Fritsch: Good clean play

That winter, Ted played guard for the Oshkosh All-Stars.

The Oshkosh All-Stars were an American professional basketball team based in Oshkosh that played from 1929 to 1949.

They became a charter member of the National Basketball League (NBL) — a forerunner to the NBA — playing in the league from 1937 until 1949, but never transitioning to the NBA.

“Packers fans may have forgotten that Fritsch was a great basketball star, as well as a football player while an undergraduate at Stevens Point Teachers College. Manager Lonnie Darling of the All-Stars didn’t forget though, and signed up the Packer flash when he needed additional strength last fall,” the Jan. 16, 1945, Green Bay Press-Gazette stated.

“He’s five feet, 11 inches tall and weighs 210 pounds, making him the shortest but one of the heftiest players on the squad.”

And Fritsch wasn’t just skilled on the court, he proved to be a great performer as a cager.

“The 3,500 fans of Sheboygan should have paid double admission for the show that Ted “Bulldog” Fritsch gave the spectators in Sheboygan…,” The Oshkosh Northwestern stated following a January 1945 game.
“His basket, aided by some fancy dribbling with head and hands, was worth the price of two admissions. Ted loves to clown and fulfilled one of the All-Star fans’ predictions some time ago: ‘One of these days, that guy is going to make a basket and bring the house down.’ Well, the house almost fell last night.”

While Fritsch became a star on the field and court, Fritsch made sure to credit his teammates for the successes in both arenas.

While speaking at the Southern Ten scholastic champions banquet, Fritsch emphasized the importance of “team play.”

“It takes 11 men to play the game — and anybody can carry the ball when nobody is in the way,” Fritsch said.
He also said that “the men who do not figure in the headlines often contribute substantially to the victory.”
“He made an appeal for good clean, hard play, asserting that the Packers is shown as a clean team that plays hard to win,” the Portage Daily Register stated.

To be continued