High School Continued

That year I was named second team All City by the Daily News. The nomination to that team wasn't like it is today. Today they name a All City Team for each borough. It was just one team for the whole city. Being named the #2 receiver in the whole city was a great honor that I will always treasure. I looked forward to Senior year and possible getting a scholarship to college. In the 70's there wasn't much help in getting into college. Our coach , Howie Smith, was way beyond his prime and wasn't helpful to the guys that played in that year. We had some talented players that could of played on Div. II or III teams but in 74' there was no recruitment of any of our players. This was a big disappointment for all of us. We all felt that we were on our own. Our Senior football team was assembled in the summer of 73'. I always felt we had a good team, the juniors that we had coming up were talented, one guy Fred Devito, even had a shot at major league baseball. The season started and we struggled. Then one morning while waiting for the bell to ring to go to class, I had a tussle with the one person that shouldn't of, the starting QB. Previously we had a good relationship but this caused a riff in our association and it carried out to the football field. It was going to be tough to repeat my previous year's accomplishments without the QB throwing you the ball. As it turned out this was a disastrous year. No scholarships for anyone. Some of the guys were suspended for one game because the administration didn't find humor in the senior class declaring one day,during the football season, was going to be senior cut day. I didn't participate, one because I loved playing football and two if I did participate in senior cut day, my father would of cut off my head. Our starting QB, our starting TE, and other players that escape my mind , were not allowed to play. We started the game with one QB, his name was Steve Pasciotti. The game was tied at half 0-0. On the last play before the half, Steve broke his pinkie finger on his throwing hand. The coaching staff was scrambling, who was gong to play QB? We didn't have a back-up to the back-up , we were screwed. Instead of going into the locker room at the half, we headed for the baseball diamond. Howie Smith our head coach had something up his sleeve. There was a rumor that Howie had played for Notre Dame in the 30's. Football was a lot different back then, there wasn't much forward passing and most teams ran from a formation called the box formation. With this formation we really didn't need a QB. We had 15 minutes to learn the formation and the offense. We picked our flanker, Pete McGowan to call the plays or should I say play. We had one play we ran it right and we ran it left. We held them on defense but we couldn't score. The fourth quarter was winding down , still 0-0. Finally we got close enough to kick a field goal, it was going to be a long one. Our kicker George Girata was a good kicker, but could he kick a 30 yard field goal? This was going to be our last chance to pull this game out, George trotted out, all 5'0" of him, he looked nervous. The game rested on George's right foot. We lined up and the ball was snapped, the hold was good and George made his approached, boom the ball was headed to the goal posts. As I looked up from my position it looked like the ball was true and was going through the uprights. A cheer went up and I knew that the kick was good. On the day that we lost our starting QB and our backup we had somehow won the game. Their was a lesson to be learned from this but we were to young and stupid to realize what it was. It wasn't until years after that it occurred to me what that day really meant. Through a football game a lesson was learned that through adversity and difficult circumstances you could and will prevail. This would help me get through 20 years in the New York City Police Department, family turmoil, and personal hardships. One game, one event, one second in time would prove to be the a defining impression. We go through life not knowing why things happen but sometimes we find out.