PROJECT HAS BEEN COMPLETED

August 31
Ending a Horrible Streak in (Crazy) Style . . .
  Younger folks still don't believe me when I tell them that Edison went 27 consecutive games
without scoring even one measly point; the futility lasted from mid-October of 1978 to Oct. 22,
1982. (Only 27 games were played, in part, due to teachers' strikes and other issues.) Anyway,
when the Inventors met University City that afternoon at 29th and Chalmers, they not only scored,
but won, 20-18! Only in the Pub was stamped all over this one, baby! The guy who broke the skid
was Nick Stinson, who'd quit the team the day before due to frustration that just kept ripping apart
his soul. When he scored, in the third quarter, he did so on a 59-yard punt return though Edison
coach Roger Jann and assistant Larry Oliver had yelled at him to leave the ball alone. The journey
took place on the north side of the field and Stinson scored in the end zone near 29th. Jann did
not even see the TD because spectators crowded onto the field and got in his way! "Larry and I
were both hollering, 'Leave it be. Leave it be,' " Jann said. "It was almost a bad choice on Nick's
part. When the defense is coming down hard, a ball like that is meant to get away from. But he
picked it up and started to run and I could see a clear sideline. Then I saw the punter running right
behind him and I thought, 'He'll probably catch him, but we'll have good field position.' At that point,
some spectators blocked my view and, by the time I got back in position to see what was happening,
the ref had his hands upraised and Nick was halfway into the end zone." Stinson said, "I was thinking
to pick the ball up from the time it stopped bouncing around. Then I saw the opening along the sideline
and I knew I had to. Only the punter had a chance and he wasn't quite fast enough to catch me. The
whole run, I was saying to myself, 'Touchdown, touchdown, gotta make me a touchdown.' I was
getting tired of all the talk about our streak. We had to put an end to it." It was Stinson who'd fumbled
on the 3 in Edison's first game of the season -- a 22-0 loss to Abraham Lincoln -- while heading for a
possible score with a pass reception. Lincoln recovered for a touchback. The word at the time was
that Stinson had fumbled for no reason. After this game, he offered his own version. "A defender was
coming at me on the side where I had the ball," Nick noted. " I fumbled when I tried to switch it to my
opposite hand. I got hit after that and my one leg went out from under me. I couldn't get my balance to
chase after the ball."
  Ted's note: Edison won this one with two TD runs by QB Harry Jefferson in the fourth quarter, plus
Tim Sherfield's conversion run. Stinson, an emotional sort and the youngest of five brothers to play
sports at Edison, had recently been bothered by a hip-pointer. Near the end of the previous day's practice,
after not being permitted to lead the exercises and being told he'd been demoted to second team, Stinson
told Jann he was quitting. "All I said to him was, 'I will not let you quit, at least not without sleeping on
it first for a night," Jann said. "Come to see me in the morning and we'll talk about it then." Stinson bent
his girlfriend's ear all night and decided to return. "She didn't want me to quit," Nick said. "She said,
'You've been playing three years. You know how much you're dying to end the streak. Why give it up
now? It wouldn't make sense.' I told her, 'OK, when we get to school tomorrow, I'll ask for my uniform.' "
Stinson saw action for just two plays in the first half, as the long-snapper. He was eased back into action in
the third quarter and gradually became a big-time hero . . . This remains my best memory in all these
years of covering high school sports. These kids had gone through SO much. We'd done a few
will-Edison-ever-score? stories through the years and the frustration was mounting and mounting. For
one of those stories, a photographer took a pic that showed the offense in its alignment. One problem:
It was taken from the stands and the fullback, who was down in his stance, was hidden behind the
quarterback! We got some calls in our office. "No wonder they can't score! They only have 10 guys on
offense!" The day the streak ended, our DN photographer left early. Ugh!!!! Wasn't there to get shots
of Stinson's TD. After the game, Nick and Jefferson hopped in my car and headed back to the office.
A picture of them was taken right in the DN parking lot and they wound up on the front page of the
paper. The whole afternoon/night was so much fun. Anyway, with football season about to start, this
will wrap up the summertime project. Hope you enjoyed it and thanks for paying attention.

August 30
Can an Arm Cry Uncle? . . .
  Right before a first-round baseball playoff in 1998, catcher Shaun Donahue, Bartram's fiery leader,
grouped his teammates for one last pregame pep talk and told everyone: "OK, Richie's pitching.
Let's make the plays!'' At the outer edge of the circle, Richard Watson arched his eyebrows and
gulped. Then he walked to the mound, threw 10 warmups and wound up pitching the Braves past
visiting Southern, 10-9. Perhaps you're thinking it's not unprecedented for a guy to make a surprise
start. True. But also consider this: Watson, a junior righthander, worked on no rest after pitching a
complete game the day before, as well as another one the previous Friday. (This game took place
on a Wednesday, making it three complete games in six days.) In reality, Watson almost had to hurl
because the Guida brothers, Sal and Steve, were out of town with their family on a long-scheduled
holiday getaway (OK, so they left a little early) and football star Paul Northern was absent from
school. Those three and Watson were Bartram's only pitchers. "I went up to coach [Cal] Richardson
during the school day and told him I could pitch if he really needed me,'' Watson said. "He said,
'You just might have to.' But nothing was said at the field. When Shaun was talking, that was the
first I knew about it.''
  Ted's note: Watson allowed 10 hits and six walks, but struck out 10 and forced Southern to strand
nine runners. He also delivered a two-run single to snap an 8-8 tie. Watson, known to his buddies as
"Raw" because his full name is Richard Alexander Watson, said he iced his arm Tuesday night, did
some homework and went to sleep rather early. "My arm wasn't hurting early in the game,'' he said.
"I was so hyped and focused on what we were trying to do, I wasn't thinking about anything else.
My job was to get the ball over the plate and let the fielders do the work. Mostly, we've been doing
a great job fielding. Later, I must admit, my arm was a little sore. But I had to get through the game,
right?'' Indeed. This happened well before pitching restrictions were introduced, of course. I wonder
who would have pitched for Bartram, otherwise? Someone with NO experience. How ugly would
THAT have been?

August 29
What Goes Around . . .
  Eighteen years apart, Roxborough lost and won football games with no time showing on the
clock. And the results were posted in nowhere close to traditional fashion. In '83, Roxborough fell to
Central, 20-15, as Jon Irvine returned a squibbed kickoff 53 yards for a touchdown on the final play.
Roxborough had taken a 15-14 lead at 0:02 as Matt Hanson ran 1 yard for a score then passed for
two points to Steve Rodgers. "As we went out, coach (Bob) Cullman said to watch for the onsides
kick," said Irvine, who'd also scored on a 9-yard pass from Mervyn Jones with 1:25 left, helping
Central to a 14-7 lead. "The ball hit John Barber up front and the Roxborough guys kind of overran
it. It was just laying there, so I picked it up and took off. Only one guy really came close to getting
me, about 10 or 15 yards from the end zone. I was able to outrun him." In '01, the Injuns turned
the last-play-disappointment tables by edging Franklin, 22-20, with an eight-spot at 0:00. Franklin
had scored with 1:50 on Aleem Medley's 17-yard TD pass to Darrell Fincher, making it 20-14.
Roxborough drove deep into Franklin territory, but time nearly ran out. Then, a Franklin player
-- yes, a Franklin player -- suffered an injury at 0:03 and that stopped the clock. Next came a pass
interference penalty and that moved the ball to the 8. Raymon Taft then tossed to Isaiah Barnes
for a TD and Taft added the conversion run to win it!
  Ted's note: I did not see either of these games, but our guy at Roxborough-Central asked Irvine
for his phone number and we were able to do a short story. The next year, Irvine was a senior
and he received a longer version of DN ink. Looking back, he said, "All the guys were down after
Roxborough scored, and I guess I was kind of down myself. But I said to everybody, 'Come on,
guys, there's a couple more seconds and one last kickoff. ' The ball came to John Barber, then I
kind of snatched it from him" -- notice the slight variation on the play by play (smile) -- "and took
off along the right sideline. There was nobody there." When I mentioned to him that the last play
must make for incredibly enjoyable viewing, he laughed and said, "If you want to see the film,
you'll have to call Roxborough. Our cameraman didn't get it. He's got the whole game . . . until
that last play. He says he ran out of film, but I don't believe him. I think he gave up." Only in the
You-Know-What.

August 28
He Did His Best (Almost Only) Work in Overtime . . .
  In the first eight games of the 2009 football season, University City junior Martez Lyles made
all of two catches for 11 yards. And those stats still represented his season output as the clock hit
0:00 in Game No. 9, vs. Overbrook. Ah, but the score was tied, 12-12, so that meant OT and,
man, did Lyles step out of the shadows. UC prevailed, 40-34, in four overtimes, as Lyles turned
three snags into TDs! The first two covered 10 yards and the last went for seven, deciding the
game. Every single one came on a left-corner fade from Michael Adens; the game was played at
Germantown's field and the OTs took place at the north end. Lyles was rather matter of fact
when talking about his accomplishment. Teammate Tyriuq "Pop Tart" Gordon, also a hero that
afternoon into night (good thing that place has lights), said of Lyles, "This was Martez' coming-out
party. He told us he was going to make those plays. They couldn't cover him."
  Ted's note: So much for the coming-out party prediction (smile). Lyles had no catches in the
Jaguars' final game, a 30-6 win over Mastbaum. Passing wasn't needed. A fill-in for the unavailable
Adens, Kasheem Johnson, went 0-for-7. But Gordon ran for 158 yards and scored two TDs. Lyles
was only a junior that season. So, what happened in '10? Well, his brother, Marcus, wound up being
UC's quarterback, but non-stop feeding did not exactly occur. Martez finished with seven catches
for 95 yards and one TD. So, there you have it: Martez Lyles had three TD catches in maybe a
20-minute span and just four in his entire career. His main sport turned out to be basketball, anyway.
He received DN ink last winter after a strong outing (nine points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and six
steals) in a win over Roxborough. For that story, referring back to his football heroics vs. 'Brook, he
said, "I was the man that day. That was fun. I got a game ball for that; it's in a case at home. And
when I came into school the next day, everybody wanted to talk to me. I was a celebrity."

August 27
Was Football Fun at Freire? To the Contrary . . .
  In the 2005 and 2006 football season, Freire Charter again and again found itself being involved
in games with crazy circumstances. And the Dragons were always on the wrong end. Here we
go . . .
  2005: After Penn scored a touchdown, a personal foul and a procedure call moved the ball back
to the 23 for the conversion. Somehow, QB David Allen ran 23 yards to slap two more points on
the board.
  2005: In a game against Franklin, the Dragons posted NO tackles on scrimmage plays through the
first three quarters! Franklin ran just four plays through those first 36 minutes of a 36-16 win. All
went for TDs. In order, Franklin scored on two runs by Maurice Dantzler (45, 54 yards) and one
apiece by Rodreen "Chief" Howell (60) and Frank Anderson (18). Also, after the first score, the
coreboard clock inexplicably ran non-stop and Franklin ran just 10 plays for the game (all rushes).
Freire ran 37.
  2006: Imhotep managed to score each of its first four TDs from the 5-yard line -- Khalief Evans'
run, twin Khaleel's run, Khalief's run, and a pass from Gerald Bowman to Andreas Roberts. The
odds? One in 100 million! There was almost a fifth consecutive 5-yard TD. Khalief Evans lost a
yard on a run, then Julius Legg passed 6 yards to Khalief.
  2006: In that same game, won by Imhotep, 50-0, Freire lofted NO punts. Punter Isaac Yorro was
unavailable and no backup was trained, so coach Nelson Walker tried fourth-down conversions no
matter what. So, Imhotep took over after non-punts on its 40 and on Freire's 31, 34, 42, 30, 40
and 27.
  2006: Roxborough's Ramon Odom six times returned punts for TDs that season and THREE
TIMES he did so vs. good ol' Freire. (The Roxborough game followed the Imhotep game by three
weeks.)
  Ted's note: Freire dropped football after the '08 season, but at least it had some fun. In what
turned out to be their final game, played on the turf field used by the nationally famous Frankford
Chargers youth program, the Dragons bested Esperanza, 24-6, while helping the Toros, in their
one and only varsity season, break the city record for points allowed (455). Esperanza had been
permitted to play varsity ball without experiencing even one season of JV activity (speaking of
"Only in the Pub" -- smile).

