100 years ago in Spokane: The LC tigers lost in Toledo, even after a near-triumphant comeback in the fourth quarter

The Lewis and Clark High School football team lost 20-10 to Scott High School in Toledo, Ohio – but salvaged a bit of pride in the defeat.

The LC Tigers came closer to beating Scott High, a Midwest powerhouse, than any team except one in the 1923 season. The Tigers pulled to within four points in the fourth quarter, but Scott added another touchdown at the end.

“A wet ball and a slippery field” resulted in a number of fumbles for both teams, but a correspondent noted that “the break of luck came generally with Scott High.”

Both teams matched up well in terms of size – although by today’s standards, both were remarkably light. The Tigers’ linemen averaged 162 pounds per player, and Scott’s averaged only a half-pound more. The LC quarterback, “Wee” Luck, weighed 125 pounds.

From the calumny beat: A letter to the editor printed prominently on the front page of the Spokane Daily Chronicle accused “a Seattle coterie” of a “clumsy plot” to slander, defame and crush Spokane.

“The city is painted as a decaying wreck, a deserted village,” letter writer J.B. Chaney wrote.

Why?

Because Seattle “longs to grasp the rich trade of the empire east of the Cascades, which it terms its ‘hinterland.’ ” Chaney claimed that Seattle was trying to paint Spokane as a “weak, pitiful shadow of its former self,” in the same way that it had “long ago undermined and crushed Tacoma’s hopes.”