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AUGUST 1981--Ramblings of Al McCoy, formerly English instructor, coach of basketball, baseball, and football, which he inaugurated ::1t Northeastarn University in 1932.

Racalling episodes and emotions from 52 years back to 1929 is a task of no small dimensions. It is a chore, however, which is joy to me because of the many pleasing episodes and delightful people that come Lo mind. There were times, of course, of displeasure and dissatis- faction vlhich were overv;rhelmed by h'lppi er events and genuine friends. It had been my continuing ambition from childhood to become an athlete, and lntar a coach. This burning aspiration was whetted no little by my idolization of my Newton High School football coach, Allie Dickinson, a man's man with all the attributes needed for the job. By a circuitous route started at Newton Iligh School, Dean Academy (now Dean Junior College in Franklin, Mass.), Holy Cross, Penn State, and graduation from Lafnyette College in 1927,

I acquired a teaching certificate, and thereafter w~s appointed teacher-coach at Hackettstown, N.J., High School. Here was the first step in fulfillment of my boyhood dream.

root:ball cnndidates were in short supply when mv first call for candidates was made: only 18 of a student body of nearly a hundred reported. My predecessor had been highly regarded and apparently the others wanted a chance to size up the new coach.

He wound np the sea!'-'on \vith more than M) on the squad and a successful record. The second year was very successful in sports and in the c l3ssroom. He 'lvere very happy in Hackettstown and had made many good friends. \~en the opportunity came to teach and coach at Northeastern University in Boston, it was too good -more- -2- an opportunity in my old hometown surroundings to turn down. This was the ultimate: college work. I accepted. It was recorded that on a visit to Dean Academy for an alumni basketball game that I had met a beautiful and irresistible coed, Nargaret Elizabeth Campbell, from upper New York State. We eloped from a fraternity house party at Penn State the season of 19?2, prior to our game in the Rose Bowl. U.S.C. beat us 14-3, but it wAs a great experience. Playing left end on both offense and defense was also a thrill to put it mildly. It was the first game in the present Rose Bowl.

Our arrival in Boston withAl Jr . and Donald C. W8S augmented by the arrival in Pennsylvania of Mary Carolyn, who completed our family. Eventually Al Jr. graduated from West Point on D-Day. Don graduated from Harvard and Carolyn from Katy Gibbs in Boston. Teaching English to prospective engineers was difficult until they realized that they would sooner or later be called upon to explain their expertness so that the most uninformed would understand. Our classes on the seccnd floor of the Huntington building were complicated by noise from the surface street cars, and the Joud music from Jimmy Gallagher's orchestrn in the restaurant directly belmv. Eventually we became oblivious to noises, for we had students determined to get an education, and that they did. They were a great group of young men who absorbed infor­ mation like a sponge. After a time, I was assigned a theme corrector from Boston University. She was a touehie. One of the class copied the essay of a famous essayist. He was awarded a C- and explained to me

-more- -3- what he had done. End of theme corrector! Our class wrote letters of application, and took spelling tests. Letters of approbation arrived from prospective employers, and teaching English became a pleasure. We worked problems out together. Basketball was the first sport to claim my attention at N.U. There was n pretty good nucleus of veterans. We went right after basic fundamentals such as passing, shooUng, pivoting, etc. Our captain, Herb Tiffany, a junior classman, turned out to be a terrific competitor and a splendid basketball player. Ile learned quickly, and performed splendidly. One year he was the leading collegiate scorer in New England. Lots of help c~me from LeRoy "Bud" Rymph, Bill Symancyk, "Red" Hassell , and Gil MacDonAld along with Ramsford, Calderara, Hogan, and Schlier, who kept the regulars hustling to stayr first string.

