The recent death of Joe Murray elicited great memories of the epic 1967 FCIAC championship football game between Staples and Stamford Catholic.
“06880” reader Bruce Jones — a sophomore then, now living in Georgia — sent along a copy of the New York Times coverage that so many remember so well.
The iconic photo shows a sobbing Crusader, after his team’s 30-game unbeaten streak was snapped by the Wreckers (8-0).
But the shot also shows Staples’ Bill Croarkin offering “words of consolation for Bennett Salvatore, losers’ quarterback.”
Salvatore was certainly a great athlete — a high school All-American, in fact. And he went on to a long career in professional sports — as an NBA official.
He’s refereed over 1,500 basketball games — including 20 finals.
However, according to the Basketball-Refs.com blog, he has “the distinction of being the worst referee alive today.”
Four decades later, the guy can’t catch a break.
Dave Lindsay, who caught that winning touchdown pass from Steve Booth was my Staples Football and Lacrosse Coach. A few years later Sacred Heart University started a lacrosse team and I was able to play for him again. We recruited four other former Wreckers to play for the Pioneers. Our nickname was Staples East. When Coach P hired me to coach freshman football at Staples Dave was the first person I hired. A few years later I became the head boy’s lacrosse coach and Dave was my first hire as an assistant coach.
One day while scouting a high school lacrosse game with Dave I noticed he had a national championship ring on. Dave is a very quite man. I knew that he attended Wake Forrest on a football Scholarship and was sure Wake had never won a national championship in football. Dave told me after graduating from Staples he attended Ferrum Junior College and played Tight End and Strong Safety on their 1968 National Championship team. The ring also had a bunch of names on it. He told me that (eight?) of his teammates went on to play at Marshall and were on the plane that crashed with the Marshall Football Team onboard. I was able to pry out of him that his first year at Wake they won an ACC Championship. Win Headley, another Staples grad was a senior on that team. Win was drafted in the first round by the Greenbay Packer’s that year. I had no idea Wake had ever been very good at football and he reluctantly spoke of their out of league games with schools like FSU, Penn St, and even having to cover Nebraska’s Heisman Trophy Winner, John Rodgers one on one.
Dave is a big man but he still holds the Staples High Hurdle record. He never spoke of this either. I have known this man for years and he never mentioned he won a national championship or had caught the winning pass in that big game. What a class act.
Hey Ned, You are correct and you must remember, although he probably didn’t tell you, that he played basketball also. He was a three sport athlete and very good at all of them. Staples was a different place then with different comraderie among sports players and families. And sadly we are slowly losing them as they age.
Just to be historically accurate Ned, Win Headley was an 8th rd. choice by the packers in ’71 and unfortunatley didnt make the team.
Ned, several former Wreckers of Dave’s era played for Ferrum, including Chich Nistico and Mark Skinner. Buz Leavitt ’65 preceded Dave at Wake and was an all ACC running back there while Win was earning All America honors. Staples football was very different then. There were no freshmen and all sophomores played JV as a unit. From the ’67 group only Jeff Hooper, a fine DB, started as a soph in ’65, my senior season (in the above NYT photo Jeff is in the forground next to Joe Murray). It was clear, though, that that year’s JV, including Dave, Steve Booth, Nick Albertson, Buddy Lynch, Joe Murray, Brad Steen, John Katzenberger and Tommy Nistico, to name but a few, were going to evolve into a very special team. Of that very talented group Dave was the standout, even as a 10th grader. At my 30th reunion in’96 one of my former teammates approached me. I hadn’t seen Johnny Vavrek in 25 years. Johnny’s first words to me were, “Remember how tough those sophomores were?” That’s how good that unit was.
Just read the Times article posted above. Staples had only one first down in the entire game?! And they went for a two-point conversion in the second quarter? A lot of fascinating stuff. I do vaguely remember the game and how big it was at the time. Even though there is no major anniversary of the game coming up, and even though it is not football season, I think, at the very least, this game and the recollections of those who participated merit a feature article in the local newspaper. This has to rank up there with the biggest victories in any sport at Staples, with what sounds like a fascinating group of players.
