Jan. 13, 1923

BASKETBALL TEAMS GET READY FOR BUSY SCHEDULES

If there is man, woman or child in this city who yearns to play basketball this winter, he or she ought to be able to satisfy that yearning. The Athletic department of the Medford Y. M. C. A. has about completed plans to put over a great season. The second floor of the erstwhile Basket Grocery on North Riverside has been leased by the association and will be kept busy almost literally day and night for the next three months by the league players.

Teams from the South Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Christian and North Methodist churches will compose a five-sided league to play regular scheduled games throughout the season. Just how many of these organizations will put out girls’ teams also has not been determined. There is a chance also for several teams of juniors to play in a league of their own. So that anywhere from six to eight to a dozen teams will be getting wholesome fun and exercise by the basketball route.

The church affiliation and regular attendance clause makes the Y. M. C. A. league a special friend of the church people. It also gives the individual who can not lay claim to great prowess as a hoop artist, or whose high school days are over, and opportunity to get something out of the basketball season besides exercising his lungs from the bleachers. A moderate amount of athletics for all of us is the objective of the league.

Members of teams are giving considerable time and labor to the work of putting the hall in shape for the opening of the season. Mr. Dunlap, as proprietor, has also given a good deal of labor to the same cause. The enterprise deserves the loyal support of the city for it is planned for the good of our young people. The nominal charge at games will be to cover running expenses only.

Mention should be made of the fact that Copco has granted free electric current to the Y. M. C. A. league for the period of the basketball season. The material for wiring the hall was furnished at cost by Paul’s Electric Co. The enterprise is thus a concerted community effort to provide wholesome entertainment for the city’s young folks.

There will be a special meeting of the league at the newly equipped hall Monday night at 7:30 to adopt a playing schedule both for hours of practice and regular games. Every organization concerned should have several representatives present.

— Alissa Corman; acorman@rosebudmedia.com