August 26
There's No Stalling in Football . . .
  On the last day of the 1983 regular season, Central visited Germantown to decide the Mid-City
Division title. At 2:29, a minute before the scheduled start, G-town coach Charlie Hicks still had
his players grouped in an end zone, ostensibly to go over instructions one final time, stretch it out
a few extra times and direct a prayer or three. Ref George Britner had a coin in his hand, not to
mention an itchy thumb primed to toss it, and yelled to Hicks that he wanted to see Germantown's
captains. Pronto. Hicks, meanwhile, wanted to see Warren Conrad, Central's athletic director
and the league's football chairman. "We were down there stalling. Absolutely," Hicks said later.
"I wanted to see Conrad in hopes of getting a postponement. I looked around, but I couldn't see
him anywhere. The field was a total quagmire. I felt Central was bigger and stronger than us,
that the playing conditions would be to their advantage. I felt it would become a power game and
that they'd push us up and down the field. I'd mentioned postponing to Bob (Cullman, Central's
coach). He agreed it was a little crazy to play a division championship game in such lousy weather,
but he reminded me that games are supposed to be called off by noon. He said as long as they
were here, they wanted to play." So, the game went on. And Germantown, believed to own the
longest winning streak (13 games) by a Public League team since Frankford won 15 in a row
1939-41, won the division. The final was 18-6. And when G-town's Milton Waites ran 55 yards
for a final score with 1:59 left, that meant Central lost out on capturing the wild card (best second
place record in the three divisions; playoffs had not expanded to eight teams) because the spread
was higher than seven points.
  Ted's note: The rain this day was monsoon-like. Definitely a top-fiver. I'm pretty sure all other
Pub games were postponed and Hicks was pretty darn hot that this one had somehow avoided that
fate. No doubt he suspected shenanigans given Conrad's status as Central's AD and the fact that
Central's squad definitely had bigger/stronger kids. The weirdest part about the game was that
Germantown's star was Kevin Aiken, who was listed at 5-8, 165. Traditionally, oaf-like fullbacks
dominate in conditions such as these. But Aiken rushed for 156 yards and two TDs on 22 carries.
"Aiken will surprise you," Hicks said. "He's got tremendous balance to go along with his speed.
He takes short, choppy steps. It's almost like one foot is always touching the ground." Said Aiken:
"The only place the footing was close to OK was on the grass part. When I could, I tried to get
to the outside. The mud was in my eyes, in my mouth. I wasn't worried about it, though. I felt I
had an advantage. Every time I looked up, it seemed like the guys coming at me were slippin' and
slidin'. I was a little, too, but not as bad as them." By the way, Northeast took advantage of its
opportunity by going on to win the championship. A star linemen was Chris Riley, who last year
coached the Vikings to their first title since '83.

August 25
Eight Is More Than Enough . . .
  The city record for touchdowns in one game is eight and it was set in 1983, just one week after
Washington's Glen Hassett tied the five-county mark with six in a 46-12 frolic over Mastbaum.
Bartram's Hector Scott went that one TWO better in a 60-6 thrashing of Bok. Ironically, Scott,
who wore No. 22, got his eighth score (all came on rushes) on a seven-yard run with 22 seconds
remaining. He also ran 33, 2, 1, 3, 15, 4 and 5 yards for TDs. Teddy Williams got the Maroon
Wave's other TD on a 7-yard run. Derrick McMichael kicked six PATs. "After the summer, I told
David Boone (Bartram's 1982 franchise now at Temple) I was going to try to break all his records,"
Scott said, laughing. ''I thought something like this would be impossible, though. After I got No. 4,
I told the linemen that I wanted us to go get the record. I just ran for daylight and the line blocked
very well." The 5-11, 190-pound Scott, who also snaps for punts and plays defensive back, racked
up 273 yards on 43 carries. Although Bok coach Charlie Guida did not shake hands after the game
with Bartram coach Frank Conway Sr. (his son, Frank Jr., later coached Central), he was
philosophical about the chain of events. "If you're going to beat us, might as well beat us with your
best," Guida said. "Anyway, our kids quit . . . One thing we won't have to practice for a while is
kickoff returns. We got a lotta practice today."
  Ted's note: The most amazing development, for my money, was what happened in our Daily News
sports department. The guy who served as our statistician at that game, Keith Hines, was just two years
out of Bok. He was VERY hissed that Bartram had run up the score on his school. He was reading
off the results of the plays, one by one, and I was totaling everything up. He kept saying, "22 plus 33,
TD . . . 22 plus 2, TD . . . 22 plus 1, TD . . . 22 plus 3, TD . . ." And so on. After maybe the fifth
score, I said to him, "Damn, Keith! How many TDs did he have??!!" He growled, "I don't know. I
know I got more here, though. They just kept givin' him the ball. Trying to embarrass us." (There
might have been a few blue words in there, too, but we'll spare you -- smile.) Anyway, we went
through all four quarters and, lo and behold . . . EIGHT touchdowns. Yup, Keith was so mad about
what had happened, he was unaware Scott had tallied eight TDs!! Later, I phoned Hector and we
slapped together a story. When his work schedule permits, the personable Keith still keeps stats
at football games for us. He's also a basketball assistant at Frankford and is known to coaches far
and wide (even at the college level) because of his summertime work at camps and clinics. As for
Hector Scott, we hooked him up for a longer story two weeks later and he talked about how much
of a celebrity he'd become. On Oct. 22 (the day after the eight-TD outburst), he entered a phone
booth and "I was in the middle of my call," Scott said, "and this guy comes walking by. He says,
'Hector Scott, right?' I told him yes and he said, 'Con-grad-u-lay-shuns, that was some job you
did yesterday . . . ' He was nice, but he went on and on. He finally left and I went to get back on
the phone. The operator had cut me off. Guess the time had run out." Later he added, "Anymore,
it's like my name isn't Hector Scott. It seems everyone calls me 'The Eight-Touchdown Man.' I
can't tell you how often I've heard that, a lot of times from people I don't even know. In school.
On the street. Everywhere. Usually, the people call me 'The Eight-Touchdown Man' then they
ask, 'When you gonna get nine?' "

August 24
Three Quarters of a Doubleheader . . .
  In the 2010 basketball season, Frankford found a unique way to clinch the Division A title. Would
you believe two wins on the same day? Of course you would, seeing as how the name of this
webpage is "Only in the Pub." First, in their gym, the Pioneers rolled past University City, 70-54.
Then, after changing their jerseys from white to red, they piled into relatives' vehicles and hightailed
it to Northeast, where the Vikings were waiting after falling to Southern, 77-51. Back on Feb. 4,
exactly two weeks earlier, Frankford owned a 32-21 halftime lead over visiting Northeast when
a broken basket caused a suspension. The game had to be completed and, with the schedule packed
due to so many recent snowouts, yesterday wound up being the day. Rather than beg Northeast to
return to Frankford, the Pioneers offered to switch sites. They won, 63-51, and then visited Edison
the next day, giving them FIVE games in FOUR days (there'd been LOTS of snow issues). The double
dip day was not without its challenges. No refs showed up at Frankford. Luckily, a guy named
Anthony Smith, who's certified and lives in the neighborhood, was there to watch. He hustled home,
got his shirt and whistle, and the game began a half-hour late at 3:45. There was also just one zebra
for Part II, which began at 5:50. That was Marvin Doughty, who first traveled to Frankford because
he wasn't aware of the switch to Northeast. In the first win, the highly athletic Carl Wallace
contributed 14 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three steals. He totaled 11 points in the daycap
and he powered down two hellacious dunks during the stretch. They were needed, too, because the
Vikings, winless in Pub play, had hustled their way into a 51-51 tie. "By the end, some Northeast
kids were rooting for us," Wallace said. "That seems to happen a lot. People like our team. Though
I'm cramping and my stamina's down, this was interesting. I didn't mind. It really wasn't anything
new. Sometimes in AAU ball, you have to play three games in 1 day. No riding from one place to
another, though." Against UC, Dehaven Brown (16) and Steffon Poole (10, with six rebounds) also
scored in double figures. Poole (13) and Brown (11) were the leaders vs. Northeast along with Wallace.
  Ted's note: The story had fun with the fact that Wallace traveled to Northeast with his grandparents,
Carl and Karen Fowler, and two teammates, Terrell Clark and Imire Taylor. "My grandparents were
talking about laxatives," Wallace said. "And Terrell was sitting in the back, imitating them. My
grandmom was saying how she takes the juice from collard greens and stores it in the refrigerator,
and how she makes my grandpop drink that juice if his stomach is hurting. Fifteen minutes later, it
stops hurting. It was a cool ride. We were all laughing." Hurting translates to gas-passing. And Carl's
grandpop was stinkin' up the car, big time. That might have been the hardest I ever laughed while
interviewing someone. Had to tone things down for the story a little, however. Carl darn near provided
a toot for toot description. Meanwhile . . . here are two other "court episodes." Late in the 2002 regular
season, a crack appeared in one of the glass backboards at Northeast. No one bothered to fix it, so
when the Vikings hosted Masterman in a round-of-16 playoff, the game was played cross-court. The
stands at the other end were pulled out and fans had to turn sideways to watch the game. And then,
there was the '96 Pub final, won by Edison thanks to Nike. Say what? This one was played at the
ol' Civic Center (nee Convention Hall) and Pub officials tried to make some extra money by slapping
advertising logos onto the court. There were two of them and pretty early it became obvious the damn
things were slick. After Gratz forward Terrance "Fats" Smith slipped and fell hard to the floor in the
first quarter, there was an 11-minute delay so workers could fix the problem. After unsuccessfully
trying to peel them off with razor blades, they then sanded them to remove the slickness. At the time
of Swooshgate, Edison trailed, 9-1, and was displaying true deer-in-headlights characteristics. The
delay gave them a chance to regroup and take a million deep breaths. The Owls won in OT, 74-68.

