Good morning!
Two years ago John Demko and his girlfriend Julie Wegrzyn of Chicopee went on a whirlwind tour of Worcester and wound up at the White Eagle Polish Club near Polar Park.
The sociable Demko got to talking with an Eagle member named Bob Kusz (pronounced Kuush) whose eyes lit up when Demko said he lived in Turners Falls. “We beat you guys in the ’73 state championship,” Kusz exclaimed. “My brother scored 21 points!”
The 50th anniversary of the D-III final between St. Mary’s of Worcester and Turners Falls High School was six months ago on St. Patrick’s Day. Admission was one dollar, and the packed house at Assumption College saw the Eagles beat Big Blue, 73-45.
“I remember it like it was yesterday,” said Fran Togneri who scored a team-high 19 points. “It was back when we had three divisions. Real divisions. Today you get two wins you go to the tournament because the MIAA wants the money.”
Demko and Kusz organized a get-together at the Montague Elks last Saturday. He was joined by George Cooke from the class of ’82 together with Cooke’s wife Karen, legendary local golfer Artie Burke and former TFHS coach and AD Paul Cournoyer, but Togneri was the only Powertown player willing to show up and talk about that dreadful game when Turners was outscored 15-2 in the fourth quarter.
“We had no business being there,” he said. “We didn’t have a great record (19-8) but we had beaten a real good team in the semifinals, Cathedral of Boston. The Recorder wrote ‘David beat Goliath’ but the next game against St. Mary’s, we didn’t have a chance.”
Kusz brought the trophy — a silver basketball mounted on a wood base — together with a photo from the Worcester Telegram of Steve Sargent accepting the spoils of victory.
The diminutive Sargent was dubbed “the jumping leprechaun” by the Telegram’s Sandy Burgin after his game-high 23 points. “To the amazement of many,” Sargent said while sitting under the glimmer of a blue Keno screen. “It was the only game where everything fell into place.”
“Stevie’s Irish on a Polish team and he wore green shoe laces,” joked his former teammate Ed Bauer. “He hadn’t scored more than 10 points all season.”
The three Worcester natives grew up near Holy Cross where Bob Cousy and Tommy Heinsohn flourished on the hardwood and Gordie Lockbaum excelled on the gridiron. “Doug Flutie’s last game was at Holy Cross. No tailgating. The parking lot had to be empty so he could fly to New York afterward for the Heisman Trophy,” said Kusz, not bothering to mention that BC beat the Crusaders, 45-10.
Kusz was there on behalf of his brother Jeff Kusz who scored 21 points against TFHS and subsequently attended Bryant College where he was inducted into the athletes’ hall of fame. “St. Mary’s is long gone,” he said. “It doesn’t exist anymore. I think the last class was 10 kids. It’s now a charter school.”
Cournoyer looked a bit glum recalling the scouting report that said to guard Kusz and Marty Bania at the expense of leaving Sargent open. “That’s true. What I did was I found out the teams they played and called the coaches, and they said to guard the big shooters.”
What happened, Cournoyer told the Recorder’s Don Saint-Pierre in the immediate aftermath was “This Sargent kid started shooting and we had no one to stop him.”
“It was kind of a blur,” Sargent said on Saturday. “My family was there and even they were in shock. The coach said I might be open and a kid on the bench said keep shooting.
“God rest his soul, too,” Sargent added, referring to four players and coach Ted Vriga who’ve since passed away.
It was damp and gray outside on L Street, but inside the Elks it was a splendid occasion to reminisce about an era when UCLA dominated on the college hardwood and the Knicks beat the Lakers in the NBA finals. Rounds were bought and toasts were made, glasses clinked, and laughter ensued and when it was over the Worcester boys packed up and took their trophy with them.
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It’s bad enough that UMass charges $23 plus $20 for parking to watch a football team that’s won three games in three years, now it wants $40 per ticket for each of the two games against Michigan next month.
The Wolverines went to the Frozen Four last year but so what? Other schools didn’t charge $40 to watch UMass after it won the national title.
They tried this at Maine a few years ago and you could hear pine cones falling on Alfond Arena. In the words of a former season ticket holder: “If this is the deal it makes sense to watch on TV and go to a different game. This team hasn’t proven it is any good.”
