02/26/2026
"EIGHTY-FOUR YEARS OF HIGH SCHOOL HOCKEY"
January 16, 1926, marked the first hockey game for a Clinton High School team, some eighty-four years ago. The game was played against Hamilton College freshmen who lost 4-3 to the Clinton team, called the “Maroon and White.”
Players on Clinton’s first high school team were Glyn Davies, Howard Chappell, Red Goering, Bob Suppe, Paul Gaffney, Coach Ray Smith, Gordon Bryant, Ed Ganey, Bert Prettyman, Bob Williams, and Ed Bates.
High School Principal Ray Smith coached the team, which was led by high-scoring forward Bob Williams and team captain Bert Prettyman, son of the Hamilton coach.
Village boys had begun trying to play a new game on the banks of the old Chenango Canal probably just south of the Millhouse Apartments in the early 1920s. Bert Prettyman helped his new schoolmates use patched and glued sticks, a borrowed rubber disk, and the leather puttees worn by the goaltender.
Coach Prettyman watched and helped the boys, and the idea for a school team began. The only problem was that Clinton had a basketball team and with a small school enrollment, having two winter teams would be a problem. Anyhow, the boys continued to play and practice on their own and even scrimmaged some college freshmen.
The members of this first unofficial and informal teenage squad were Bob Williams, Bert Prettyman, Ed “Biff” Bates, Ed Ganey, Ralph Clark, and Charlie Swartwout.
In December 1925, Principal Smith recognized the hockey team, and the basketball team ended for a few seasons.
New Book by Local Historian Richard L. Williams—90 captivating stories of Clinton and Kirkland’s people, places, and rich history.