August 23
Jumping Into Trouble . . .
  Over the summer in 1990, Overbrook basketball star Isaiah "Reese" Montgomery accepted a
total of $6,240 for winning four slam-dunk contests. One problem: He won most of that money
using an assumed name, Alan Thomas. Another problem: the rules for the contests stipulated that
entrants had to be at least 21 because alcohol companies were among the sponsors. Oh, and one
more problem: In some peoples' eyes, Montgomery was now a basketball "pro" and would be
barred from playing for 'Brook in his senior season. The scenario began on July 28 when
Montgomery, then 17, won $1,045 in a contest at Tustin Playground, across the street from 'Brook.
Montgomery competed as Alan M. Thomas, a 23-year-old man who also lived across the street
from Tustin. A magazine called PhillySport, in its September/October edition, carried a small story
on Montgomery's feats and even included a picture of him dunking. He was consistently referred
to as Alan Thomas. "I just wanted to be in the contest. I just wanted to compete," said Montgomery.
"I did know there was a cash prize, but I didn't think it would matter. I never thought I'd win.
Tustin, that's where I always play. All my buddies are there. When I came up to the playground,
they were saying, 'You should get in this, man. ' I said, 'I'm only 17. ' Alan said, 'You can be me.
You can use my ID.' And he pulled out a card, a Social Security card. So, I signed the sheet as
Alan Thomas. All I had to show them was the Social Security card and, later, one other thing: a birth
certificate. Alan went home to get that. There weren't any picture IDs. Early, some people were
saying, 'That kid shouldn't be in there. He's 17, goes to Overbrook. ' They talked to me. I kept
saying I was Alan Thomas. I just wanted to dunk, that was it." Montgomery was tremedous
throughout. For his crowning dunk, he positioned a buddy in the foul lane. He soared up, up, up,
over his buddy, and dunked emphatically. The crowd exploded. "I was going to tell them (about being
an impostor)," Montgomery said. ''But then (former Sixer) Darryl Dawkins (celebrity administrator)
is picking me up, all happy, and saying, 'Let's go get some money.' I drew a blank. In the little room,
I was real nervous. My hands were shaking. I pulled out the IDs again, and dropped them. Then they
handed me the check."
  Ted's note: Montgomery later traveled to the Bed-Stuy section of Brooklyn for a national competition
and seized second place, raking in more then $5,000. Also, using his real name, Montgomery won $50
in a contest for high school players at a playground at 8th and Duncannon and then, back to Alan
Thomas, snagged $100 more in a dunkoff at Franklin Mills Mall. Terry Murphy, the president of the
company that paid Montgomery a total of $6,090, said he had no desire to recover the money. "Whether
he was Alan Thomas or Moses Malone, the son of a gun could sky," Murphy said, cheerily. "As far as
I'm concerned, it's 'Congratulations, buddy. You skied over everybody in Philadelphia and almost
everybody in New York. ' I feel terrible for the kid if his eligibility gets affected by this. But, in the
contest itself, the kid earned every damn penny. He was electrifying." As the school season approached,
the School District conducted a thorough investigation. In early November, Montgomery was cleared to
play. Said spokesman Bill Thompson: "What he did was not a violation of any current Public League
regulation. There's nothing to specifically prohibit the acceptance of a cash prize." An administrator with
the NAIA put it this way. "There's not a sport called 'dunking.' " However, after graduating from 'Brook
in 1992, Montgomery attended Camden County (junior) College last year and was ruled ineligible by
the National Junior College Athletic Association on the grounds that he was a professional. In the summer
of '93, I wrote a story about how "Reese" was trying out for the U.S. Men's Handball National Team,
with the eventual goal of competing in the '96 Atlanta Olympics. He did not wind up being part of that
squad.

August 22
The Point Was to Score . . .
  On the final day of the 1984 basketball regular season, during the warmup period, Lamberton
guard Troy Daniel, adding a smile and wink for effect, said, "Someone better call the cops.
There's gonna be a shootout." Quite the prophet, that Troy Daniel. There was an X factor,
though. The shootout between Troy and E&S star Michael Anderson, also a guard, did not wind
up as a fair one. Having missed the team bus, Anderson did not arrive until 2:59, a minute before
tipoff. By the time he went upstairs, changed his clothes and returned to the gym, 4:33 remained
in the first quarter. Coach Charlie Brown kept him on the bench until the start of the second
quarter. Anderson had entered the day with a 13-point lead in the race for the scoring title. He
wound up scoring 32 points before fouling out with 2:57 remaining. He shot 11-for-20 from the
floor and 10-for-24 (somehow, he missed his first nine) at the line. Daniel exploded for a
career-high 55 points, shooting 22-for-42 and 11-for-18. "In practice yesterday," Daniel
said, "Mr. (coach Mitchell) Kurtz was saying we wanted to do two things. Our first goal
was to win the game, and he said a big part of that would be to stop Mike. And our second
goal was for me to win the scoring title. He felt he kind of owed it to me because I sacrificed
some points all year in an attempt to help us win. Since we didn't make the playoffs and this
was the last game, he wanted to give me a chance to retain my title." He added, "Before the
game, I went off in the cafeteria by myself. I thought back on my career. I also thought about
what I had to do today. I knew people here were hoping I would outscore Mike, so I pumped
myself up to do that. I knew I'd have to shoot with two or three people on me. When you're
trying to score a lot, as well as win, it adds a lot of pressure." Anderson's other stats included
10 rebounds, six assists and 13 steals. As for Daniel, though he claimed 19 rebounds, he had
zero assists. When that fact was relayed to him, he laughed and said, "Oh, well, you can't
have everything."
  Ted's note: Anderson was late because he spent every other week pursuing a hotel management
curriculum at Randolph. He didn't make it back to E&S in time to catch the team bus, but was
given a ride to Lamberton (at that time, the Blue Devils played games at their school) by
teammate Kedrick Johnson. Daniel played his college ball at Penn State and Millersville.
Anderson, who earlier that season dropped 66 points on Edison (it was a non-league game,
however), starred at Drexel and played briefly in the NBA.

August 21
The Perfect Storm . . .
  This all-timer occurred in 1994 in a second-round baseball playoff . . .
  There was lightning and thunder and rain and swirling winds and yelling by irate fans.
  Then, there was a lazy flyball to centerfield.
  What goes up always comes down, we are taught from toddlerhood. But never is there a guarantee
of what occurs between the start of the up and the end of the down.
  Abraham Lincoln 9, Jules Mastbaum Tech 8.
  That was the final score yesterday in a second-round Public League baseball playoff that produced
one of the wackier conclusions in history.
  To repeat: in history.
  Lincoln scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to complete a comeback from a 7-1,
fourth-inning deficit.
  It was dark and gloomy when the Railsplitters began batting. A light rain was falling and the wind
was picking up.
  Pinch-hitter Jerome Woodlin walked. Artie DiProspero hammered a line drive to centerfield. Dom
Festa broke in, then realized his misjudgement. He ran back quickly, but the ball sailed over his head
for a run-scoring double.
  The rain began to intensify. Mastbaum coach Ralph "Bones" Schneider took a slow stroll to the
mound. Reliever Renato Lajara returned to his original position, centerfield. Louis Miranda, who
had started at third base, came in to pitch from rightfield.
  After Miranda finished his warmup pitches, Schneider lingered for a short time on the field.
  "Quit stalling!" a Lincoln fan yelled. "Get off and stay off!"
  "I wasn't stalling," Schneider said. "If I was stalling, I would have been arguing with the umps to
hold up the game."
  Mike Langan bunted to Miranda. His throw to first baseman Josiah Middleton was late, giving
Lincoln runners at first and third. Per instructions from coach Mark Adami, Langan broke for second
before Miranda threw a pitch to John Dempster. Miranda stepped off and fired to second baseman
Fred Hansberry.
  Langan was an easy out, but Hansberry's throw plateward to catcher Jose Allende was a split-second
late and the score was tied.
  Boom! A thunderclap, by a large margin the loudest so far, exploded somewhere behind the plate.
Close enough that all believers in God were starting to pray.
  The rain intensified. Dempster walked. Brad Czechowski, after fouling off two bunts, struck out
swinging. Schneider walked toward the plate.
  "Not this guy again!" a Lincoln fan hollered. "Throw him out of here."
  Mike McDonald, Lincoln's best hitter, was due. Schneider told plate umpire Ron Burgis that he wanted
to issue McDonald an intentional walk. McDonald groaned, then strolled to first.
  Schneider wasn't finished. With Jim Keiser, a lefthanded batter, coming up, he realigned the flank men
in his outfield. Festa and Jose Mercado made long, slow trots from left to right and right to left, respectively.
  Keiser swung. He lifted a lazy flyball to centerfield.
  "I was already thinking about how we'd line up on defense in the top of the eighth," Adami said.
  "I was mad at myself. A popup," Keiser said, spitting out the word.
  In centerfield, Lajara was having a problem. He wasn't moving. Then he was holding up his arms in a
pleading motion.
  "It was hit right toward him," Adami said. "Then I started thinking, 'Where that ball's coming down is
. . . not where that kid is!!! "
  Said Keiser: "I didn't look out there at first. When I got around first, I could see what was going on."
  Lajara could not. The ball fell to the grass about 15 feet in front of him. Dempster raced across the plate
and was mobbed by delirious teammates. Mastbaum's players stood at their positions, stunned.
  No more than 10 seconds later, the skies opened big-time. Players, coaches, umpires, fans - everybody
scattered. Their thoughts were undoubtedly similar: ''Rain I can handle. I'm not in the mood to get struck
by lightning." Almost instantly, everybody was soaked to the skin, no matter what they were wearing.
  "It couldn't have rained any harder," Schneider said.
  Within three minutes, the rain slackened. Lincoln's players, many covered in mud, frolicked up the
concrete steps to their locker room. Mastbaum's players dragged behind, walking slowly, heads
occasionally shaking back and forth in bewilderment.
  When Lajara reached the landing at the top of the steps, he said, "I couldn't see the ball. It matched in
with the sky."
  Adami asked Schneider whether Mastbaum's team bus was in the parking lot on the other side of the
locker room.
  "I don't know," Schneider said. "If not, we'll swim home."
  In the locker room, Adami couldn't help but gush.
  "I've never played in, coached in or seen as a fan anything like that," he said. "How could you possibly
tell somebody about all that and expect them to believe you?"
  Ted's note: Sorry for the long post, but I figured it would be better to just recount the scenario the way
it had been done in the paper. Lajara did not let the disappointment get him down. He graduated from
Gwynedd-Mercy and became a teacher and the last time I "saw" him was on I-95. On a billboard. He's
now a principal at Stetson Middle School and G-M highlights him in an ad. Also, click here for a
YouTube video prepared by the G-M folks. Continued success, Renny! 

August 20
Many Happy Returns . . .
  In the '99 football season, Franklin's William Waters kept telling his coach, Allen Rushing, he
could do wonders with a football in his hands. He proved it Oct. 1. As the Electrons dumped
visiting West Philly, 18-12, the 6-1, 220-pound defensive end, a senior, became the first player in
city scholastic history to score on fumble returns on consecutive plays from scrimmage. Waters's
first score came when he picked up a botched snap on a punt and ran 7 yards into the end zone.
On West's next play, Jermaine Smith hammered the quarterback and the ball popped loose. This
time Waters covered 19 yards. City-leagues defenders have been allowed to return fumbles only
since 1988. "That was a first-time experience,'' Waters said. "I was loving every moment of it.
On the first one, our other defensive end, Boe Davis, was tying up the punter. I jumped over them,
got it and there was the end zone. I was so hyper. I always wanted to have a ball in my hands. On
the second one; you sure it was only 19 yards? Felt like 40. The guys said somebody was chasing
me, but I put on the burners and left him.'' Believe it or not, that feat was matched in '07 by Gratz'
Elijah Akbar, a 6-2, 200-pound end. In the Bulldogs' 37-26 Thanksgiving loss to Chester, he posted
fumble-return TDs of 12 and 36 yards on, yes, consecutive scrimmage plays. "I guess you could
say it was luck," Akbar said the following Monday in a phone interview. "But it does take some skill.
Like knowing where the ball is. I didn't know it was anything special until my dad saw" a mention in
Friday's Daily News. "I just knew it was fun." He explained the plays by saying, "The first one,
their quarterback was trying to pass when I pushed the running back into him. The ball popped loose.
Nobody was there. It was easy to score. The second one was a quarterback sneak. (Tackle) Earl
Watford forced a fumble. I saw it and picked it up. They almost caught me. A guy was trying to
tackle me. Had to drag him into the end zone."
  Ted's note: What were the chances TWO guys would accomplish such an unusual feat? I'm thinking
astronomical. The Pub being the Pub, however, I have a feeling it'll happen again some day. Maybe
even twice in one season (smile).

