Update 1-6-15

Hi,

 

Only two things this week:  a reunion update and that Newsday article about the 1960 North-South game.  First, about the reunion.

 

Last summer, following good advice to do this well in advance, we voted to pick the date and the place.  Since then, maybe a dozen-and-a-half people have written to say they were planning to attend and asking when I’d start running a list of other people coming to the party.  I said after the first of the year because I didn’t think we could maintain interest in the reunion for more than four months.

 

The list is important because people want to know who they’re going to see.  The number of people is important because it shapes our further plans for the weekend.

 

If it’s the 25 who came to the 45th reunion, we’ll be fine using the hotel restaurant and other public facilities.

 

If it’s 25 to 50, we’ll probably need a hospitality suite as a back-up if people get tired of the hotel restaurant or want more privacy to talk.  We’d probably need the suite from late Friday afternoon to Sunday morning.

 

If it’s 50 to 75, we’ll definitely need the hospitality suite as back-up.

 

If it’s close to 100, we might have to plan something more structured for Saturday night.

 

I don’t think we’ll get close to 100 because we haven’t had that much interest since 2001, when there were many other variables:  the emotion after the September 11th attacks, curiosity after not having had a reunion since the 1980s, and a lack of sites like Facebook to connect people who wanted to find old friends.  But I could be wrong:  I couldn’t have guessed we’d choose Hauppauge again.

 

So here’s the information we need:  who’s coming and when.  Friday through Sunday?  Just Friday?  Just Saturday?  Saturday and Sunday?  Also, who’ll be staying at the hotel?

 

The number of people staying at the hotel is important because the larger the number, the more leverage we’ll have not to pay for a hospitality suite.

 

I know a lot can happen between now and late April, and people’s plans can easily change.  But the sooner we have an idea of how many people are coming, the sooner we can finalize plans.  I say “we” because I’m not planning this reunion by myself.  There are people waiting to help.

 

Even if you’ve written before saying you’ll be coming, please write again and include the additional information.  Also, if there’s anything I’m forgetting to ask, please tell me.  Thanks.

 

Next, the North-South game article.

 

North’s Final Play Earns Coach a Shower
Stan Jacobson – Newsday

 

    It wasn’t necessary to have seen the scoreboard to know Valley Stream North had won Saturday and what kind of game it had been.  One look at North coach John Miele and pocket-sized halfback Lou Martorello made it clear.
    North stopped previously unbeaten cross-town rival South, 13-7, for the South Shore B Conference championship on the game’s last play from scrimmage and the victors’ joy was unbounded on the 15-minute bus ride from Fireman’s Field to North High.
    Miele entered his small office puffing on his ever-present cigar – a hard, five-for-30-cent brand.  A well-wisher tossed a more expensive brand across Miele’s desk, but before the coach had a chance to put it away, his green-shirted athletes descended upon him.
    “Just let me get the jacket off,” Miele pleaded.  The jacket came off.  Then he and assistants Dick Suprina and Phil Banks were swept into the shower.
    “We had it coming, I guess, for riding them so hard all season,” the laughing Miele said as he removed his sopping shirt.  “Little Martorello was great, wasn’t he?”
    Martorello was a lot of difference in a game that couldn’t have been much closer, but he couldn’t remember the score.  He and his team mates had to reconstruct the second half of the game before they could agree that it had been 13-7.
    “We worked so hard,” piped Martorello, looking like a gleeful 160-pound owl with the glare-reducing grease paint still under his eyes.  “If we didn’t beat South, it would have been all in vain.”
    With a minute and 15 seconds remaining in the game, things didn’t look so good for Miele, Martorello and North.  They trailed, 7-6, and had the ball fourth-and-four on South’s 42 yard line.  Martorello took a hand-off from quarterback Gary Halpern, rolled to the left and left-handed a pass to Halpern, in the right flat.
    Halpern advanced to the 19 and North was still alive.  For an instant, two plays later, it looked like they were dead.  Halpern lost the ball and South recovered, but referee Dick Poillon had whistled the play over before the fumble.
    Halpern lugged the ball to the five and the scoreboard read zero but Poillon indicated 22 seconds to play.  Martorello lost two yards into the right side of the line.  On the next play, he took the hand-off and threw to Ken Halpern between the goal posts for the touchdown.
    Gary Halpern carried for the extra point and the game ended after Ray Erbig returned the kick-off to mid-field.
    Did Martorello think North would pull it out?  “I didn’t know,” he said.  “I was praying hard.”
    “The last minute was the longest minute I ever saw.  I asked the ref three times how much time there was.  First it was a minute and five, then 33 seconds, and 18 seconds.  Then we scored.”
    “Two years ago we had the ball on the 1-yard line when time ran out.  Last year we had the ball on the four and they intercepted.  This year we couldn’t lose.  We were really up.  This is the last game for me...and all the other seniors.  We have 16 seniors.”
    “This is the best defensive team on the Island,” interrupted tackle Dick Zucker.  “We are.  And the line never blocked like it did the last two minutes.”
    Martorello’s outstanding work wasn’t limited to offense.  He shone as the deep man in the secondary, moving up quickly to tackle like a linebacker or staying deep with his man on passes.
    Martorello played an important hand in setting up North’s first touchdown.  With third-and-11 on South’s 26, Martorello passed to Bob Rozzelle, wide open over the line, and the end carried to the one.
    Center Steve Due made the block and Gary Halpern carried for the score.  A pass for the tying point was knocked down.
    “The best thing was not getting the extra point,” said end Ray Heron.  “That way we couldn’t tie.  We knew we had to win.”
    “It was worth the whole football season, I swear,” said a voice from the locker room, “bein’ champeen.”

 

The class of '65 50th Reunion:  Friday, April 24 through Sunday, April 26, 2015, Hyatt Regency, Hauppauge.

The South '65 e-mail addresses:  reunionclass65 . blogspot . com  (please remove the spaces)

The South '65 photo site:  picasaweb . google . com/SouthHS65  (ditto)


Rich