Story of the Passaic High School (NJ) "Wonder Team", winners of a national-record 159 straight basketball games from 1919-1925. Originally aired on News 12 New Jersey in 1999. The Wonder Team has a place in the Basketball Hall of Fame.
For the complete story of Prof Blood and the Wonder Teams go to www.profblood.com. Prof biography is titled Prof Blood and the Wonder Teams: The True Story of Basketball's First Great Coach. This book goes into Prof's coaching before and after his Passaic years, but goes into game-by-game details of his years coaching at Passaic. The conflict between a jealous principal, NJ state secretary, Walter Short , school board, and an influential bitter parent. This book contains the entire story.
According to those that lived during the time of the Wonder Teams (my Dad, included), Passaic’s streak would have gone on for another few years were not the fix, so to speak, put in. The “fixer” was the school’s principal Arnold D. “Pop” Arnold who wanted the streak to end. Gamblers across the nation were betting on the games and students had become obsessed with the games, to the detriment, so claimed Arnold, of their academic interests. It was said that Arnold found excuses to ground players and thus prevented from participating in games; however, with the fielding second- and then -third string -players, they went on winning, at least until win 159. By the time Hackensack covered the floor of the Hackensack Armory with sawdust to impeded Passaic’s fast breaks, the damage to the team had been done. Between 1915 and 1924, Prof Blood coached Passaic High School to a 200-1 record and won seven state basketball championships-and this by competing against semi-professional teams, as well as high school competitors.
Great video, just one minor correction, it was the WONDER TEAMS, not team. Six different teams from December 17, 1919 through February 4,1925, contributed to THE STREAK! Additionally, point guards Fritz Knothe and Milton Pashman, were instrumental in taking the teams to the record setting victory total. ALL the players of ALL the teams made it happen! Respectfully submitted, Mark S. Auerbach, Passaic City Historian.
Hey Mark, thanks for the note. When I researched and did the story, my sources at Passaic HS referred to these teams collectively as "The Wonder Team", I suppose because it referred to the school more than the collection of individual clubs. It's still one of my most favorite stories!