Practice sessions and games were held on the Y.~1 .C. A. court. It was long and narrow. Seating was limited, but the bleachers were filled to overflowing for the games. Lighting was not the best but adequate. The fresh worked out in their two-hour lunch period. Prof. Al Everett coached them along varsity lines. "Brownie, " fresh captain, was a real hustler . Bud Rymph was our '30 captnin. " T..eflv" Coughlan gave our opponents headaches with his unorthodox line drivers that skirmned the rim of the basket. It was a good season. "Bud" Rymph was reelected captain in '31 deservedly . Hy star babysitter, Stan Cramer, became a member of the squad. He was a bea~tiful two-handed set-shoot artist with a high arch that was a pleasure to watch as it nearly hit the roof before going into the basket for a score, often not touching the rim. -more- -4- Capt. "Bud" was caught up in an extraordinary set of circum­ stances in the C. C.N.Y. game. They were given possession of the ball out-of-bounds near their goal guarded by "Bud. " Unaccountably the inbound ball was passed directly into Bud ' s hands . Almost instinctively he shot the ball into their basket, putting them ahead by one point. After a score in those days, by rule the ball was tossed up at center court by the official. Bud got the tap, recovered the ball, dribbled to the basket for two points. Now, were were one point ahead and we won the game by a single point. A heck of a fine win it \vas over a good team. In going over records of past games it was revealed that we had lost games by our failure to shoot foul shots. It was made imperative for each player to shoot 100 foul shots daily. We improved our foul shooting from less than 40% in games to over 60%. It wasn't much of a problem from that time on to get all players to the foul line for practice. Alan t1elville, Heath Morse, Johnnie's brother, Stan Cramer, "Joke" J achym, Gay Milbrandt, Ed Owen made a strong squad. About this time, Walter Brown, manager of the Boston Arena or Garden was seeking an opponent for Notre Dame . We were very prominently mentioned and subsequently offered the game with a $2,500 guarantee. It was decided then that N. U. \-lasn' t ready for the "big time," and that has remained pretty much policy ever eince. The decision was wholly made by N. U. authorities, and a wise one, too . Stan and Jake became knmm as the "Goldust Twins" with their towering arched shots. They were elected co-captains for '33- ' 34. The Morse brothers were go-getters this year. Gay Milbrandt was starting center . Owen, Lewis, and R.W. MacDonald completed the team. -more- -5-

In those days, we took the boat from Boston to New York for games. \.Je stayed in the best hotels and ate well i n the best restaurants It was first-class all the way and the teams loved it. Our manager was M.vJ. Nutt . It was a busy time for him. The '34-'3q team had a bunch of new players. Jay Hart had come from Hackettstown; he was in the eighth grade when I left there. He had been a fine all- around athlete even at that time. We also were lucky to get Merton Rice, a member of the championship Chelsea team of coach Bill Kinneally. He had been raised with a basketball and was a dandy . A.L . Smith, W.H. Cushman, E.J. Quinlan, H. Burstein, Heath Morse, Henry Bialkowski, and Allen Melville completed the squad. Dave Bourque , always Johnny­ on-the-spot, served his first season of the two he managed. It was our good fortune to acquire more quality athletes as the season progressed in basketball. Another of the Hackettstown athletes to join the squad "tv as Stan Rogers. He was built for football and made us a good guard. Herton Rice "tvas team captain. We were joined by a top notch ath­ lete from Waltham by the name of Jimmy Connolly. Jay Hart, "Russ" Hobson, Jack Wilson,Frank Meehan, Audy Smith, Henry Bialkowski, John Siverston and Bill Mi ller all contributed. A most difficult problem fro me was wiping basketball from my thoughts to take on baseball, but much worse was going from football to basketball, for there was no time between those sports. Time took care of this transfer even though overlapped. One thing was a matter of pride with me, and that was seeing our players we ll-outfitted. A Spalding salesman wandered into our athletic office one day named Tim 11cAuliffe. lie went out with an order--for a 65 cent basketball carrier. A persistent man he -more- -6- turned out to be. Finally he went into business for himself and wound up with most of our trade and plenty more. Tim was very successful. Our baseball uniforms were big league quality all the way. Bats, balls gloves, shoes, and caps, all the best via Tim. If we wanted something special he dug it up somewhere, somehow he produced. Our diamond on the Kent Street field was kept in great shape by our groundskeeper, John Ball, a bit of a tad, and a fine, dependable man. Buses brought players to the field from college on schedule for baseball practice.

Th~ picture-taking of the squads was my doing. I know I never missed a team, but I haven't a trace of 1930 baseball and only five names: Tiffany, Cook, Symancyk, Nutter, and Hassell. Manager Tommy Thompson obviously got things better organized foe '31. He would. Nutter was captain. Prof. "Buster" Mcintire was assistant coach. Herb Tiffany was a standout second-baseman. Johnny Grosz got on base even if he did have to stand in front of the pitch to make it. Billy Carter, of underwear fame, was steady at shortstop. He and "Tiff" were a real good double-play com­ bination. Stew "Jingle" Presper \vas always a help. Nelson was steady and dependable. In '32 Joe Wigicot was fought off as catcher by Johnny Grosz. Gil MacDonald saw lots of play and was dependable. Ned Murray was old reliable in left field and at the bat. Luke Corbett perked np the pitching staff and gave us some good games. Cook captained this team. "Old" reliable Don HacKenzie was acting manager. Herb Gallagher made his appearance as a pitcher, and a great one. Bedell, Burger and Petrone all helped no little. -more- -7-

