ATTIC TREASURES AND 1963 SPORTS

ATTIC TREASURES AND 1963 SPORTS

Attics can be treasure troves—especially attics of older relatives. A recent attic visit turned up some true treasures worth sharing.

For some folks, “treasure” means gold and jewels. This column isn’t for those folks, but rather for those who appreciate historical treasures. The treasures I found included baseball, basketball, and hockey cards from 40-50 years ago. These are indeed jewels to a sports guy, even if they aren’t significant to incurious dullards who think history is boring.

In looking through the baseball material I hoped to find a century-old Honus Wagner card which would be worth a million bucks. But instead I found the likes of Craig Swan, Mike Lum, and Kurt Bevacqua, all worth a good deal less than a Wagner. (But I’m willing to part with my newly discovered Kurt Bevacqua card, if anyone wants to make an offer. Bidding starts at $1000.)

Likewise for the Joe Caldwell NBA basketball card, which indicated that Jumping Joe averaged over 16 points per game for the 1968 St. Louis Hawks.

But a true treasure was an October 9, 1934 Boston Post newspaper. It only cost two cents, but that was a lot of money during the Depression, as my grandfather always pointed out. The main headline was DAFFY DEAN TIES UP SERIES; WINS 4-3. The lead story was about how the St. Louis Cardinals tied up the World Series at three games apiece with a win in Detroit against the Tigers. The Gas House Gang Cardinals would win that World Series with an 11-0 Game 7 triumph that very October 9.

The sports headline overshadowed a lesser headline about Bruno Hauptman, who’d earlier been arrested and charged with the kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby. Still another headline read NAB BLONDE AND MAN IN CAB HOLDUP.

I found another old newspaper, one from my lifetime, a Nov. 23, 1963 Boston Record American—which cost eight cents. The headline brought back awful memories, memories that still haunt anyone around 60 years of age or older.

PRESIDENT SLAIN BY ASSASSIN.

Even 53 years later, the memory still sears, as the President of the United States belongs to all of us, regardless of party. Hopefully our country will never go through such a trauma again. After revisiting the then-fresh details of the president’s murder, I naturally turned to the sports pages. The main story was about Harvard-Yale football.

The Boston Patriots were 5-5-1 in the AFL East—they’d finish 7-6-1 to make their only AFL title game, where they were crushed by San Diego Chargers. But that weekend’s game against Buffalo would be postponed, out of deference to the late president. The NFL would go ahead and play that Sunday anyway, with players who didn’t care performing before half-empty stadiums with fans who really didn’t much care either, what with the president’s death. NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle would later say that going ahead with football that weekend was the worst mistake he ever made.

The NFL standings showed the Giants and Bears leading their respective divisions. They’d later meet in the NFL title game in Chicago, where quarterback Y.A. Tittle’s New Yorkers would lose 14-10.

I also checked the other standings and found the Boston Celtics were 12-1 and atop the four-team Eastern Division of the nine-team NBA. The Boston Bruins were 3-10-2 and in last place in the six-team NHL.

The top movie playing was “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” with a true all-star cast, led by Spencer Tracy.

Eventually I put the old newspapers away. While history is fascinating, one can’t live in the past. We also need to look forward.

But I couldn’t help but wonder if this very Weirs Times might someday be found in a Granite State attic. Will whoever finds it marvel at how little it cost? (Even less than the 1934 Post or the 1963 Record American—or the six bucks I recently paid for the Sunday New York Times.)

Whoever finds this paper years from now will know how things worked out under President Trump. Or will it be President Hillary? Or President ????

And maybe they’ll find some baseball cards as well. Kurt Bevacqua should be worth a million bucks by then!

DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES? YES! IN 1960!

DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES? YES! IN 1960!

According to numerous sports media outlets, the top sports story of the 20^th Century was the 1980 Olympic Gold Medal triumph by Coach Herb Brooks’ USA ice hockey team. For many reasons, that American victory in Lake Placid has taken on mythological overtones. The classic sports movie MIRACLE captured it all quite well.

That team—and sportscaster AL Michaels—will forever be defined by Michaels’ epic shout-out at the climax of the USA’s 4-3 win over the Soviet Union. “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!”

(Part of that team’s mythology includes the mistaken notion that the triumph over the Russians won the USA a goal medal. The truth is that the Americans had to come-from-behind to beat Finland for the Gold a couple days later.)

Of course there are countless epic sports stories in human history, and to pick any as the “greatest” is obviously subjective. But events of the past 50 years—coinciding with our modern information age—perhaps get disproportionate attention. There are wonderful sports stories from throughout history, if you care to look for them. And through the magic of Google, such stories are at our fingertips.

One such story involves another ice hockey team which received but a fraction of the acclaim given to the 1980 “Miracle” team. That would be the 1960 USA Olympic ice hockey team, winners of the Gold Medal at Squaw Valley.

In several ways, the 1960 team’s success was even more improbable than the 1980 team’s. The American ice hockey infrastructure in those days was quite limited. The sport was played in regional enclaves. Even in New Hampshire, few schools had competitive hockey squads, outside of Berlin. Berlin’s Notre Dame High School won its 14^th straight NHIAA ice hockey title in 1960, beating Berlin High School 9-1 in the championship game.

There were virtually no Americans in the six-team National Hockey League.

At the Olympic level, the USSR had, even then, committed to world dominance. The Soviets were defending Olympic champs and heavily favored at Squaw Valley, although there were other fine teams from countries like Czechoslovakia, Sweden, and—of course—Canada.

