1925 Eastern States tournment — Eddie Wineapple
Edward “Lefty” Wineapple, who played in the 1925 Eastern States High School Basketball Tournament at Glens Falls, was a three-sport high school and college athlete who went on to play professionally in two sports.
“His (professional) career in both sports was brief. He appeared in one Major League game with the Washington Senators late in the summer of 1929 and played ten games for Syracuse in the American Basketball League during the 1929–30 season,” according to the “Pro Basketball Encyclodia.”
He played for four seasons in the Cape Cod Baseball League, a summer league of college amateur and semi-professional athletes.
Wineapple was captain of the Salem High School team of Massachusetts, which was considered an underdog in the sixth annual local tournament at Glens Falls Armory on Warren Street.
He played basketball, football and baseball at Salem, The Post-Star reported on March 30, 1925.
After graduation, he continued to play all three sports at Syracuse University, and he was captain of the Freshman teams in all three sports, according to the Jewish Basketball Museum.
Wineapple transferred from Providence College his sophomore year, where he was a basketball standout for three seasons.
In his senior season at Providence, Wineapple was the nation’s leading scorer, with 278 points in 20 games, and he was named a college All-American in both basketball and baseball.
In 1925, the Salem High School team was considered one of the best in the Boston area, The Post-Star reported.
Wineapple was captain of the Salem High School team of Massachusetts, which was considered an underdog in the sixth annual local tournament at Glens Falls Armory on Warren Street.
“Salem High School … comes to Glens Falls this week as a dark horse of the tournament,” The Post-Star reported. “This club of six-footers, captained by Eddie Wineapple, defeated the champions of Maine in the recent Tuft’s tournament, but then succumbed by one point to the tournament finalists, with two members of the team out with the grippe.”
St. John’s Military Academy of Manlius, in Onondaga County, defeated Salem 23–19 in the opening round of the single-elimination tournament play, The Glens Falls Times reported on April e.
Wineapple scored 14 of Salem’s points — landing 5 baskets and four foul shots.
“Salem came, saw, and was conquered, even to Eddie Wineapple, an artist of the court,” The Post-Star reported.
Click here to read the most recent previous 1925 Eastern States tournament post.
