Wilmington Peaches
GOLF
The big story in golf in 1904 came from the European Tour as German Albert Lichtman was becoming a dominant force in the game. The 29 year old won 8 events on the Euro Tour this year and, while he has yet to win a major, it seems like just a matter of time as he has come close a couple of times.
For the first time we had a golfer win more than 1 major in a season as Frenchy Savard, a 44 year old Louisiana born golfer, won both the Masters and the US Open. His hopes for a grand slam were quickly extinguished when he missed the cut at the British Open. Savard had not been a factor on the tour in each of his 8 seasons, but someone caught lightning in a bottle twice in 1904.
THE MASTERS
The Masters leaderboard read like a who's who of golf as rising star Lichtman was just a stroke of the pace and former major winners Calvin Baumgartner, Hayden Gallant, James Fox and Colin O'Higgins all cracked the top ten. In the end it was Savard who prevailed, but it took 4 playoff holes for him to beat Luther Swartz to win his first Green Jacket.
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1904 MASTERS LEADERBOARD
NAME NAT SC MONEY
Frenchy Savard US E $1,619
Luther Swartz US E $990
Gordon Dendy US +1 $720
Albert Lichtman GER +1 $720
Cal Baumgartner US +2 $360
Hayden Gallant CAN +2 $360
Colin O'Higgins IRE +2 $360
US OPEN
The River Course in Blacksburg, Virginia was the site of the 1904 US Open and it was extremely unforgiving. Frenchy Savard followed up his victory at The Masters with another win but he failed to break par in any of his four rounds. Scores under 72 were few and far between as Savard prevailed by a stroke over Gordon Dendy and two-time major tournament winner James Fox. For the 28 year old Dendy, who finished tied for third at The Masters it was a second straight strong showing.
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1904 US OPEN LEADERBOARD
NAME NAT SC MONEY
Frenchy Savard US +13 $1,799
Gordon Dendy US +14 $720
James Fox US +14 $720
Mark Brice US +15 $500
Ike Hill US +17 $400
BRITISH OPEN
Defending champion Lord Lovett nearly made it two in a row but the Englishman came up just short as he lost in a playoff to Len Tucker. The most disappointed golfer after the event had to be American Whitey Gordon. The 43 year old Gordon had a 1 stroke lead on Lovett after 36 holes but carded rounds of 79 and 80 on the weekend to drop into a 10th place tie. James Fox continued his strong summer as the two-time major winner finished in the top ten for the third time in a major this year. The Belfry course near Birmingham, England was unforgiving in it's first time hosting a major and scores reflected that.
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1904 BRITISH OPEN LEADERBOARD
NAME NAT SC MONEY
Len Tucker US +8 $1,754
Lord Lovett ENG +8 $1,072
Floyd Foale US +10 $780
Jackie Adams US +10 $780
Liam Hogan ENG +11 $390
Claude Warren US +11 $390
PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
The PGA championship made a return trip to Oakland Hills in 1904 and for the second time this year 32 year old Calvin Baumgartner was in range of a record 5th major title. Baumgartner, who was 2 strokes off the pace at The Masters, finished just 1 stroke back of winner Joseph Power in a PGA championship that went down to the wire only because the 43 year old Power nearly blew a 4 stroke lead heading into Sunday. Power would card a final round 80 but had scored just low enough to beat 3 golfers by 1, including Baumgartner who gained 8 strokes on the leader in the final day with an even par. Baumgartner's undoing was shooting a 77 on Saturday after being just two strokes behind Power, who led after each day of the event.
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1904 PGA CHAMPIONSHIP LEADERBOARD
NAME NAT SC MONEY
Joseph Power IRE +11 $1,709
Cal Baumgartner US +12 $1,045
David Holmes US +12 $1,045
Carlton Simkins US +12 $1,045
Michael Kiloran IRE +13 $380
Jordan Ritchie SCO +14 $360
Evan Henderson SCO +14 $360
While he failed to show well in a major this year, it was still a very strong season for Walt Berry as the American won 3 events. His success all came on the west coast as he won the Northern California Open in January and in the fall claimed victory at both the San Diego and Long Beach Opens.
Here is the list of all-time major winners thru 1904 (minimum 2 titles)
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MAJOR TOURNAMENT WINNERS
Calvin Baumgartner 4
Frenchy Savard 2
James Foxx 2
Milo Lawrence 2
Walter Mathis 2