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The Catholic League
Today's Press-Republican sports section has the popular LOOKING BACK column (p. B4). Who puts that together? Bob Goetz, sports editor? I'll have to find out. Nevertheless, under the 40 years ago (1966) part it states, "Mike Flynn pitches a five-hitter with 18 strikeouts as Our Lady of Victory Academy thumps St. Pius X of Saranac Lake, 16-3. Ray Gagnon and Flynn each have three hits with Gagnon connecting for a home run."
I figure the above bears mentioning, not because of that Gagnon name, and not because of that Flynn name, but because of the mention of St. Pius X of Saranac Lake. There are probably many young athletes and ex-athletes who never heard of such a school. But when it came to sports, St. Pius X and OLVA were just two of the many schools in the Catholic League.
At one time in Plattsburgh there were three Catholic high schools: Our Lady of Victory, the small school from up on Fox Hill, Mount Assumption Institute, the tough school run by the brothers and comprised of many borders and some local students, and, of course, St. John's Academy, comprised mostly of the townies.
OLVA closed its doors as a high school at the end of the 1969 school year. In the late 1980s St. John's and MAI merged to form Seton Catholic Central, which still survives. Within a couple of decades the Catholic League lost two Plattsburgh schools, mostly due to declining enrollment and financial issues.
The Catholic League was great for us athletes at OLVA, because it provided competition on pretty much equal footing. It was difficult for us at OLVA to compete against Peru or PHS, although in baseball, for some reason, we always held our own. With 15 boys in our senior class we didn't match up well with the hundreds available for sports at Peru and PHS.
We would rather check the sports schedule for St. Pius X, a Catholic school about our size. We didn't mind the bus ride to Saranac Lake because we knew there would be equal competition and a chance for a win. During my time I especially remember Tom Clark and Tim Fortune, excellent athletes at St. Pius. Tom Clark was a tall thin basketball player with a smooth shot, and he was a friendly guy. I still see him at Saranac Lake sports events and it's always nice to shake his hand and remember the old days.
Then there was St. Joseph's Academy of Malone. There were many great athletes there, but none of us will forget the tremendous talents of Mike Moutz, the one-armed basketball player. If ever there were a guy who didn't need two hands, it was this guy. Man, he could shoot, rebound, handle the ball -- and make the All-Star team, all with one arm.
In the Northern Tier there was another small school that provided OLVA with some close games: St. Mary's Academy of Champlain. Were their colors blue and white? Was their nickname "the Gaels"? In basketball I can recall trying to guard Gary "Lefty" Filion, who usually scored around 20 a game. One night on the Foxes home court Coach Flynn told me to just concentrate on defense, keep Filion from getting the basketball. I took the task seriously and even followed Filion back to his team huddles during timeouts that night. I held Filion to two points at the half. The second half, though, he exploded for 14 points, and I couldn't help but feel he was just toying with me in the first half, knowing he'd get his points before the night was over.
Another great shooter from St. Mary's of Champlain was Andy Morelli, another guy I had to guard. After my Lefty Filion experience, I knew ahead of time there was no holding Morelli to single digits, especially on his home court. He owned that court, and that was the days before the three-point shot. I tried to guard him, with emphasis on the "tried."
There must have been some other schools in the Catholic League, other than OLVA, MAI, St. John's, St. Pius, St. Joseph's and St. Mary's. What schools am I forgetting? Was there a Catholic high school in the Keeseville and Ausable Forks area? The athletes today at Seton Catholic don't know about that great tradition of competing against the other Catholic schools. That's too bad. Amen.
Comments
I have started a web page connecting Our Lady of Victory Academy to former students. It is a my space account, so users would have to have a MySpace page to view any pictures. They can still visit the home page and there will be links to OLVA Students MySpace home sites. Any help you can give me will be appreciated.
I started the plattsburghalumni.com site several years ago and I notice Roger Black has it up and running.
Frank Forgette
(Foxy's note: Nice to hear from you, Frank.)
Posted by: Frank Forgette | April 29, 2008 2:54 PM
Hi, My brother Peter Gendron went to St. Joe's in Malone and with Mike Moetz (the one arm baseball player). We are going back to the years of 1962-65. I remember hearing about his name often.
