There once was a Time
Huntington High School was a perennial Suffolk power in baseball for a thirty year period, stretching from the early 1930’s into the 1960’s. The man more responsible than anyone for this Golden Era was William Class, who came to the district in 1929 and who had been recruited by professional teams before deciding to embark on a teaching and coaching career.
Coach Class was a giant in the annals of Blue Devil athletics. His teams won seven county baseball crowns and were counted among the best year in and year out. But, there once was a time when a girls’ baseball program flourished at Huntington High School, and the sport was extremely popular among female students.
Huntington High School in the 1930’s was located on Main Street in the building that today is used as Town Hall. Outdoor athletic teams used Heckscher Park’s fields, as did physical education classes. The girls’ athletic program was basically an intramural one in nature and had club-type status. The explosion in women’s athletics was still decades away.
With the success of the boys’ baseball program, the sport was all the rage in the school and naturally, the girls wanted to get in on the action.
The 1934 edition of The Huntingtonian, features a photo of about two dozen senior girls’ posed for a group shot with Heckscher Park’s still standing large gazebo prominent in the background. The girls are shown wearing athletic attire appropriate for the era, including skirts and while collared shirts.
The 1935 edition of The Huntingtonian noted “Since the athletic field at Heckscher’s Park was not open to the girls this year, a field on Park Avenue was used. Nearly a hundred girls turned out for a successful season.”
Baseball’s popularity continued to run unabated in 1936. A large group of girls was coached by Miss Theodora Cornell, a physical education teacher at the school who held at Bachelor of Science degree from New York University.
“The ever popular sport of baseball annually draws heavily from the student ranks,” according to a report in the 1936 edition of The Huntingtonian. “This year over seventy-five girls turned out to try their luck on the diamond. Due to the large number of candidates it was necessary to divide the group into six teams: the Freshmen and Sophomores having two teams each and the Juniors and Seniors one apiece. There is very keen competition between the various teams, resulting in fast, close games. The girls have certainly adapted themselves well to the old but still popular game of baseball.”
Student Marie Walsh served as manager of the girls’ baseball program in 1936. The group was photographed for the yearbook with their backs facing the north side of the Heckscher Art Museum.
The girls’ baseball program is part of the tradition and history of Huntington High School. It is doubtful a similar program will ever be organized again, especially with the advent of girls’ softball. The girls’ program harkens back to a time when baseball was the king of spring sports and the community turned out in droves to watch the Blue Devil Nine play home games.
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