Truth be told, Fred, I’d have no knowledge of this game had it not been for the circumstances resulting in me reading about it in remote Houston in that city’s local paper. I was out of school, had just failed Marine Corps and Army physicals and, at age 19, was living alone in a city far from home trying to decide what to do with my life. News of this game, and the accompanying photos, represented a bolt out of the blue from home, which is probably why I’ve been fascinated by it ever since. By all rights, Staples did not even deserve to be in the same stadium with Catholic. Catholic was an overwhelming powerhouse whose linemen outweighed Staples by an average of 30 pounds per man. Gone were the big, fast Wrecker RBs of earlier years. The ’67 Wrecker RBs, Katzenberger, Greenwood and Lynam were small and quick, but Lynam missed the Cathloic game with a knee injury. The game should have been a wipeout for Catholic. Yet not only did Staples win, the Wreckers shut out their mighty opponent. The incongruity — the sheer implausability — of the Wrecker triumph still stands the test of time.
As to the point about the two-point conversion, I think that was far more common in those days, that teams usually went for it. I’m not sure all that many high school teams even had placekickers.
You’re right, Jake. Consistently accurate straight-ahead placekickers were hard to find. Staples’s best in that pre-soccer-stye era was Jimmy Schaeffer, Tip’s nephew, in ’63. Win Headley kicked ’64-’66 but more often than not we opted to go for two.
I didn’t realize that was a problem. Did they ever try to recruit anyone from the soccer team for some double duty? I remember fooling around on more than one occasion in the summer and short kicks didn’t seem like a big deal at the time. I would have to believe there were at least some varsity soccer players who could have been pretty consistent on extra points and short field goals with some practice. I do remember that, when I started college, Penn used one of its top soccer players, Stan Startzell, as its placekicker. And I think Staples’ own Steve Baumann briefly did double duty at Penn.
Keith Gog of my class (’66) actually wanted to kick for the football team while playing soccer. He approached Coach Lane and was rebuffed. He later kicked for a small Division III football team in Georgia with some success. Keith would later become a model and his face on the can of Right Guard. Mr. Loeffler would later call Professor Woog, his “Keith Gog” of his ’70’s teams which I believe had more to do with Keith’s determination rather than looks?
I remember the Gog story, Dude, and Keith certainly would have helped us. God knows we needed all the help we could get and Albie could have spared him — Nigoshian, too, who had actually played JV football as a RB before a terrible block by me resulted in Kenny’s near beheading and another sport for him to star in: soccer. By that time I think Pete Gogolak had already kicked soccer-style for Cornell and was with the Buffalo Bills, so the concept was not new. Most teams, though, still opted to use a lineman like Headley. Pro teams did the same thing, using guys who also played another position, like Pat Summerall and Chuck Mercein of the Giants, Lou Groza of Cleveland and Paul Hornung of Green Bay (those were the days of 33-man pro squads). In ’65, the Giants, using several position players as kickers, made only one — one! — FG all season. Imagine the ribbing our “Windsong Boy” would have taken from opposing teams! We wouldn’t have ribbed Keith, though. He was a fine wrestler and could have taken any of us except for Win, who was New England heavyweight champ. btw, in ’64 or ’65 Paul Lane suggested I give kicking — straight ahead-style — a try. Fine with me, if I could miss tackling drills. So Win and I would go toward the far end zone and practice. In truth, I was pathetic, my efforts not aided by Win’s accompanying laughter. Did Ablie give Keith the OK?
Keith stayed with soccer. And then, as now, Connecticut high school rules prohibit playing more than one sport in a season.
Interestingly, last year (fall 2009), the Staples football team’s kicker was Santiago Cuartas. He was a soccer player from Colombia but didn’t think he’d play much as a senior, so he talked to the football coach (Marce Petroccio) and soccer coach (me) about kicking.
It was a good move — he set a state record for field goals in a season (12), provided the margin of victory in at least one game, and is now kicking at Southern Connecticut State University.
After watching and covering Texas high school football for nearly a decade, Santiago may be the best I have seen. One question: Did not Bobby Valentine star in both track and field/baseball for Stamford in the ’60’s which would refute the Professor’s supposition? I believe Bobby was the last All-State in four sports in Connecticut.
