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Where Are They Now Flashback
Watching so much basketball lately, I'm starting to dream of my days of playing ball, and I'm starting to hear a bouncing basketball in my sleep. There are still six more sectional and regional games to play in this area before the athletes move on to the states.
Some day today's stars will be listed in the Press-Republican pages under "10 Years Ago," etc. We former athletes look over that feature to see the names of our teammates, our opponents in days of old, and, if we are lucky enough, our own names.
From 1985 until about 1992 I wrote a feature column for the Press-Republican sports department called "Where Are They Now?" Looking back on those articles now, I can find the names of some great North Country basketball players. Do you recall any of these?
Chuck Kinney - Peru High School - The 6' 5" center scored 98 points in a 120-80 win over Champlain High School in 1955. I'm sure this is still tops in the New York State record books.
Lefty Tessier - Our Lady of Victory Academy - Lefty scored 64 points in one game, but, overall, many consider him the top athlete to ever compete on the high school level in the North Country. Tessier was a four-year starter for the Foxes, and he averaged 16 points a game as a sophomore and 22 points as a junior. In his senior year he averaged 24 points a game.
Neil Breen - Dannemora High School - After Tessier graduated, Neil Breen emerged as the North Country's shining hoop star. He averaged 25 points in the 1956-57 season, his senior year. Breen scored 1223 varsity points at Dannemora. Even those who saw it still don't believe Dannemora's memorable win over OLVA in '57. In the North Country League title game the OLVA Foxes led by seven points with 42 seconds left to play. But Breen converted some steals into points, scoring seven points in less than a minute to send the game into overtime. Then with just two seconds remaining in the extra period, he sank a ten-foot jumper to give Dannemora the championship.
Jim and John Recore - Dannemora High School - These twins were "double trouble" for opponents on the basketball court. Both averaged over 20 points per game their senior year, the 1967-68 basketball season. They both were named to the Clinton County All-Star team.
Joe Cardany - Plattsburgh High School - He was the Champlain Valley Athletic Conference Player of the Year in 1976 and again in 1977, and is remembered as one of the Hornets' all-time basketball greats. Nobody passed or shot better than Cardany in those days. He went on to star at Union College, a Division II school, and earned All-American honors.
Bill & Bob Finney - Peru Central School - From 1967 through 1969 the Peru Indians won 57 games and lost just 3. Much of the reason for that was the play of Bill Finney and his younger brother Bob Finney. Both stood 6' 4", but they weren't just tall. They were athletes! In his senior year Bill averaged 27.6 points a game. And Bob averaged 25.8 points in his senior year. Are they the most dominant brothers to ever play in the North Country?
Tom Rice - Chazy Central Rural School - Rice averaged 21 points for the Section 7 Class B champion Chazy Eagles in 1973-74, his junior year. He followed it up with a great senior season, setting school records in rebounding and scoring. He's still regarded one of Chazy's all-time great basketball players.
Elmon Henry - Saranac Central School - At 6' 3" he's one of the tallest guards to ever play North Country high school basketball. But in his junior year (1960-61) he was one of the smallest players on the team! In his senior year he averaged over 20 points a game and scored 25 in his final high school game. He went on to start for three seasons at Clarkson College.
I know there are many more names left unmentioned. The North Country basketball tradition is strong and, having enjoyed the 2006-2007 season, I can state for a fact that basketball is alive and well in the North Country.
What? No mention of the standout girls? That'll be next!
Comments
Hi Foxy: I agree that Warren Tessier was the best north country high school basketball player and that Neil Breen was right behind him. Let's not forget, also, Jimmy LaPierre and Billy Benson wbo led PHS to repeated sectional championships and graduated in 1959. Billy was also a great distance runner in track and a terrific football player and Jimmy Lapierre was a great baseball player.
Also, great athletes in that period:
Ron Wood at tackle for PHS whose shot put record still stands after 50 years, Ara Asadourian in baseball, football and basketball at PHS, and Billy Flynn , OLVA, was a terrific basketball player.