'33 brought us a steady third baseman who could hit. No won­ der; his brother played third also for the Pittsburgh Pirates. John Gillis, Lefty Kihs and Charlie Letourneau bolstered the pitching staff with trustworthy Herb Gallagher, who was no mean hitter, served time in the outfield as well as at bat . '34 Pretty much the same bunch made this a banner year-- 12 wins, 4 losses. How could we lose with Herb Schutte as manager. Stan Cramer and Brad Johnson took over first and third base coaching. Runners obeyed, got back on the bag at third with a fly ball to the outfield. Better with Brad. Handy. Dick Mitchell helped in '35. Jim McCarthy, a speedster, was great on the bases. Scooter Cahoon was no slouch. Sonny Irving joined the catching staff and Jim Denton the pitchers. Jake Jachym and Nelson Raymond':-> brother also contested. '35 Ellsworth Dolan managed this team. Charlie Traynor played his third year at third base. He might have become a

big leaguer had it not been for heart problems. Don ~1acKiernan and Bill Dingwell, George Bennett, Heath Moose, Ed McNamara and other veterans made this a good team. Gillis and Letourneau pitched. '35 Herb Gallagher became my assistant coach. His last big game on the mound was a superbly pitched nine innings for a win over Rhode Island State. Their left-bander was no match for the wily Gallagher. Gordon Minnis was manager and Gus Rook, our quarterback, helped a great many \vays. Herb Gallagher would have made the big time except for size. It was fun. Football had been consigned to the "dim future" when I star ted at Northeastern. It tvas resurrected with a freshman team -more- -8- in 1932. There was no way it could have been made a varsity sport without the active cooperation of Athl etic Director "Ed Putty" Parsons and Dean Carl S. Ell . "Putty" and "Jerry" Tatton agreed to act as assistant coach. Of course folks like Bill vfuite. John Pugsley, Nightingale, etc. got their oars in, but we made it. Don ~1acKenzie, an assistant to Putty, took over much of the detail work such as schedules . He was a master of detail and precision. He had things done when I was only thinking about them. Cooperation made things work . \vhen I was made the first head coach of Northeastern ' s first football team, it was an exhilar ating feeling accompanied by a determination to make good. Dr . Henry "Hank" Koutoff was appointed team doctor . He gave each candidate for the football team a thorough physical examination to make sure each one was in good health. Student managers were appointed and they got little recog­ nition for the fine job they did, often under difficult c i rcumstances. J . Lloyd was tops in the '33 season, fol lowed by Don Wintl e in '34; Walter Abbott in '35, and C. Russell Shaw in ' 36. My hat is off to them for stellar performances; a terrific job well done . They were lucky to have Don MacKenz ie avail able when t he going got rough. He worked under "Putty" Parsons, and they both knew what was going on and how to solve any and all problems.

At the start of the '35 season, ~·!alter Abbott , who was tending the gAte at practice, came over to me saying , "Coach, there's a man at the pate who would like to come in; says he is Dr. Joe Donchess." The only person I knew of by that name had recently been an All-American end and assistant coach at the Uni- -more- -9- versity of Pittsburgh. He told me that he was working at nearby D0aconess Hospital. "This is my dinner period. I don't eat much, and you practice at this time. I'd like to volunteer my services as a coach, for free, since I'd rather do that than eat." I could hardly believe my cars. Details were arr1ngcd, and he never missed a practice session. He was a hard worker, demanded and got good end play from the Huskies which helped us ever so much in our third year to nn undefeated season. At the team banquet "Dr. Joe," who was an "a 11-American guy" to our players, 1.vas given a physician's satchel of leather for which they all chipped in. It brought tears to Joe ' s eyes; he knew money didn't come easy. We were just out of the Depression. \~e "\vere instrumental in helping Dr. Joe to become Dartmouth's end coach under Coach Tuss McLangley, as well as chief surgeon at the college Mary Hopkins Hospital. He later became chief surgeon for the U.S. Steel plant in Gary. Indiana, for the rest of his life. Another happenstance came about with the advent of the Northeastern Coaching School, tops in the country. Paul Swaffield, an "old" Brown football player and football official who was advertising manager ofr Hood and Goodrich rubber footwear, also a close personal friend, was an instigator of the idea. With complete cooperation from the University to use its facilities for football, basketball, and baseball the N.U. Coaching School became a reality. The top three winning coaches from the previous season in football became the faculty. The top two basketball coaches taught their style of play. The Boston Red Sox manager, Eddie Collins, s<:d d, "Pick the man you want for baseba 11. from our team and he' 11 be Lh