August 19
That's What Friends Are For . . .
  In 1990, Ken Hamilton was in his 19th season of coaching Ben Franklin. On Feb. 25, during a
Pub semifinal played at the no-longer-exists Civic Center (nee Convention Hall), he steered
Franklin Learning Center to a 73-59 win over Bartram. It was all about friendship and making
adjustments on the fly, the result of a sad situation. FLC-Bartram was the second game of a
doubleheader. During the first, which saw Gratz dominate West Philadelphia, 64-47, FLC coach
Pete Merlino suffered a heart attack and was rushed to the Hospital of the University of
Pennsylvania. Lou Williams, FLC's JV coach, was not in attendance. Paul Rieser, Merlino's
volunteer assistant, was not permitted to take sole control of the Bobcats because he was not a
school district employee. Merlino's identical twin, John, went to the hospital with his brother and
the question became, once officials decided to play the game, "Who will coach FLC?" Ultimately,
knowing of the friendship between Pete and Ken (they both taught at Franklin), Mitchell Kurtz,
head of the Pub coaches, asked Hamilton to guide the Bobcats. "Hey, Pete's my buddy," Hamilton
said. "There's not too much I wouldn't do to help him out. I fumbled for a couple names, but I know
his players' games and their personalities, so everything worked fine." Bartram coach George
Tomosky told his team of the situation just before the game. "I couldn't keep something like that
a secret from them," Tomosky said. ''We even said a prayer for him. My kids appeared to be very
cool and very loose going out, like no pressure was on them, but they played flat. We didn't play
our ballgame. I don't know why." While acknowledging that having one school's coach guide
another school's team was "unorthodox," Pub sports czar Tom Jacoby said that, "under the
circumstances, there was nothing else we could do. We talked to the Bartram people. They
understood." When John Merlino, FLC's girls' coach, returned to the Civic Center, 3:42 remained
in the first quarter and FLC trailed, 5-3. Hamilton, Rieser and John sat together for the rest of the
game, along with Charles Staniskis, the team's faculty adviser.
  Ted's note: I can't imagine such a scenario has unfolded too often in world basketball history. It
was truly amazing to see Hamilton, whose squad had been eliminated in the round of 16, take over
the Bobcats. That relationship did not last, however. Frank Guido, FLC's principal, asked Hamilton
to step aside, and he put the Bobcats in John's control for the upcoming final vs. Gratz. Gratz won,
80-60, behind a pair of future NBAers, senior Aaron McKie and frosh Rasheed Wallace . . . Flash
forward to '98. Franklin and FLC met for the title. Franklin won that one, 61-56, and Hamilton then
retired. Pete replaced him for the '99 season. Shortly after this first game, a 45-28 win over Dobbins,
he suffered another heart attack. He passed two days later. His funeral, held in South Jersey, drew
a gigantic crowd and Franklin sent two buses packed with players and other students. Every last
one showed emotion. After a game in mid-January 2000, guard Lafay Johnson said, "Losing Mr.
Merlino was like seeing the world come to an end, like what people were saying was going to happen
with Y2K. Mr. Merlino was like a father. I loved that man. When he died, it hit us so hard." RIP, Pete.

August 18
You Can't Makeup This Stuff . . .
  For a game in the 1995 baseball season, one-third of William Penn's starters did something
different than you'd ever expect. They wore makeup. Yes, three of the starting Lions in a game
vs. Lamberton were actually Lionesses. Penn dropped baseball and softball after the '93 season
and only baseball was reinstated for '95. By rule, gals were allowed to give it a whirl. Coach Vic
Otarola's squad wound up with four females and Shrell Russ, then a freshman, bagged what was
believed to be the city's first female hit when she lined a single to left against one of Division C's
top pitchers, University City's Willie Davis. Otarola said one of Lamberton's players yelled out,
"I guess we can't use the phrase, 'Swings like a girl' anymore!!' " The other Lionesses were Roshell
Oliver, Tonia Brown and Devon Edwards. Russ was first to join the ballclub. She saw signs
around school advertising tryouts and decided, per instructions, to report to "Mr. O." When she
found him and said she wanted to play, Otarola outlined the procedure and gave his blessing after
checking with Penn and school district officials. The three others followed one by one. "I was
nervous," Otarola acknowledged. "I wasn't sure they'd be able to play without getting injured. But
when they came to practice, they caught the ball, threw the ball, got up in the cage and took their
hacks . . . They stuck with it, so I stuck with them. I'm happy they're here. So are the boys."
  Ted's note: The day I covered Penn vs. King, the former lost by 15-2 and was no-hit in a game that
was halted, by mutual consent, after 3 1/2 innings. Penn fanned 12 times (four times in one inning)
and put just one ball in play, a comebacker to the mound. Russ, batting seventh, went 0-for-2 with
two strikeouts. The second baseman's only fielding chance came in the first inning, when she
retreated slightly to catch Anthony Medlock's way-up-there popup. Oliver, batting ninth, drew walks
in both of her plate appearances. She, too, had just one chance on defense. She ended the third
inning by snagging a throw from catcher Ruben Rios, who had dropped a third strike. "When I came
to Penn and saw they didn't have softball, I thought, 'I guess my ballplaying career is over,' " Russ
said. "Then the baseball thing happened and I wondered, 'Can I really play against boys? ' Now, I
hope to do this three more years. I figure I'll get better and better." King's pitcher that day was
Gerald Pageot. "I never knew girls could be on a baseball team," he said. "I never pitched to one.
It was kind of funny. I didn't know what it would feel like to strike out a girl. It felt good. I wanted
to either walk them or strike them out. I didn't want them (putting the ball in play). If they got a hit,
oh, man, my teammates would have been laughing at me the rest of the season. I have to give them
a clap, though. Those girls have heart." . . . Meanwhile, in the 1985 season, Penn's softball team
had a star played named Sara Padro. Two things set her apart. As a member of the Pentecostal
Church, she was bound to wearing skirts in public. Yes, even on the field. Also, she was deaf. Coach
Bernie Handler likened Sara to Pete Rose. "She's only the second girl I've had in six years who is
not afraid to use a head-first slide. It seems like she's had bumps, bruises and burns for two years
straight." And then, there were the unintentional delays she caused. "In a quarterfinal playoff last year
against Roxborough," Handler said, ''we had to hold up the game for close to 10 minutes because
Sara stole third and her hearing aid got lost in the dust around the base. It happened in a game this
year with Kensington, too."

August 17
Some Losses Get Redefined . . . 
  As the 2001-02 basketball season neared its conclusion, Bartram was still hoping to become
just the seventh city-leagues team since 1950 to finish with a perfect record. Then, the Braves
played Franklin at the First Union Center in a Sixers-TrailBlazers prelim and lost, 77-73. The
question then became, WHAT did they lose? Ultimately, the contest was ruled a scrimmage.
The players wore uniforms, refs blew whistles (though one was the brother of Bartram's coach,
Lou Biester), fans paid admission and the score was tracked on the scoreboard. However, neither
team kept an official scorebook and the time was broken into halves rather than quarters. The
teams met because of a long-time friendship between Biester and Franklin's coach, Larry Gainey,
a former Bartram star. One Bartram starter, 6-9 junior Jason Cain, did not participate. Playing
time was shared almost equally between starters and subs. Said Bartram junior forward Khalil
Abdus-Salaam: "Coach was switching in a new group every 6 minutes. C'mon, this can't count.
I was playing point guard. Everybody was joking around. No one was taking it serious. (Starting
wing guard) Bryant Leach was shooting (foul shots) lefthanded. We didn't want to take a chance
on injuries. Guys weren't going hard to the hole. We were mostly shooting threes. Coach Biester
told us the game wouldn't be on our record and to just have fun. Franklin's guys were messin'
around, too. Then near the end, they got all serious, like it was a real game."
  Ted's note: So, what happened? The game, eventually, was ruled a scrimmage. So, did the
Braves finish the season with a perfect record? Nope. In a semi at La Salle University, the
strangely unfocused Braves (then 26-0) fell to Strawberry Mansion, 69-60. Biester said the Braves
did not practice well all week and were very tentative once the game began. "We were going
through the motions," he said. "We stopped doing what got us here and didn't take care of the ball."
Bartram's focus problems were evident as the first quarter ended. Though the coaches were yelling,
no one heard and no one realized the clock was running down. The buzzer sounded as someone
dribbled, far from the basket. I've always wondered if the "scrimmage" threw the Braves off course.
It took place on Feb. 25, a Monday. The next day, Bartram beat visiting Southern in a quarterfinal
and the semi took place five days thereafter, on Sunday.

August 16
First Game. Last Game. None in Between . . .
  The Pub's 1972-73 basketball season lasted all of two games. The reason: a strike by teachers
that dragged on and on and on. Luckily, someone rode to the rescue. Sonny Hill, whose summertime
hoops program was already in full bloom by this point, created the Sonny Hill Winter League and,
best of all, he found a way to maintain the integrity of the Pub. He kept each school's team in tact
-- as much as possible anyway; some guys did disappear because their family needed money and
they wound up working -- and used coaches from the summer program to take over the winter
teams. Because of the strike, schools were unavailable, but Hill was able to convince the city to
allow games in the various rec centers. Even better, Hill pushed harder and harder and was able to
score Temple's McGonigle Hall as the site for important playoffs and -- drum roll, please -- the
Palestra for the championship game. This was a major coup! In the previous few seasons, crowd
control had become a major issue and there'd even been a stabbing inside a gym during a playoff.
Title games had been played in Pub schools since 1962 and the previous four had been played at
Lincoln even though no participating schools were remotely close. The final was a pip. Gratz beat
Olney, 68-66.
  Ted's note: I've often wondered if the strike "destarched" Pub hoops for a while. The '72 season
was tremendous with future NBAers such as Bartram's Joe "Kobe's Father" Bryant, Germantown's
Mike Sojourner, Overbrook's Rich Laurel and even Central's Phil Walker (just beginning to scratch
the surface; he blossomed at D-2 Millersville and was a member of the Bullets' 1978 NBA champs).
Roxborough's Chubby "Kobe's Uncle" Cox (yes, Joe married Chubby's sister) was the only '73 grad
to make The League and the '74, '75 and '76 classes were completely dry. At least an upswing was
beginning, though, and the Class of '77 produced West Philly's Gene Banks and Overbrook's Lewis
Lloyd. The '77 through '80 seasons were tremendous. Anyway, Sonny Hill deserves as much credit
as you can possibly give him for saving the '73 Pub season. As do all the people who helped him by
also donating their time. One last funny note: in one of the '73 semifinals, a Dobbins player, upset
about spending too many minutes on the bench, stood up and told his coach he was going to get a
drink of water. Instead, he scurried to the scorers' table and tried to check back into the game.

August 15
The Constitution Allows for Double-Forfeit Fever . . .
  Our posting for July 18 highlighted the fact that Randolph and Science Leadership met before the
official start date in the 2008-09 season and, thus, had to suffer the embarrassment of having their
first varsity games in school history go into the books as forfeits. Welllllll, a year-plus later,
Constitution played its first Public League game and . . . it also stormed into the Forfeit Club. At
South Philly's Shot Tower Rec Center, with 2:46 remaining in the third quarter and Constitution on
top by 46-30 over World Communications Charter, all hell broke . Punches were thrown. Both
benches completely emptied. Spectators also came streaming onto the court to get involved in
pushing/yelling. Just as order was being restored, emotions flared again. More insults flew back and
forth between the players and coaches and there was minor shoving, but nothing to rival the original
flare-up, though WC coach Kenyatta McKinney said the parent of a Constitution player did invite
his top player, Markeith Mont, "outside for a fair one.'' Soon, McKinney was herding his players to
the safety of the locker room and Constitution's principal, Dr. Thomas Davidson, was ordering his
school's cheerleaders to leave the premises because they'd razzed the WC players as they walked by.
And the lead referee, Chris Green, who worked the game with Mark "Frog" Carfagno, was placing
a call to the PL hoops chairman, Charles Sumter. And Sumter was saying to halt it; only seven players
(combined) were still available after numerous ejections were made. "I also feared for everyone's
safety," Sumter said. "Not being there, I didn't know for sure about the situation. I'm not taking
chances.'' At 8:30 that night, Pub sports czar Robert Coleman ruled the game a double forfeit. Also,
he said both schools would forfeit their next games (Math, Civics and Sciences for Constitution;
Randolph for World Comm on Monday) and then be unable to use the ejected players in their
ensuing games (Douglas for Constitution; Boys' Latin for World Comm.)
  Ted's note: Constitution provided more Only in the Pub fodder that season. After the Generals won
their first state playoff game, 49-31 at Millersburg (about 20 miles north of Harrisburg), coach Rob
Moore reported that they departed at 8:45 and arrived back in Philly 45 minutes past midnight!
Their bus broke down three times. In its next game, Constitution (7th & Market) met Girard College
(footsteps from SJ Prep). So, what neutral site did the honchos pick? Coatesville. I kid you not.

