Rocky-Moline baseball
oldest rivalry in state
April 19, 2002 11:39 PM

The Moline-Rock Island prep football rivarly has received plenty of ink as one of the oldest in the state of Illinois, with a start date of 1899.

The boys basketball series between the two local high schools gets plenty of run, too, because of its long-running status, dating back to the early 1900s.

However, until now, it's unlikely many alive knew about the oldest rivalry in the area, much less the state.

It is renewed today at Moline High School when Rocky pays a Western Big 6 Conference baseball visit to Holmgren Field.

During research this past year for his Rocky baseball Web site, Basenuts.com, Rocks super-fan Chris Carmack discovered an 1883 baseball game being the first athletic contest between the area institutions.

``I'm not surprised; it's only natural to see Moline was one of the first teams Rock Island played in baseball,'' said Carmack, whose son Nick is a senior starter for the Rocks.

``I've written the (Illinois High School Association) to tell them what I've found, and sent them copies of the newspaper articles from The (Rock Island) Argus to show them, but (Rocky athletic director) Bob (Swanson) has to verify it before it becomes a record. It's going to take some time, but I think we've got something here.''

Carmack's newspaper clips detail the 1883 start of baseball at Rocky, when a group of students, ``decided that it was time that some varsity team was organized to represent the high school in some form of athletics,'' reads an Argus article in Dec. 1925, which marks the first 75 years of local sports.

The IHSA currently recognizes 1884 as the first time two Illinois high schools played each other in baseball -- pointing to a meeting between Chicago's Hyde Park and Chicago North Division.

The state's first prep football game was played in 1885, according to the IHSA. Basketball wasn't even invented by Dr. James Naismith until 1891, with a 1900 start to prep games in Illinois.

``I was doing research because I'd seen all these other Web sites detailing the great traditions of their programs, and I thought we should have the same,'' said Carmack, who voluntarily organizes radio and TV broadcasts for Rocky baseball.

``I wanted to get a complete picture of baseball at Rocky, and also wanted to find out if (Rock Island-born Baseball Hall of Famer) Iron Joe McGinnity played for the Rocks. It's probable he did, but I haven't been able to confirm that just yet, but the things I have found have been wonderful.''

After going through Rock Island High School yearbooks -- the oldest dating back to 1911 -- Carmack spent some time every day for three months at the library, culling information from the pages of The Argus.

``My wife finally made me stop because she said I was getting too consumed with it,'' said Carmack, who plans to resume his research soon, and complete a list of anyone who has ever played baseball for Rocky.

``She was right. I was getting too consumed -- but it was hard not to -- it's fascinating stuff.''

For instance, Carmack found there were only 120 students at Rocky when baseball started, and ``almost half'' were girls, said an Argus article.

``The players had no coach and the only knowledge they had of the game was obtained from professional players who were in town,'' continued the same story.

That first Rocky team also included a black player -- Dobbs Tolliver, ``an athlete of unusual ability,'' according to the newspaper article -- almost 70 years before Jackie Robinson broke the major-league color barrier.

Carmack also discovered baseball to be popular at Rocky until the early 1900s. The Olympics started in 1898, and caught the fancy of students, siphoning off the school's best athletes into track-and-field.

The Rocks were only mediocre from 1907-1912, Carmack said, when Rocky decided to shut down baseball because it was hard to field quality track-and-field and baseball teams at the same time.

Baseball didn't make a comeback at Rocky until after World War II, in the spring of 1946. The sport has been around ever since.

Carmack's Web site has only been around five years this coming September. He was inspired to start the Internet site in 1997 after the super success enjoyed at state by Rocky, and at nationals by the Rock Island Legion.

``It will continue, even after my son Nick graduates,'' promised Carmack, who now does Web sites for Rocky football and boys basketball, too. ``The Website, the radio, the TV -- we plan to do even more in the future.''

And that means more time in the library for Carmack.

``It's fun to look back,'' he said. ``It's fun to read the old writers and the way they wrote back then. It's been a great experience for me -- I've found a real goldmine of local history.''

Copyright 2002, Moline Dispatch Publishing Co.