1915 Muncie Congerville Athletic Club season

Muncie Congerville AC - 1915 The Congerville AC proved to be in the middle of the pack, as Indiana independent teams go. Starting off with 2 decisive victories over neighboring teams by a combined score of 66-0, the Congervilles took a week off and then the next game at Wabash was cancelled due to rain. Traveling to Bluffton and Young America, the Congervilles tacked on 2 more impressive wins by a combined score of 93-0. Outscoring their opponents 159-0 in the first 4 games, the Congervilles were ready to take on a stronger team. Traveling to Fort Wayne, the Friars demolished the Congervilles 109-0!. Clearly the Friars were in a different class than Congerville.

Because of the disastrous defeat at the hands of the Friars, the Wabash AA cancelled the 2-game series with Congerville scheduled for October 31st and November 14th. Shaking off the clobbering by the Friars, the Congervilles were home for 3 of the next 4 games. Winning all 4 games by a combined score of 258-18, the Congervilles erased the memory of the Fort Wayne defeat and displayed an impressive 8-1-0 record to date. In mid-November, start quarterback Coonie Checkeye left the team and signed up with the Fort Wayne Friars after the Friars lost quarterback Skeet Lambert to injury. Checkeye played 2 games with the Friars, winning against Ann Arbor and a tie game against Wabash AA.

Feeling pretty good about themselves, the Congervilles scheduled a game at Cincinnati against the powerful Celts. Again, a stronger opponent brought the Congervilles back to earth, with a 48-0 victory for the Celts. The other team in town of any note was the Congerville Flyers. After the Flyers chalked up a victory over the Redkey Tigers by a score of 61-3, (the same team that the CAC beat in the first game of the season 54-0), the Flyers were hurling defies at the CAC for a Thanksgiving city championship game. Ignoring the defies, the CAC went ahead and scheduled a Turkey day game against the Anderson Remy team in Anderson. The Remys were in the same class as the Congervilles and the game ended in a 0-0 tie.

The 1915 season can be summarized quickly. 4 easy wins against lesser teams, 1 crushing loss against a powerful team, another 4 easy wins against lesser teams, followed by another crushing loss against a powerful team, then a tie with a team of similar caliber. 8 wins produced a combined score of 417-18, but the 2 losses produced a combined score of 157-0 in the opposite direction.

The nearby Anderson Herald had the Congerville AC ranked as the 4th best team in the state, behind Pine Village, Wabash AA and the Fort Wayne Friars. Those 3 teams were clearly first-rate teams. The second tier of teams consisted of the Congerville AC, Anderson Remys, Elkhart AC, Hammond Clabbys, Goshen Shamrocks, Indianapolis Marion Club, Newcastle Maxwell-Briscoes and South Bend Independents.

The 1915 Congerville AC and the 1915 Congerville Flyers merged for 1916 and retained the name of the Congerville Flyers. Earl Ball continued on and managed the Congerville Flyers. Both the Congerville AC and the Congerville Flyers teams provided the nucleus for the 1920 Muncie Flyers, one of the original 14 teams of the APFA.

Date	Day	H/A	Opponent	Score	Atten. W/L/T	Location	Field	Comments 09/05	Sun	A	Redkey Tigers	54-0	 	Won	Redkey	Phillys Park 09/12	Sun	A	Gas City Ramblers	12-0	 	Won	Gas City 09/19	Sun	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	no game scheduled 09/26	Sun	A	Wabash AA	 	 	 	Wabash	Carroll Street Field	cancelled - rain 10/03	Sun	A	Bluffton Maroons	68-0	 	Won	Bluffton 10/10	Sun	A	Young America	25-0	 	Won	Young America 10/17	Sun	A	Fort Wayne Friars	0-109	 	Lost	Fort Wayne	League Park 10/24	Sun	H	Elwood AC	58-6	300	Won	Muncie	Westside Park	(1) 10/31	Sun	H	Indianapolis Tuxedos	59-12	 	Won	Muncie	Westside Park	(2) 11/07	Sun	A	Portland AC	61-0	 	Won	Portland	Bergmans Park 11/14	Sun	H	Bluffton Maroons	80-0	 	Won	Muncie	Westside Park 11/21	Sun	A	Cincinnati Celts	0-48	 	Lost	Cincinnati 11/25	Thu	A	Anderson Remys	0-0	 	Tied	Anderson (1) on 10/24, there was an away game scheduled vs. the Marion Club of Indianapolis, but that game was cancelled by the Marion Club due to injuries to numerous Marion Club players