Posted by: Marc Gendron | March 1, 2007 1:58 AM
Thanks to the "Music Man"
I've come across the following Catholic League Info...
the east at one time or another included:
Holy Family
St Pius X
St John's
MAI
St Joe's
and then OLVA
the Western Division included:
Augustinian Academy-Carthage
Immaculate Heart-Watertown
St Mary's-Ogdensburg
Holy Ghost-Tupper Lake
and who could forget:
Father Leo's of Caroghan
do these ring a bell with any of you??? I'm pretty sure "old Timer" and "Hunk" attended a prom or two at most of the above....! (probably how "old timer" learned the "Secret Code"of the retired chicks)
(Foxy's note: Great research by "the Carver" -- that puts him in the running for the "Most Dedicated to the Blog" Award in December.)
Posted by: the carver | April 27, 2006 5:06 AM
Ah, "The Catholic League". In the late forties and early fifties the league tournament was played at the Champlain College gym. This was on the old base , now a city recreation hall. Two teams from the western section of the state, Watertown, Ogdensburg, Carthage etc. At the time this gym was considered huge in comparison to what the teams were used to. The crowds were huge. One of the most powerful teams as I recall was the St. John's team of 49-50. Jim Sears, Urgil Votraw, Jackie Noone, Jim Fagan, Gary O'Leary, Bob Murphy, George Davidson. Votraw ended up MVP. Remember the gym in Malone (St. Joseph's) as being one of the smallest that was used for games in the North Country. Grandmason, Chuck Veccione, Ducky Clark from MAI were also standouts, all being borders I think. Not sure about Clark. OLVA had not come into the league yet.
They were great years in North Country sports lore. Keep up the great years. Missed "Tom-a_Hawk at the super market this week but did hear he shops in the health food section.
Posted by: "The Old Timer" | April 25, 2006 6:27 AM
Foxy,
I think Holy Family of Massena might have been in that league and then again maybe not. Just a thought. Keep up the blogs. I always look forward to reading it and its responses.
Posted by: crusher | April 24, 2006 11:06 PM
Great memories!! I remember playing Holy Family of Massena. It was a long trip but was great to play in front of their home crowd.
Posted by: GOOSE | April 24, 2006 6:28 PM
Foxy, there was and still is a Catholic School in Ausable Forks, Holy Name. The Road Runners have had a basketball team for years. When I played in the early 90's we played against teams from all over the North Country. St. John's, St. Augustines, St. Alexanders, and I think it was St. Joes from Saranac Lake. There was also a team from Ellenburg and the PAFB. I know I am missing a couple of teams but I just can't remember. It was a lot of fun and a very competitive league.
Posted by: chad garcia | April 24, 2006 4:24 PM
Foxy:
The Catholic League was a very powerful league in the 40's, 50's & 60's. Each year the North Country Catholic School held their playoffs at Clarkson. Teams from Watertown like, Immaculate Heart Central from Cathage, Augustana from Watertown were two of the very best. If you were lucky enough to get by the round of games at Clarkson you were off to Syracuse for the State Catholic League Tournament.
I believe St. Mary's of Champlain had colors of maroon and white. St. Joseph's of Malone coached by Dutch Prochel was always tough because they played in a little band box of a gym with small ceilings and the baseline was right at the front door. Many a player hit a wet spot on the floor and headed out that door with the ticket taker on many occasions.
The North Country Catholic newspaper used to pick a Catholic League All-Star team.
OLVA, MAI and St. John's always provided stiff competition and the league was really a lot of fun. That level of competiton was helpful when we played against some of the other area schools.
Posted by: Michael J. Mannix | April 24, 2006 11:01 AM
I am not sure about the high school league but when I attended St. Peter's in 1976 there were a few other teams in our league. Holy Name school of Ausable Forks and there was a team in Keeseville but I cannot remember the name. I attended MAI after and saw some awesome atheletes there like John Thompson and John Flynn. Several winter nights were spent at various high school gyms watching the Mounties battle against St. Johns, PHS, Peru, Saranac and the Revettes. Thanks for great blogs - keep up the good work.
Posted by: Chris Heckard | April 24, 2006 8:35 AM
Ah "The Catholic league"..I recall the Catholic League basketball championships the most...always exciting.
Seems to me you did battle with the local teams you've already named as well as teams from Ogdensburg, Massena, Malone. I'm wondering, where was "Holy Ghost"? I remember seeing a sports program printed in 1965-66-67 that listed all the teams and team names, hopefully someone still has it in one of their old scrapbooks. perhaps you'll get some feed back from "Tom-a-hawk", "old-timer" and "bullet" as they have loads of memories from these days....
(Foxy's note: Good comments, the Carver! The Holy Ghost school you mentioned might be from Tupper Lake, but I am not certain. Hope some of the other guys blog in!)
Posted by: the carver | April 24, 2006 8:23 AM