August 14
She Quit in the Nikki of Time . . .
  In the 1991 football season, Roxborough senior Andrea "Nikki" Williams (5-11, 148) became the
first female in city history to see action in the regular portion of a game. Though "action" is used
very loosely. On what turned out to be the final play in the Indians' 36-0 rout of visiting Southern
-- lightning then sent everyone home -- coach Cliff Hubbard put Williams, a wideout, on the field
and purposely called for a run to the opposite side, making contact less likely.  Williams had
participated in drills and taken turns on both sides of tackling dummies to this point, but had not yet
absorbed an actual hit, let alone the bone-jarring variety. "I guess Mr. Hubbard is scared for me,"
Williams said. "I want to do it." Said her father, Douglas: "My wife (Edna) and I are proud of Nikki,
but we're frightened. We're aware of the possibility of her getting hurt. We know there's a chance
for broken bones, even something past that point. That's what really scares us. When she gets that
first hit, maybe she'll be discouraged. I just hope she won't be hurt." Because she hadn't expected to
play, Williams was shocked when Hubbard waved her into action. "I was kind of nervous," she said.
"I could hear Southern's guys saying, 'I'm going to stick her. ' I thought they were going to tackle me.
I was on the right. The play went to the left. I ran straight downfield. There was nobody there." As a
little girl, Williams hung out with the boys. "I used to play with all boys," she said. "Play sports, climb
trees, even get into fistfights. I didn't play with Barbie dolls. Football, I think, is a sport for guys and
girls. Not too many girls go out for a football team. I like the sport. That's why I'm out there. I want
to show that girls can play football, too. Unless I get hurt, there's no way I'm quitting. Some of the
guys used to holler at me if I didn't know a play. But now, everybody's supportive."
  Ted's note: Williams' appearance against Southern turned out to be a one-and-done deal. Two weeks
later, while Roxborough was cruising to a 34-6 win over visiting Gratz, Hubbard gave Williams the
opportunity to play again. She declined, explaining, "They never let me hit anybody," she said. "Even
when we do the bags, Mr. Hubbard never calls my name." Said Hubbard: "We don't have live
contact in practice. Nikki said she wants some hitting, so she can get used to it. Before the game, she
told me she didn't want to play (without being specific). I told her, 'You can't choose which games
you're going to play in.' I was going to ask for her uniform. But we'll see what happens next week.
We'll give her some more work. Her parents said the same thing I did: 'If you're not going to play,
you might as well turn in your equipment.' " That was what happened. By the way, in '90, Robin
Selbst (Washington) had become the city's first female player. She'd gone 1-for-3 on PATs. She'd done
no kicking off. In '97, a female finally experienced contact as Syrieta Bard played for University City
on special teams. In '98, she saw action in five games as a backup linebacker before leaving the team.
In her last appearance, she picked up a 15-yard penalty for a late hit out of bounds. In 2007,
linelady Christiana Morales saw some spot duty for Edison. In 2009, Michelle "Mickey" Grace was
given two shots at scoring for Germantown in a 48-0 win over Boys' Latin. Grace lost a yard on a
carry near the goal line, then was stopped short moments later on the conversion after Tyrone Jones
ran 3 yards for the final TD. Grace made MUCH bigger news at the end of the school year. Because
of chronic lateness, Grace was banned from participating in the graduation ceremony even though she
was the class president. The Daily News and other media outlets gave her situation major attention.
Arlene Ackerman overruled the principal, Margaret Mullen, and allowed Grace to be part of the
proceedings, causing even more of an uproar.

August 13
So, Did We Lose? . . .
  It's not often a baseball player asks that question after a game. But in 2002, those were the first
words out of the mouth of Frankford pitcher Dave Firth after a game with visiting Central was
halted. Though Frankford led at the time, 7-2, plate umpire Chuck Gephart ejected Frankford
coach Bob Peffle after a bizarre, ugly scene during which Peffle, at high volume and in dramatic
fashion, berated Gephart and base ump Bill Tsafos by calling them "garbage." Gephart then halted
the game and awarded Frankford a forfeit win. As the players and maybe 50 spectators watched
in amazement, the situation got worse after Peffle was tossed and Gephart briskly walked out.
From a spot near the opening in the fence that fronts Dyre Street, across from Frankford's football
stadium, Peffle shouted toward Gephart that he was wrong for "abandoning the game" and repeated
the garbage reference. Gephart, clearly agitated, was throwing gear into the trunk of his car, parked
maybe 40 yards away on Rutland Street. The two exchanged several choice remarks. Peffle did not
curse. Gephart did and threatened Peffle with violence before driving off. The play that set off
Peffle was a hit batsman. Peffle contended John Hickey did not move while being plunked by a
curve. He asked Gephart to ask Tsafos for help. Gephart's response: "I've got it. No help needed."
In Frankford's fifth, Peffle had scorched Gephart from the third-base coach's box. When a Frankford
player complained that Gephart had called an apparently low pitch a strike, Gephart told everyone
in the bench area to shut up. Peffle got involved and Gephart told him, "Tell them to shut up!"
Peffle then said, so everyone could hear: "OK, they're going to be quiet. Now I'm going to talk.
That pitch was low and everyone here saw it!"
  Ted's note: Peffle is one of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet and Gephart has always
hit me as a good dude, too. This was just one of those inexplicable developments, folks. That night,
after major checking with all involved, Pub baseball chairman Joe Stanley said Gephart had improperly
halted the game and that it would be resumed nine days later. Didn't happen. Central declined to
return and Frankford was awarded the win. Central coach Bob Barthelmeh said he, his principal, Dr.
Sheldon Pavel, and athletic director, Frank Greco, agreed it made no sense to dismiss the players
early for 1 1/2 innings, especially in a week when two other league games were scheduled. Barthelmeh
said Central's tri-captains, Steve Hopkins, Noah White and Ryan Meyer, did not protest the move.
"No way," Barthelmeh said, "did we want the players to think we were giving in or giving up. It just
didn't make sense, we felt, to go back there." Last note: When the game was halted, Central DID
have the bases loaded with one away.

August 12
Miracle of the Martin (Almost) . . .
  Perhaps you've heard of the Miracle of the Meadowlands. In 1978, the Eagles beat the Giants
when Eagles DB Herman Edwards picked up a fumble and ran 26 yards for a last-play TD. The
play was such a stunner because QB Joe Pisarcik needed only to take a knee, but instead tried a
handoff. So . . . . in 2002, Northeast had a 17-14 lead over Franklin at Charlie Martin Memorial
Stadium with 7 seconds left when coach Harvey "Brew" Schumer ordered a run by fullback Mark
Pasley. Pasley was struggling for extra yardage when Jestin Brisbon, also Franklin's top rusher,
stole the ball, took off and kept running and running and got tackled about 70 yards later, ONE
step from the end zone, by tailback Stanley Ebron. "The miracle this time was that Stanley
caught him," Schumer said. "The kid had such a lead. I thought it was going to be a TD. I would
have hung myself in the locker room." Schumer did not have his quarterback take a knee because
he did not want to give Franklin a last play. "Next time," he said, "we'll take the knee and take
our chances."
  Ted's note: This sequence was part of a very strange weekend. Here are some of the other things
that happened: With the ball 1 yard from the end zone, a team's top rusher asked to come out of
the game because he needed a rest. His incredulous coach did not grant the request . . . A West
Philly player downed a punt with only a quick touch of the ball. A Gratz player scooped it up and
ran 70 yards for a TD. The refs gabbed, then erased the score. Gratz threw no passes in its 22-3
win. Neither did Overbrook in a 2-0 win over University City . . . Standing on his own 27, 33 yards
away, Roxborough's Ed Fairfax was hit flush in the facemask by David Pough's kickoff . . . After
Olney scored vs. Southern, a few guys ran to the line for the conversion and someone yelled from
the huddle, "Come back, y'all. We didn't call the play yet!" I'm guessing there was a full moon in
there somewhere. (Just found a website that lists full moons: There WAS one during that weekend!)

August 11
Going for Homers (and Broke) . . .
  In a 1986 baseball quarterfinal, none of the fences surrounding Northeast's field was going to
prevent Mastbaum's Joe Malak from three times wreaking havoc. Time No. 1 happened in the
first inning, when Malak, a senior first baseman, lofted a two-run home run to left-center. Time
No. 2 happened in the fifth, when Malak rocketed a three-run homer to dead center. Time No. 3
happened in the sixth, when Malak, a lefthanded batter, sliced a foul toward Algon Street. The
ball cleared a 35-foot retaining fence, sailed toward the apartment house across the street, and
crashed through two windows. Yes, two. The lower portion in some gent's apartment - the guy
later appeared briefly at an adjacent window to survey the damage - had been raised to make
room for a portable air conditioner. Never let it be said that Joe Malak, who went 3-for-4 with
five RBI in Mastbaum's 11-7 victory, couldn't hit a ball hard enough to break a pane of glass.
"I watched it go across and hit the window, then I looked around. I knew everybody would be
smiling," Malak said. "First time I ever did that. That fence is high, too. I was surprised it went
over. I was thinking, 'Since we're not playing at our field, I don't think I'll have to pay.' The guys
were saying, 'Send the bill to Malak's house . . . Somebody'll be coming after you for this, Joe.' "
  Ted's note: This game was played on June 10, a Friday. The next day, Joe and three of his
buddies -- North Catholic athletes Marc Alicea (basketball) and Chris Lemma (soccer) and a
1987 grad, Tom Mullen -- headed for Wildwood, N.J., for a Senior Week stretch. And Joe was
not about to disclose the address, lest the guy come looking for replace-the-window cash (smile).
By the way, we had a photographer at this game and the guy's pic wound up in the paper,
checking out the smashed windows. A classic Pub moment.

August 10
This Game Wasn't Exactly a Hit . . .
  On May 19, 1978, Central righthander Joe Starosta hurled his second no-hitter of the season.
And this time . . . He had company! Yes, on the same field! Germantown righty Ricky Ford also
spun a no-no, though the Bears suffered the heartbreak of a 1-0 loss. Starosta fanned 13 and
permitted nothing even close to a basehit. Ford -- in the hospital less than a month beforehand
with an irrregular heart beat and making just his second start since coming back -- whiffed six
and received a lot of help from his friends. "We hit some shots," said Lancer Coach Bob Cullman,
"but their centerfielder, Wendell Williams [he wound up playing at the University of Pennsylvania]
made about four great catches. He's left-handed and he took one on the dead run in right center,
stretching across his body. He also took one right in front of the fence." Central scored its run in
the second. After Jeff Chapman walked, Tom Scheliga laid down a sacrifice bunt that drew the
attention of the third baseman but was handled by the catcher. The third baseman did not get
back in time to cover his bag and Chapman hustled over. Mark Santore followed with a grounder
to third that was booted. "You know, just before that sacrifice bunt," said Germantown coach Dan
Kopycienski, our catcher made a pickoff throw to first and the guy was almost out. If Central
hadn't scored, we'd have gone on for 20 innings. It was that kind of game." Starosta was perfect
until a leadoff walk to Andy Jones in the seventh. Jones was immediately doubled on a popped
sacrifice bunt, then Williams drew a walk and stole second. The final batter fanned.
  Ted's note: Another Pub classic followed shortly thereafter in the form of a coin flip to decide
second place in Division B. G-town and Roxborough finished in a flat-out tie and the flip was held
at Southern, with Kopycienski and Roxborough coach Cliff Hubbard on phones at their respective
schools. Kopycienski allowed Hubbard to make the call. He went with tails and lost. Here's a
description of that moment from G-town's second baseman, Andy "Coconut" Jones: "It was pretty
cool. We weren't allowed in the gym office with Coach (Dan) Kopycienski, but he was on the
phone with the people at Southern and he told the whole school what was going on over the
loudspeaker. He said, 'There's the coin . . . It's in the air . . . It's coming down . . . It's spinning on
the floor . . . It looks like heads . . . A-l-l-r-i-g- h-t, we're in the playoffs. ' We were all excited."