A quick Google search for “Bobby Valentine track and field” brings up one reference: http://apse.dallasnews.com/contest1999/writing/100-250.hartford12.html. According to this Associated Press sports editor website, Bobby V. “was an All-State player in football, baseball and track and field at Rippowam, holding state records for career touchdowns (53) and the 60-yard dash in his day.” I’m amazed he could do that, given that there were so many baseball games in the spring — the conflicts with track meets must have been great. Perhaps he competed only in weekend events like the state meet, or after the baseball season ended?
At any rate, the one sport per season rule is now definitely in effect — and has been for many, many years.
Dan, the 60 was an indoor event.
Sorry that was me.
I see, as noted below. I wondered why they ran a 60-yard dash!
The references to track on Valentine’s resume have to do with indoor track, which was, of course, a winter sport, so there was no conflict with baseball. I think he played basketball for one year before switching to indoor track. I was at the same state championship meet as he was. He was second in three events – the 60 and 300-yard runs (the 300 was a killer) and the long jump. The indoor distances were odd ones indeed.
Staples had a special relationship with Rippowam in track… their coach was a Westport resident and a good friend of Paul Lane’s. We would even have “practice meets” with them. I remember one that was set up in the Rippowam parking lot.
When it was over, we were sitting on the bus getting ready to leave. And Valentine was outside walking alongside his coach, carrying in the hurdles himself, even though that wasn’t even his event. I remember Coach Lane saying to me “look, his best athlete is bringing in the hurdles.”
Bobby V was a football/hoops/baseball guy at Rippowam in Stamford, an All American in football and a number one draft choice (Dodgers) in baseball. Dude, I don’t think his baseball coach at Rip would have let Bobby V, who batted about .700, out of his sight for a moment. If it it had been allowed I think there would have been a few guys doubling up — Tommy Dublin ’64, for example, in baseball and track (high jump), and Murray Rosenberg ’66, a terrific pitcher and also a great quarter-miler during indoor track season who Paul Lane coveted for his outdoor track squad. And you, in baseball and golf!
Thanks Tommy but I couldn’t hit the curve ball and Gog beat me out at second base. Bless him but he would get dizzy under any fly ball. Could hit though. Fearless. You were more likely a double candidate for dual spring sports than me.
Pete, I stand corrected re Bobby V and hoops. Who was the Westport guy who coached track at Rip? After all these years, I’ve forgotten.
I may not have the spelling exactly right, but it was John Kuczo
You might be interested in this article on John Kuczo. At age 73 he is still a force — maybe THE force — in the FCIAC: http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/FCIAC-s-Kuczo-still-going-strong-39-years-later-598351.php
Gotta ask Dan DeVito, whose wife dated Valentine in high school. Almost positive that he told me Bobby snuck over from baseball practice and ran a few track events outdoor??? Tommy, I still maintain that Calvin Murphy was the best athlete to come out of Fairfield County high school sports ever despite Kuczo continued prowess. I am told Steve Young (another candidate) was a running back at Greenwich before QB’ing at BYU.
I’m glad to see the Kuczo article mentions the parking lot track. And glad he’s still going strong. I always thought he was a terrific guy.
As to Steve Young, I’m pretty sure he was already QBing at Greenwich. It was a bit after my time but Ceci Hopp (not Ceci St. Geme), who was a national HS cross country champion for Greenwich, told me “he was our quarterback.”
I was wondering when someone was going to mention Calvin Murphy. There was a rumor that he had come out, with no practice at all, and long jumped 24 feet in the spring…but he was so busy with other stuff, including being a nationally-ranked baton twirler, that he never actually competed in track.
I still remember him playing basketball for Norwalk in the Staples gym. He was absolutely everything for that team, including being the leading rebounder at 5′ 9″ or whatever he is. He was a perpetual motion machine. There was little doubt he’d have a great pro career.
DeVito says that Valentine played football, ran indoor track, was the mascot (The Warrior) for the basketball team and played baseball. Plus dated his wife. Busy guy. Calvin lived a couple of blocks away from me in Sugar Land, Texas. He has 12 kids by a variety of women. But I saw him put his elbow to the hoop in ’66 and score 62 points against Staples only to lose, 78-76 to the Wreckers. Amazing athlete. Could dribble two balls the length of the court faster than John Havelchek (sp?) of the Celtics could with one.
