Lawn Hockey Team (1900)

Lawn hockey was introduced to the Springfield Training School by Dr. McCurdy in the fall of 1896, and after a season of play the English rules were adopted. As of 1903, the school was the only place in the country to play the English game. The field is a little smaller than a football field. For more information on lawn hockey rules, see “The Games of Lawn Hockey, Tether Ball, Golf-croquet, Hand Tennis, Volley Ball, Hand Polo, Wicket Polo, Laws of Badminton, Drawing Room Hockey, Garden Hockey,” published by the American Sports Publishing Company (New York, New York) in 1903.

A facsimile of this image was found with an SC number (SC18889) and a note saying that it was scanned from a glass negative. However, no glass negative can be found and the facsimile is identical to the lantern slide. We do not know whether the facsimile was made from the lantern slide or from a glass negative that is now missing. The SC file was not large enough to justify keeping and was discarded in January 2014.

This lantern slide shows the YMCA Training School’s (now known as Springfield College) 1900 lawn hockey team. The members shown are [top row, L to R] Merrell W. Crawford (class of 1900) (on crutches), George H. Hunter (class of 1900), John D. Stehman (class of 1901), William H. Bennett (class of 1900), unidentified student, [kneeling row, L to R] John F. Simons (class of 1900), Frederick J. Hutchins (class of 1900), Jack E. Sullivan (class of 1902), Richard L. Wittig (class of 1900), [seated row, L to R] Albert M. Chesley (class of 1900), and Walter W. Saunders (class of 1900).