Numbers of Note

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All-stater Isaac Clayton went 22-for-22 from the foul line the night he scored 39 points in 2022 against Mercer. He ran his streak to at least 25 straight the next game...Larry Mackey had been credited with a 44-point game, but it came in the Franklin YMCA tournament in March...Dawn Cauvel once had 27 rebounds in a game...The Grove's first basketball title ever came in 1945 when the Orioles claimed the Bi-County League...Dave Friggle collected 25 rebounds in a game during the 1964-65 season, and in that same contest, Butch Koziara hit seven of eight shots from 30 feet...Fred Porter scored 38 points in a December 1963 game and then added a 39-point game later on that season...The Orioles have surprised a lot of teams in their day (can you say Meadville?) including Kennedy Catholic, which saw its 65-game conference winning streak ended at the Grove, 63-60, on Feb. 15, 2010...

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Visiting Mercer was 41/56 from the foul line when it beat the Orioles, 71-69, on Feb. 8, 1957...

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Yearbook said Dave Friggle averaged 18 rebounds a game for the 17-3 league champs...

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Turns out Jimmy Shaffer "really" held the Grove's single-season scoring record with an "unheard of " 305 points in 1927. He allowed that up with 308 in 1928...

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Speaking of Shaffer, he was just one of a handful of stars to play under F. Leslie Stewart, considered the "Father of Athletics" at Rocky Grove, his alma mater. Stewart graduated in 1911 and after stops at Pitt and Grove City, earned his bachelor's degree from Allegheny in 1919. After returning to the Grove in 1920, he started basketball and track in earnest. Other proteges besides Shaffer were Ted Shuffstall, Herman Johnson, Bob Thompson and Claire Atwell. Stewart left Rocky Grove for Cochranton in 1931 to become principal. He was there for about five years and then turned up at Emlenton. During part of his time at the Grove, the Orioles had no gym at the school, so they practiced and played elsewhere. Drills at the YMCA were limited to two or three hours each week.

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The Orioles played home games at the Franklin Armory through the 1939 season before moving into the new high school building in 1940. (The Presbyterian church next door to the high school was completed in 1900.) The Orioles were 5-13 in their final season at The Armory, but things might have been better had Calvin Osborne and Don Loughery  not moved away and erstwhile baseball star Walt Graham not missed the season with a leg injury. (Doctor said he could played baseball that spring). As it turned out, though, Paul King, a first-year player, led the Grove in scoring with 70 points that season (still short three games). Coach Reid Pierce, who succeeded Stewart,  came to the Grove from Youngsville...

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The Orioles ended Mercer's domination for the Tri-County League, dethroning the Mustangs in 1965...The first year for the league was 1941...

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One of the things that hurt  players when the "modern era" of girls basketball began in the early 1970s was lack of games. Case in point: Rocky Grove's Teresa Weaver, the Orioles' star from 1979-81. She scored 609 points, but played in only 50 games...The Orioles posted their best record to date her senior year in 1981, 14-5 under coach Bill Gabrys. Her sophomore year they beat Oil City AT Oil City...Recently discovered: Pam Weaver has the school record for most points in a season with 397 in 1982. It was thought the mark belonged to Dawn Cauvel with 394 in 1986...

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After winning the District 10 Class B title in 1947, the Orioles took on unbeaten (23-0) Karns City, and dropped a 33-31 decision to the taller Gremlins. Karns City then received a bye into the western finals...​​

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Oops: Coach Reid Pierce started reserves and lost a Dec. 13, 1938, game to Rockland...

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First time the Grove beat Franklin twice in one season? 1935-36. First time Grove ever beat Franklin? Jan. 25, 1930. Score was 43-40. Claire Axtell led the way with 16 points. 

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Jack Eakin's record 31-point game in 1936-37 came during a 61-3 romp over Cranberry. The Orioles blasted Rimersburg 77-3 in 1932.

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That same year -- 1932 -- Wade Snyder broke the school record in the half-mile against Greenville (2:05.5) on a Wednesday, and then underwent appendicitis surgery Thursday at Franklin Hospital. 

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Rocky Grove's first commencement was apparently held in 1900, and the district had various school buildings up and running in the 1890s. Doors opened I 1896 with a two-year course which was upped the three by 1900. Wore caps and gowns at graduation for the first time in 1925...

 

The Grove did field a boys basketball team as early as 1914 and played games here and there in 1913. ...School's first baseball team was 1935. Beat Rockland Vo Tech, 11-8, at the newly fenced field at Miller-Sibley