Historical Association #3

[Wayne23]

Historical Association #3

I am Edmund Grayson VII. My 6 times great grandfather, Charles Grayson, was the third person to walk off of the Mayflower and onto Plymouth Rock in 1620.

After suffering through two horrid winters he and his wife, Sarah, made their way to what is now Lowell, MA. He claimed all of the land from what is now Lawrence, down to Billerica, across to Littleton, up through Groton to the New Hampshire border. He did all of the necessary paperwork, made it stick, and the family owned all of that land for generations. Needless to say we made a rather tidy fortune from it, to the point that my 3 times great grandfather, Edmund II, was worth what would be, here in 1907, several BILLION dollars. The family has carefully guarded that delicious sum, and the current family patriarch, Edmund Grayson V, who still goes to the office every single day, at the age of 88, in order to run the enterprise, is worth all of those billions. His eldest son, my father Edmund VI, also goes to the office every day as 2nd in command. My younger brother, Josephus, is the business man of my generation. I am not.

While I have not been written out of the various family wills, I AM considered something of a black sheep, due to the fact that my chief passion in life has always been, not money, but the glorious game of basketball.

But, I shall allow the rest of the family to cherish their love of money, which some say is the root of all evil, while I pursue my career as a coach.

Make no mistake, I am “ridiculously well to do,” as a wonderful author puts it, worth well over 100 million dollars, so I am completely free to follow my heart with no concerns regarding my personal wellbeing. In any case, on to the topic at hand.

I was born in 1872, at our 20 room home in Lowell. I was the third of seven, and the first son. I was educated in exclusive private schools from kindergarten through Phillips Exeter Academy, and, of course, Harvard. I learned basketball early and was a four year starting Point Guard at both PEA and Harvard. As a PG it was inevitable that I learn and know nearly as much as a coach. My natural interest led me to seek out the members of the coaching staffs who were willing to teach me more.

Upon graduation from Harvard I secured a job teaching English literature and coaching the team at PEA. I also coached cross country in the fall, and track and field in the spring, although I must admit, I am far less interested in those sports. Still, I give it my all!

I was very successful as a basketball coach almost at once. In my 12 years here at PEA I have won 11 league titles, and won 6 state championships including 3 in my last 5 seasons.

After 8 or 9 seasons I felt that I was ready to serve as head coach at the university level, but the opportunity never presented itself until just now. More about that shortly.

But first, a bit more about my personal life. I majored in world lit at Harvard. I have always passionately loved good books- fiction, historical fiction, history, biography, science related- almost all sort of books, but especially the “great books.” I think I have been a good teacher because I have managed to bring my passion for books to my students. In any case, I find the time to read approximately two books each week, and have done so since I was ten years old or younger. I often sacrifice sleep to indulge this passion, but I have no regrets.

Aside from teaching and reading, I engage in walking to stay fit, approximately an hour each day that weather permits. When the always intriguing New England weather does not permit me to walk outdoors, I try to walk in the gym at PEA.

At age 28 I was introduced to a beautiful 18 year old debutante, Winifred Lawrence, of the Lawrence, MA family. We hit it off immediately, and were married in the spring of 2000. Alas, she died in childbirth 11 months later, as did the child.

I mourned her for a long, sad time. At the urging of my family I allowed myself to be introduced to another 18 year old debutante, Flora Lodge, of the Boston Lodges, two years ago. I felt and feel that the age difference of 15 years is a bit much, but Flora and I get on perhaps even better than did Winifred and I, even after 14 months of marriage. Our first child is due any day now. I dread that day immensely, given what happened last time, but Flora assures me she will be fine. If I may be a bit too personal for a moment, Flora explains that she has a more womanly body than did the very slender Winifred. She explains that her wide hips were made for bearing children, and she hopes to have several. Women seem to know far more regarding these matters than do men, except for physicians, and are also far more comfortable discussing such things. I find myself squirming when she begins to address this sort of thing, at which times she laughs at me. Oh well, she is young, and I love her very much.

