Roosma, John S.
Basketball
b. Sept. 3, 1900, Passaic, NJ
d. Nov. 13, 1983
Roosma was probably the best player on the Passaic, New Jersey, High School "Wonder Teams" that won 159 consecutive games. A 6-foot-1 forward, he played in 41 of those games and was the top scorer in three state championship tournaments, two of which were won by Passaic.
At the U. S. Military Academy from 1921 to 1924, Roosma won ten letters in four sports and scored 1,126 points in 74 basketball games, an average of 15.2 per game--a very high figure at a time when the winning team usually scored fewer than 40. Army won 70 games and lost only 3 while he was playing.
After graduating, Roosma became a career officer, serving thirty years and retiring as a colonel. During his Army career, he played for a number of service teams and also officiated college games.