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There was a lack of cohesion and team play that comes with ex­ perience only . Things began to jell in the '34 season. we had great leader­ ship from Capt. Dick Mitchell, and great end play. Jay Hart a stellar back arrived from Hackettsto\ro to help. George Dean played well all the time. "Five-yard" Mahaffy took a line buck 60 years through center vs. Norwich; Fraser spelled him. Abbruzzese, Fraser, Crooks, Morse, Garlick, and Govoni, Stew Mayberry at quarterback, and "Scooter" Cahoon all were terrific. Bill Broderick, one of the fine high school coaches in the area, had tole me about a lad who had graduated with honors and was an outstanding athlete in all sports named Ray Pelletier. He was such a good student he had made every Dean's List as a freshman at N.U. while playing as a reeular in football, basketball, and baseball, a star in all three. Ray had commuted from Salem by railroad and street cars often walking from the North Station to N.U. "to keep in shape," he said. Some hike it was. He got a job in the athletic office and filled in perfectly. Ray became our regular quarterback; he could throw beautiful passes, quick kick handily, catch passes, and run with the ball, and call signals with uncanny perception. Of our first six games, three ar..vay from home, we won five and tied one, scoring 116 points to our opponents' 31, also beating among others our rival Rhode Island State 6-0, and Colby College 13-6, tying Alfred University 13-13 in a night game Primarily, Ray was the motivator. On the day o£ our game against Arnold College, I carne to tne

KenL St. Field House and began looking for Ray. ::>or,leone said -more- -12- doc tor, "Hank" Henry Koutoff, had sent him home. Sure, I \vas upset. "Al, 11 said the good doctor, "Ray had a temperature of 103° and I knew you wouldn't want him to play." Our team missed Ray as much as I did so they breezed past Arnold 31-6 as a gift to, hopefully, make him well. Honday noontime Dr. Koutoff called me saying, "I've been on the phone with the Pelletiers' physician, and he can't seem to figure \vhat' s wrong. I think we sould go dmvn there." His concern was as great or greater than mine. On the say he confided, "I'm very much afraid the symptoms are of meningitis." His suspicions being confirmed our good doctor wanted him where all facilities were available. I put in a call to "Dean" Ell who was a d.irector at Deaconess Hospital. "Bring him up here, and by the time you arrive I'll have all arrangements made." He did, and it developed that Ray had mysteriously acquired sleeping sickness and menineitis. Despite the best attention possible, he passed on Wednesday. The team felt that Ray would want them to play the game at Amherst vs. Mass. State. The bus took us to Salem for funeral services, after which we took the long bus ride to Amherst. A dispirited Husky eleven took its worst trimming, from a team that rubbed it in, 37-0. At Ray's funeral his parish priest said, "I've heard Ray ' s confession all his life, and I can tell you he is well taken care of." Our '34 season wound up 6 won, 1 lost, 1 tie. N.U. 140 points, opponents 75. He could scarcely wait for the Mass. State game in '35 even though it came last on our schedule. He won a rugged contest 13-12. -more- -13- In our early season contest that year of '35, led by Captain Joe Chrusz, we breezed by American International 26-0, had a hard-fought scoreless tie with Connecticut State on their field, romped over Alfred U. at our field 37-7, got by Lowell Tech 13-6, and tied Tufts on their field 6-6, winning the final game on our gridiron over Hassachusetts State to complete an undefeated season in only our third year with a football team. The '35 results were won-5, lost-0, tied-3, We scored 134 points to our opponents ' 37. It was very obvious that we were offensively­ minded, and it was very helpful while our defense was catching up. Bill Benjamin and Bob Birchall were great at the ends, "Ike" Komich at center, "Dolph" Chaplick and "Zipper Bliss at guards, Gordon Morse at tackle, "Pete" Yesikenas at guard. Abbruzzese at center with Ike Komich, Al Hokanson, Larry Templeman, Jay Hart, Cahill, Callahan, Chambers, the two DiCicco brothers. Fraser, Jay Hart, Bill Hartwell, Lavache. Don MacKiernan, Hahaffy, Hinnis and Morse and Gus Rook at quarterback. The picture that comes of Gus is his fumbling around with the kickoff in the Alfred game behind our goal line, then snatching us from a bad start by weaving his way 100 yards for a touchdown. A great start for a game. Emory Spidell moved into end; helped no little. Ten of them had bandaged knees, but you'd never know it from the way they playerl. They were all simply superb. '36. We broke into the big leagues in 1936. It seems we had a scrimmage planned with our neighbor, Boston College. which had won in the Sugar Bowl and had taken of the country's top teams. Gloomy Gil Dobie, who had the best coaching record in the country at the University of Washington in Seattle, was their mentor. They were big and tough. Their athletic director, Jack Curley, called -more- ... -14- to say, "We're being swamped with requests to see our scrimmage with you people. How about playing a regular game and charging a dollar admission?" The powers that be got interested when thev learned we would get part of the charge for a guarantee. They sold 18,000 tickets and we got $2,500. Seating was limited and there was standing room only on their field in Newton. Our players were understandably nervous, including the coach. I had collected some information on the way Dobie's teams performed from Dick Harlow, for whom I had played at Penn State. He went from there to Colgate where one year his team was unbeaten, untied, unscored upon, and uninvited to a bowl game . He was head coach later at Harvard. Dick told me to pass when you should kick and vice versa. Dobie played man-to-man pass defense, but his big center had trouble getting back fast enough to be useful . We exploited this with three receivers going deep so we passed behing their center. We were called off sides 11 times in the first half, winding that up 20-0 against us. In finally found that one of our anxious guards 'l;vas lining up off side and corrected that situation. We played them 6-6 in the second half, when Dobie's team customarily ran roughshod over opponents. The Northeastern team went right after them. Brad Dyer, a Newton boy, had landed from over a month on an oil tanker and hadn't lost his sea legs. He was completely in the clear for a touchdown, but his legs tied up and he collapsed.

