.... 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.