Dude, Young’s older bro, also a QB, beat us in ’65 in a squeaker. Wild game. McNeill and I listened to it on the radio from our adjoining hospital beds. Pete, I heard that rumor re Murphy’s long jump and I believe it. although he was actually on the track team for two or three years. He was also a fine high jumper, though Steve Emmett beat him out for the state title in ’65 or ’66, if memory serves. I don’t think Murphy practiced before that meet either. He was probably the best baton twirler in the US. The reason he picked Niagra U over the zilion other schools that desperately wanted his 55 ppg scoring average — no, that’s not a misprint, folks — was that the Buffalo Bills guaranteed him a featured spot in their halftime events every Sunday. Was Murphy the best athlete the FCIAC ever produced? In basketball — no question, although little Marvin Spencer of McMahon gave him a good run. Kelly Myrick of McMahon was a world-class hurdler at UTEP and an Olympian. But Valentine was arguably the best athlete in the US in two sports. He was the best high school running back I’ve ever played against or seen anywhere and was the most highly recruited RB of his era. If he hadn’t signed with the Dodgers he’d have been the featured tailback at USC. He was that good. He hit .340 in Triple A as a SS, his second season in professional baseball. Unfortunately for him, he was a Tommy La Sorda protege when Tommy was managing in Triple A but politicking for Walter Alston’s LA job. To spite La Sorda Alston arranged to have Bobby V traded to the Angels where Bobby broke his lower leg in several places when his foot caught in the wire mesh outfield fence while he was making a leaping catch in cener field. His leg never healed. Bone spurs the size of small tomatoes were lodged in his ankle joint and he lost not only his blazing speed but also his ability to turn on a major league fastball. He was done. I’ll never forget my first encounter with him. In our ’64 season finale our co-captain, Don Filson ’65 and I had him hemmed in on the sidelines on the Rip 20-yardline on a punt return. In a flash he was by Don and me and gone for one of the three punt/KO TDs he scored against us — and we had an outsanding team — which nearly resulted in a Rip upset win. He was a freshman — a ninth grader! His baseball genius was as pronounced in high school as today. As former Staples star pitcher Murray Rosenberg said to me recently, “We thought we knew the game back then but we were like babies in a cradle when our baseball smarts were compared to his.” Murray reminded me of his favorite Bobby V story. He’d struck Bobby out a couple of times in a previous game but was sitting the next Rip/Wrecker game out with an arm injury. When Valentine saw that Murray wasn’t warming up before the game he marched over to the Staples bench and said, “Get out there; I want another crack at you.” My vote goes to Bobby V by a nose over Murphy, Dude, even considering Murph’s Hall of Fame college and NBA career.
My favorite Bobby Valentine story may be apocryphal, and I can’t remember who told me — Paul Lane? Brian Kelley? — but here goes.
Staples had a runner on second. A ball was hit to Bobby V. Uncharacteristically, it seemed to roll through his legs — he turned around and chased it. The third base coach waved the runner home. Bobby had the ball all the time. He turned and pegged the runner out at the plate by 20 yards.
Even if it’s not true, it sounds great.
Tom–Re your post about Murray Rosenberg having struck out Bobby V: I was in touch tonight with a classmate (’71) and good friend who was a star pitcher on the varsity and pitched in college. He ran into Bobby V at his restaurant in Stamford in the 1980s, talked about FCIAC baseball, and told Bobby he had heard that Billy Kashetta had struck him out twice in one Staples v Rippowam game. Bobby said that was impossible, that he never struck out in a high school game. Is it possible Murray struck him out in some kind of summer competition instead?
Could have been a summer competition, Fred. I’ll check with Murray. For reasons that mystify Murray, he had pretty good luck vs Bobby V during the two years he pitched against him in high school and industrial league competition. Remember, though, that Murray faced him when Bobby was just a freshman and sophomore.
I’ll bet it’s true.
Jeez, I just realized I’d left a “c” out of my own name. What a moron.
Anyway…it’s interesting that you bring up Kelly Myrick’s name. I’ve actually wondered about him, because he and a bunch of other UTEP athletes refused to compete against BYU (they were in the same conference) because of rather unenlightened Mormon racial policies at the time (this was before the Church elders had a “revelation” and changed their tune on that score). Myrick and about seven other guys were dumped from the time immediately. I always thought more should have been written about that. I’ve heard Myrick is back in Fairfield County and I’ve talked to a couple of local journalists about tracking him down but nothing has happened yet.