~.Je tried the famous "Sally Rand" play, better known as the "naked reverse." It worked for a big gain. Then we unveiled our Flying Trapeze, where six players handle the ball and our big tackle Charlie Kerrins, took a lateral pass which he tossed 55 -f!'lore- -15- yards for a touchdovm.

Bill Cunningham, premier columnist and Herald sportswriter, was broadcasting the game locally. Afterwards he told me that it was the nearest he had ever come to being speechless on the air. People came out of the stands delighted with our 6-6 play in the second half and talking about the great pass play they had wit­ nessed instead of our loss. Another episode of interest in publicizing Northeastern took place when Clayton Ernst, publisher, and Hate Lincoln, editor, a couple of Harvard men, offered me a chance to do sports articles for their magazine, The Open Road For Boys. I accepted. As it turned out, I wrote sports for every issue they put out for a period of eight years. They made me official coach of their publication. I ' d interview celebrities in a wide variety of sports, and report them to their readers in language they could understand. At the end of each article I'd pose a question to my readers about what was written, offering prizes for the best answers. It was necessary for me to get my three youngsters to scan these gems of literature and pick out the ones they liked best. I ' d scan them along with many others and send winners various useful items for sports. They claimed in their advertising to have received over 320,000 letters in response, seeking information and whatnot. As head coach at Northeastern my picture appeared in each issue and results were good. Another indicent of note was publicized when we played the first night football game in Ne'\-.7 England under lights at Kent Field. We hired a big generator which sent the power from the street. It was a real success at the Alfred game since they were accustomed to playing under lights at home. -more- -16- I ' ~ . A big plus in our lives, Marge and me, occurred when word got about that Northeastern was entered in the big crew regatta here, and that we were going to be graced by Stan Cramer ' s company . We saw him much of his stay here in La Jolla, and were most pleased to be invited to the crew banquet . It was a genuine pleasure to witness those fine young people representing North­ eastern against the best competitors in collegiate crew circles . Then we had the ultimate pleasure this spring of being invited as guests at President Kenneth Ryder ' s table with Mrs. Ryder and Mr. Joe Zabilski, N.U. Athletic Director, and his wife . His speech (Pres. Ryder's) revealed plans for the new N. U. Arena and the University generally. It is easy to be cheerful about all the good things in prospect for a group that is willing to help itself grow. It is a privileged feeling to have had even a small share in its progress. Keep one foot ahead of the other. Hail N.Ul -30-