La Salle College High School Football: in Retrospect
La Salle College High School Football: In Retrospect NOTE: This is the twenty-first of, I hope, many retrospectives highlighting some unique history of the football program at La Salle. The topics to discuss seem endless at this time. Hope you enjoy these. Bill Wasylenko, ‘69 Issue Number Twenty One: 1964 – The Year Of The Blue (and Gold) Snow As an eighth grader in the fall of 1964, I had met my first love, as had many of my peers. My first love wasn’t named Donna, Linda, or Mary Anne, it was the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team, which was unexpectedly and inexplicably riding high in first place in the powerful National League. It was “The Year Of The Blue Snow”, as coined by Phillies catcher Gus Triandos, to denote a once-in-a-lifetime MIKE TOS occurrence. Though the team had shown promise and progress the last few years, no one gave these castoffs much of a chance to win a pennant in 1964 against a lot of great teams like the Dodgers, Giants, Reds, Braves, and Cardinals. The Whiz Kids of 1950 had become long in the tooth, and the farm system was barren in the late 50’s. Many prospects were instead suspects, and by 1961, the Phils were the league doormat. Young Gene Mauch took over the helm in 1961, and labored through a 47-107 season, featuring a lovely 23-game losing streak. But there was some promise in youngsters like Johnny Callison, Tony Taylor, and Tony Gonzalez, all acquired in trades, and farmhands like catcher Clay Dalrymple and shortstop Bobby Wine were able to claim starting spots.
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