1925 Minerva — ‘The Olmstedville Five’

Minerva had a semi-professional basketball team a century ago, which Dr. Lee Sommerville of North Creek sponsored.

“The Olmstedville Five,” as the team was most often called in newspaper reports, was on at least one occasion called “The All Stars” of North Creek/Olmstedville.

“The Cyclones (of Lake George) basketball team was defeated in Minerva last night by the Olmstedville Five by a score of 22–18,” the Lake George correspondent reported in The Glens Falls Times on March 20, 1925. “Yondon starred for the winners while Phelps was high scorer for the locals.

The Olmstedville Five did not fare so well on the road.

“Dr. Lee Sommerville’s five from Oldstedville, kings on their home court in Minerva, came to Warrensburg Saturday evening and lost to Lake George by a score of 33 to 18, in a game which was one-sided from the start to the finish,” The Post-Star reported on March 30. “At no time, from the sound of the first whistle, were the Lake George boys worried.”

Fiegels, center, with seven points, was lead scorer for Olmstedville, and Yandon, right forward, scored five points.

R. Blankenbush, left forward, Potter, right guard, and W. Blankenbush, left guard, scored two points each.

Donnely, right guard, did not score.

“Fiegls, of the Olmstedville team, star man, was ill when he went into the game, but stuck it out.”

Olmstedville defeated Lake George 27–17 on April 9, winning the three-game series 2–1, The Post-Star reported on April 11.

“The Lake George Five played hard, but at no time during the game were the Olmstedville boys in danger. Olmstedville had a system of pass-work that could not be blocked,” The Post Star reported on April 14.

In other 1925 Minerva news collected from historic newspapers of the region:

• The secret to this churning success may never be known.

“A housewife in the Minerva community, says the Warrensburg News correspondent, who bears a well-known reputation for truthfulness, asserts positively that she recently churned butter in just one minute,” the Ticonderoga Sentinel reported on March 12. “This was one of the regular churnings of the week and the amount of butter was about five pounds. Whether this remarkable fact was due to the type of churn used, to the skill of the operator, or to the milk furnished by a grade Guernsey cow, the lady who did the churning does not attempt to say.”

• “The Olmstedville High School girls were victorious in the basketball game on the Newcomb court Friday evening with the Newcomb High School girls, the score being 2 to 1,” the Ticonderoga Sentinel reported on Feb. 26.
• “Elizabeth Dillon, who is teaching school in Minerva, is spending a few days at her home here,” the Newcomb correspondent reported in the Sentinel on March 19.
• “The Newcomb Highschool basketball team traveled to Minerva Friday night and defeated the North Creek boys on the Minerva court,” the Newcomb correspondent reported on March 10. “The Olmstedville girls trimmed the Newcomb girls the same night and place, scoring 6–4.

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