A WATCHUNG COMMUNICATIONS, INC. PUBLICATION The Westfield Leader and The Scotch Plains – Fanwood TIMES Thursday, December 13, 2007 Page 11 Union County Wrestling Article Sports Section Pre-season Set for December 20 THE WEEK IN SPORTS Pages 11-16 Devil’s Den The Passing of a Legend! Much More Than W’s A Very Special To the Legacy of Kehler Devils Den Tribute By BRUCE JOHNSON Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times They came in groups of two and Knobloch, Tupper Hillard, trainer They walked out the door and down They’ve all become very successful three, sometimes four, occasionally John D’Andrea, Tom Pfeiffer, Al the hallway, their heads partially bald- in their chosen fields. And they all solo. It was Monday afternoon, No- Deombeleg, Lou Case, Larry ing now or their hair graying, the had their warm memories of those vember 20, 2006, and the members of Simmons and Pete Parken. beards more salt than pepper, but the long-ago Saturday afternoons when, the 1970 WHS football team were When that first group arrived at bodies for the most part still pretty in the springtime of their lives, they returning to their old stomping WHS, they learned that their old coach athletic. It could’ve almost been the played football for WHS, for “G.K.” grounds for a noon luncheon that would not be attending the luncheon, summer of ’69 or ’70, with Monninger and “Zim.” And Westfield was a name would precede their induction later and would not able to make the din- leading his buddies over to Franklin everybody knew. that night into the Westfield Athletic ner that evening either. They knew School for their nightly “health club” At the dinner, someone — it might Hall of Fame. that things had to be pretty bad for practices. You didn’t have to try hard have been Zitch — talked about how There was associate coach Dick Gary Kehler to not be there. to imagine No. 14 leading the team cool it was to be somewhere far from Zimmer, assistant coach Dave Cilo, As the luncheon was finishing up out of the locker room (under Kehler, New Jersey and have somebody ask Joe Monninger, the - and the players were saying their WHS used the East lockers on the where you were from and he would turned-professor and novelist; Tom good-byes to the committee mem- Grove Street side of the Field House) say “Westfield, New Jersey” and they Polman, the king-sized tackle turned bers and other honorees until later followed by 58 (Harvey), 71 would say, “Ohhhhhh. That’s where hard-rockin’ drummer; Bob Harvey, that night, Monninger, forever the (Polman), 66 (Harbaugh), 85 they have that great football team, the quiet assassin of a two-way line- team’s leader, got the guys together (Napier), 44 (Rich Grey), and 84 (John and that great coach, KEY-ler.” man; Greg Harbaugh, the linebacker and said, “We’re going over to Coach’s Grey). And for a second you could Back in his heyday, which was whose nephews Mark and Will were house.” even still see Kehler, after discarding pretty much the entire decades of the recent standouts at WHS; Bill Napier, It was something straight out of a his sports coat and rolling up the ’60s and ’70s, every unbeaten season the glue-fingered future Princeton end novel by John Grisham (“Bleachers”) sleeves on his famous blue shirt, cup- (there were nine of them) would be whose WHS record for receptions in or John Ed Bradley (“The Best There ping his hands over his mouth (as if followed by rumors about Kehler tak- a season wasn’t broken until this fall; Ever Was”) — the members of the old the other team didn’t know what the ing a college job somewhere, or maybe Rich and John Grey, the talented twins high school team coming back home next play was most likely going to be) even becoming an assistant coach in David B. Corbin (1996 files) for The Westfield Leader and The Times who made the most of their one year for a celebration of its gloried past. and yelling “4-2” to Monninger, who the pros. But that never happened. LEGEND AND A STAR…Gary Kehler and former pro football star Butch as starters, and Mark Jackson, a sopho- And another chance to get together had to be wishing he’d heard “9-4-2,” Like his old high school coach, Chot Woolfolk, who had two touchdowns for Westfield in a 33-12 victory over Barringer more who would graduate two years with the man who was such a big part a play-action pass. Morrison at Hackettstown, Kehler was in the North 2, Group 4 championship game at Giants Stadium in 1977, meet again later as one of the best defensive ends of all their young lives, and the lives They had all moved on with their very happy creating his own little at the Westfield Hall of Fame Dinner in November 1996. in school history. of hundreds, maybe even thousands, lives, all of them now well on the niche in Westfield. And his players They would be joined that night at of other former WHS athletes and other side of 50, with kids of their often found that their college coach- DiIORIO, SHEEHAN, LESSNER TO LEAD the dinner