August 9
Bulldogs Go Down WITH a Fight . . .
  The July 11 posting highlighted a 1985 basketball game that ended early because Kensington had
just one player still available in the final moments of a game with Frankford. Well, in 1987, Gratz
forfeited to Franklin Learning Center when its number of available players fell to four with 0:52
showing. But the low number was not the reason. Prompting the decision by coach Bill Ellerbee
was a fight between between Gratz's Duane Wilkes and FLC's Mike Terry, and its aftermath.
Following a missed free throw by Gratz's Eddie Savage, Wilkes and Terry simultaneously gained
possession of the rebound, resulting in a jump ball call by referee Joe DeMayo. Wilkes and Terry
then began fighting, and both teams charged onto the court. When order was restored, Wilkes and
Terry were hit with flagrant technicals, and ejected. Gratz was left with four players. Because of
illness, Ellerbee had only seven of his 11 varsity players available. Two, Andre Armour and Andre
Ware, previously had fouled out. Ellerbee said he refused to heed DeMayo's orders to return his
team to the court for three reasons: what he said was a reversal of DeMayo's original explanation
of what would happen upon the resumption of play, his feeling that Wilkes should not have been
ejected, and concern for his team's safety. "First, DeMayo said we'd shoot a two-shot foul, then
both teams would shoot two T's, then we'd get the ball because of the possession arrow," Ellerbee
said. "Then he talked to me again and we weren't shooting our two- shot foul anymore. Duane
Wilkes never threw a punch, not by any stretch of the imagination. I'd like to see the day he does.
I'll know he has arrived as a player. Also, there was a volatile situation there, one that could have
possibly gotten out of control." DeMayo, who worked the game with Gary Butler, said he never
mentioned to Ellerbee that Gratz would receive more free throws than FLC. "How could that
have been? It was a jump ball situation," DeMayo said. ''Bill Ellerbee is a good coach and a class
guy, but I question whether he would have stopped playing if his team was ahead by five."
  Ted's note: I didn't see this game, so it was tough to untangle everything via telephone. Ellerbee
intended to protest, but I can't find evidence of a follow-up story in our database. Ellerbee was
recently hired as Penn Charter's director of basketball operations, so to speak, in tandem with new
coach Lynard Stewart, who starred for him at Gratz and was the DN City Player of the Year in
'94. He was one of the best coaches in city scholastic history and DeMayo, still doing college
games, was one of the best refs. But they surely butted heads this time around.

August 8
Ain't This a Punt in the Butt . . .
  In the '92 and '01 football seasons, following games involving the ever-goofy Edison Owls, this
note appeared in boxscores: " . . . recovered punt in end zone." Notice what detail word was not
included? Blocked. It wasn't included because the balls weren't blocked. The punts were flat-out
bad and trickled into the end zone, just waiting to be recovered by the opposition. In '92, the
opponent was Mastbaum. Edison's Raul Valentin saw a snap sail far over his head. He picked
up the ball in the end zone and punted it sideways into the far corner. Forrest Pearson fell on the
ball for a touchdown. This made national news. After reading about it in the DN, USA Today
mentioned the play, then Pearson and Mastbaum coach John Murphy were interviewed by Jim
Lampley on a national radio show. In '01, Edison's Keenan Nelson punted the ball at the goal line.
It popped straight up and bounced a yard deep, where Franklin's Bryant Jennings recovered for
a TD.
  Ted's note: In that '92 game, there was another crazy play. Edison's first punter that day was
Steve Wallace. After chasing down a bad snap, he avoided a rush and punted a low line drive.
About 10 yards away, the ball drilled teammate Robert Bettis, who had turned around to see what
was happening, in the stomach. Bettis held on, turned upfield and wound up with a 6-yard gain.
The refs said the play was legal because Bettis made the catch behind the line of scrimmage.
Meanwhile, though 98 percent of the punts in Edison's school history have produced disasters
(smile), there was also this sequence in 2009 vs. King: the Owls twice kept a drive alive by
recovering fumbles by punt returners. The recoveries went to Joaquin Melendez at King's 37 and
to Tim Torres at the 9. Alas, two plays later, Edison's Luis Ortiz dropped the ball while handing
off and King's James Colburne recovered at the 10. Wait, there's more. On third down, Torres
was in the process of sacking Donavan Bowman in the end zone when Bowman tossed the ball
forward. The play appeared to be a clear case of intentional grounding in the zone, and that would
have resulted in a safety. The refs met and met some more and decided to call it a fumble.
Melendez had made the recovery at the 2. Ortiz surged forward to score on the first play.

August 7
Where's a Cloud When You Need It? . . .
  In the 1980 basketball season, Franklin's game at Dobbins was delayed not because the floor got
wet or a rim got bent or someone suffered a serious injury or the fans got too chipper . . . Nope,
this one was delayed because of sunshine! Then, as now, there are three very tall windows at the
west end of Dobbins' gym, along 22nd Street. The one in the middle is closest to the basket and
in late afternoon the sun can become a serious issue. This day, only one of the two old curtains
was still in place -- the other had tumbled to the floor -- so as the game reached halftime anyone
trying to shoot from the right side had no prayer and Ken Hamilton, Franklin's coach, was finally
able to convince the refs, Tommy McClain and Sid Doman, that he could not effectively coach
his team without getting blinded (smile). Halftime lasted an extra eight minutes; everyone hoped
the sun would move enough to make things a little easier. Things were a shade easier when play
resumed, but Hamilton kept shading his eyes and moving around like crazy.
  Ted's note: This game was played on Feb. 21. Just before Christmas, in a trivia quiz, I'd asked
our DN readers, "When was the last time a game at Dobbins came off without a hitch?" The
answer was, "Your guess is as good as mine." Then THIS happened. The paper included a pic
of McClain standing next to the window, looking up into the brightness. Sandy Beach, Dobbins'
athletic director, called to complain that I'd embarrassed her school. First, I don't pick the photos
that run with the stories (don't write the headlines, either), but I did tell her that the photo did
perfectly illustrate what had happened. So, what happened maybe 10 days later? She called to
apologize and thank me. Reason: the school district had finally sent out someone to fix the problem
by replacing the second curtain. She'd been asking and asking. Nothing. After the photo/pic caused
a stir, the wheels finally began turning. By the way, a similar problem exists in Lincoln's new gym.
Trying shots from corners on the north side can be very dicey for parts of games because of high
windows that allow in unfiltered sunshine.

August 6
Officially Wacky . . .
  In 2002, basketball ref Mark Vinitzky worked two games with 3:15 start times. Say what?! Let's
begin at Northeast, where the Vikings' game with King did not start until a shade after 4 because
not even one ref showed up until then. That guy was Kevin Williams, who explained that he worked
in Delaware and added, "Just when I was getting ready to leave, I got called into a special meeting.
I did call here to let them know I'd be late." The original second guy never did appear, but Williams
was joined for the second half by Vinitzky. He'd worked Central's game at Edison and, as he
explained, "It went kind of fast and  I figured this game would be good. I came past thinking maybe
I'd get here in time to watch the fourth quarter." Ah, the fourth quarter. Northeast entered it trailing
by 47-41, but won, 60-57, despite losing its co-headliners, Troy Roundtree and Chaz Crawford,
to foul trouble. Northeast coach Elsa Cohen said she declined to call off the game because, "The
problem is always, when do you reschedule it?" she said. "Greg (Moore, King's coach) was OK
with waiting. Yes, it was a long wait, but we knew at least one ref was coming. We're used to this.
This is our third game with one ref. I don't know what's going on." As for Ref No. 2 . . . "This was
fun," Vinitzky said. "Shame there's not a third game I can go to."
  Ted's note: Know who else was on this Vikings squad? Soph guard Kyle Lowry, the future
Villanova star and NBAer. (He transferred to Dougherty for his junior year.) During the long delay,
I overheard Lowry saying, "We should just go home. I don't even feel like playing now." But once
the game unfolded, he shot 6-for-11 (one trey) and 9-for-10 for 22 points. He also scurried for seven
rebounds and two steals. When asked about his go-home comment, he smiled and said, "I was just
saying that. I always want to play. I was just bored. All that waiting was getting to me. I didn't know if
we'd ever play. This was a great win. We lost our big scorer in Troy and our big shot-blocker in
Chaz and we still came out on top. This will give us even more confidence that we can come
through in the clutch. When Troy goes out, that's my time. It's automatic that I have to look to score
more. I even told Troy, 'Don't worry, I am going to step up!' King didn't want to cover me. They
kept giving me the baseline. You do that, I'm taking it. They gave me room for threes, too. And
when they did try to play me, they were too slow. I didn't mind going to the line. I'm good there, too."
As you can see by his comments, Kyle was feisty even then. In a semifinal that year, he exploded
for 29 points -- most by a soph in a Pub since some guy named Wilt Chamberlain had 35 in 1953
for Overbrook.

August 5
The Fresh Prince of Mid-Air . . .
  Hey, he was just following the lead of Will Smith. Though an Overbrook grad, and even someone
who had tried out (unsuccessfully) for the basketball team, Smith wore a West Philadelphia baseball
jersey in the video that accompanied his smash hit "Summertime" in 1991. That following winter,
just days before the annual brawl in what was then the city's best hoops rivalry, West-'Brook,
star guard Laurence "L" Pembrook pulled a vice-versa and transferred from the former to the latter.
After the school district was unable to prove that Pembrook (he actually lived closer to 'Brook, at
54th and Master) had transferred for athletic purposes, he was cleared to compete and collected 18
points, 6 rebounds and 4 apiece of assists and steals in 21 minutes off the bench, thus pacing 'Brook
to a 65-52 win. Where was the game played? AT West.  Pembrook's first appearance, which came
with 2:15 left in the first quarter, was greeted with a chorus of boos. But overall, West's faithful were
kind. No objects were thrown. No crude remarks were chanted. It was almost like Pembrook was a
visiting dignitary. For that, credit the athlete himself. Pembrook took the understated approach. Only
late in the game, when he howled and pumped his fists while running upcourt after a basket, did
Pembrook show true exuberance. It was as though he was holding a box of matches, which he knew
would be better off doused. "I did that on my own," he said. "I didn't want to make my old
teammates feel bad while I was beating them. "I expected to get booed. If I had my choice, I wouldn't
have wanted the 'Brook-West game to come up so quick. Lots of things were going around. It was
like, 'He just transferred there? Now he's playing against them? ' But it wasn't too rough. I wanted to
win, though. Bad."
  Ted's note: The top player on that 'Brook squad, future NBAer Malik Rose, had 17 points and 20
rebounds. Prior to 1984, Pub czar Tom Jacoby stated at the time of the Pembrook Brouhaha, athletes
who transferred after an official starting date for each sport were ineligible for the rest of that season.
That rule was changed for football player Dwayne White, who by '92 was with the New York Jets.
He'd gone from Central to Southern. "Football's official date was Sept. 1," Jacoby said then. "Practices
would start then, but school wouldn't open until after that. Dwayne White practiced with Central for
maybe a week and a half, but when school opened, his transfer came through to Southern. We looked
at the situation and decided he should be allowed to play at Southern." Before he was OK'd to play
for Overbrook, Pembrook was not a happy kid. "It's because I'm Laurence Pembrook. That's why
they want to check everything," he said for a DN story. "If I couldn't play a lick, they wouldn't worry
about me. Plenty of people transfer. Why the big deal about me? Why's my name in the papers? They
say I might be transferring for athletic reasons. What sense does that make? None at all. I'm averaging
26 points on a good team (at 5-2, West is ranked No. 4 in the city by the Daily News) with a national
profile. Everybody knows the Speedboys. College coaches come around. Why would I leave that if
all I cared about was basketball?" In his senior season, 1992-93, Pembrook, an incredible leaper, made
second team All-City. That was the year our first team included four future pros -- Rasheed Wallace,
Jason Lawson, Marc Jackson and Alvin Williams.

