The Sauk Centre herald., 1938-10-13
$ Sport
& Wags
BY Chuck Rattle

| % HgS
BY Chuck Rattle
They Played With Fire
It's O-Sa-Ge Field Now
Osalkis Coming Friday
Caesars GhOst?-
VIII Bierman Leave?-
They played with fire Thursday
evening-to stave off the big burn
on Friday. They played with
fire but they didn't get burned. All
Thursday afternoon the procession
wound from the back doors of the
business houses to the Fairgrounds.
Bearing cartons, boxes, paper, stu
dents piled high pyre which was
lighted that evening. Students
danced in the snake dance, yelled,
and called upon the fire spirit to
save their team from loss, to pro-
mote victory. The fire spirit half
heard them, for he dished out a
scoreless tie to the Long Prairie
Sauk Centre tussle. That fire
started dedication ceremonies that
wound up more than "a hours later
when dog-weary jitterbugs left the
dance Friday highland KohPs
Klinkers had burned out for the
evening.
And so the fine new football
plant secured for Sauk Centre
this year gets name. We in
America have a mania for
names. We can't call our
dog just doggie, we have to in
vent something like pal" or
REX" or SANDY" :. Well, it's
a healthy trait, and shows
we're interested enough.
O-Sa-Ge was chosen by the Board
of Education as the name for the
football field. And there's a bit OF
interesting history In connection
with that name that now looms so
nightly in Sauk Centre high
school tradition. 1t was back
in 1881 when the name was first
used. In that year the school cele-
brated it's fiftieth anniversary, and
they splurged with the finest an
nual the school has seen. :. A con-
test was promoted in that year to
secure a name for the publication.
Contest winner was Miss Dorothy
Walker who dug up the name
"O-Sa-Ge." Since then tne word has
headed the annual publication, has
found it's way into school yells, has
been batted around from pillar to
post at the school. And the ques-
ton looms: what does it mean? A
fair question deserving of the best
answer we can dig up. According
to that annual in 1881 here's where
it all began: "The etymology of this
Indian word is not very clear. 1t
seems to be a mixture Of form. 1t
is thought to have grown out of the
word, "Osage,' meaning "Sauk"
from their tribe of Indians. Or it
may have arisen from their confed-
Grated tribe, "The Sacs and the Fox
es." These Indians were driven
from their original home on the
Ottawa in Canada by the mighty
Iroquois. -" So the name is
stepped in tradition, legendry, a
faint whisp of the real and the
truth. It's very mystery lends
enchantment, and the name is we'll
So out there on O-sOggy field
loops, pardon, O-Sa-Ge) there
was a vastly different crowd
Friday night. A crowd that
yelled, and hOllered, and fitted
into the scene not like SO many
wooden pokers, but as an ami
mated crowd of football fans.
-. And the game was differ
ent from that first one, too. -.
Against st. Johns the locals
were completely showed all Ov-
er that fine turf. Against Long
Prairie they battled to the teeth
to a scOreless tie. And on the
thrilling plays the crowd was
with them.
The crowd was larger at this
game. Cars wheeled to the grounds
kicking up a wake or dust, crowds
jammed against the sidelines fence
:. E. w. Olson said this week the
gate had stretched to admit SO dol
lars worth of cash customers.
A marked increase over the neal
70-dollar gate on the first game.
Estimates Of attendance centeret
around the 1900 figure. :.
80
Several things were clear in thi:
game. One is primarily that Saul
Centre does not have an offensive
club. :. Now that premise is moth
ing new to Master Harvey. At the
beginning Harvey told me they
were to be weak in this score.
But he looked to passing for his
offensive spark and deception. Ant
to punting for the leading defensive
counter. =. Against Morris the
deception worked beautifully, anG
Pangburn scared to the height oi
his kicking career against Long
Prairie. There is little doubt that
his kicking stemmed what other.
wise might have been a Long Prai.
rie victory. There were others in
on that fine defensive. Egan
Berggreen, Arneson to mention q
few. And young Billy Brown, play.
ing his first regular ball game when
Cokeley's injury gave him his
chance, was banging in there back.