We live in a modest, for our class, 12 room home here in Exeter. We have a housekeeper and a cook to help indoors. Their husbands take care of the property. Both families live in a two family servants’ cottage on the property. We have engaged the services of a nanny, who will begin work as soon as the baby arrives. She and her husband, who will serve as my chauffeur and valet (It would seem that the automobile is here to stay, alas), will live- well, as you will note shortly, we are about to relocate, so more on that shortly. I have managed to live all these years without a valet. I have felt the need sorely, and welcome his arrival.

Thus begins my tale. The next installment shall be placed here in due course.

[Wayne23]

4/9/1907: Today I was offered the job of head coach at Bryant College in Smithfield, Rhode Island. I accepted, signing a three year contract for slightly more money than I was making to teach and coach three sports at PEA. Money is not an issue for me, of course, but one must do one’s best in that regard, none the less.

Flora will be joining me as soon as she and the servants can prepare the Exeter house for sale, and as soon as we find suitable housing here. The Smithfield area is a bit of a wasteland in many ways, but we have engaged an attorney who specializes in finding the type of home we seek, with accommodations for the help.

We will ship our furniture, clothing, and all else by rail, and then horse drawn moving carts will bring it the few miles from the nearest station to wherever we end up living. Our chauffeur will drive the brand new Thomas Touring car here, return to Exeter by rail, and then drive the Westinghouse Limousine I just purchased here, with the rest of the servants. Flora will come by rail and then she will come via horse drawn carriage from the station. In her condition an automobile is simply too dangerous. Should the baby arrive before she moves here, both of them will use the same mode of transportation.

That aside, my first task is engaging a #3 assistant coach. #1 and #2 accepted my offer to stay on.

4/16: I found a decent #3 assistant.

4/18: Flora gave birth to Edmund Grayson VIII. Mother and baby seem to be doing fine. I took the train up to Exeter to see them.

I found a beautiful house near Burrillville, about 5 miles from campus. The automobile will make this workable. It has 14 rooms. We will need to build servants quarters but the house is on 27 acres, so there is plenty of room. We will purchase two houses across the street as temporary homes for the servants. Flora, the baby, and the servants should be able to move here by mid-May.

[Wayne23]

5/22: Flora, Edmund, and the servants arrive today. There will be a great deal of work involved in moving into three houses. I have engaged temporary help to assist us.

5/25: Plugging along. The staff and I will utilize two offenses against man to man: Princeton, although I shudder to use the name of an Ivy League rival, and Triangle. We want to take our shots while close to the basket. We will favor the inside game.

On defense we will use man to man about 60-65% of the time, 1-3-1, the rest of the time. We will press occasionally, but not regularly. Rebounding is a strong priority, as is taking care of the ball.

My Athletic Director has given us but a single goal: Do not finish last in the Northeast conference. My hope is to finish in the top half. The 10 team conference is not strong.

On the home front, I would hesitate to say that everyone is moved in, but we are all sleeping in our own beds. There is still a good deal of settling in to be done, and, of course, there are two houses under construction, which means that in August or September all of the servants will be moving again.

We have a large … I believe the term is “garage,” on the property. It will house several vehicles- our two automobiles, a horse drawn carriage, and something called a “tractor,” which is a brand new motorized vehicle that cuts down hay and grass, among other things. There will be room for other vehicles as needed.

We also have a barn for our four horses, our four cows and a bull, and our sheep. There is also a chicken coop.

This property is well equipped to suit our needs.

6/5: We have 7 scholarships available. This is a great many. We hope to land 4 inside players and 3 guards, but we shall see.

At home, we are settling in rather well. My chauffeur brings me to the Chace Athletic Center each morning and then returns to our property to do his other work. I phone home when I am ready to be picked up at the end of the day. The telephone is a wonderful modern convenience. I do not know how I would do my work without it. I am constantly on the phone with recruits, as is my recruiting assistant. I call other coaches for various reasons. During the season I call our unpaid helpers in the various communities where we play rivals. My scouting assistant goes to games, but obviously, he can only go to a rare number. We have people who are somewhat knowledgeable of the game. Most are Bryant alums. They go to games in and near their communities, and give me reports regarding what they have seen. At times my scouting assistant makes these calls, but in either case, they are vital. They tell us what offenses and defenses the teams use, how often they press, and they give us information about the strengths and weaknesses of the various players. At some future time, no doubt

Mr. Edison’s moving picture invention will be utilized for much of this but that seems to be a long way into the future.