August 4
Pay, Pay, Please Come My Way . . .
   Roughly 75 days after the completion of the 2007 basketball season, referees read in the Daily
News that the Public squad preparing for the 33rd annual Daily News-Eagles City All-Star Football
Game was short on equipment because the school district had not paid past bills for offseason
reconditioning. So, they began peppering the DN with e-mails and voice messages to let us know,
to paraphrase, "What about us? Find out why we haven't been paid! This is a joke." We began to
check around. Numerous officials in all sports said late payments had been a problem for several
years and that the time lag had been steadily increasing. A school-district insider confirmed that.
"Last year," he said, "the spring-sports guys did not get their money until August. Now it's 2 1/2
months after [the PL basketball championship game; and 5 1/2 months since the season began],
and the checks have not gone out. And still might not for a while." Another insider claimed that
spring-sports officials would get their payments by the end of June, the same target date now in
effect for the winter-sports guys. Robert Coleman, the director of athletics for the school district,
did not respond to numerous messages left by the Daily News over the 4 days before the story
ran in the paper. Said one hoops ref: "It's bad enough that you don't get the money. But when you
try to get answers, all you get is a run-around. Keep us informed. Common courtesy." Added
another: "We feel hoodwinked, betrayed, led astray."
  Ted's note: Guess what? This kind of problem has not gone away. Here we are in early August
and the baseball umpires have not been paid for their work this past season!!! A couple guys sent
emails and/or called in the past week to 10 days and I decided to run this latest issue past Coleman,
who's still the czar of Pub sports (though of course his hands are tied by the money folks). Here's
his response, as offered by email: "all spring Umps will receive their full pay this month." Let's hope
that promise is met.

August 3
Let's Not and Say We Did . . .
  In the 2003 baseball season, it's possible yours truly set a national sports writing record by seeing
83 runs in TWO games over a four-day period. The wild stretch began on April 28 as Ryan beat
O'Hara, 20-16. We were juuuuuust getting warmed up, folks. Three days later, on May 1, the trail
took me to Washington, and the Eagles edged Northeast, 24-23. The first two innings gobbled up
the amazing total of 87 minutes and the game, which lasted 4 hours, 6 minutes, didn't end until 7:24!
The sun was just starting to disappear behind the school building when Adam Eisman (five RBI)
lined a single to left to score pinch-runner Justin Presley. As he was being mobbed, Eisman snatched
a semi-page from Ernie Banks' playbook and yelled, "Let's play another one!" Northeast blew leads
of 8-0 and 15-8. There were 40 hits, 8 doubles, 2 triples, no homers, 23 walks, 3 hit batsmen, 17 stolen
bases, 14 errors and 8 wild pitches. Twelve of the runs were unearned. Only three half-innings were
scoreless. In seven, at least nine players batted. Off a full outing three days earlier, Northeast's Andrew
Lihotz pitched twice in relief and went 4.1 innings. (Couldn't do that now due to PIAA restrictions.)
  Ted's note: More tidbits from this one . . . Daily News sports writer Mike Kern arrived at 4:45
from a round of golf in South Jersey thinking he'd see two innings. He saw five! His son, Steve, was
GW's shortstop. At 5:56, with only the fourth inning about to end, Northeast soph DH Dennis Heebner
departed for a doctor's appointment. Meanwhile, as chronicled in Randy Seidman's tidbits, Washington
manager Taryn Trachtenberg left to attend a dinner celebration at a nearby restaurant, then made it back
for the second half of the game. Players from two GW teams returned on the bus from road wins, were
picked up by their parents and got home while this game was just in the fifth inning. More of Randy's
tidbits: 6 lead changes, 7 pitching changes, 434 pitches thrown (Northeast "won" that battle, 240-194)
and a combined .657 on-base percentage.
  (Click here for the boxscore.)

August 2
No Wins? Who Cares? Come Join the Playoffs! . . .
  In the 2008 football season, Central became the first team in city sports history to barge into
playoff competition with no wins. As in none. As in zero. How did the Lancers "earn" this
honor? Well, the AAAA portion of the Pub had three divisions and Central was still in what was
considered, by design, the strongest. All five were assured playoff spots (along with two from
White and one from Blue) and, well, an 0-4 record made this possible. Not only was Central 0-4
in division play going into the playoff game, a 33-22 loss to Overbrook, it was 0-6 overall. Sadly,
the Lancers maintained their consistency and finished 0-11 for their first winless season since
1940 (0-8).
  Ted's note: Truthfully, this squad wasn't horrible. It lost by four apiece to Dobbins and Lincoln
and was shut out just three times. The Pub folks saw the error of their way immediately. For 2009,
the format was changed so only the top four squads in Red would advance to the playoffs. Good
thing, too, because Overbrook went 0-4 (though it did have one non-league win as the regular
season ended).

August 1
One Out to Go, But Everyone Must Now Go Home . . .
  In the 2010 baseball season, a game that became a 9-6 win for Prep Charter was halted with two
away in the home seventh after Swenson coach Shawn Williams was ejected. Reason: There was
no assistant coach on hand and the umps decided not to chance any possible liability issues by
letting things slide. Said Rob Hale, PC's coach: "I'm glad we got the win, but I wish it would have
played itself out. You don't like to see things end that way." Hale said the play that caused the
stoppage occurred with one out and runners on first and second against reliever Mike Sandefur,
who'd replaced starter Mike Borelli. "Their kid (Zach Finch) put a groundball in the hole and my
shortstop, Joe Lind, threw to third for a force (on Steve Brooks)," Hale said. "The base ump called
him out and Shawn got kinda loud when he protested. The ump was saying, 'That's enough!
That's enough! ' But Shawn must have said something else and the plate ump must have heard it
because he was the one who yelled, 'You're outta here!' I don't think it should have happened like
that. It wasn't the plate ump's place to get involved. The Swenson people wanted to get (a spectator)
to coach the rest of the game. The umps said it wasn't allowed."
  Ted's note: We were unable to reach Williams that night, but Pub baseball chairman Dave Connolly
confirmed Hale's version of the events (via Williams). This outcome was a far cry from something
that happened back in the day. Last spring in this website's wild/crazy section, we posted a story
about a Lincoln game from 1981. Coach John Constantine was ejected in the sixth inning and star
player Rus Slawter was permitted to guide the Railsplitters the rest of the way.

July 31
Triple Tranks for the Memories . . .
  In the 2003 football season, King's Sammy Tranks touched the ball just three times in a game
against Olney and scored every time -- a run for 54 yards and a pair of catches totaling 106
yards. Later that season, in a 33-0 win over Franklin, he AGAIN played the role of Miracle Man.
This time, he touched the ball four times and produced three TDs and the first three, yup, were
scores. Time No. 1: As a capper to the game's first series, Tranks caught a 5-yard TD pass from
Jeff Campbell. Time No. 2: This one started, and immediately ended, the Cougars' second
possession. On a play beginning at King's 28, Tranks ran a right-to-middle slant pattern and zoomed
72 yards for a score. Time No. 3: Again, this was a one-play "drive." Tranks took a handoff on a
reverse, eased to his left, made two impressive cuts a shade downfield and arrived in the end zone
with a 67-yard TD. "I think I liked the second touchdown the best," Sammy said. "That was a lot
of fun, especially since I didn't have a catch the last two games. I kept thinking No. 20 (Darrell
Fincher) might catch me because he's a really good player." On his fourth touch, Tranks settled for
a 7-yard run.
  Ted's note: Tranks was a junior when this happened and a decent chunk of the story focused on
his piano playing skills, and how he routinely performed at a church in West Philly. "I'm pretty
relaxed on the field, but things are a little nerve-wracking in church," he said. "They're kind of the
same thing, really, because in both you have to play well. The second time I had (an extended
performance in church), things went very smoothly. The first time, well, I did hit one bad note.
I had my back to the congregation, so I didn't know if they noticed." He laughed. "I hoped they
didn't . . . I don't think they did." Sammy wasn't finished with heroics. After his senior year, he was
chosen to play in the City All-Star Game and helped the Pub to a rousing 30-0 victory. Aside from
kicking a field goal, he scored on a 67-yard interception return and had a 42-yard catch in a scoring
drive.

July 30
Never Underestimate the Power of Gym Class . . .
  In the 2008 football season, Franklin's Steve Garrett, wearing No. 88, lined up at tailback for a
trick play and fired a fourth-down scoring pass to slotback Marquis White, normally the tailback.
It was the first pass of his varsity career and gave the Electrons a 12-6 OT win over Roxborough.
Why, you might ask, was Garrett given this opportunity? . . . Because, earlier that same day, he'd
been spotted firing a Nerf ball in a gym class! "One of my fellow teachers told me, 'That kid has a
really strong arm,' " said coach Ken Geiser. On the play preceding the TD, Garrett was going to
pass. Roxborough players broke through the line and Garrett was forced to keep, gaining 1 yard.
Thus, the element of surprise was still in effect. On his TD catch, White was double-covered and,
if he had not made the catch, interference would have been called. After the game, Geiser said
Garrett had never thrown a pass in practice. "I do throw the ball around, but never as part of a
play," Garrett said. "He's got a cannon," White noted. Almost too much of one. "I thought it was
overthrown," Garrett said. "I knew I had to put it out there because Marquis had two defenders
on him. Then, I thought maybe it was going to be an interception. He made that nice catch, though."
Added White: "That play doesn't happen without the lovely blocking by our line. Fourth down,
Roxborough was coming. That play was crazy. He just threw it up there. I caught it. Once it's in
the air, you know what you have to do: Fight for it."
  Ted's note: Gotta love this one. Garrett's teammates were going nuts over his big moment,
especially since they knew the back-story. Can you imagine this? You rarely get on the field on
offense, you whip a Nerf ball in gym class, then later that same day throw the winning TD pass
to secure an overtime win. Classic!

July 29
This Time, They Really Did Mean ALL-Pub . . .
  We go back to the 2008 football season for this one. This is the story, as it appeared:
  You know how the release of all-star football teams often causes disappointment?
  How there are always guys who just know they should have been honored, but were not for
whatever reason?
  Well, at Communications Tech, 9-0 for the season and already a two-round winner in state football
playoffs, all 15 kids who start for coach Rob DiMedio are absolutely ecstatic.
  Reason? Every last one earned first team All-Public honors in the division for Class A
(smallest-enrollment) schools.
  All together now . . . Only in the Pub.
  The selection meeting was Monday night. DiMedio said he was the only A coach (of five) who
showed up.
  "It was a pretty lonely process," DiMedio said. "When I was asking, 'OK, should this kid be on?'
I was the only one answering. I went with what I knew."
  Yes, DiMedio realizes it's ridiculous that all of one school's starters have earned first-team honors.
  "In every sense of the word," he said, glumly.
  Here's how it happened: The all-star squads for the other divisions were released Tuesday by Joe
Stanley, the Pub football chairman. Stanley put DiMedio in charge of polishing A's list, then e-mailed
it to the Daily News (a couple days later).
  The division's other members are Delaware Valley Charter, Prep Charter, Future and Freire Charter.
Those schools received, in order, six, two, two and no honorees.
  DiMedio said he tried to contact coaches and/or athletic directors at three of the other schools, via
phone and/or e-mail, and received no response. He figured Freire's coaches were no-shows because
of the rumor flying around lately that the school had dropped football. (That did happen, eventually.)
  He added the other 10 players based mostly on statistics he was able to find (from this website;
though a couple guys wound up at positions they didn't even play).
  Ted's note: Joe Stanley was beside himself over this one. Not mad at DiMedio. Just disappointed and
even hissed that the other guys didn't bother to show up, or at least send word (how hard is it to email?)
about the players they considered to be worthy of All-Pub honors. Years from now, people will see
that year's list and wonder how 15 guys from one school wound up on it. Assuming your memory
holds, you'll be able to tell them (smile).

