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 Sea Cliff High School basketball team, Nassau County champions in 1910.
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For many years basketball and baseball were major sports in the Village. Local teams won several championships in each sport. When the Lyceum was converted into a public garage, basketball virtually ceased, with the exception of high school games.
Baseball flourished until the late 1930s. Nearly every village or hamlet boasted a competent team. The rivalry between Sea Cliff, Glen Cove, Oyster Bay, Hicksville, Mineola, and Port Washington was intense, and very often tempers ran hot. Gradually the teams became more and more semiprofessional in character and frequently a player would discover that he was playing with or against many ex-big leaguers. Some of the best semi-pro teams in the east were annual opponents. Sea Cliff won the baseball championship of Nassau County in 1912 The people of the Village, led by local officials, organized a parade to Clifton Park, where each player was awarded a gold medal. A dinner honoring the members of the team was held in the Fire Headquarters and was followed by a dance open to all residents. I am happy to say that it was my good fortune that night to meet a young lady who had just joined the faculty of the local school. Some years later she became Mrs. Charles Ransom, and has been my loving helpmate ever since. Coasting was extremely popular during the winter season. Before automobiles became so prevalent, the roads in the Village were not plowed and Glen Avenue, Central Avenue, and Prospect Avenue afforded fine coasting. Areas on the hill, worn bare by the sleds, could easily be repaired by covering them with snow from the side of the road. Until the area known as Scudder's Pond was filled in about 1906, skating was enjoyed on a small pond in what is now North Shore Acres. Another small pond behind the Babies' Home also provided limited skating. The largest pond in the vicinity was the one on the southeast corner of Glenwood Road and Fire House Hill. This pond has been filled in and several buildings, including the Glenwood Post Office, have since been erected in that area. Every few years, the harbor would freeze solid and provide opportunities for both skating and ice boating. Winters seem to be very much as they were fifty or sixty years ago and it is a mystery why the harbor has failed to freeze to any real extent in the past twenty-five or thirty years. Some people attribute this to an increase in marine traffic although, around the turn of the century, Goodwin and Gallagher Sandworks used the services of icebreakers for their tugs and scows. Could the reason for this be increased water and air pollution? |