by Jim Zitch, Don opponents. own, and sometimes grandkids. ing didn’t measure up to what they’d gotten at WHS. One of Kehler’s greatest players was Marty Howarth (Class of ’63), Blue Devil Boys’ Outlook Raiders Bolstered Schedule, arguably the best offensive end and defensive back ever to play at WHS. He earned a full scholarship to the Appears Bright in Hoops , a pretty good football school. By FRED LECOMTE graduating outstanding players, Mike Envision Exciting Mat Season Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times “When I got to Iowa, I found out Venezia, Tom Bonard, Santo Nardi just how good the coaching had been Head coach Kevin Everly’s plan for and Dan Pritsker, this year’s team By DAVID B. CORBIN champions and placed first in the The Raiders have added Randolph, at Westfield,” Howarth said last year. this year’s Westfield High School boys still returns plenty of varsity experi- Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times District 11 (D11) Tournament. Perth Amboy and J.P. Stevens. “Iowa was one of the top teams in the basketball team is very simple. Lock ence with physical strength and ex- Several firsts were recorded by the They defeated powerhouses “We were 20-5 last year. I would country, and their coach, Forest in a fifth straight winning season. pects to make a huge impact in the Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School Hanover Park and Parsippany Hills love to get over 20. With those teams Evachevski, had been moved up to Last year, the Blue Devils finished conference. wrestling team last season. The Raider before defeating a strong Voorhees on our schedule, it’s going to help us athletic director. The new coach was 16-10, reached the quarterfinals of “Mike, Tom and Santo were great matmen won 20 matches. They com- team in the sectional semifinals to with power points and get our kids Jerry Burns, who later was head coach the Union County tournament and players and great kids and they’re hard peted in the sectional finals and they face off with Warren Hills where it ready for the tournaments,” said of the . It didn’t qualified for the sixth time in seven to replace, but in our program we’re had two individuals break the 100- came down to the final bout, resulting Raider Head Coach John Scholz, the take me long to realize how few of the years for the North Jersey, Group 4, starting to build a little tradition that career win mark in the same season, in a 33-29 squeaker. This season there 2007 District 11 Coach of the Year. guys in college really knew the ba- Section 2 playoffs. Although having CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 all for the first time. Additionally, will be no letup in the schedule, in Several talented veterans will help sics, the fundamentals, the stuff Mr. they were the Watchung Conference fact it will be even more competitive. a room of 35-37 wrestlers refine their Kehler and Mr. (Norm) Koury taught skills. Senior Trevor Cannon, who us ... simple blocking and tackling notched a district title at 152-lbs and techniques. My coaching in high finished with a 24-11 record, will school was far superior to what I got remain at the same weight class. in college.” “Trevor wrestled all year. Goes to Gary Kehler learned the game as an the club. He’s doing a good job with undersized halfback under Morrison his leadership in the room. He’s nasty in the late ’40s. Morrison was one of on top. We expect some exciting those “old school” coaches, all about matches from him. He’s hungry,” said fundamentals and technique and do- Scholz. ing things the right way. Kehler was Senior heavyweight Joe Blaes com- obviously a good listener. When he pleted a Cinderella story when he stepped down from coaching at WHS, stepped in for the injured Johnny his combined record for football (171- Loomis. After winning three bouts, 26-7), wrestling (239-45-10) and golf he entered the District 11 tournament (329-44-6) was 739-115-23, an 86.5 as the fifth seed and ran the table to winning percentage. (As a point of become the champion. reference, ’s career “He took advantage of the situa- winning percentage was 72.8, Bear tion. Joe sees things and takes advan- Bryant’s 79.2, and Joe Paterno’s 75.0.) tage of the opportunity. He’s focused,” But nobody “wins ’em all” and commented Scholz. there are some battles that can’t be A big loss, however, will be senior won. And, to be sure, Scotch Plains, CONTINUED ON PAGE 14 CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

David B. Corbin for The Westfield Leader and The Times WORKING THE MOVES…Raider Mike Ferrara, top, slips in a single grapevine and controls the arm of Wesley Morrison during a practice session. Coldwell Banker®, Since 1906, America's Premier Real Estate Company Puglisi Insurance Agency Congratulations 1831 East Second Street, Scotch Plains 908-322-5150 www.puglisi-insurance.com Our 68th Year “We Service Our Clients.”

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