7/31: We’re looking at about 20 recruits, but not many are showing interest. We expected this to be difficult. Bryant has not had a winning season in several years. We intend to put together a weak pre-conf. schedule this year in order to change that, and hopefully to attract recruits in the spring, when we will be far more likely to be successful.

8/21: 3 PGs, 3 PFs, and a C.

Edmund is doing well at 3 ½ months old. He seems healthy and is a very lively infant. We are delighted.

Flora recovered very quickly from childbirth and she wants to have another child as soon as possible. She would very much like to have a large family. While we have a nanny, as stated earlier, Flora spends a great deal of time with Edmund.

9/18: Lost 3 recruits.

We have a schedule that should allow us to win some games.

9/25: Lost 2 more.

The servants’ houses are finished and they are in the process of moving in.

10/2: Lost 8 recruits so far. Haven’t landed a single one.

1st day of practice. I think we’ll be okay.

Flora says baby #2 should be here in late April or early May. Great news!

10/9: Lost another recruit. Guessing I won’t land any until spring, and saving my money.

10/23: Got a PF! #235.

11/6: 7 man rotation for now:

Soph Deo Burr starts at PG. Senior Tod Geer starts at SG. Senior Scot Linn backs up at both. Senior Joe Hays is waiting to get his opportunity.

Senior Vin Gare is at SF with frosh Dak Shay subbing. Gare subs at PF.

Frosh Ed Cary starts at PF, subs at C.

Junior Fred Will starts at C.

We’re not deep so it’s unlikely anyone else will play other than these eight.

Our family and servants are all settled in and life is proceeding normally. We all love our new home and we are quite happy here!

[Wayne23]

11/20: 1-1. We were beaten badly at New Jersey Tech. The staff put our collective heads together, made a few changes, and we won by 5 at South Carolina Upstate. We are just terrible with the ball so far, averaging a dismal 19.5 turnovers, and only 14 assists.

Our first 5 games, 7 of 8, 8 of 10 are away, so we will be more than fortunate to end up 5-5 in our first 10.

12/4: 4-2. I’m thrilled!

Dak Shay is now staring at PF. Ed Cary moves to SF and Vin Gare sits.

12/25: 6-3, RPI #198, but again, weak opposition. +2.3 PPG, +6.7 RBs, -0.9 TOs (Still way too high at 16.8).

SG Tod Geer leads us with 13.4 PPG and 3.2 assists per. Center Fred Will gets 11.6. PG Deo Burr gets 10.7. Shay has responded very well to being put in the starting lineup.

We have exceeded expectations in the pre-conference portion of the season. Let’s see what we can do in the Northeast Conference.

At 8 months of age little Edmund doesn’t understand what all the holiday fuss is about but he certainly is enjoying it!

[Wayne23]

1/1/1908: 7-4, 1-1. If we’re going to get anywhere in conference we’ll need to win a few road games.

1/15: 10-5, 4-2. The road win helped. We are in a 5 way tie for first. All that means is no team stands out. Geer, Will, and Burr continue to lead us in scoring, and Shay and Cary in rebounding. TOs are coming down, but still at 16.0.

1/29: 13-6, 7-3, RPI #131. +1.3 PPG, +4.5 RBs, even with TOs (14.9). In a 3 way tie for 1st.

We need to recruit. Still only one recruit landed.

The automobile man, Henry Ford, just introduced the Model T. My chauffeur and I are driving to Boston to take a look.

2/12: 15-8, 9-5, RPI #. In a two way tie for 1st in the Northeast conf. 5 teams are one back, with 4 to play. I’m delighted!

We got a PG, #502.

