During the early 20th century at Shippensburg University, school sports did not look like they do today! While today's teams have 20+ members on the average team, there were far fewer athletes on the teams in the early 1900s. Also, the athletes' uniforms looked quite different. An example of this is the 1910-1911 basketball team. They wore pants, unlike today's team which wears shorts, and they wore different types of shoes as well.
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| The 1910-1911 basketball team doesn't quite look like the team of today! |
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| Action shot from a 1910-1911 season basketball game! |
Team uniforms were not the only things that were different in the early 20th century. The 1911 baseball team photo shows the equipment that the team used. Though wooden bats are still a staple in Major League Baseball, the photo below shows that the players' gloves were extremely different and and the catcher's gear did not seem to have as much padding for protection.
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| The 1911 baseball team sitting on the steps of Stewart Hall for their team photo. |
There were also sports in the early 20th century that we no longer have at Shippensburg. For example, Stewart Hall, the gymnasium at the time, had gymnastics equipment for the gymnastics team, which was present at the time.
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| Gymnastics equipment set up for a meet in Stewart Hall |
The Stewart Hall gym also hosted several other more unique pastimes of the period. The university gym classes had students participating in pyramid building, athletic dance, and folk dancing, as well as many other groups and activities.
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| Pyramid Building |
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| Athletic Dance |
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| Folk Dance |
Want to learn more about Ship's history? No need to wait for the next Throwback Thursday! Contact Archives & Special Collections via e-mail:
specialcollections@ship.edu or phone: 717-477-1516.
