Madera players faced pistols in Vallejo

For The Madera Tribune

Looking none the worse from their ordeal in Vallejo, Madera’s championship roller polo team of 1908 posed for this photograph. On the front row, from the left, are Wilbur Leggett, Frank Barnett, and Virgil Gordon. The back row, from the left, includes Clarence Pickett, Charles Leggett, D. Stevens, and Jim Holmes.

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The young Madera athlete was distracted by the taunts of the referee and more than a little surprised when the official engaged him in an argument right in the middle of the game. Where was the impartiality that every sports team had a right to expect, no matter whether it was playing on the hometown rink or on that of some other city?

Frank Barnett was furious! He knew how to tend goal and he didn’t need anybody from Vallejo to tell him how to play roller polo. He had led Madera’s team in honing the sport to a fine art at the city’s rink on D Street, and in 1908, the boys were having a banner year. By the end of spring, Madera had the only undefeated team in the league. Perhaps that was why the local lads were receiving such brutal treatment from officials and fans alike on this road trip.

It was Saturday morning, April 27, when the Madera team boarded the train at the Southern Pacific depot and headed in high spirits for the Bay Area. They were counting on Frank Barnett to help them keep the team record unblemished by continuing to display his prowess at defending the goal. It was with an air of confidence that the Madera boys entered the Vallejo rink to take on the local team twice that weekend — once on Saturday evening and again on Sunday. As things turned out, only the first game was played.