2/26: We end the regular season at 17-10, 11-7, RPI #133, in a 4 way tie for 1st, but we’re the #4 seed. I guess anything could happen in the conference tournament.

+0.2 PPG, +4.2 RBs, -0.2 TOs- still too high at 14.7, but better.
A colored man, Jack Johnson, just won the heavyweight boxing title. He seems arrogant as can be. I’m not certain how I feel about this.

We’ll begin tournament play against #5 seed Mount Mary, 14-14, 10-8. They defeated us by 21 there but we won by 9 here. They seem to be more an outside than an inside team.

[Wayne23]

3/1: 71-66. The game went back and forth. We finally took charge with about 8 minutes left, going on a 9-2 run to take a 9 point lead. We hung on after that.

24, 5 for our Center Fred Will, 18, 6, 4 for 6th man Scot Linn, who subs at SG and SF. 16 TOs, but they also had 16, and we were +6 in RBs.

#8 seed Scared Heat beat #1 in an upset, so we play them in the semifinal round. They’re 14-14, 9-9. We won by 9 here, then lost by 11 there. We think we’re a little better but we’ll need to play well.

3/2: 75-60. 18, 5, 4 for Will, 15, 4, 4 for SG Tod Geer, 14 for PG Deo Burr. 18 TOs, but they had 19.

#3 seed Robert Morris, 17-13, 11-7, for the title. We won by 13 at our place and lost by 17 there. Again, I think we’re the better team. But not by a great deal, and we’ll need to play well.

3/3: 74-61, the title, and a 20 win season! Not to mention a trip to the NCAA tournament. Not in my wildest dreams did I expect this!

28 for Geer, 18 for Burr, 10 assists for Linn. +9 RBs, and only -1 TO. We led most of the way.

3/12: We’re 20-10, 11-7, tourney champs, RPI #102. We’re in but a #14 is the best we can hope for and it will more likely be a #15 or even #16.

#14 South. We play #3 seed, #12 ranked Oklahoma ST, 23-7. We haven’t played a ranked team all season. We’re in WAY over our head. I’m working on playing deliberate ball, taking care of the ball, and playing good D without fouling. That’s all we can do.

3/17: 73-91. They were bigger than us and quicker than us. My boys played well and I am very proud of them! 23 for Geer, 17, 12 for Will. Only 13 TOs.

We’re losing some good people. Geer, Linn, Gare. We NEED to sign more recruits.

Teddy Roosevelt just announced he will not run for re-election as President. Too bad.

4/3: #2 Louisville won the national title.

4/4: Awards: Senior Tod Geer is the Northeast Conference POY, and 1st team all star. PF Dak Shay is Frosh OY, Defensive POY. Junior Center Fred Will also made the 1st team. I had the honor of being named Conference COY!

4/9: We jumped from 5 to 13 in Team Prestige.

Oh my! I didn’t expect this. The phone won’t stop ringing. Teams with TPs as high as 27, 28, 30 are calling to offer me the Head Coaching job.

Flora and I are discussing it and we feel we must at least explore some of the better offer.

4/11: We’re going to Fairborn, Ohio- Wright State University. $50,000 budget increase, a team that has a good season and is losing only one starter. TP of 30, as opposed to our 13. We simply cannot pass this up.

Flora will travel to Ohio by rail immediately, since the baby is due in just a few days. I have engaged both a doctor and a midwife to travel with her, just in case the baby decides to arrive during her two day trip. Both will remain with her until the birth of the baby. This was quite expensive, but we can afford it and I am unwilling to take any chances.

I will travel with her. The servants will do what needs to be done to prepare to move our belongings and theirs. My chauffeur will drive the Westinghouse here at once, will go back by rail, and will then drive the Thomas here. Oh, we decided against purchasing the Model T.

So much to do.

4/13: Sure enough, Charles Augustus was born on the train. Mother and son are both doing well.

4/16: #2 assistant left but #1 and #3 stayed. Got a decent #2 assistant!

4/17: Happy first birthday to Edmund.

