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Lake City, Florida: A Sesquicentennial Tribute (2009) H. Morris Williams, Dr. Kevin M. McCarthy

Chapter Twelve: 1920 - 1929

What happened was that the Cuban team, believing that they
were really good that season, wanted to play the best team in the
southeastern United States. Apparently the Cubans intended to invite
the Columbia College team, but - not knowing that the school no
longer existed - mistakenly invited the high school team for an all-
expenses-paid trip to Cuba. That would explain the disparity in ages
of the players on each team. The CHS contingent, fourteen players,
three adults, and one student manager, boarded the steamer Governor
Cobb and arrived in Cuba on December 31, 1920, just in time for a
huge banquet held in their honor. One of the Cuban welcomers was

Dr. J. Fermin Figueroa, a Tulane University graduate and lieutenant
commander in the Cuban Navy who had attended public school in
Lake City many years before.

The CHS football team that went to Cuba to play a game

The Cuban players, aged 22 to 23, outplayed the CHS players,
aged 15 to 18, but the grit of the Florida team won over the hearts of
many of the spectators, who began cheering for them in the second
half. In the following days, the Americans toured the island, attended
horse races and Jai Alai games, played (and lost) a basketball game
against the same athletes, and returned home on the steamer Mascotte.

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