RallyNorth.net: High School Sports – Merrimack Valley and Southern NH

Hec,
Enough with Central….I have heard much too much about them….we all know how good they are…but please enough of the bass kissing…not just you but all the yahoos they cannot stop talking about them…they are a school that caters to certain people for certain reasons….no need to elaborate, i think we all know what we are talking about…But there are other teams in the area that work just as hard, play just as hard and are basically the same age as the CCHS students..but for one reason or another are in a public school….they deserve to get as much ink as their counter parts….Kids in Lawrence, Haverhill and all the other surrounding towns would love to see their name and their teams mention more than just a simply box score….You and these other writers should realize this …Last week Haverhill beat Lawrence for the first time in a few years and all the ink they got was a paragragh with no not much else….Shame on you!!! Isn’t the Haverhill coach a CCHS grad ??? He has worked very hard to turn this program around…Give his boys their due…They might not make the tourney but they work and play hard…And it’s just not Haverhill…Methuen…Lawrence…Whittier…Give all these boys some ink….not just when they play central….

Hi Hector;

What follows has little to do with the vitriol that passes for fan enthusiam these day—or maybe it does–you decide.

The passing of Gerry Callagy and the thoughts that were re-kindled of this fine man brought back wonderful memories of old Tower Hill in much, much simpler days. I was 7 years old but I can remember it like it was yesterday–it was 1947 and that football giant Lawrence High School (Clss A) had agreed to play tiny upstart, Central Catholic (Class C). Lawrence had absolutely nothing to gain by playing Central and, I’m sure, arguements waxed hot–but , to its credit, play Central it did.

On Ames Street on Tower Hill there were (and are) a small group of stores (known as the “Stores”, creatively enough) where all the Tower Hill kids hung out. The epi-center of this little enclave was Hall and Turton’s which was run by two English immigrants and their wives. Every late afternoon when football practice was over the Tower Hillkids from LHS and CCHS would gather. Once in a great while my older brother would bring me and I would love to hear the bantering going back and forth.

All talk centered on Gerry Calaggy, Lawrence High’s incredible sophomore halfback. It is so clear to me 60 years on, all the good-natured hollering back and forth and I can see Gerry–standing there silently with a confident (never cocky) smile on his face–the quintessential American small town handsome football hero.

Later as my brother and I walked back down Essex Street in the gathering to our house for dinner–I would keep asking him if Gerry was really that good?–would Central lose 50 to 0?–was there any hope at all? I don’t remember his answers–I just remeber mumbling and grumbling

As the week wore on my friends and I , all 2nd graders at St. Augustine’s, across Ames Stree from the “Stores” grew more and more restive. In 1947–this was our Super Bowl and there was no television to distract anyone from this great contest.

Sunday (yup, Sunday!) dawned cool and crisp–and all of Lawrence it seemed was crammed into Veteran’s Memorial Stadium for the game. 15 thousand? To me it seemed that 115 thousand people came to see the City’s football heroes do battle.

What ensued was one of the greatest games in the history of the old stadium–befrore or since. Wild runs, huge passing plays—and, always, the great Gerry Callegy.

The final was 21-20 with Lawrence prevailing.

It was an incredible game–a great showpiece for all of our community’s kids, I’m sure. My brother caught a touchdown pass for Central and Gerry’s performance was almost mythical.

But, best of all, was the meeting at the Stores the next day, on late Monday afternoon, when Gerry shook my bnrother’s hand and told him how lucky LHS was to beat Central. Well, Hector, luck had little to do with it, of course–it was the great, great skill of Gerry–an incredible athlete and an even better man–that had everything to do with it.

Over the years I would run into Gerry here and there and he would always bring up that game, the Stores, the week before, and the unforgettable scene the day after when he shook my brother’s hand like the gentleman he always was even as a young boy.

Many of the boys that played that wonderful day are gone now. My brother died 13 years ago and now Gerry has joined him, but in my mind’s eye I will always see them in the setting sun with their smiles and their laughs–16 and 17 years old forever.

Gerry would always have super star status in the mind of any kid who grew up in Lawrence in the late 1940′s–to this day he remains a great symbol of those long gone , beautiful and simple days. My brother and Gerry were friends as long as my brother lived–and Gerry always spoke so respectfully and kindly of him in the years after his death. As those years wore on, the sport of football which divided them on that one cold Novenmber Sunday seemed to unite them every day thereafter.

Hector, forgive my ramblings, please. I’m not sure whose blog this little story belonged to but as the guardian and advocate of local high school sports–your’s is certainly as good a place as any. Keep up the great work.

Mike,

Did you not see the Friday paper and the acknowledgement, albeit late, for the Hillies win over Lawrence?
it also went in-depth on the Methuen start.

Granted, our handling of the Haverhill-Lawrence game was sub-standard bordering on woeful. I admit that. Hey, we’re not perfect. It slipped through the cracks. But I know, at least in my heart, I did my best to rectify an oversight.

This, we only cover Central thing is garbage. I was at Salem-Pinkerton Tuesday, a game we covered with full photos as well.

The Eagle-Tribune covers big games involving the local teams as best as we can, be they Central or NA or Methuen or Haverhill.

Sometimes, we miss. Call me on it. But don’t give me the Central bias thing. It’s inaccurate.

Rouge, great stuff on Gerry Callagy, when the personal anecdotes are linked to legend, it makes for great stuff.

HL

Trovato is doing it two years faster than I thought possible at Haverhill. Great job.
And Methuen boys deserve credit too.
Yes Andover lost in OT at Lowell. But Conner Arnold only played a couple minutes (hurt/sick?). Andover plays Brockton Sunday, then we get a better feeling for them.
Lawrence losing big Jorge could be in trouble. Dracut might get them.

in case the mvc didn`t filter this to you
Split decision

MVC football to sport two divisions
The Merrimack Valley Conference will split into two divisions for the 2009 football season, with the MIAA providing playoff spots for the champions of both divisions.

The MVC is already split into Large School and Small School divisions for most other sports, but the lack of an extra playoff opponent and an odd number of teams have always been a drawback for football.

Lawrence is coming back into the league next year, leaving the Cape Ann League for a spot in the MVC Small division.

Lawrence will be joined in the Small School division by Dracut, Tewksbury, Methuen and Haverhill.

The Large School Division will be comprised of Chelmsford, Billerica, Lowell, Andover and Central Catholic.

Dracut AD Tim Woods said he petitioned to get Dracut, the defending league champion, into the Large division but was turned down. Dracut is graduating 17 seniors from last year’s squad.

The champion of the Large Division has been moved into the MIAA’s Division 1 pool. It would play the champ from either the Catholic Conference, the Big 3, or the Greater Boston League in the first round of the playoffs. Last year that would have been either BC High, Brockton or Everett. The Small School champion would play the Middlesex League champion or the Dual Country 2 champ. Last year that would have been either Reading or Bedford.

The only question left on the table is whether teams will play four crossover games (giving them three non-leaguers) or five.