4/23: I ask for a budget increase. Got $9,000!

We get a good looking PF. Hope to get one or two more, but it’s not likely.

4/30: Got a PG!

We had a great season at Bryant. Now let’s see what we can do at Wright ST!

War in Turkey, a BIG one! And a three year old becomes Emperor of China.

[Wayne23]

5/1: We buy the National basic.

6/5: Looking at some really good transfers, and we have 3 slots open.

6/12: We got a decent looking C who was at Stanford.

6/26: 5 scholarships. We hope to get 3 bigs, 2 guards.

We’re settled in. We found a property near the school that had a lovely home and, on the adjoining property, a three family house. We bought both properties and now treat them as one.

People here in the… “Midwest” is what they call it, are different. New Englanders tend to keep their distance. We are not unfriendly, we simply keep more to ourselves. Here, people are much closer. They call themselves “neighborly” but it feels rather intrusive to Flora and me. Oh well, we will get used to it, I’m sure.

7/4: SOS is now the worldwide distress signal.

There’s a place in Siberia called Tunguska. There was just a miles long explosion there that nobody can explain. Flattened absolutely everything in its path. No one has ever seen anything like it.

8/21: We offer to 3 bigs, 2 guards but there’s not a lot of interest.

Vice President William Howard Taft, a huge 300 pound man, is running against William Jennings Bryan, who is running for the third time. I don’t like either one, but I suppose I’ll vote for Taft.

9/18: Lost 2 recruits.

We’re going to the WS Midwest Invitational vs. Loyola Mount. We’re playing a week schedule.

9/25: Lost 2 more.

10/2: Lost another recruit. It’s getting discouraging and we’re running out of money.

First day of practice. We’re not very deep.

10/9: Finally got a recruit. C, #105. Lost 2.

10/16: Lost 2 more.

10/30: Lost yet another one.

11/6: We will go with a 9 man rotation to start with:

Junior Kiwa Smed returns at PG, backed by junior Cal Coer.

Junior Gab Radd returns at SG, backed by soph Dan Thom.

Frosh Raul Lazo is at SF.

Senior John Colt starts at PF and backs up at C.

Senior Joe Span fills in at PF, and junior Tom Sith fills in at SF and PF. Both Span and Sith started last year so look for them to fight for more minutes.

Senior Mo Bryn starts at C.

I expect to make adjustments as we go along.

We start with one at home, then one on the road, before heading for the WS Midwest against Loyola Mount.

William Howard Taft won the election easily. He will be our next President.

[Wayne23]

11/20: 1-1. Won by 9 at home, lost by 3 on the road. We’re looking things over but it’s too soon to shake up the lineup. We’ll probably make some changes after the WS Midwest invitational. We’re the #5 seed.

11/21 Beat the #4 seed. 16 for SG Gad Radd, 12, 11 for C Mo Bryn, 11 for sub guard Cal Coer. +13 RBs.

Now we face #1 seed Air Force, 3-0. We really think we’re as good as they are or better.

11/22: 80-70. 19, 8, 3 for Bryn. 15, 4, 3 for Smed. 12, 8 for Span, 12, 4 for Lazo. +19 RBs.

#7 seed Cal-Poly, 3-1, for the title.

11/23: 78-71 and the title! 23, 8, 3 for Bryn, 22, 3, 7, 4 for Radd. +12 TOs.

12/4: 5-3. RPI #95.

Bryn, Radd, and sub guard Cal Coer have been leading us. I’d start Coer for PG Kiwa Smed, but he’s not good enough with the ball, at least so far. He may get better as he gets more playing time.

Raul Lazo, my starting SF, broke his ankle on 11/28. Out until late January. Joe Span will start, Tom Sith will get the other minutes. We’ve been giving Span more minutes, and Lazo left, but we’d rather have Lazo available. Oh well, it’s part of the game.

