Photo From The Past ~ Girls Rifle Team / Polytechnic HS 1939 Ft. Worth TX

[Don W]

I saw this in an old year book & thought really neat.

DW

[Fred]

Cool!

[joem]

Sure wouldn't see a picture like that in a HS year book today.

[The Wolf]

Nope, you wouldn't see that in ANY High School Year Book in this age.

Teenage girls becoming proficient with a powerful, 30-06 bolt action rifle... I love it! Super-cool photo!

Best Regards from Virginia,

Chris

[Griff Murphey]

When I went to my College Army ROTC reunion this last fall, a lady a couple or five years older than myself said that she was on the rifle team. No not the Trinity University ROTC team but a special team that fired on their own range in the basement of one of the girls' dorms. Foreshadowing the Internet, they fired radio matches where they radioed scores between colleges. Now the school has no rifle teams, just a nominal skeet team.

[John Beard]

Don,

Not to discount the integrity of the young ladies in the photo, but I seriously doubt that they actually shot those M1903's. I'm more inclined to believe that the M1903's are either photo props or Hoffer-Thompsons. I note that several young ladies to the left are holding sporting style rifles, perhaps .22 caliber.

My 2c worth.

J.B.

p.s.,

I sent you a report. Check your e-mail.

[Doug Douglass]

the two rifles on the far left could be Model 1922 Springfields.

[Griff Murphey]

I noticed the same thing, and it was obviously posed with the 03s. May have been too much trouble to get the .22s out of the vault, the drill them may have been outside practicing, and they borrowed the O3s, etc.

The Poly neighborhood was a nice middle class area that went into utter decline in the 60's. lots of vacant lots there now, the one semi decent area is occupied by Texas Weslayan University with a few little stores around it. The school still exists and is a colonial Willimsburg style WPA clone of my high school. Arlington Heights

[Don W]

John & Griff,

I thought the same when I first saw it. Probably two M 1922, Cal. 22 on the left & others were probably HS ROTC Drill Rifles (for the photo). Most likely not enough M 1922's for everyone in the photo. There was no mention of the competetive results for the Girls team.

HS ROTC used to have a significant presence in the large Fort Worth & Dallas HS's. There are some notes on the Boys team competition. I will try to post a photo of the Boy's team & recent (1939) competition results.

DW

[Kragrifle]

The rifles must be Hoffer Thompsons, with a few 1922's thrown in. I did a display at Kansas City last July showing off a few 1922M1's. I had 8 or 9 photos of girl's rifle teams from the late 1920's up to WWII. All had 1922's, 1922M1's, Winchester Model 52's. I have a few photos of girls with Hoffer Thompson's and Winder muskets. I do not have documentation that girls never shot the 30 cal rifles, but one would have to extrapolate that 22 cal rifles were used. I will tell you that the photos generated as much interest from the ladies as the rifles did from the men-probably more!