Into this forbidding hockey universe came a man named Jack Riley, the USA’s 1960 head coach. Now while Brooks’ 1980 team was indeed a bunch of college kids, they were college kids whose skills had been honed at powerhouse programs like Minnesota and Boston University. And Brooks had several months with which to mold his team into a cohesive unit. Riley had less time—and less talent.

(Ironically, Brooks was the last player cut from the 1960 squad.)

Sports Illustrated’s Shannon Lane aptly referred to the 1960 team as a collection of “carpenters, salesmen and firefighters” who were thought to have no chance against the established international powers.

The USA lucked out early on by getting Australia as an opponent. The Yanks’ 12-1 win over the Aussies was a confidence builder. The Americans eventually advanced to the medal round, where it was expected that Sweden would end their run. But, as in 1980, inspired by the home crowd, the Americans upset the Swedes 6-3. Then an easy win over Germany gave the USA an improbable shot at a medal,

On February 25, 1960, American goalkeeper Jack McCarten played the game of his life, and somehow the USA upset Canada, 2-1. Two days later, with ever-growing confidence, the Americans—as in 1980—took on the Soviet juggernaut. As in 1980 the Americans came from behind to win an epic 3-2 contest to make the Gold Medal Game against Czechoslovakia on February 28.

The Czechs led 4-3 going into the final period, but the Americans were not to be denied, as the USA scored six straight times for a 9-4 win and the most improbable of Gold Medals—with all due respect to the 1980 Miracle Team. 

So did the top sports story of the 20^th Century really happen in 1960 and not 1980? Who is to say? The 1960 team played before the modern information age and the players returned to being carpenters, salesmen and firefighters. The NHL was not in their future.

Coach Riley passed away last month at age 95—nother member of the so-called “greatest generation,” Riley was a navy pilot during World War II, but moved to West Point in 1950, where he coached Army for 36 years.

Did Riley believe in miracles?  I am going to guess that the answer would be …

“Yes!”

BURLINGTON BASKETBALL AND WILDCAT WOES

BURLINGTON BASKETBALL AND WILDCAT WOES

Back in 2005 I drove a van full of sports management students back into the USA after a weekend sports conference in Montreal. It was this time of year—March Madness—and talk in the van naturally turned to basketball. Some bantered about the University of Vermont’s men’s basketball team, which had just upset Syracuse in the first round of the NCAAs. Led by Taylor Coppenrath, the Catamounts would next take on Coach Tom Izzo’s Michigan State Spartans.

It was Sunday and we found a sports station on the radio and we heard Izzo acknowledge that “Everyone in the country is rooting for Vermont. We hate to be Bambi-killers, but WE want to win too!”

As we hurtled south on I-89 it occurred to me that we’d pass through Burlington, home of UVM, just as the Catamounts and Spartans would be tipping off. Always wanting to expose my students to diverse sports cultures, I suggested we find a pizza place and experience some March Madness right at the very home of the Catamounts.

The students unanimously agreed and we pulled off the interstate and onto the UVM campus—which seemed strangely quiet. Turns out it was spring break. Still, we headed toward a pizza place and saw a huge crowd on Church Street.

“Aha! Must be a rally for the basketball team,” I opined, as I parked the van. We could see many in the crowd holding signs. “Let’s mingle with the fans and then watch the game at the pizza place.”

But as we approached the crowd we realized that it was a political demonstration, not a sports rally. The theme was “George Bush Sucks!”

Ah yes. Burlington. Home of Bernie Sanders. Berkeley East, if you will. We turned around and went into the pizza place. The food was great. The basketball was not. Michigan State romped. Soon we were back on I-89 heading south towards our beloved Granite State.

I thought of this 2005 visit when I returned to UVM last week to watch the UNH Wildcats take on UVM in an America East Conference semifinal basketball game. Both teams finished the season with 11-5 league records, and I had a feeling that this MIGHT be a break-out year for Coach Bill Herrion’s Wildcats, who hadn’t won at UVM’s Patrick Gymnasium since 2000. It was the 14^th time in 15 years that UVM had made the semi-finals.

But a UNH win was not to be. UVM led all the way before a packed house to easily advance to the finals against Stony Brook.

The energized crowd naturally made me long for some similar March Madness in N.H. someday. But while Vermont had won its opening playoff game at home by demolishing Maine before another packed house, UNH had advanced by beating Binghampton before a modest crowd of 1500 fans at Lundholm Gym—a fraternal twin to Patrick Gym.

Once upon a time the UNH sports folks wanted the Wildcat hoopsters to play at the 6000 seat Whittemore Center. Indeed, UNH did play some games at that venue, but before 600 fans, not 6000. So back to Lundholm went the Wildcats.

Vermont’s larger hoop fan base is energized by a tradition of success. The only men’s hoop tradition in Durham is one of under-achieving. Will that ever change? Herrion’s had some winning seasons of late, but until UNH can beat UVM, team records won’t mean much.

I noted UNH’s 12-man roster included seven Texans and no Granite Staters. Interesting. But Vermont’s roster had no Green Mountain Boys either, although they did have some studs from Connecticut, which IS a bit more local than Texas.

So will New Hampshire EVER experience March Madness first-hand, the way they do in Vermont? Who knows? UNH men’s basketball reminds me of the Chicago Cubs.

“Any team can have a bad century.”  Or two.

As in 2005, I left Burlington feeling a bit blue.

But at least there we no “George Bush Sucks!” signs this time. 

Mike Moffett with Erin Cofiell of WVNY ABC Ch. 22 before the UNH-UVM playoff basketball game in Burlington on March 7.