Center of the Girls' Basketball Universe

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The 1934 Peterborough High girls’ team (front, from left): Gertrude Clukay, Elizabeth Brown, Pearl Brenner, Lillian Debonville, Christine Brenner and Norma Wood. Back row (from left): manager Charlotte Ehrler, Irene Bishop, Arlene Mercer, Pauline Carll, Madeleine Cummings, Gail Wood, Ruth Cutter and Coach Dorothy Holman.


Wednesday, the Cougar girls’ basketball team will tap off against Alvirne High of Hudson in the first round of the Salem Holiday Tournament. It’s easy in our day to take girls’ basketball tournaments of any kind for granted, but before the NHIAA sponsored girls’ basketball tournaments for large schools in 1970 and smaller schools in 1972, Peterborough was the first epicenter of invitational state tournaments for girls' basketball in the 1930s.

Spanning several years in that decade, the Peterborough Rotary Club and Peterborough Boys’ Club (under the leadership of founder and PHS boys’ coach John Clark) hosted the finest girls’ basketball teams from around New Hampshire at the annual Girls’ Interscholastic Basketball Tournament.


The first tournament in 1934 was one to remember. The two-day event was held at Peterborough High on Friday, March 9 because of a political event at the Town House, while Saturday's games were held at the Town House where bleachers to accommodate 700 fans were brought in from Keene High School.


In addition to the hometown squad, the other seven teams were among the finest girls’ basketball teams in New Hampshire. All 75 players and coaches who came to town were housed at the Tavern on Main Street, a large inn that was located on what is now the site of M&T Bank.


Laconia and Dover both came in with just one loss, while Plymouth was undefeated in North Country play. Pembroke, champs of the Central NH League, boasted a 10-3 record, and Keene High played one of the most difficult schedules and came in with a 7-3-2 (yes, two ties!) slate.


Meanwhile, host Peterborough and rival Milford entered the tournament tied for first in the Monadnock League with one loss apiece—coming against one another. It was Peterborough’s first league loss in four years (!)…and it wouldn’t be the end of the story between these two outstanding teams.


Over the years, Conval High has had several sister and brother combinations that have led to successful and even championship seasons, and the 1934 PHS team in the CV family tree was no different. Peterborough High was led by center Pearl Brenner, called “one of the best players ever to represent the local school." She was joined by sister Christine Brenner, a standout forward. Peterborough, in fact, was loaded with talent at the forward position, including Norma Wood, Irene Bishop and Ruth Cutter. The team’s outstanding defense was led by Elizabeth Brown, Madeleine Cummings, Lillian Debonville, Gail Wood, Gertrude Clukay and Arlene Mercer. The girls were coached by Dorothy Holman, a first-year physical education instructor.


In a 9 p.m. start on Friday, Peterborough opened the state tournament with a resounding 51-21 victory over unbeaten Plymouth. Pearl Brenner led the way with 19 points, while sister Christine added 12 and Irene Bishop scored 10. The going was nowhere near as easy in the semi-finals where the host team had to fight to the very end to overcome a surprising Hillsboro squad, 41-33. Pearl Brenner dominated the scoring with 29 points.


The energy spent in overcoming Hillsboro proved to be Peterborough’s undoing in the state championship game Saturday night against old nemesis Milford, which had barely broken a sweat in its two previous tournament wins. Milford displayed energy throughout while Peterborough ran out of gas in the final quarter, bowing 26-18 before “700 wildly cheering spectators at the Town House.” 


In all, more than 2,000 fans witnessed the first-ever girls’ state basketball tournament. The Brenner sisters, along with defensive star Gertrude Clukay, were named to the all-tournament team. Major A. Erland Goyette (pictured at left) donated the championship and runner-up cups, as well a medal for the tournament’s best all-around player. According to the Transcript, “Major and Mrs. Goyette got a great kick out the games. The Major gave the girls a talk Saturday afternoon, complimenting them on their good work, and the kids gave him a rousing cheer, which he acknowledged Saturday night.”


Of interest, particularly in our day of a referee shortage, only two men—John Fitzgerald of Peterborough and John Burke of Manchester, considered among the best officials in the state—officiated all eight games!


The tournament ended with a foul shot shooting contest, and in commentary that would never see the light of day in today’s media, the Transcript observed:  “Eunice Whittemore and Barbara Whitehead, the two Plymouth girls who won the foul-shooting contest, would have placed high in a beauty contest if one had been run as part of the show. Both are exceptionally pretty girls. There were plenty of others there, too; the blonde Margaret Nims of Keene being one who caught many of the boys’ eyes.”


Wow.


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