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Basketball's Best - Part One
If you want to find me on a winter's night most likely you have to go to a gymnasium. That's where I usually am, videotaping high school basketball games for public-access television. It has given me the opportunity to see countless great athletes, male and female. It also gives me the chance to trade stories with some of the North Country's biggest basketball fans. I'm often asked, "Foxy, who is the greatest player you've seen?" Or, "What's your pick as the best team?" I know you can't compare the teams of the Sixties to the teams of today, because the game of basketball has changed and the athletes have changed, as well.
But I can think about about some of the greatest teams I've seen since since my Dad and Mom started taking me to high school basketball games when I was six years old. The first team I ever saw play was the Our Lady of Victory Academy Foxes, coached by John Flynn. The years 1952-1955 have often been called the "Lefty Tessier Years," but he was backed by a corps of great players. Lefty made scoring 30 points in a game look easy, and he played alongside Billy Flynn (the coach's son), Geary Andrews, Johnny Owens, Don Buckley and Walt Criss. They beat undefeated Immaculate Heart Academy of Watertown in '55 to win the Northern New York Catholic League title. 19-4 overall, they went to the state finals in Glens Falls, losing in the championship game 51-49. They were my first heroes, and they inspired me to want to be the next great basketball player at OLVA. I never made it that far!
A few years later I remember watching the Plattsburgh High School Hornets play in that old gym on Broad Street, the site of Stafford Middle School. From 1957-1959 the Hornets went 37-5, including a 20-1 season in 1958-1959. Great athletes like Billy Benson, Jimmy LaPierre, Don Nephew, Mike Berry and Ron Giambruno had many youngsters dreaming of wearing the Orange & Black.
In the early Sixties, while I was playing junior high basketball at OLVA, there were great teams all around the North Country. St. John's Academy had a great team led by Pat Gregory. Beekmantown was tough to beat with Jack Glasgow and Earl Burnell tearing up the nets.
My high school years were 1962-1966, and that's where I had the opportunity to watch "The King of the Hill," Carl King, play. He was a senior when I was a freshman. In the tiny gym at OLVA I'd sit on the stage surrounded by about 20 cheering nuns, all in their black and white habits, and watch Carl make magic with the basketball. Guys like Carl, Terry Polhemus, Richie Daul, Larry Prenoveau and Bucky Willette became my new heroes.
It seemed like all around the North Country in the Sixties that basketball was at its best. So when I reached the varsity level in basketball I competed against some great teams. From 1963-1965, PHS racked up a 37-4 record. I remember Jeff Burns, Chris Rowlson, Mark Stetz, Stu Key, and Harry Yelle. And things didnt get any easier for the opponents a year or two later when Mike Giambruno, Stick Larocque, and my friends Bruce Stevens, Phil Dubuque, Tommy Herlihy and Jimmy Vaughn led the way.
And you can't leave out the great teams at that time at Mount Assumption Institute. When we played the Blue & Gold we had to contend with Gregg Ducatte, Jeff Wells, Steve Beebie, Jerry Seon, Terry Meron, Tommy Liu, and I had to try to guard my friend, point guard John Burdo.
And the St. John's Irish had a bunch of great shooters like Willie Watson, Mike O'Connor, Pete Hayden, the Trudell boys, Brian Poissant, plus on the boards they had Harry Canning. These guys were shooting in the gym every Saturday from 7am-noon. If there would have been a three-point shot in those days the Irish would have broken 100.
Maybe the best of all, though, were the Peru teams in those days. From 1967-1969, led by Bill Finney and Bob Finney, the Indians went 57-3. They were 20-0 in 1967 (Bill was a senior and Bob was a sophomore) to win Peru's first-ever sectional basketball title. Great athletes like Barney Woodward, Scooter Giroux and Dorn Fenner gave many opponents nightmares in those days.
High school basketball has always provided great entertainment. The further you get into the season the more exciting it becomes. I hope I see you at a basketball game over the next few weeks. Let me know what other teams should be included in this trot down Memory Lane.
FUTURE BLOGS: the CCIL, teams of the 1970s and 1980s, the "Good Ol' Days" of basketball and, of course, girls' basketball
Comments
Hey Tom,
I didn't bring up the Olympic team and I did not confuse Jon Ford with John Thompson from that great MAI team in the early 80's, but I did mess up the year of the PHS team, it was '65 and I stand corrected. I stayed away from the 70's and 80's because I think Foxy will bring up that later in another blog. At that time I will offer my opinion of the best team ever from the North Country. I have lot of great smiles and memories aroused with the names and teams bandied around though, because without question High School Athletics and basketball especially, has touched many of us and provided us with entertainment and excitement. Our young adults both men and women continue to do so and now with Foxy televising them it's even better for more people. Thanks to the schools, coaches,supporters and especially the players for the opportunity to watch our kids perform.
