Page 12 Thursday, December 18, 2008 The Westfield Leader and The Scotch Plains – Fanwood TIMES A WATCHUNG COMMUNICATIONS, INC. PUBLICATION D. Blair Corbin’s Devil’s Den From Collecting Cards Devil of the Week Matt Marcus Blue Devils Raiders To Having Her Own Bowling By BRUCE JOHNSON Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times It seems like only yesterday that I and Rene Stevens (218). tournament came in the opening round, who “appeared to be” running up the walked into CJ’s Extra Innings, when it But she transferred to Linden the where most entrants picked the 14th- score. We forgot two guys who should Walk Down Memory Lane was located on South Avenue in what is next year, helping the Tigers win a seeded ’74 squad to upset the third- have been near the top of the list: Bruce now a laundry store, and CJ pointed out couple of state Group 4 titles. After seeded ’47 team, and in the semifinals, Jester and Matt Ince. From the archives of The Westfield Team and Susan Williams was named this young girl who was there to buy high school Dixon was off to the Uni- where every entrant went by the seeds BIRTHDAY BOYS Leader and The Scotch Plains- to the Third Team. All three were some NBA cards. versity of Kansas, where she averaged and took the ’77 and ’70 teams. A happy belated 69th birthday (Nov. Fanwood Times – www.goleader.com named to the All-UC First Team and “Can you guess whose daughter this 14.2 points for her career, was named Others who had the most points were: 30) to faithful Den reader “lynchnd.” A December 21, 2000: The Westfield the 20-3-3 Blue Devils, who finished is?” my brother said. Big 12 Player of the Year and earned Glen Kehler (6-3, 24), Don Mokrauer Red Bank Catholic graduate, he has High School swimming boys were fourth in the state rankings, were It took one glimpse, maybe two sec- All-America honors in 1997. (7-2, 22), Scott Selert (7-2, 22), Jerry lived in town for years and become generous host to top-ranked Holy named Union County Team of the onds, before I answered, “Boo.” The Timing is everything, and as Dixon Livesey (6-2, 20), Bruce Moran (6-2, both a faithful follower of the Blue Spirit, losing by a respectable 93-77 Year. daughter of Russell (Boo) Bowers graduated from college and had to be 20) and Dave Machlowitz (5-2, 18). Devils, and a constant critic of the Den. score. Vincent Chen touched first in December 2003: Serving as Blue smiled. Her name was Tamecka Dixon, wondering what to do with her adult Many thanks to all who took the time to He’s also buddies with former Franklin the 100-yard backstroke with a time Devil girls’ assistant soccer coach at the time maybe the 11- or 12-year- life, the WNBA was holding its first participate! Bowler Chet (The Jet) West. of 57.87 and Zach Coppa tied for first from 1985 through 1990 and taking old daughter of one of WHS’s all-time draft in anticipation of its inaugural THIS AND THAT On Dec. 10, I toasted what would in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of over the reins as head coach in 1991, best basketball players. season of women’s professional bas- @ The WHS girls basketball team have been the 122nd birthday of one of 23:04 Peter Giordano formally announced Imagine my surprise the other day, ketball. Dixon was a second-round pick, opens at home Saturday, 2 p.m., against the all-time great actors, the late Victor December 19, 2001: Dreams it was time to let go and retired this while googling away the hours before No. 14 overall, by the Los Angeles North Hunterdon, then plays Chester Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen. year. His teams won seven Union work (or was it googling away the Sparks. (Pa.) on Sunday, 3 p.m., in the Lady Born in 1886, he starred in such early turned into reality for the Raider wres- hours at work?), when I googled She earned a couple of champion- Phoenix Classic at University High classics as What Price Glory?, Beau tling team when all 14 Raiders stepped County championships, nine ship rings in L.A and had a career-best Watchung Conference titles, seven Tamecka and found out she had just School in Newark. While graduation Geste, The Lost Patrol, The Informer, on