St. Clair County Illinois - 1897 Football Team - East St. Louis High The first team to play Rugby football in East St. Louis was organized by the pupils of East St. Louis High School in the fall of 1897 without the sanction of the Faculty or Board of Eduction. After some preliminary practice the team captain, Orville "Roc" SEITER, who might be called the father of football in East St. Louis, arranged a schedule of games which were paided at the old Denverside baseball park somewhere near the site of St. Regis Church. The practice field was located across the street from the old Rock High School on the lot of the northest corner of Tenth Street and Summit Avenue. The following are the team members: John P. METZEN Garfield SHERRER Joseph TAYLOR August EGGMAN, Fay RAITH Orville SEITER Sam MOORE Raymond HENDRICKS Paul S. ABT Walter LAUMAN Fred MOORE Charles RING Valle HARRIS All members were still living in 1933 Transcribed from the 1933 East St. Louis High School Athletic Annual by Kay Diekemper 15375 Isaak Road Carlyle, IL 62231 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Kay Diekemper (© 1997 Kay Diekemper)