Posted by: Bullet | February 8, 2006 4:57 PM
Foxy, it is time to weigh in on this basketball issue. I want to clarify a few things from the comments; Angelo Sutton graduated in 1982 or 1983, his brother Bill graduated in 1981. As for Steve Holmes, he graduated I think in 1978? Also, the MAI team, John Thompson, John Flynn, Jeff Law... did not have John Ford; he graduated in 1980 from St. John's. How do I know this? because I played on the "BEST" team of that time, the 1980 AuSable Valley Patriots! We won the CVAC Championship and the Class C Championship (not MAI, PHS, or anyone else for that matter). We defeated MAI in the semi-finals and PHS in the Championship game. We were the division 2 champions, and back then the top 2 teams from each division played for one Championship. To win the Class C crown, we defeated the John Ford led Irish. We then travelled to Glens Falls and lost to Greenwich, 53-51. So, when talking about the "GOOD" teams of the past, remember the 23 & 4, 1980 Patriots, coached by John Konowitz!
Posted by: Ed McCallister | February 8, 2006 1:01 PM
Hawk, you're slipping a little. The team that beat the womens Olympic team (barely I might add) did have Leo Ryan and Jeff Holmes also included Jeff Moskowitz and Joe Cardany and Brian O'Leary, Steve Holmes and Angelo Sutton were excellent players but that was a few years later..and Daugherty was firing long range jumpers in college at the time. Although the MAI team you mentioned was good I don't think they match up to the Hornet team mentioned.. The team I remember enjoying most in the 60's was MAI's 1967 team of Gregg Ducatte, Jeff Wells, Mike Flynn, Gary Favro and Tim O'Connell, with Marty Jabaut and Mike LaMare coming off the bench.
Posted by: the Carver | February 8, 2006 7:49 AM
Hey Bullet, I know the PHS squad of Leo Ryan, Kevin Daugherty, Steve & Jeff Holmes, and Angelo Sutton beat the girls Olympic Team in Memorial Hall, but how would they fare against the state-ranked MAI team with John Flynn, John Ford, and Jeff Law? They were still wearing short shorts at the time, but, unlike canvas converse, the matching sneakers were in vogue; would any of that made a difference against the teams of today???
Speaking of equipment, do you remember when OLVA's first football team used dyed uniforms that had been donated from St.Johns? It was in the early 60's and they blead purple when washed. Another memory from growing up on the HILL.
Posted by: Tom-A-Hawk | February 7, 2006 8:26 AM
Burns, Yelle, & Rowlson graduated in 65, but had a 3 year run. I agree with the PHS team because of the depth-they also had Dick Booth at center, Key & Giambruno in the backcourt & Steve Kaufman off the bench. What about the 62 St.Johns team of Brian Holt, Pat Gregory, Tom Loughan, Bobby LaMare, and Bob Zuckerman with Lanny Lavalley & Carl Leahy in the backcourt. Solid as a team and well balanced, and had a great rivalry with Donny Corron, Gerald Ducatte, Ron Garrow, and Jack Glasgow from Beekmantown.
For shere numbers, I believe Bobby Finney, et.al. from Peru had the best W/L record in that era.
Posted by: Tom-A-Hawk | February 6, 2006 10:39 PM
Hey Foxy,
Bringing back my passion, thank you. You've mentioned most of those great teams of the 50's & 60's. Interesting about how those teams had runs of 2 to 3 years. I never saw the Lefty Tessier years, only heard the stories but my Dad said they were the most disciplined players he had ever seen in running a 5 man weave, no size but quick and great shooters. That '59 team at PHS had proably the greatest inside outside duo of Jimmy LaPierre and Billy Benson that ever graced a North Country hardcourt. And probably the best team in those 2 decades was the '63 Hornet team with 3 PHS Hall of Famers Jeff Burns, Harry Yelle and Chris Rowlson. That team had a bench that would have finished .500 in the CV League that year with Stick LaRocque, Bruce Stevens and the like coming off the bench. My choice for the best team of those decades was the '63 Hornets even over the '67 Indians, primarily because the competition in '63 was better that '67. The Finney's were 2 of the best to come out of this area but they were only complimented by good athletes and not necessarily basketball players like the '63 Hornets.
Posted by: Bullet | February 6, 2006 5:32 PM