the mat with positive intentions finished her 11th year in the WNBA! year in 2003, averaging 13.7 points per took the three girls who helped turn Wee Willie Winkie, Gunga Din, Fort and startled perennial Union County state sectional titles and were state Last week she celebrated her 33rd birth- game. In 2006, after eight years in WHS from winless to winning – Erin Apache and The Quiet Man. He won an top dogs, Roselle Park, 39-28, in Group 4 runners-up three times. He day! L.A., she was traded to the Houston Miller, Gab O’Leary and Steph Academy Award in 1935 for his por- Scotch Plains. Huge victories by was named 1991 Area Coach of the Dixon, the daughter of Bowers (’77) Comets, where she has played the last Slodyczka – coach Joe Marino’s squad trayal of Gypo Nolan in The Informer, sophomores Charlie Bachi (160) and Year and, in 1992 and 1994, was and Portia Dixon (’76), was a freshman three years. (The Comets folded last is still very deep and very talented. and should have won in 1939 as Sgt. Andrew Silber (171) shifted the scales named Union County coach of the on coach Dave Shapiro’s 1990 WHS month, so Dixon’s professional career Veterans Tara Handza, Kerri Pringle, MacChesney in Gunga Din. He died in in the Raiders’ favor and a fall by Year. In 1994 and 2002, Giordano varsity team that went 19-6, still the is currently up in the air.) Katie Ponce, Amanda Markowski, Char November 1959. junior Matt Loomis (215) made the became New Jersey Girls’ Soccer best one-year record in school history, As a pro, Dixon has averaged 10.3 O’Leary, Anne Knisely, Sarah Nelson Last Thursday we missed the 62nd dream a reality. Coaches Association and large school although it suffered second-round ppg in both the regular season and the and Nikki Aronson will be buoyed by birthday of former WHS soccer/ December 2002: Blue Devil se- Coach of the Year. losses in both the county and state playoffs. She averaged 8.8 ppg this the return of Diana Venezia and Gabby baseballer Ed Thorne (’64), now living nior goalie Megan Connors was se- Early December 2004: Raider se- tournaments. As the first player off the past season and has 3,368 career points Jakub, who both missed all of 2007-08 in Plymouth, Mass., and a faithful reader lected to The Star Ledger All-State nior football defenseman Marc Fabiano bench, the talented ninth-grader scored in 11 years. with injuries. And sophomores Martina of the Den. And today is the 61st birth- Second Team in girls soccer. Connors was named to The Star-Ledger All- 173 points, fifth on the team behind And she is one of just six players Landeka and Dani Miller will make day of Ed’s brother, Rick (’67), now in and senior defender Ashley Kent were Union County First Team and the All- Marcie Williams (302), Claudia from the original WNBA season still major contributions. West Columbia, S.C. selected to the All-Group 4 Second Group 3 Second Team in defense. Carnevale (263), Kim Kumpf (226) playing, the others being Vickie @ Tomorrow afternoon at 4, WHS IN PASSING Johnson, Lisa Leslie, Mwadi Mabika, will host SP-F in the boys basketball Once upon a time, Dwight Sheryl Swoopes and Tina Thompson. season opener. The Raiders are coming Eisenhower, Richard Nixon and Ronald It may have seemed like only yester- off a tremendous season that saw them Reagan and their followers thought if Devil Wrestlers Have Work Ethic, Deep Lineup day that Tamecka Dixon was buying win the state Group 3 championship. somebody was a folk singer it meant basketball cards at CJ’s, but in reality After three straight winning seasons, they belonged to the communist party. