John “Chick” Meehan was a three-sport athlete at Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse. Meehan lettered  in basketball, football and baseball at CBA. He received All-City honors in basketball and football. Meehan played professional basketball in Syracuse for ten years, mainly for  independent teams. He also played for two seasons, 1946-1947 and 1947-1948,  with the Syracuse Nationals in the National Basketball League. Meehan had along and successful high school coaching career. highlighted by his  years at Rondout Valley Central School from 1952 to 1978. In 2001, Meehan was inducted into the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame.

CHICK MEEHAN		Height:	6:01		Weight:		195		College:		None
John D. Meehan		Born:  Jan 9, 1917			Died: Apr 9, 2004				Hometown:		Syracuse, NY
			REGULAR SEASON RECORD
Year	Team	League	GA	FGM	FTM	FTA	PCT.	AST	PTS	AVG
1939-40	Syracuse Reds	Indep
1940-41	Newark (NY) Elks	Indep
1941-42	Newark (NY) Elks	Indep
1942-43	Newark (NY) Elks	Indep
1943-44	Rochester Pros	Indep	13	43	7				93	7.2
1944-46	Military Service
1945-46	Syracuse Stars	Indep
1946-47	Syracuse	NBL	29	83	43	63	.683		209	7.2
1947-48	Syracuse	NBL	22	16	10	16	.625		42	1.9
1947-48	Mohawk	NYSL	9						82	9.1
1948-49	Utica	NYSL	9						57	6.3
	Major League Totals		51	99	53	79	.671		251	4.9
				PLAYOFF RECORD
Year	Team	League	GA	FGM	FTM	FTA	PCT.	AST	PTS	AVG
1940-41	Newark	WBT	1	2	2	4	.500		6	6.0
1943-44	Rochester	WBT	1	2	0	1	.000		4	4.0
	Major League Totals		2	4	2	5	.400		10	5.0

Duane Swanson’s life unfolded like a 1930’s Hollywood movie:  an obscure small town athlete hitch hikes  across the country  only to  rejected by a a famous coach,  but then he is discovered by a movie star and ends up playing basketball for the United States in the Olympics. It all happened.

In January of 1934, Swanson was playing freshman basketball at the University of Iowa when he and friend , Bud Froning, dropped out of school and hitch-hiked across the county to Los Angeles  with the intention of enrolling at the University of Southern California. By the time they arrived in California, a firestorm had broken out in the press. Iowa coach Rollie Williams had accused famed USC head coach Sam Barry of luring the young athletes to California.  Barry vehemently denied the accusation and  stated he would not allow either one to play basketball at the university. Instead, Swanson and Froning signed to play basketball for the rest of the season for the Columbia Studios team. In the fall of 1934, Swanson signed to play on a team sponsored by Joe E. Brown, a well-known film comedian. In  April of 1935, Swanson embarked on a 15-game tour of Japan with an AAU All-Star team. For the 1935-36 season, Swanson signed to play for the Universal Studios team. Led by 6’5″ former UCLA star Frank Lubin, Universal finished second in the National AAU tournament and first in the Olympic Trials to win the right to represent  the  United States in the Berlin Olympics. After six years playing for Hollywood  studio teams, Swanson returned to the Midwest in January of 1940 and played the rest of the season with Sheboygan in the National Basketball League. At the end of the season, Swanson retired from basketball. He returned to California where  worked in the entertainment industry for the next twenty-five  years.

 

 

DUANE SWANSON		Height:	6:01		Weight:		185		College:  Illinois Wesleyan’32/Iowa (Frosh)’34
Duane Alexander Swanson		Born: Aug 23, 1913			Died:  Sep 132, 2000				Hometown:		DeKalb, Il.
1936 US Olympic Basketball Team			REGULAR SEASON RECORD
Year	Team	League	GA	FGM	FTM	FTA	PCT.	AST	PTS	AVG
1933-34	Columbia Studios	Indep
1934-35	Joe E. BrownAll-Stars	Indep
1935-36	Universal Studios	Indep
1936-37	Universal Studios	Indep
1937-38	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer	Indep
1938-39	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer	Indep
1939-40	Sheboygan	NBL	11	4	5				13	1.2
	Major League Totals		11	4	5				13	1.2
				POST SEASON RECORD
Year	Team	League	GA	FGM	FTM	FTA	PCT.	AST	PTS	AVG
1939-40	Sheboygan	NBL	1	0	1				1	1.0
1939-40	Sheboygan	WBT	1	1	0	0	.000		2	2.0
	Major League Totals		2	1	1	0	.000		3	1.5

Herbert “Babe” Barna Barna hailed from Anmoore, West Virginia, where he was a three-sport star at  Bridgeport High School. At the University of West Virginia, Barna was a starting end on the football team for three years and, as a senior, captained the 1936 team. Barna also played three seasons of basketball for the Mountaineers, earning two letters.  Barna also starred on the baseball team , posting a .408 WVU career batting average. Barna played professional baseball from 1937 until 1952 including five seasons in the Major league.

 

BABE BARNA		Height:	6:02		Weight:	215			College:		West Virginia’37
Herbert Paul Barna		Born:	Mar 2, 1915		Died:  May 18, 1972				Hometown:		Anmoore, WV
			REGULAR SEASON RECORDS
Year	Team	League	GA	FGM	FTM	FTA	PCT.	AST	PTS	AVG
1933-34	Clarksburg Franz & Burks	Indep
1933-34	West Virginia	College
1934-15	West Virginia	College
1935-36	West Virginia	College
1936-37	West Virginia	College
1938-39	Clarksburg Oilers	Indep
1939-40	Clarksburg Oilers	Indep
1940-41	Clarksburg Oilers	Indep
				POST SEASON RECORD
Year	Team	League	GA	FGM	FTM	FTA	PCT.	AST	PTS	AVG
1939-40	Clarksburg Oilers	WBT	1	1	1				3	3.0

 

GEORGE AYERSMAN		Height:	6:01		Weight:		180		College:		West Virginia’33/Marshall’38
George Parker Ayersman		Born: Dec 13, 1912			Died:  May 1, 1993				Hometown:		Rowlesburg, WV
			REGULAR SEASON RECORD
Year	Team	League	GA	FGM	FTM	FTA	PCT.	AST	PTS	AVG
1932-33	West Virginia	College	7	11	15	21	0.714		37	5.3
1937-38	Marshall	College
1939-40	Clarksburg Oilers	Indep
1940-41	Clarksburg Oilers	Indep
				POST SEASON RECORD
Year	Team	League	GA	FGM	FTM	FTA	PCT.	AST	PTS	AVG
1939-40	Clarksburg Oilers	WBT	1	0	0				0	0.0
	Major League Totals		1	0	0				0	0.0