Teacher, Coach, Administrator

In the late sixties through the early seventies, I remember being dragged by my parents to the gym at the H.T. Wing School to watch high school basketball. I say dragged because during that stage of my life I could not have cared less about basketball. Sports wise, this was the period of the ascendency of the Bruins. I could not skate a lick, but street hockey was a different story. If there was not a game going on behind the Wing School, my brother and I would ride our bikes from Water Street up to Burbank Street to play. All the children in the Burbank Street area played. We were all going to be Bobby Orr or Gerry Cheevers. I was also under the spell of Bill Hendy and Little League Baseball, so I was not happy having to go watch high school basketball.

The town was much smaller at that time. The entire student body was in the Wing School. I knew most of the players, or more likely their younger siblings. I just did not care that much about basketball. I do remember the girls’ basketball coach, Edwin Zion. Always calm, dressed in a coat and tie during an era where sartorial standards were declining.

Mr. Zion was born and raised in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. After his high school graduation, he joined the Navy and was trained in aircraft electronics and communications, achieving the rank of AER2. He was deployed to the Pacific Theater after his training was complete and served with a squadron headquarters unit and then on an attack transport involved in the Okinawa campaign. After his return to the States he attended Bridgewater State Teachers College, graduating in 1948. He was a member of their men’s basketball team and the captain during his senior year. His fellow classmates remembered him as athletic, popular, and friendly. He began his teaching career in Sandwich later that year. I have been told he was hired specifically because of his basketball background to coach the girls’ team at Sandwich.

Coach Zion and the Sandwich High School 1956 Girls Basketball Team. The author's mother, Donna Cahoon Walker, is kneeling in the front row, third from the right. Courtesy of John Walker

Girls’ basketball in the fifties was played differently from the boys. It was a six-on-six variant that remained common until the early seventies and still existed in two states until the 1990s. Three forwards on the front court, three guards in the back court. Passing was more important than dribbling, which was restricted. A player was, in most variations, not allowed to cross the center line from their half. The forwards did all the scoring. My mother, Donna Lee Cahoon, was a forward. She earned the nickname “Speedy.” 

Donna Cahoon is just releasing the basketball on the layup in this photo of the 1957 championship game against Provincetown, played at Otis Air Force Base. Courtesy of John Walker

It is not something that she ever talked about. I knew that she had danced and trained in gymnastics. Not that she told me, but Gramma Cahoon regaled me with stories of her dance events and gymnastics competitions after my daughter began dance lessons and my son was doing gymnastics. Other than seeing team photos of her in the trophy case at the school, I did not know about her playing. There was no talk at home about her basketball career in high school.

Newspaper article about the Cape's 1957 basketball championship games. Courtesy of John Walker

The Sandwich High School girls’ basketball team (sometimes referred to as the “Knighties”) was a force to be reckoned with from the late 1940s through the 50s. I was unable to locate any overall statistic database for that era, but I do have some of the box scores. In a selection of three games from the 1957 season, “Speedy” scored 21 points in a 63-38 win over Orleans, 20 points in a 54-24 win over Falmouth and 25 points in a 50-62 loss to Yarmouth. The Melix and/or Roncarati sisters scored the rest. These girls won four straight championships.

Mr. Zion’s first championship with the girls was in 1949. His teams consistently won championships or were at the top of the league. He was able to do this in a school that had a comparatively small student body throughout 1980. One news article from the fifties specifically cites the fact that Sandwich High School was one of the smallest schools on the Cape with only thirty-nine girls in the student body. He had something that was special when he coached.

Mr. Zion taught, coached, and even served as an administrator (for a noticeably brief time because he preferred to teach) until 1980 when he retired. Many people that grew up in this town would have been in one of his classrooms or on one of his teams. In addition to coaching girls’ basketball, he also coached the boys for a brief period and girls’ softball during the seventies. An award bearing his name was given to a senior student in recognition of their sportsmanship. He clearly had an impact on young people in town over several generations.

He taught junior high math. I had him in eighth grade. I do not have any specific recollection of my time in his classroom, but my “Scholarship Reports” for the year had this comment from him: Does Consistently Good Work. I was a solid ‘B’ student at that time. How many students were told a variation of “fold your paper into thirds – two lines giving you three spaces”?

This plaque commemorated the naming of the Edwin Zion Gymnasium at the H. T. Wing School. Courtesy of John Walker

Mr. Zion retired after the school year ended in 1980. He continued to live in Sandwich and passed away in 2000. In November of that year, the school committee made the decision to name the gym at the H. T. Wing School the Edwin Zion Gymnasium. The ceremony dedicating the gym and installing the plaque occurred a year later. With the recent sale of the school building and demolition of the gym, the plaque was identified for removal and now resides at the Sandwich Town Archives.

The gold charms awarded to the author's mother for her participation in Sandwich's basketball championships. Courtesy of John Walker

My mom passed in 2010. A box of paperwork and photos remained in my parents’ house until my dad passed in 2018. As I set about resolving his estate, I came across the box. There were news articles clearly clipped by Gramma Cahoon. There were several photos of my mom playing basketball. There were three gold charms that had been awarded for championships (they either stopped giving them or the 1957 charm went missing), and there was also a program from championship celebrations. It finally dawned on me how important basketball was to her.

It was apparent that Mr. Zion had a substantial impact on my mother. Which is why she was still going to the high school to watch the games. She made me go because she hoped the experience would benefit me. I wonder what her thoughts were when I started playing soccer and developed a close relationship with my coach, started attending Sandwich High School soccer games after returning to the Cape, watching my son being coached by the same man who coached me.

I would have liked to have a conversation with her regarding that. I think we both would have enjoyed it.

The interior section of the program for the 1956 principal's dinners celebrating the basketball champions, held at the Elks Lodge in Hyannis. Courtesy of John Walker

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John Walker is a board member of the Friends of the Sandwich Town Archives, a dedicated, all-volunteer 501(c)(3) nonprofit committed to supporting and promoting the archives’ collections and the rich, diverse history of the town of Sandwich.