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The Mighty Atoms

John Conway - Sullivan County Historian
Posted 1/10/20

The Orange-Sullivan Basketball League in the early 1950s included powerhouse teams from small cities like Newburgh, Kingston and Middletown, as well as a squad from Monticello, which was always known …

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The Mighty Atoms

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The Orange-Sullivan Basketball League in the early 1950s included powerhouse teams from small cities like Newburgh, Kingston and Middletown, as well as a squad from Monticello, which was always known for its standout hardcourt talent, but none of those formidable fives enjoyed the consistent success of the juggernaut Woodridge Atoms.

The make-up of the Orange Sullivan League, a semi-professional loop that thrived in the days before the National Basketball Association had established itself, varied a bit over the years, but during the 1950 and 1951 seasons teams representing Montgomery, West Point, Beacon, Liberty, Jeffersonville and Ellenville as well as those communities listed above competed at one time or another. The Atoms captured the league championship in both of those seasons, and set a number of scoring records along the way.

The back to back championship teams were managed by Charles Cauthers and coached by Jesse Levine, Cliff Calhoun, Morris Gold and Duddy Kessler. Liza Taube served as the team's trainer.

There were dozens of talented players competing in the Orange-Sullivan League at that time, including Bullet Bill Baker of Middletown, Blackie Dorazio, who played for both Newburgh and Montgomery, Carl Brown, Don Murray and Charley Mormon of Monticello, and Allie Hasbrouck of Liberty, but no team consistently fielded the kind of firepower Woodridge brought to the floor. Any number of Atom players might step up to take scoring honors on a given night, though Joey Novogrodsky and Rivan Krieger were generally the most prolific point producers.

And the Atoms supplemented their local talent with two of the highest scoring players in the league's history, Jackie Stein and Walt Sheils.

Stein, who played either forward or center for the Atoms, was so good that he was offered a tryout with the NBA's Minneapolis Lakers, whose regular center was Hall of Famer George Mikan, regarded by many as the best player of his era. Stein didn't make the Lakers, but he did spend time playing for the legendary Philadelphia Sphas, a renowned amateur contingent that routinely played the best teams in the world, and over the years claimed victories over both the Original Celtics and the Renaissance Big Five.

Stein was a terrific defender and rugged rebounder, and possessed a deadly accurate hook shot he could sink from virtually anywhere on the court. He routinely shut down the opponent's top big man, and seldom missed a shot when the pressure was on.

Sheils was even better. The sharpshooting guard had starred at St. Peter's College, where his name still appears in the record books, and later went on to become a powerful New Jersey politician, but he was a school teacher and administrator while playing for the Atoms, and he became well known throughout the league as a threat to score anytime he had the ball in his hands. He once scored an Orange-Sullivan League record 52 points in a single game, and another time casually sunk a 50-footer as if it was a routine shot. Sheils was chosen the league's outstanding player in 1951. He later played for several teams in the old American Basketball League, including the Carbondale Aces.

But the local players were always the heart of the Woodridge Atoms, and Krieger and Novogrodsky were among the league's best. The rangy Krieger, who could play any position equally well, led the Orange-Sullivan League in scoring one year. Typically lining up at forward or center, Krieger was almost always good for double figures, and was a force on the boards, as well.

The set shot artist Novogrodsky was another Woodridge standout, regularly ringing up double figures. A streak shooter who was deadly when he was on a hot streak, Novogradsky often led the Atoms in scoring. For example, he set a scoring record in the Y.M.C.A. Mid-Hudson Basketball Tournament by racking up 97 points in four games, including 18 in the championship contest, which Woodridge won over a highly regarded Wiltwyck Motors quintet from Kingston.

In the first game of the 1950 league championship series against the Middletown Furriers, Novogradsky pumped in ten points in the final quarter to ensure the Atoms 57-43 victory, finishing the contest with 17. Krieger had 19 in that win and Herb Cauthers added 11.

When the Atoms were clicking on all cylinders, they were virtually unstoppable. This was never more evident than in a 127-80 victory over the Kingston Recreations in 1951. The Atoms' victory not only set a new league scoring record for most points by a team in a single game, but also resulted in a new individual scoring mark as Walt Sheils pumped in 52 points.

The game produced catcalls from the press in Kingston and some of the league's other towns, as reporters accused the Woodridge squad of stacking the deck with ringers.

“That professional basketball club operating out of Woodridge has a couple of pros who are paid to score points for the highly publicized Atoms,” one newspaper account noted after the record setting tilt against Kingston. “These two worthies seldom fail, as Orange-Sullivan League rivals have learned from bitter experience.”

The report referred, of course, to Sheils and Stein, who had combined for 85 points in the contest. But it was grossly unfair to claim that Woodridge was nothing without those two stars. For two years, at least, the Atoms were unbeatable with virtually any lineup they put on the floor.

Whether the starting five included Norman Schwartz, Donnie Stangel, Lester Fein, Dickie Couch, Herb Cauthers, Billy Greene, Roy Walker, Murray Gaiman or Jim Wilson, the Atoms were mighty whenever they played.

John Conway is the Sullivan County Historian. E-mail him at jconway52@hotmail.com.

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