Newfield Historical Society

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Sports

Newfield students have been playing sports since the opening of Newfield High School, in 1939. During this time there have been about 10 thousand men and women varsity players. These athletes have participated in 31 different sports. Today, the Newfield sports program continues to play an important roll in the lives of many students, and continues its strong tradition of excellence.

 

One man who had a big influence in the progression of Newfield sports was George Cancro. Coach Cancro was a graduate of Ithaca college in 1944, and he majored in Physical Education. After applying for 32 different teaching jobs and being turned down for them all, he interviewed for a job at Newfield in 1945. After his interview he accepted his first teaching job. Along, with teaching nine classes a day, he also coached every sport at the school, and had to perform all the duties of an athletic director. For all of this work, he agreed to be paid $2400 dollars a year.

Not only was he a great teacher and coach, but his legacy is still seen every day when you look at the school. He was instrumental in the school's green and white sports jerseys and the school mascot. Before he made these changes Newfield wore blue and white jerseys and were called the Herculeans. The inspiration behind the color change was almost all the teams Newfield played against wore blue and white uniforms. Also, schools only provided one set of jerseys (there were not home and away jerseys). This caused confusion during games so Cancro had the colors changed to green and white. Also, he had the senior class vote on the change of mascots from the Herculean to the Trojan. His changes are still in place today. Coach Cancro also coached eight different sports teams, won 21 championships, and was elected to the Section IV Hall of Fame. George Cancro was athletic director for 35 years and was important in the progression of the sports program in Newfield.

 

Women's competitive sports began in 1968. Before this time there were only male sporting events being played in the area. Before this time girl only participated in the G.A.A. or Girls Athletic Association. The G.A.A. let female athletes participate in a few sports but, they rarely every played games against other schools though. Margaret Weaver was the first to head the female physical education department. She was also the coach for some of the first female teams.

The sites for sporting contests have changed throughout the years of the school. The original gym was made in 1939. This gym, which was also an auditorium, is still used today in the lower part of the elementary school. In 1967, the addition of a new gym forced the soccer, football, and baseball teams to get new fields to play on. They had to move their fields from where there is now a day pool and playground are located to the site of the present day baseball and soccer fields. Women's field hockey was played on the ground where the high school is presently located. They used this ground from 1968 to 1982. In 1975, after the high school was built the football team's field was moved to its present spot on the top of the hill. Thanks to athletes, coaches, community members and the Newfield Booster club these fields have been transformed from grass fields to game day ready playing surfaces.

The Newfield sports tradition has given the Newfield community over 60 years of memories that will last a life time. Thanks to many dedicated people such as George Cancro, Margaret Weaver, and Don Clark the Newfield sports program is still running strong today. Hopefully, this great tradition will continue to be in existence for another 60 years.

 

Content provided by Anthony Raggi

Sources:

Clark, Don. "Heading Out to the Ballgame" in the Newfield Old Home Days program for September 24th and 25th, 1999. A copy of this program is available in the files at the Newfield Historical Society on Main Street in Newfield, NY. This article provided the information for this page.