(2) The Tuxedos claimed to hold the Indianapolis city championship

Final Record: 8-2-1

click here for 1914 season              click here for Congerville Flyers 1915 season

Roster

Coach:

Manager: Earl W. Ball, Ray Masters

Players Name	HS/College	09/05	09/12	09/26	10/03	10/10	10/17	10/24	10/31	11/07	11/14	11/21	11/25 Baldwin, Cliff "Kip"	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	LE Barnes, John	 	 	 	 	 	 	 LG	LG	LG	 	LG	*	 RG Brunka	from Marion Eagles 200lb	 	 	*	 	 	 RT	HB	RH	 	RT	p	 RT Burns	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	FB	p	LE Busher	 	 	 	 	 	 	LT Carmen	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	RH Checkeye, Severin "Coonie"	 (Captain)	QB	 	QB	 	QB	QB	QB	QB	 	(fwf)	(fwf) Checkeye, Joe W.	 	 	 	 	 	*	 LH	LH	LH	 	*	*	 QB/lh Clark													C Cline	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	C	RG	 	LG Hellas, "Stash"	 	 	 	 	 	C	 C	C	C Hole, Louis "Sarp"	 	 	 	 	 	FB	 FB	FB	RE	 	E	p	 FB/re Knecht, "Dutch"	 	 	 	 	 	 	 LE	LE	LH	E	LE	p	 qb Lewellen, Ira	 	 	 	 	 	FB	 fb	FB	FB	 	*	p	 LH/fb Martin	Anderson(city)	T	 	 	 	 	 RG Miller	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	p Morton	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	RG	LG Quirk, Pat	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	RG	p	 LG Quirk, William	 from Flyers	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	RH	*	RH Reasoner, "Dutch"	 	E	 	 	 	 	 RE	LE	 	 	RE	p Reasoner, W.	 	 	 	 	 	 	RH Reynolds, Bobby	 	 	 	 	 	 	 rh	RH	RH Risher, L. "Log"	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	LT	LT	 	LT	p	LT Sellars	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	p Shimer	 	T	 	 	 	 	 	LT	RG	 	RG	p Smelzer	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	RT	 	le Sollers	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	C Smith	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	LH Turner, Fred	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	C	 	 RE Wright	 	 	 	 	 	 	 rt	RT	RT	 	LT	p


 * - played in game, position unknown

p - was called to practice before the game

Coonie Checkeye played for the Fort Wayne Friars on 11/14 and 11/21

Scoring

09/05 - S. Checkeye(TD-6), no record of who scored the other points

09/12 - no record of who scored the 12 points

09/19 - no game scheduled

09/26 - cancelled - rain

10/03 - no record of who scored the 68 points

10/10 - T. Hold(TD), J. Checkeye(TD), S. Checkeye(TD), no record of who scored the rest of the points

10/17 - no scoring by CAC

10/24 - Knecht(TD/TD), no record of who scored the rest of the points

10/31 - no record of who scored the 59 points

11/07 - Knecht(TD), no record of who scored the other points

11/14 - W. Quick(TD-4), J. Checkeye(TD-4), Shimer(TD), Barnes(TD), Knecht(TD), Lewellen(TD)

11/21 - no scoring by CAC

11/25 - no scoring by CAC

Sources: Muncie Star, Muncie Evening Press, Anderson Herald, Elwood Call-Leader