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.