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11 it’s a long time ago. Now she even has the Devils went 7-18 last season, but To sing songs of protest – against capi- factor. He refuses to lose. He finds a lineup are going to be tough to beat. at 189 or 215. her own WNBA cards. Wonder how return six solid letter winners: seniors talism (or pro-union), a bad war or un- way to win. I think Christian and They have some of the best competi- “Kim has come a long way. He is much her rookie card is worth. Tony DiIorio, Mike Lessner, Chris equal rights – was thought to be subver- Nick can be that way. I think we can tion right from within this practice much stronger. He’s got a little confi- WHS BCS UPDATE Sheehan and Dave Pusar, junior Pat sive by many in the Joe McCarthy era. send three kids down to Atlantic City.” room,” Kurz said. dence,” commented Kurz. After hours calculating the results of Gray and sophomore Ryan Hess. Pat Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan and Joan Senior Joe Panarese, second in the our WHS BCS football playoffs, with Sabatino, Hugo Nolasco and Jaraad Baez were at the head of that group. At the top end of the scale, senior The 103 and 112-lb classes will be each entry getting two points for each district at 140-lbs last year, will re- heavyweight Joe Kania enjoyed a brief occupied by freshmen Mike Kalimtzis Rogers will all help. But there were other lesser-knowns, main at 140-lbs. According to Kurz, correct opening-round winner, four for @ The WHS boys and girls swim like the late Phil Ochs and the great stay at AC last year and is eying a and Troy Skibitsky. the quarterfinals, six for the semifinals, teams have a major confrontation this black balladeer Odetta, whose voice, “Panarese has been looking very good somewhat longer stay this season. “Mike and Troy! I don’t think we’ve in practice.” eight for the consolation game and 10 afternoon at the Somerset Valley Y, which once went hand-in-hand with “Joe had some success at the end of had two kids come in with so much for the championship game, the winner when they take on perennial power the civil rights movement of the ’60s, Senior Sam Reichbach won the last year. We are hoping that can carry experience since I’ve been here. These of a night at the Jolly Trolley is Steve Bridgewater-Raritan. The Panthers an- was recently silenced by a heart attack district title at 135-lbs last year had over,” said Kurz. “From ‘60 to 215 is two kids are wrestlers. That’s what (Steamboat) Merrill. nually meet the Blue Devils in the at the age of 77. jumped to 145-lbs this year. going to be the question mark on how they do. They are committed to it. (Since he lives in rural Warren sectional finals in Bayonne, and they Two years after singing at the August “He’s probably the front runner for far this team goes. We have a bunch of Technically, they are light years ahead County, “Boat” will get an afternoon of reportedly have a loaded girls team this 1963 March on Washington (just prior 45 and (senior) Pat Younger has kids in those spots, who put in a good of where any of our kids have been hot dogs and the Fencz brothers at winter. The aquatic action shifts to to Martin Luther King’s “I have a stepped up and looks like he is going off-season of wrestling. If those guys before as freshmen. The sky is the Charlie’s Pool Room in Alpha!) Wallace Pool at the Westfield Y on dream” speech), her album “Odetta to be a solid 152 pounder. We got make a jump to that next level and limit for those kids. Those kids got to Merrill (WHS ’71) was the only en- Saturday night when WHS and SP-F Sings Bob Dylan” was one of my fa- Ryan Jennings, who has got to be in could really solidify the top of the be thinking about immediate success trant to correctly pick all eight first- square off at 7. If past history is any vorites. The Birmingham-born Odetta the mix. He’s a kid we got to get in the lineup, we are going to have an excel- this year and they got to be thinking round winners AND all four quarterfinal indication, you should arrive by 6 if Holmes gave awesome interpretations lineup. Brian Henry could have a lent year.” about state medals down the road,” winners! He even picked 1947 over you want to be guaranteed a seat. WHS of Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice It’s great year. The question is we have to Alan Workman, Rob Granstrand said Kurz. 1961 (in the consolation, not the final) is coming off a state Public A champi- Alright, The Times They Are A- find a spot for him. Chris Tomasso is and freshman Keiran Cline will be in Immediately down the road will be and finished with 32 points, out of a onship year for both its boys and girls Changin’, Masters of War, Blowin in in that 152/160 