1938 Sheet Music Re: Spokane Football: Gonzaga, Creighton, Santa Clara, Idaho

Description: This is rare. You tell me if you have seen another piece of sheet music like this. Not only is it full of "coach talk" excuses for not winning football games, but it contains beautiful, well-done cartoon illustrations about how coaches find excuses to lose football games. In fact, the title to this piece of sheet music is "The Coaches MOAN SONG". Apparently the Athletic Round Table met in Spokane, Washington in 1938 represented by Coach Mike Pecarovich of Gonzaga, Coach Buck Shaw of Santa Clara, Ted Bank of University of Idaho, "March" Schwartz of Creighton, and Coach Marty Peters of St. Benedicts College. Since all the representatives from the colleges and universities all had winning records in 1938 except the Gonzaga Bulldogs, perhaps the Athletic Round Table decided to award Coach Pecarovich of Gonzaga the booby prize of $1,000 for the moaning letter he wrote. But first things first; let's visit the background of this subject of the sheet music being offered, about "moaning". To put things in their proper perspective, this sheet music was produced after the 1938 football season. TCU had just won football's National Championship with a perfect record of 11-0, and Notre Dame had finished with an 8-1 record at # 5 in the nation. (I put this information here for a reason; inside is verbiage of successful football teams, using TCU and Notre Dame as examples.) And on the other end of the spectrum in 1938, the Gonzaga Bulldogs had just completed their eighth (and final) season under head coach Mike Pecarovich, with a 1-7 record and were outscored by a total of 105 to 82. After an opening day win against Puget Sound, the Bulldogs lost 7 straight games, and 4 were shut-out losses, to such powers as Saint Mary's, Montana, Texas Tech, and San Francisco. (And it obviously did not help that two of these four shut-out losses occurred on Gonzaga's home field in Spokane.) So Gonzaga's Coach Pecarovich was under the proverbial gun when the Athletic Round Table met. Just in case the reader has difficulty in reading some of the lyrics to the music, I will print some of the lyrics at this time: IntroductionWe want Coach _____.I aint got no football team And no football team has I ---I'm so sad and lonely wont somebody come here and tell me why?I'll write long "moan" songs, fellas, for your prizeGet ready to give you Round Table guys Cause I ain't got no football teamAnd no football team has I. And then at the bottom is said: They sing this song in far Japan, the kids they sing in Spain,Everywhere but T.C.U. and lucky Notre Dame. There's more, and this below is from the Coaches Moan Song:We are blue; we are sad, We go mad when things are badWe're sure to lose every game if our team can't get the breaks you had.Here we are; out to fight---What's the use, you cooked your goose We're in a noose,So what the hell if we lose now, for they'll be a day when you will say the same as I told you. We are you. (Yah!) How is that for coaches moaning? And there are other little negative nuances written, like, "All revenues from sale of this song goes to purchase of athletic equipment for orphans." And while all the coaches in attendance at the Athletic Round Table received Honorable Mention in 1938, the First Prize was awarded to Gonzaga's Coach Mike Pecarovich, obviously the booby prize because of Gonzaga's losing 1-7 record. All the coaches are pictured on page 6 of the sheet music. And one more note: the winning letter "attributed to Coach Pecarovich" was a letter supposedly written in China, where all the offensive, politically incorrect humor one could imagine is written. (Honestly I think this was in all likelihood a letter written by some of the Round Table participants. But who could know for sure. Coach Pecarovich was gone the following year.) It seems like I have written an epistle here in this listing. This 6-page "Moaning Song" is just so unique, complete with a beaten-up looking hound dog sporting a coach's ball cap in front of the football on the cover. If this doesn't look like the prevailing attitude of "losing excuses", I don't know what does. I'll tell you, some of those members of the Athletic Round Table in Spokane sound like a pretty tough, unrelenting bunch. It would be a shame if the reader did not see what the "attitude" was in college football back in 1938, 85 years ago. This is almost a priceless treasure to me. My sole reason for offering it for auction at this time is because of my health issues coupled with my advancing age. I'll say one thing, this sheet music and sayings, especially in reference to China, and with all the cartoonish illustrations, is certainly irreverent. And I have a hunch the Round Table participants were a group who had a lot of fun and told a lot of stories. Thank you for viewing my EBAY auction item. (Please note: I do not ship internationally.) God bless.

Price: 55.55 USD

Location: Tyler, Texas

End Time: 2024-02-19T05:08:26.000Z

Shipping Cost: 5.55 USD