It is hard for us to imagine today how a High School event could so captivate the imagination of people all over the world but such was the case with this Passaic High School winning streak. The exaltation of professional sports was still in its infancy and High School sports were in some ways more organized and professional. High school was looked upon more as higher education then also which lifted its status at the time.

If you click here you can view copies of the winning streak with the photo of the team and its players of each year. 
“Prof.” Ernest A. Blood the coach of the team up until 1924 was a legend in his own time posing in two of the team high school yearbook photos with his pet cub bear “Zep”. 

Click here to view the various articles from Fritz Knothe scrap book.  Some of the articles are not dated and some I dated the year they were in by the amount of victories they are claiming in the article.  The articles I believe are from the Passaic Daily News although I am not absolutely certain of that if not marked on article.  One article “WESTERNERS TOLD OF BLOOD’S WORK” tells of an Indianapolis newspaper writer interviewing coach Blood.  The article along with another one next to it writes of how Coach Blood was more concerned with developing men then winning basketball games.  The 1923 article by Burris Jenkins Jr. along with its praise of coach Blood developing manhood over winning also reveals the extent of the excitement and popularity of the streak not only from coast to coast but also internationally here is what he wrote:

“If a man builds a better mouse trap than his neighbor, the world will beat a pathway to his door."
A man out in Passaic has done something better than anyone else.  He has built a high school basketball team which has set up a record of 116 consecutive victories and not lost a game in four years.  And the world, recognizing genius, has figuratively beaten a pathway to his door by covering the pages of newspapers and magazines all over the United States as far west as California, and even newspapers of France, Germany and other European Countries, with the little man’s name, “Prof.” Ernest A. Blood, and accounts of coach Blood’s “wonder team” of
Passaic High School.  

Click here to view entire recopied 1923 article.

Written by:
Bob Meli
September 19, 2017