range. The good news the mix at 160, Bill Kim will compete the Kearny Tournament on Decem- possible 50. teams, and both knocked off ’08 Public the Wind, With God on Our Side, Paths is the kids, who are in our starting at 171 and Zach Frantz will compete ber 20. The critical matchups in the 16-team B champs Mountain Lakes last week. of Victory” and others. But SP-F, led by Zach Peart, Mike And not that we ever saw any of her Henkels, Joe Dunn and Greg Baliko, work, other than when “Filmfax” maga- will be among the favorites to win boys zine did a couple of feature/cover sto- Public B this year, especially after St. ries on the blonde bombshell, but 1950’s Joseph transfers Dan and Mike pin-up girl supreme Bettie Page passed Napolitano become eligible in early away last week at the age of 85. January. And the Raiders’ girls usually DEVIL OF THE WEEK are a county and state threat. This week’s winner of a free sub @ While WHS enjoyed a 9-1-1 record from Al the Owner at Westfield Subs in head-to-heads with SP-F this fall, (261 South Avenue East) is Matt faithful reader “lazarusd” points out that Marcus. The senior tri-captain rolled a in tournament play among the “big three” 658 series (215-218-225) as the Blue fall sports of football, boys soccer and Devils captured the team title at the girls soccer, it was advantage SP-F, recent Bishop Ahr Tournament. which was 6-2 in states and 5-1 in the The Devil’s Den appears Thursday UCT, while WHS was 0-3, 3-2. in The Westfield Leader during the @ A couple weeks ago we listed a school year. Contact us with comments, bunch of former football players who complaints and suggestions at would’ve given up a 15-yard penalty to [email protected]. Win or lose, make a point against an opponent/coach WHS4EVR! WF Y Devilfish Boys Defeat Montclair Y Boys, 108-100 The Westfield Y Devilfish Boys “A” finished second. swim team beat Montclair Y, 108-100, In 25-backstroke, 8U Thomas on November 29. Westfield’s Steven Moore finished second. In 50-back, 9- Husch set the team’s 200-yard indi- 10s Colin Daniel, Stefan Crigler and vidual medley (IM) record with a time Evan Moore swept; and 11-12 Luke of 2:19.98, besting the previous time McGrory won. In 100-back, 13-14 of 2:21.19. Daniel Pesin finished third; and 15- HAPPY HOLIDAYS In 100IM, 10Us Ryan Daniel and 18s Matt Meserole and Colin Terwelp Evan Moore finished 1-2. In the 200IM, finished 1-3. 11-12s Stephen Husch and Francis In 25-butterfly, 8Us Eric Bebel and Wong touched 1-2; 13-14s Daniel Matthew Barmakian finished 2-3. In 50- Pesin and Connor Moore went 2-3; fly, 9-10s Ryan Daniel, Nicholas Youssef and 15-18s Colin Terwelp and An- and Jack Naughton swept; 11-12 Stephen drew Cordeiro finished 2-3. Husch won. In 100-fly, 13-14 Matthew In 50-freestyle, 8U Eric Bebel fin- Daniel won; and 15-18s Larry Zhang ished second. In 100-free, 9-10s Lucas and John Taylor finished 1-3. Fan and Nicholas Youssef finished 1- In the 200-medley relay, 9-10s Mat- 2; 11-12 Luke McGrory finished third. thew Barmakian, Stefan Crigler, Colin In 200-free, 15-18 Matt Meserole won. Daniel and Ryan Daniel; 11-12s Luke In 25-breaststroke, 8Us Ryan Bebel McGrory, Stephen Husch, Francis and Jack Cifelli went 1-3. In 50-breast, Wong and Aidan Donadio; 13-14s Max 9-10s Stefan Crigler, Lucas Fan and Shin, Connor Moore, Mathew Daniel DESIGN * REMODELING Jack Naughton swept; and 11-12s and Anthony Gurrieri; and 15-18s Matt Aidan Donadio and Mark Trinkle went Meserole, Larry Zhang, John Taylor DEVELOPMENT 1-2. In 100-breast, 15-18 Larry Zhang and Jack Lorentzen touched first. RECENT PROJECTS The Westfield Leader - The Times Serving the Town Since 1890 PO Box 250 • Westfield, New Jersey 07091 Tele - (908) 232-4407 • Fax - (908) 232-0473 The Leader • The Times New Subscriber • Renewal One Year - $28 • Two Years - $52 • Three Years - $76 College $20 (September - May) Name Address City State ZIP Phone # Wychwood Rd. LAWRENCE AVE. LINCOLN RD. Payment Cash Check Charge CC # When Quality Matters Exp. Date Sec. Code: Signature Subscriptions Are Pre-Paid and Are Non-Refundable PH: 908-414-1208 FX: 908-232-0563 [email protected] • www.goleader.com We Reach People... Not Driveways!