I was a sophomore when Steve Emmett won the state high jump title. Actually, that was the “high” point of the high jump for Staples, since Bill “Stick” Schaeffer got third and John Wheeler got fifth – three Stapleites in the top five in the state.
Peter: Is Louis Zamperini still around? Just read the book. Remarkable.
Yeah, Zamperini still with us. I think he’s about 93.
You should track Myrick down for Runners World, Pete. He was an excellent hurdler. His gesture and that of his teammates was probably subsumed by similar gestures at other colleges nationwide. I remember when all the black football players at Syracuse walked, and at TCU and Oklahoma. It was a turbulent time. Sure, I remember when Steve, Stick and John nearly swept the high jump. My senior track season was a disaster due to an early torn hamstring (for the second year in a row) but I attended all the meets, including the states. Steve, Stick and John were good friends of mine so it was a big day. It reminded me of the previous year when Billy During, Brad Klein and Jack Forehand all ran 9.6 hundreds in the same heat. Wheeler should have been included in the list of guys who could have played two sports at once. He’d been a very good lefty pitcher but opted for track as a junior and senior. Very good high, long and triple jumper. I talked with Stick at our last reunion. Semi-white hair aside, he looks exactly the same. John says he’ll be at our next one, this summer. btw, I remember three very good soph runners in ’66 – one of the Downey bros, Bill Gluckman…and Pete Gambaccini.
Dude, are you sure that Staples beat a Calvin Murphy-led squad? I saw the game at Staples in Calvin’s senior year–I believe he scored over 50 points (but not 60) and Staples lost. He was the most awesome basketball player I ever saw to walk on the floor of the Staples gym. And he was an inspiration to all us little backcourt guys back then. I was in 7th grade, and tiny, and Calvin provided hope to all of us.
Fred: I could have sworn it was senior year but I remember Stick Schaeffer and Dale playing. I forgot who they tried to guard him. It may have been Mike Gerstle. Poor Mike. It was a long night but I do remember Staples winning and the home crowd sort of boo-ooing Calvin. Murphy had not gone to charm school yet and reacted poorly. Will be interested to see how Bossert substantiates my memory, which can be clouded with age. In regard to Valentine’s response to being struck out by Murray Rosenberg, I spoke with Calvin many times in the neighborhood running or later at the Chronicle and I don’t think he ever admitted to missing a free throw. It is amazing on some of these athletes recollection of events. Ask Nicklaus what club he hit on the 11th hole at Augusta in ’86 and he will remember. Remarkable but in the case of Bobby, challenged.
I was at that game — I was a senior — and recall Murph pouring in around 60 and the Wreckers winning by a point or two. But I may have stopped at Sam & Nino’s in Port Chester before gametime. in which case my above memories are questionable. We won’t see his like again in the FCIAC in our lifetime. What a joy he was to watch! His cousin, Calvin Reynolds ’66 (RIP, Cal), was a very good Staples forward who also starred in that game. Murph’s stepdad, Mr. Miller, was the custodian at Horace Hurlbutt in Weston and often opened that school’s gym for Staples guys, especially Roger Kaufman, on weekends. It’s forgoten that Norwalk had a very good team and went to the state semis before losing to New Haven power Hillhouse in a close game that I listened to on the radio.
I had no idea that Calvin Murphy’s cousin was Calvin Reynolds — wow. Sorry to hear he is no longer alive.
Also, I vaguely recall that Calvin M’s mother worked in one of the Westport schools — maybe Saugatuck El? True, or urban legend?
And I do remember packed gyms for those games. Great memories for this junior high kid.
Not an urban legend, Dan. His mom worked in the Westport school system. While the hoopla swirled around Murphy, Marvin Spencer of McMahon, also about 5’9″, was almost lost. Scoring about 30 ppg, Spencer would have been an icon in any other era.
Fred, I just emailed Scot Bossert ’66 re that Murphy vs Staples game. Scotso was Inklings’ sports editor back then and is a reliable repository of Murphy lore having also attended, with Roger K, most of Murph’s college games at Niagara.
