Featured photo - Crescents Football Team, 1902, sent by Curt Javic

Chuck, here is a copy of the Crescents 1902 football team I have. The ball in the photo is marked Crescents 1902. ... After researching the names on the back most of the gentlemen are from Freeland or Foster Township . Therefore the team has to be from Luzerne County. Again the names on the back are as follows; John Nowak, J Coll, Bernard McLaughlin, Frank Hindson, Louis Stolz, Cony Welsh, H Sims, Cletus Fultz. Sitting – Geoge Hartman, John Dusheck, J. Motsko, John James Baskin, Harvey Deitrich, Peter O’Donnell, Aubrey Powell. [Louis Stolz at one time was the Police Chief of Freeland & was born in 1880, therefore in this picture he was 21- 22 years old.] I think therefore these people might be slightly older than say Freeland High School. I know there was a prep school in Freeland called Mining & Mechanical Institute that a lot of miners attended after work but to me these gentlemen don’t appear to be miners. In 1908, I did find a semi–pro football team out of West Scranton called the Crescent Team but again that is pretty far from Freeland & also 6 years later. If anyone knows anything about this photo I would appreciate that info.

I wrote to Tom Landers, president of the Freeland Historical Society, former Freeland athlete and longtime local sports enthusiast, to ask what he knows about the team. Here's his very informative reply:

The 1902 Crescents - a very good team - all Freeland residents.
John Nowak - owned the pool room on Centre St.
Bernard McLaughlin, a mailman.
Louis Stolz - Chief of Police during 1920s, later a coal and iron police office. George Hartman - Freeland Burgess (mayor).
Connie Welsh - owned Welsh's Drug Store on Centre St.
Aubrey Powell - a small man but very fast runner; a Freeland page writer for the Standard Speaker in the 1930s-1940s, a penny per word.

I do not know if the field was named after the team or the team after the field. Crescents Field was located across from Alvin and Maple streets, and the outfield had a crescent running track around it. My high school baseball team (St. Ann's) played its home games on this field, 1948-1953.

Curt is interested in selling this photo, if anyone is interested. Here's his reason:

I bought it from a friend of mine in Renningers for way too much expense - $80.00. The reason I paid so much is that at the time we both thought it was the Crescents Rowing Club in Phila. They were a major rowing club in Phila. - late 1880-early 1900’s. They also played some semi pro football. I collect anything to do with very early Phila. semi-pro football. Even at that price I was thrilled to get it. If anyone is interested in it I would mail at my cost or less or offer it in a trade for something. It is a pretty big photo in rough shape.

If anyone has additional information to offer about the Crescents Team or the individuals in the photograph, would you please let me know? Also, if you're interested in contacting Curt about the photograph, please let me know and I'll put him in contact with you. Thanks!