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Rule changes helped boost baseball attendance by nine percent this season, but not at Fenway Park where 47,061 fewer fans went through the turnstiles. One reason was the weather but another was the ticket prices. According to statista.com, the average cost to take a family of four to a game at Fenway Park was $385.37, making it MLB’s highest-priced venue.
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Chris Simms after the Cowboys lost to the lowly Cardinals: “The Cowboys seem to be that team that whenever they’re good and people start to pump them up and they’re walking around Dallas and everybody’s telling them they’re good — You’re the best oh-my-gosh the Cowboys! the Cowboys! Here’s a free drink, here’s a free meal, here’s my daughter…”
Oops. Forget that last part.
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The best month in sports begins on Tuesday with all four MLB playoff games aired each day through Saturday. Inevitably it will come down to a classic battle between Atlanta and LA for the NL pennant, and here’s hoping the Orioles reach the Fall Classic for the first time since 1983.
The Braves have Ronald Acuna Jr. (.335) and Matt Olson (53 HRs and 134 RBIs ) and the Dodgers have Freddie Freeman (.333 and 58 doubles) and Mookie Betts (.309 and 39 HRs).
On the mound, Braves starters Spencer Strider and Bryce Elder are a combined 31-9, but Charlie Morton and Max Fried are both on the 15-day IL. Meanwhile Dodgers’ southpaws Clayton Kershaw and Bobby Miller are a combined 24-8.
Baltimore closer Felix “The Mountain” Bautista is doubtful to pitch in the postseason. He has a partially torn elbow ligament, and backup closer Yennier Cano has a 7.60 ERA in September, but at this writing the O’s magic number was one to clinch the AL East title and winning 100 games for the first time since 1980.
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SQUIBBERS: Former UMass defenseman Zac (Don’t-Call-Me-Mac) Jones had over 23 minutes of ice time in the Rangers’ 3-0 loss to the Bruins on Sunday. … We hear that Deerfield Academy left tackle CJ Williams of the Bronx has committed to Vanderbilt, receiver Triston Ward is going to Virginia and tight end Willem Thurber is mulling offers from several FBS schools. … Thanks to Nike, never did a Notre Dame team look so clownish as they did in their lime-green uniforms against Ohio State on Saturday. …. Rafael Devers committed his 19th error on Tuesday when a line drive went off his glove. It was his 129th career miscue. … Boston Sports Journal’s Greg Bedard ranks rookie Christian Gonzalez behind only Darrelle Revis and Stephon Gilmore in the annals of great Patriot cornerbacks. “His coverage ability is excellent. For three games into his career, it is absurd.” … The James Madison football team could go undefeated in its first season in the FBS. The 4-0 Dukes are 4 1/2-point favorites today against South Alabama. … Francisco Lindor will make $34 million this year but he still hasn’t bought Jeff McNeil the car he promised him if he won the 2022 batting title. … Aaron Hicks, who was booed out of New York when he was batting .188, has batted .291 for Baltimore and played all three outfield positions. … Miguel Cabrera hit career HR No. 511 against the Royals on Wednesday. … Blue Jays fans consumed 75,173 hot dogs on Loonie Dogs Night at the Rogers Center on Wednesday. … Of the six American League teams with the highest batting averages, the Red Sox were the only club not to make the playoffs. … During Boston’s rain-soaked 1-0 loss to the White Sox on Saturday, Chicago announcer Len Kasper said players left bats outside in the mud until Cubs groundskeeper Bobby Dorr invented the bat rack in the 1930s. … So the White Sox can beat the Red Sox two-of-three and the Rays can go 11-2 against them and Alex Cora’s still the best thing since Puffed Rice? That’s crazy. … The Yankees have the AL’s best record since late August and what do the fans say? Thanks for nothing. … During an interview with Tampa Bay’s Josh Lowe, Sirius-XM’s Steve Phillips joked he had the right fielder in his fantasy league. At the end of the interview, Lowe said, “Go back to the basement and play with your fantasy team.” … Gordon Beard on the late Brooks Robinson: “In New York they named a candy bar after Reggie Jackson. In Baltimore, we name our children after Brooks Robinson.”
Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning colum nist who has penned his observations about sports for decades in the Pioneer Valley. He can be reached at chipjet715@icloud.com