January 20, 1922: The Boyertown Legion Basketball Team Celebrates Wins on Two Courts

By Margaret Leidy Harner from her book One Day at a Time: A Social History of Boyertown, PA.

January 20, 1922: The Boyertown Legion basketball team must have looked like “suspicious characters” driving down Main Street in Phoenixville at 11:30 PM in great spirits on their way home after a spectacular win in West Chester. Looking for the culprits in a Delaware County murder earlier in the evening, a police officer thought he had found them. He mounted the running board of the seven-passenger Hudson touring car they were celebrating in, and commanded the driver Grant Kutz to stop the car. He then demanded to see his driver’s license, which Kutz did not have with him.

The suspicious group was taken to town hall, where they were arraigned and quizzed about the crime, one at a time, while the rest of the team relaxed on the bunks in the jail cells, joking and having a good time. They convinced the police they were not guilty of the murder and were released to go on their merry way, home to Boyertown. Team manager James Fritz (Burgess of Boyertown from 1946-1956) considered they had two great victories that night, and both were for full of thrills.

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