My all north country basketball team for that period: Warren Tessier, Neil Breen, Billy Benson, Jimmy LaPierre and Billy Flynn, with Oliver Wells of PHS and Kenny Hagood of Pt. Henry coming off the bench.
Baseball: Along with Tessier, Pete Cronin at St. Johns. Great catcher. Smartest athlete I ever saw: Bob Heins in football linebacking for PHS in 1955 and 1956 seasons.
(Foxy's note: Great to hear from Rick, all the way from Los Angeles. Rick was too modest to mention his own athletic prowess which earned him a spot in the PHS Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006.)
Posted by: rick tuttle | September 2, 2007 12:47 PM
I ran into Neil Breen this morning at a Plattsburgh State baseball game in Cocoa Beach. I asked him who he thought was the best basketball player ever in the Plattsburgh area. He answered without any doubt Lefty Tessier. Thought you would like to know.
PS 80 degrees and sunny
(Foxy's note: Wish I was there!)
Posted by: jim | March 15, 2007 3:14 PM
Hey Fox, Talk about walking down memory lane--I know it's nearly impossible to keep track of everyone from the good old days--but there hasn't been any mention of the Layhee boys from Saranac Central, their team of Steve White, Elmon Henry, Mike Norcross, Jim Layhee and my own personal favorite Jeff Layhee (my husband of 42 yrs.) and help me out here, I know there were others, were one of the best teams that ever played the old game of basketball--there were no merged schools--you played Altona, Ellenburg, Lyon Mountain, Dannemora, Mooers, etc.-- they were all very competative-- I sure enjoy reading about all the good old days--a lot of happy memories--JUDY
(Foxy's note: Judy, thanks for sharing some great names. That old CCIL basketball league sure had some great players!)
Posted by: Judy | March 13, 2007 2:13 PM
Foxy, Shame on you not bringing in Stu Key, Harry Yelle, Jeff Burns, Chris Rowlson, Mike Giambruno that great team from the early 60s (the rest of the p;ayers were just as good ) Mr Kimball had two teams those years the that played and the one that ran also he was a great coach .(not a bad player himself when he played for the Plattsburgh Profs.)
(Foxy's note: Well, LB, I think you missed the point of the blog this time! I was mentioning basketball players that I had written about in my "Where Are They Now?" articles back in the 1980s. I did a story then about Jeff Burns, but his main claim to fame was baseball, not basketball. Plus, by no means was the blog meant to be all-inclusive. I'm glad you were willing to toss a few more names in.)
Posted by: LB from so platt | March 8, 2007 8:44 AM
Thanks for the memories foxy. I went to Dannemora High School from 1966 until I graduated in 1970. I remember the gym being packed every night there was a game. The years the Recores were on the team (4 years) we were CCIL Champions for all those years. Just a foot note. My brother Keith is married to Jim and John's sister Nancy. Thanks again for the memory. Those were great times. Kevin
Posted by: Kevin Shatraw | March 7, 2007 7:25 PM
All I can say Chief is you're lucky I didn't leave you in one of those snowbanks along the Military Turnpike - esp. one by the reservation, because you may never had made "Chief" there!!!!
Posted by: miss d | March 7, 2007 6:37 PM
Foxy,
Great stuff! Do you think Coach Larry and Coach Carrie are the first father/daughter champions?
Jennifer
(Foxy's note: That is a great point, Jennifer! I would say yes, but we'll let some of the oldtimers weigh in on this one.)
