Christina Campion became the all-time leading basketball scorer for Peddie, surpassing a mark set in 1924.
By: Kyle Moylan
The gym where Elijah Mount Norris played basketball at The Peddie School is no longer standing.
As of this past Saturday, neither is the school record he set there.
Christina Campion scored 21 points against Lawrenceville to become the all-time leading basketball scorer in the history of The Peddie School. She added 21 points in the season finale this past Sunday against Bloomfield Tech and ended her career with 1,618 points. Norris had held the old school mark of 1,595 points since 1924.
"I don’t know what it was like to play back then," smiled Campion. "It must have been really different. You look at games from 10 years ago and it was different."
It’s understandable if Campion doesn’t know much about basketball in 1924. After all, who was going to tell her stories? As of 1924, none of her grandparents was even born yet.
"I’m surprised he could have scored that many points back then," noted Bill Campion, Christina’s father. "Wasn’t that the peach basket era?"
When basketball was created by Dr. James Naismith in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1891, peach baskets nailed to an elevated running track were used. The players soon tired of climbing ladders to retrieve the ball, though. By the time Norris started playing for Peddie, a basket, net and backboard similar to those of today were in use.
Basketball spread quickly from school to school. Peddie formed a team in 1899 and played its first game against the Model School in Trenton. Although they may not have sounded very tough, the Model School won, 39-9.
Most of the major changes to the game were made in the first two decades. The basic out-of-bounds and throw-in rules of today were formed in 1905. Double dribbling was prohibited in 1908. The two-handed dribble was eliminated in 1911. As of 1923, the player fouled was required to take the free throws, ending the use of a specialized shooter.
Of course, there were some differences from today’s game still in place in 1924.
"I know there wasn’t any three-pointers back then," noted Christina Campion. "That makes a big difference in scoring."
While a three-point shot and a ball without laces (like a football, which could cause errant bounces) are certainly pluses for Campion, there were parts of the game that made scoring easier for a player on a good team like Peddie had in 1924.
Following every made basket, there was a jump ball at center court. Teams with a dominant center could keep getting the ball back over and over again.
"It’s hard to imagine what it was like," Christina smiled. "That was a long time ago."
It was so long ago, in fact, that Campion herself would be the biggest surprise to Norris. While Norris probably would have been pleasantly surprised to see his record last this long, there is no way he could have envisioned someone like Campion would be the one to break it.
In 1908, Peddie switched to being an all-male school. Girls did not return to the school as students again until the 1970s.
While the game and time they played may have been different, Campion and Norris actually have a lot in common.
Even in 1925, Peddie was a school that welcomed students from around the country to its campus. Norris was a local boy from Hightstown, though. Campion is also local, coming from Hamilton.
While Norris entered Peddie in 1919, the school was structured a bit differently than a normal high school. In what would equate as his high school years, 1921 to 1924, Norris started all four seasons. Campion also was a four-year starter at the school.
Neither Norris or Campion feasted on inferior opposition. The Peddie girls’ team has gone as far as Arizona to find tougher competition, to face nationally ranked teams. Even in the 1920s, Peddie was trying to test itself. Peddie often faced the freshmen teams from Ivy League schools such as Columbia, Princeton and Pennsylvania.
Both Norris and Campion had the good fortune of playing for legendary coaches. John D. Plant built Peddie into a team that won state championship from 1920-1925. Sean Casey has led Peddie to national prominence. Along the way, his teams are on a run of seven straight Prep A state titles. Under the guidance of Plant and Casey, both teams started winning state titles before Norris or Campion ever played a game for Peddie.
Norris is a Peddie Hall of Famer and Campion will become one as soon as she is eligible. While Norris and Campion are the center of attention, however, neither was ever a one-man (or woman) team. Norris played with Russell Lloyd and Emmet Norris, both future Hall of Famers. Coming into this season, Campion wasn’t even the leading scorer in the history of the Peddie girls’ program. That honor belonged to Jenna Graber, one of Campion’s teammates from last year.
While both Norris and Campion excelled in athletics, they were drawn to Peddie for academics. In his senior yearbook, Norris noted he planned to continue his education at Dartmouth. Mary Ellen Campion notes her daughter was also drawn to Peddie for academic reasons. Campion will be attending the University of Richmond in the fall.
When she got close to the school’s scoring mark a couple of weeks ago, Casey pulled Campion aside and told her about Elijah Mount Norris. He may have told her his nicknames were "Mountie" and "Punk." He may have pointed out that he also played football and baseball at Peddie, that he was 20 years old at the time of his graduation or that he probably worked so hard not to land on the JV team because it actually went by the name "The Scrubs."
Whether it’s Casey, Chris Potash (the current boys’ basketball coach) or maybe even someone not even born yet, someday another coach will probably do the same and tell his or her player about Christina Campion.
This coach and player may laugh as they research the old rules and look at the old uniforms. Chances are, however, they will ultimately realize they have more in common than they originally thought.
Both Elijah Mount Norris and Christina Campion have fit into and created history at The Peddie School. And while Campion has eclipsed his mark, it is not a time to forget Norris. It is never time to forget one’s roots, one’s past.