12/25: 8-3. RPI #47. +4.4 PPG, +4.2 RBs, +3.3 TOs. Radd and Bryn continue to lead us. Span is getting about the same stats as Lazo was, but he’s not as good a defender. We’re going to give Tom Sith, a good defender, a chance. Kiwa Smed is our only decent ball handler. Coer is a much better scorer and Defender, but we feel we need the ball handling. We’re watching that carefully, however. John Colt is playing well inside.

We’re on our way to Horizon conference play.

[Wayne23]

1/1/1909: 1-1 start after a 1 point road loss in a game we literally threw away- 27 TOs, including 2 in the final minute. I’m starting Coer. He didn’t have a single TO.

1/15: 12-5, 4-2. RPI #49. In a 2 way tie for 3rd, 1 back of 1st.

1/29: 15-6, 7-3, RPI #35. Alone in 2nd, 1 back of 1st. +5.2 PPG, +7.1 RBs, +1.7 TOs (but 15.7 is way too high).

U. S. troops finally leave Cuba. They’ve been there since the Spanish American war.

2/12: 18-7, 10-4, tied for 1st with Valpo. We play there in the last game of the regular season.

2/26: We finish the regular season at 21-8, 13-5, RPI #30. Tied for 1st with Valpo, 2 up on 3rd place. +5.8 PPG, +5.9 RBs, +2.3 TOs. Radd, Colt, and Bryn continue to lead the way in scoring and RBs. Smed got his starting job back at PG and has been playing well.

We’re the #1 seed in the Horizon tournament.

[Wayne23]

3/3: We play #8 seed Northern Kentucky, 12-16, 6-12 in the quarter finals. They won the play in. We won by 16 there, then by 19 here.

3/4: 75-66. 16, 10 for Center Mo Bryn, 19, 6 for PF John Colt, 17, 5 for SG Gab Radd, 10, 9 for Raul Lazo, who’s back at SF, 8, 6, 4 for PG Kiwa Smed. 40 RBs (+11), 9 TOs (+7).

#4 seed Milwaukee, 15-13, 11-7, in the semis. We won by 10 here, then lost by 15 there. The #2 and #3 seeds lost in upsets.

3/5: 81-67. 25, 14 for Colt, 20 for Radd. Good D, and +10 RBs.

#7 seed Oakland, 17-13, 8-10, in the title game. We won by 23 at our place then

lost by 12 there.

3/6: 65-64. What a game! They led by as many as 11, but we came back. The stats were essential even in all categories. At the end we had the ball down one.

We managed to get it to our best scorer, Gab Radd. He took an open 16 footer with about a second left. It missed, but Center Mo Bryn got the rebound and put it in just before the buzzer. There was huge controversy about whether the shot beat the buzzer. The referee ruled that it did, and we won. 21, 8 for Radd, 13, 5, 3, 3 for Smed, 11, 5, 3 for Bryn.

24-8, 13-5, champs for both the regular season and the tournament. RPI #28.

#10 East. We face #7 Georgia Tech, . Tough draw, but their leading scorer is out with a broken elbow.

3/16: 53-70. We played good D but the shots wouldn’t fall. We shot 31.6%, 2-13 on threes.

It was a very good first season at Wright State. Now we need to get some recruits to commit!

4/3: #8 Wisconsin won it all.

4/4: Awards: Senior PF John Colt is Horizon POY and 1st team. Gab Radd and Mo Bryn also make 1st team.

4/9: I can’t believe it, but we’re moving again, to Rhode Island in the Atlantic 10.

There are several reasons we said yes to this offer. First, we are New Englanders. Being in the Midwest was difficult. Kingston, RI is near Newport, where we have many friends and by train we are not all that far from Boston and Lowell. We will live near the water, somewhere between Charlestown and Narragansett, and how wonderful that will be!

As to basketball, URI has a slightly bigger budget, much better facilities, and two of the three assistants have agreed to return. Both are excellent. We will need a #2. The team coming back, as well as the recruits, will be competitive right away.

4/16: I signed a decent assistant.

4/23: I need money for recruiting. No luck. We’ll do what we can.

Great season, 24-9, conf. champs. Overall, I’m 44-20, .688. I hope to be at URI for some time.