Tom, maybe we’re both right. I remember that Norwalk won the state title, so I went to to CIAC website. Norwalk was state champs in 1966, and Hillhouse won it the prior year. So maybe you remember the Staples-Norwalk game from Calvin’s junior year, where Staples may well have won, and I remember the result from his senior year, where, quite frankly, I don’t think the final score was that close. One thing I have a vivid memory of–the ref blew the whistle for a stoppage in play, and Calvin then nonchalantly put up a jumper from well beyond the top of the key–and drained it.
Thanks, Fred. Sounds right. This is the Bossert’s reply to me:
“I must confess I don’t remember the details of the game. It wouldn’t surprise me though that Staples won. After losing the first nine games, the team won 8 in a row. So if they played Norwalk during that streak they beat Murphy and Norwalk. Murph had some good players around him on that Norwalk team. It wasn’t all Murphy. Norwalk, however was not the best team in the conference that year…Rippowam was. Calvin scored a ton of points but I don’t think he laid 60 on us. I did see an All Star game in Allentown, PA where Murphy got 63 against guys like Jim McMillion (Columbia, Lakers) Jack Kvancz (BC) Tom Penders (Coach Texas, Houston), Ed Fogler (Coach South Carolina). You could ask Roger except that he has no memory.”
Two of Tom’s names above have Fairfield County connections, before their college careers. Jack Kvancz was head coach at Masuk High School in Monroe for 3 years, while Tom Penders grew up in Stratford, and coached at both Bullard-Havens and Central High Schools in Bridgeport. Penders was Daily News Coach of the Year for his work at Central, and then went on to coach at Columbia University.
Dan, Penders also spent years as head coach at U of Texas and is now at U of Houston, I think.
Penders just retired last year from UofH. One of the few to play in a NCAA tourney and College World Series. Good guy with a wry sense of humor. One of his great lines when asked if he ever went fishing to relax: “I don’t like myself that much.”
I was glad to be present for what was probably the happiest moment of Calvin Reynolds’ entire Staples life. I was a sophomore on the spring track team when he was a senior, and when it came time to announcing the Most Valuable Performer, Paul Lane passed obvious choices like Steve Emmett and Mark Goodman, both of whom were the best in the state in their specialties, and instead picked Calvin, who hadn’t placed as well in the state meet but was a frequent winner of four events – the long jump, triple jump, high hurdles, and low hurdles – in every dual meet, scoring 20 points for us. It was the right call, it was evidence of Lane’s wisdom, and I’ll never forget how thrilled the usually dour Calvin was.
Paul’s wisdom wasn’t always apparent to me in my teens, but that was more indicative of my own failings, not his. Yeah, that was a great call on his part. I wasn’t there for the presentation but heard about it immediately. I think that moment may have been the high point in Cal’s life, which ended around 1970. He went on to NCC where he excelled in basketball and track during years that NCC was producing nationally ranked teams in those sports plus football. Few recall that Cal played end on our ’63 JV football team where he teamed with Dale Hopkins, also a superb receiver, and Emmett at QB. I think Paul was very disappointed when Cal decided not to come out for varsity practice the following fall. He and Dale would have made a spectacular receiving combo. I saw him for the final time in ’69. Bob Forehand, Brian McCarthy ’67 and I ran into Cal at the Saugatuck train station on our way to a party in Manhattan at Steve Emmett’s apt near Chinatown. We invited Cal to come along but at the last second he opted to leave the train at 125th St., saying that he had to meet someone and then would come downtown. I never saw him again.
Back to the ’67 team for a moment, Pete and Fred…I recall that Joe Murray and Gary Greenwood played at little Graceland College, Nick Albertson at Brown, Buddy Lynch was all-East at Dartmouth, Booth played QB for awhile at Colgate, Lindsay did very well at Ferrum and Wake and Tommy Nistico accepted a football scholarship to Memphis State. But what happened to Brad Steen, who lived next door to one of my HS girlfriends on Woodhill Rd. and was a terrific lineman — and Jeff Hooper, a fine soph DB on our ’65 team?
I don’t know about Steen. Hooper’s parents became friends with mine and I heard that Jeff was up in New Hampshire working with horses. That’s about all I know.
Can anyone verify the year Staples beat Stamford Catholic? And any additional recollections (statistics as well) would be appreciated. I saw the game and consider it the greatest David and Goliath story ever. I thought it was 1970, not ’67 as the article I’ve discovered states…any help? thank you