The defending basketball champions of Fairport with only one veteran in the lineup, ventured out on the 1940-41 season with virtually nothing but hope. Only Captain Herman Stolt of the previous year’s county champions remained, around whom to weld a combination to represent Fairport on the polished hardwood. Three of the first six games were lost but as the coach’s tutelage was gradually transformed into basketball proficiency, the quintet completed their schedule with the loss of but one other league game.

At the close of the season, Captain Stolt was honored with the captaincy of the mythical all-county teams selected by the two Rochester newspapers. William Burke, shifty forward, and Howard Whitman, sensational senior rookie, also closed their high school basketball careers with a blaze of glory. Ralph Wood and Raymond Williams will be back to carry on their able work next year.

The East Rochester game at East Rochester will be remembered not only for Fairport’s 25-22 victory but also for the confusion resulting when someone pulled the wall plug of the electric timing device with ten seconds to go. No one knows how many extra seconds Fairport protected their slim lead.

The following week, Spencerport, who went on to win the title, came to town and took home a 35-31 decision after a bitterly fought game.

After the Christmas holidays our team lost a close one to Webster on the diminutive Webster court, 30-29, when a purple and gold clad player made himself a hero by sinking a foul in the closing seconds of the game.

From then on the team won four straight games, losing only in a non-league game to Williamson, and came to the second Spencerport game. By this time it was apparent that the county championship hinged on the outcome of this one game and feeling ran high as this climax drew near. It is not necessary to remind ourselves of the sad happenings of that night but it was a disappointed band of rooters who returned from Spencerport.

The season closed with victories in the two remaining league games and a loss to Monroe High in Rochester. As we look back over the season we feel that the players, in achieving a tie for second place in the Monroe County League, deserve far more credit than any team in years and that Coach Cummings may count this year’s team as his greatest coaching achievement.