Allegany Campers Football: ALCO's Football History

WHAT IS A CHAMPION
Probably one of the most over used term in all of sports is that of CHAMPION or CHAMPIONSHIP. In Websters Dictionary, the word champion is written as; A combatant for an other, or for a cause: a hero; one victorious in contest or to fight for. A championship is defined as: The state of being a champion: support of a cause.

Sound familiar. It should. Allegany High School in Cumberland Maryland is the epitome of a champion. Not because they have won many, many championships, but because they emulate that what makes champions.

The Campers from Allegany County have won the most championships ever in the county among all high schools. 14 in Basketball alone which is still the leader in the entire state of Maryland. 7 State title in football which lead the county and second only in the state to Seneca Valley. This part of the Big Blue Review is dedicated to the fabulous football history of Allegany High School. Although records show the history starts in 1926, it should be known that Allegany played football many years before 1926 and the Big Blue Review is working on those stats as well.

So come with us as we demonstrate to one and all why the Allegany Campers Football program is second to none in the state of Maryland and will always be No. 1 in Allegany County.

ALCO
1926 IS THE YEAR WHEN IT ALL BEGAN
Walter Bowers
Walter Bowers, Alco's first coach
The first year Allegany High School played football.  The school now known as Allegany High School officially opened its doors with a ribbon cutting ceremony in October 1926.  The first team was coached by Walter Bowers as the football team opened its initial season with game with Parsons, West Virginia.  The game was played at Community Park.  This is the location of the old Tri-State discount center and as of now, the Kennedy Appartment complex.

1926, the Roaring Twenties, the Charleston was being danced and Cumberland was booming with many industries and companies working full bore. It was the first year for the Campers of Allegany to start their new football team.

The first head coach for the new Camper football team was the legondary Walter L. Bowers. Coach Bowers coached the Campers on two different occasions, 1926 - 1933 and 1943 - 1945. He combined a fabulous record of 59 wins and 33 losses with only 9 ties. The Campers opened the new era in football in 1926 with the following schedule:

Allegany 33 Parsons WV 7
Allegany 0   Johnstown PA 6
Allegany 0   Hagerstown MD 0
Allegany 3   Keyser WV 0
Allegany 48 Meyersdale PA 0
Allegany 48 St. Johns 0
Allegany 7   Martinsburg 0
Allegany 22 Bedford PA 0
Allegany 55 Thomas WV 0
Allegany 0   Alumni 6

For those of you that are counting, that is a 7-2-1 record in the first season and they actually played the Alumni from Allegany County High School or ALCO!

Members of the very first team are as follows:

Albert Wolfe, John Pitzer, Auston Fleming, Lester Siebert, Jack Treiber, Jack Wilkinson, Ernist Hutcheson, Henry Kuhn, Robert Wolfe, John Sapp, Frank Barrett, Espy Barley, Gene Burns, Guzz Lloyd, Rod Ford, Jerry Schontze, Melvin Rice, Merle Golden, Howard VanHorn, Watson Pritchard, Elmer Robinson, Wayne Browning, Frank Carter, Ralph Ashby and Robert Stimler.

These folks listed above are Big Blue Royality. These are the guys that started it all. Started it for the likes of Scotty Bauer, the Erhichs, Earl "Lefty" Bruce and all the other outstanding athletes to follow.

The picture below is of the old Allegany County High School or "ALCO" formerly on Greene Street in Cumberland. It was situated where the current Coca Cola bottling plant and Citgo Gas Station is located today. This is a famous school as the Guiness Book of Records has it listed as having a bad fire that raged out of control. The wonder of it all was that the Cumberland West Side Fire department was located right next door to the school and never responded. Huh? That's right folks. But that's another story.

So, here we go with the History of Allegany High School football.

1925 Football Team
"IT ALL STARTED RIGHT HERE!"

THE SECOND YEAR 1927 THROUGH 1929

1930S Header
1930's - A NEW DECADE AND THE DEPRESSION
The Camper head into another decade with some outstanding aspirations. Still lead by Coach Bower, Allegany with the speed of Fred “Tack” Clark and others begin to turn the other school on the West Side of Cumberland into the legend that it is today. Starting in the 30’s, we start to see some of the famous names of the Allegany Football dynasty. So lets get into the 1930’s and see how the only 4 year old school starts to get on the road to football greatness.

HARD TIMES DURING THE DECADE OF THE 1930's

1940's - AND THE FIRST LOSS TO FORT HILL

1950's - A NEW DECADE, PEACE AND ANOTHER WAR

1960's - A NEW DECADE AND ALCO’S FIRST UNDEFEATED SEASON SINCE 1948

1970’s - A NEW DECADE, WAR AND MANY CHANGES

1980’s - THE BEGINNING OF “THE HOME OF CHAMPIONS”

THE 1990's...A DECADE SO CLOSE SO MANY TIMES!

2000's - A NEW DECADE AND NEW MILLENIUM!