Posted by: Jennifer | March 6, 2007 10:58 PM
Great topic!!! Being a Malone boy (FA Huskies rule) :) I always looked forward to my every weekend visit to Plattsburgh to stay with my mom and sisters...the travels were sometimes exciting in themselves with Miss d doing the driving toward the end..but those stories would need a blog of their own. I always enjoyed watching the guys that were friends of my sisters.. Jeff Holmes.. Leo Ryan..etc. I recall them more than most of my own classmate basketball players at FA. Great athletes and great guys. It was also interesting to see the names of the Carpenters mentioned, I believe I met one of them for the first time last week down in Florida..John Carpenter. I was at Patrick Air Force Base.(Cocoa Beach, FL..another tough trip) at the golf course ..of course.. and ran into Jim Hickey who runs the course and back in the 70's was one of the better umpires in the Plattsburgh Gentlemans Slo Pitch league. He said, "hey..there's a couple guys from Plattsburgh here." And that led to my meeting John Carpenter, who seems like a great guy, although he did have nice things to say about Miss d, so I'm not totally sold yet. :) The other guy was Bob Zuckerman, who I remembered playing slo pitch...and luckily he didn't remember the 13 year old who constantly jumped all over his pitching ability. Was great to have Plattsburgh'ers around..even if it was Zuckerman. LOL By the way..after that I drove to Tampa and caught the Yankees' home opener spring training game..lots of old timers were there..Reggie Jackson for one. Almost time to start regular season!!!
(Foxy's note: Great to hear from you, Chief. John Carpenter was a great athlete and then one of the best-ever basketball officials in the North Country. He retired much too soon. And as for Bob Zuckerman ... words just can't explain that guy! Other than to say that is wife Katie is a saint!)
Posted by: Chief | March 6, 2007 6:56 PM
Foxy:
You mentioned Lefty Tessiers's 64 point game. I was OLVA's varsity scorekeeper that year. We were playing against Keesville that night and if my memory serves me correctly, the final score was 117-39. After the halftime, John Flynn used his second and third strings except for keeping Lefty in the game. In my opinion Lefty demonstrated outstanding sportsmanship that night by feeding the ball again and again to the younger players - he could easily have scored much higher had he not done so. Interestingly, the following week saw the 98 point record set by the player from Peru. There were three points that separated the Foxes from an undefeated season that year. The two losses were to PHS and MAI - one by one point and the other by two. From where I got to see the games, it was a glorious season.
Ron
(Foxy's note: Great memories, Ron. Thanks for sharing!)
Posted by: Ron Turbide | March 6, 2007 12:46 PM
Foxy, good start on your basketball greats but how about these guys.
Jim Sears and his exploits at St. john's amd then at Plattsburgh State. bob Garrow and the great career at Altona and then at Plattsburgh state. Donald "Dud" Bullis, could do magic tricks with a basketball and dazzled many crowds in the 40's and 50's.
With Neil Breen at Dannemora was his big partner Rob Burnell, a monster in the paint.
Art DeGrandpre had a great career at St. John's and then joined Warren Tessier at St. Michael's where they led the Purple Knights to the NCAA Final Four and I believe it was against the legendary Evansville "Aces."
Don't forget Carl King from OLVA, I never got to see him play because I was overseas at the time but the stories of his talents still live on in this area.
Those PHS and Saranac rivalries with Mike and Tom Ryan and Butch Butchino at Saranac and Joe Cardany, Jeff & Steve Holmes, Kevin Daugerty, and Leo Ryan.
This blog will undoubtedly take on a life of its own with so many outstanding athletes at all of our area schools. PHS, MAI, St. Johns, OLVA, and that is just in the city. Good luck with this one, it is going to be fun to follow.
Posted by: Mike Mannix | March 6, 2007 7:46 AM
you mentioned dominate brothers... how can you not mention the Carpenter brothers... John, Larry, Mickey & Peter.. bettcha they had more points than the finney's and recore's combined!!! (Although having watched them all play, they were all terrific players and fun to watch!)... The Ryan Bros/ sister combo from Saranac probably outscored them all!
How about some father-son combos...
off the top of my head Bobby and Steve (radar) Parker come to mind... 2 great players in their day (bobby in the 40's and Steve in the 70's.... 2 great officials as well!!! ... Billy and Johnny & Jamie Flynn probably had a few points in the 50's and 80's
Can you come up with any other father-son combos??...
Posted by: the carver | March 6, 2007 7:11 AM