July 28
Flags Don't Look Good on the Ground . . .
  In the 1993 football season, when he was a junior, Mastbaum's Antoine Brown lost three TDs
to penalty flags in one game. Since the Panthers crushed Edison, 58-0, it wasn't as if the TDs were
greatly missed, but still . . . Brown did score on an 89-yard kickoff return. He surrendered a 58-yard
punt return, a 29-yard run and ANOTHER 58-yard punt return. "Nah, I won't yell at anybody,"
Brown said, laughing. "I'll just tell them to get their heads together for the next game. If you yell
at people when they make bad mistakes, they still might be thinking about it next time around.
They might go out and do the same thing. Uh-uh. No yelling. I'll just talk." He added later, "On
the first one (that was nullified), everybody was running to congratulate me, all happy. When I
got to the sideline, around where our coaches were, I saw the flag. I put my head down. Our
coaches don't like that. They always say, 'Don't get down. No matter what happens, keep your
head up.' I put my head back up. After the second time, I was kind of feeling mad. After the third
time . . . I didn't know what to do. I was confused, mad, everything. Everybody was telling me,
'Don't worry about it. ' Guys were running over and saying, 'My fault. My fault. ' I didn't know
whether they meant they clipped or didn't block enough guys." Once he settled down, Brown
took a philosophical approach. "I was thinking, 'I guess God didn't want me to get in there more
often today.' "
  Ted's note: Go back to the very first line in the posting. See what it says? That Brown was a
junior. Well, when Mastbaum played Edison in '94, he lost out on two MORE long TDs due to
penalties. Brown was quite the character and that season I wrote how he spent $10.50 for seven
wristbands, each colored red, white and blue. He wore two on his wrists, two on his upper arms
and two at his ankles. He wore the other about an inch above his left elbow. "Don't want one on
the other elbow," said Brown, the QB in '94. "Don't want anything interfering with my throwing."
He was serious.

July 27
Next Time You Go to Canada, Stick to Hockey . . .
  A glance at the 2006 basketball standings for Division C are sure to provide all-time entertainment,
when coupled with an explanation. All of the teams except Delaware Valley Charter played 17
games. D-V's record was 7-5. What happened? Pubness!!! Due to multiple rules violations, the
Warriors were prohibited from playing five games. Their opponents were awarded forfeit wins,
but they were NOT charged with losses. I know. I know. You're scratching your head so hard,
it's about to bleed. The Warriors did forfeit another game for using an ineligible player and that
came on the heels of that season's REAL problem; they played SIX illegal games in Canada. In
just a four-day period, no less. And when asked about that illegal misadventure, coach Alan
Cissorsky misrepresented the results. The Warriors played one club team up there and others with
overaged players, ridiculously clear violations of PIAA rules. D-V was placed on probation until
March 23, 2007. Cissorsky was suspended for the next two scheduled games and D-V was banned
from participating in tournaments in the 2006-07 season. Coleman said at the time, "I would hope
his school disciplines him, too. I'm very disappointed with how he handled himself through all this
. . . All this happened under his leadership. The kids weren't at fault. So this way, at least they still
have a chance to make the playoffs."
  Ted's note: Didn't happen. Playoffs, that is. D-V cut ties with Cissorsky at the end of that season
and has gone through four more coaches since then. The regular forfeit resulted from the use of a
fifth-year player who'd moved in from Williamsport. The goofy, mid-December "tournament" in
Canada had a website and D-V was listed on there as having gone 1-5. Yet, before D-V played a
nonleague game at Roman Catholic on Dec. 23, Cissorsky told us his team's record was 10-1.
Say what? Wheels were set in motion from there.

July 26
Seven Buses, Not So Lucky . . . 
  In 2006, in only the Pub's second year of PIAA competition, Communications Tech (AAA) and
Prep Charter (AA) advanced to state basketball finals. School District honchos came up with a
rousing plan to provide free transportation to anyone, from anywhere, who wanted to go to
Hershey to watch the games. We wrote a pretty big story about it a few days ahead of time (even
BEFORE the state semis) and Marjorie Wuestner, then the executive director of District 12, said
with confidence, "The athletic directors are going to help us on this," Wuestner said. "It'll be easy
for kids at individual schools to sign up with their athletic directors. We'll ask adults to do that, too.
Just call the nearest school to where you live and ask for the athletic director." Robert Coleman,
the D-12 chairman, added, "Some of the buses would leave from the competing schools. But if
there's enough interest, we'll send a bus to an individual school or even have buses that go around
from school to school in regions." So, what happened? ONE bus made it to Hershey. Several ADs
told the Daily News that everyone viewed the plan as a joke, and that almost nobody, players or
parents, expressed one bit of interest. "The inside joke," an AD said, "was that when someone did
call, we'd say, 'Our bus is full. Call another school.' " . . . Wait. That wasn't all. Comm Tech did
manage to drum up interest and seven busloads of students, accompanied by chaperones, traveled
from deep Southwest Philly to Hershey. To put it mildly, things did not go smoothly. The first CT
students did not scramble into the building until 2 1/2 minutes remained in the first half. The Phoenix
was already phading by that time. The last bus? Oh, that arrived in the fourth quarter. Student fans
said two buses were ready to leave at the appointed time, 4:30, but that the drivers refused to depart
until all seven buses, for caravan purposes, were present. There were also traffic and getting-lost
miseries. CT's principal, Barbara McCreery, said some of the buses did not depart until as late as 6
o'clock. The game started at 8. Remember, we're talking Friday night at rush hour and at least a
2-hour journey with no traffic. "I wasn't thinking so much that the kids weren't here to cheer,"
McCreery said. "I was more concerned with their safety. When it's that long and they're still not
here . . . I'm very proud of our team." Said CT star Richard Francis: "We had to be disappointed a
little. We were finally going to get a lot of kids at one of these state games. We come out for warmups
and there's nobody. We always relied on our fans to get us going."
  Ted's note: This, quite simply, was a disgrace. For mysterious reasons, the District does not allow
its buses to leave the city, so a private company had to become involved. Here's hoping it's no longer
in business. CT lost that one to a school called Franklin from the western part of the state. PC won
the next day before roughly 75 supporters.

July 25
Can Somebody Throw Me a Block, Please? . . .
  In a 2008 football game, Edison quarterback Bryant Keal lost yardage on six consecutive plays,
over the course of three series, and the "damage" came to 84 yards! He lost fumbles on plays No.
1 and 3. The losses, in order: 18, 9, 29 (fired the ball backward while being thrown to turf), 10,
5 and 13. Southern's Sean Allen notched four of the sacks and forced both fumbles. In all, Keal
carried 12 times for minus-103 yards.
  Ted's note: Keal wound up being replaced as Edison's QB as the season continued, but showed
good resilience. He whipped three TD passes (totaling 201 yards) on trick-play laterals from his
successor, Terrell Lee. One of those came with 0:09 left in a game with Fels and lifted Edison to
a 26-22 win. The receiver was Vincent Boseman and it was only the second catch of his varsity
career. The first? Earlier in the same game. It also went for a TD (54 yards from Lee). Boseman's
brother, Dom, just completed an outstanding athletic experience at Edison (championship wrestler
and shot-putter; participant in City All-Star Football Game).

July 24
Central Couldn't Make Its Point . . .
  In 2003, Central won a football game over West Philadelphia by 42-0. Not bad, right? Well, the
nutty part of this game was an 0-for-7 performance on conversions. The Lancers rolled to 381
yards of total offense, yet failed on two kicks then a pass, pass, run, pass and run. "We have a
new kicker, Andrew Thompson, from the soccer team, and in time we think he's going to be
pretty good," coach Frank Conway Jr. said. "When we didn't get the first two, we figured we'd try
some different things. We were mixing it up. Inside, outside, run, throw. We just couldn't get into
the end zone. Maybe three of them came up just short. We're usually good on our two-pointers.
We've converted close to 40 percent over the years. You'd have to be very good on kicks to get
an output like that." When asked whether the Lancers would be spending extra practice on
conversions, Conway laughed and said, "Quite a bit."
  Ted's note: I went back and checked what happened the following week. Central scored six TDs
in a 41-0 win over Gratz and was successful on three conversions -- two "twos" and a PAT.
Thompson had the kick and finished the season with 17 points . . . On the flip side of this post,
we offer something from 2001. In a 66-8 crush job over Southern, Frankford went 8-for-8 on
conversions (and added a safety, of course). The 66 points represented a school record, breaking
65 vs. Bok in 1975. Kicker Shane Kelly was off playing soccer. Oh, check this out . . . Frankford's
final TD came on -- of all things -- a 20-yard punt return by Daniel Berrios. Cornelius Mosley then
ran for two.

July 23
After This Touchdown, Two Conversions Failed . . .
  In 2009, Bartram's Al-Hajj Shabazz missed no chances to contribute big plays in a 33-6 win
over Mastbaum. He had an arm or feet in four of the Braves' five TDs and then unwittingly had
a hand -- the right one, if you must know -- in one of the all-time conversion comedies. After
turning an ad-lib into a 14-yard TD dash with 9 minutes, 11 seconds left, Shabazz knelt down
to hold for kicker Derek "Aztec" King, also a star linebacker. The snap was a shade off-kilter.
Shabazz reached and fumbled for the ball as he tried to get it onto the block . . . Thump!! King
swung his leg forward and completely missed the ball while kicking Shabazz' right hand. Shabazz
then covered the ball and was swarmed under. Later, he said, "It didn't hurt me." King cracked,
"I can't kick it if it's not there."
  Ted's note: In the boxscore for this game, I wasn't even sure how to list the unsuccessful
conversion. If the ball is never kicked, can the result go into the books as "kick failed"? If I
remember, we listed it as "run failed". We should have listed it as BOTH (ha ha).

July 22
Games Were Played Before the Game Was Played . . .
  On the last day of the 2002 basketball regular season, Bok lost to Roxborough and missed out
on earning a Division D playoff spot. What happened beforehand? What didn't? The game originally
was scheduled for Jan. 31, but bus problems kept Roxborough from traveling. At an athletic
directors' meeting the first week of February, word came the game was canceled because it would
have no bearing on the playoffs. Feb. 10, a Sunday night, league officials realized it could have
bearing. Bok coach Lloyd Jenkins was called at home and told to have his team ready for a game
the next afternoon. "I didn't have the kids' phone numbers with me at home," Jenkins said. "So
Monday, there we are, scrambling like crazy. Kids are going home to get their uniforms. Their
moms are bringing in uniforms. We're ready. Then we get a call. 'No game. Roxborough's not
coming. They couldn't get it together. ' " Again, PL brass said the game would be canceled. Then
came Tuesday. Oops! The day's results again made the game mandatory. "You'll play it Friday,"
Jenkins was told. Thursday, three starters told Jenkins they were flying to Florida that night to
participate in a long-planned, already-paid-for AAU tournament. The sixth man had to miss school
Friday because he was leaving on a family trip. Jenkins promoted five members of the junior varsity.
The game was scheduled for 3:15. Roxborough again had bus problems and didn't arrive until 3:22.
Tipoff time was 3:36. Dripoff time was as long as the contest took. Yes, throughout the game, near
midcourt and just inside the south sideline, an adult and a student used their feet to push towels back
and forth. Water was drip-drip-dripping onto the court from a leaky pipe.
  Ted's note: Lloyd Jenkins, just a flat-out great MAN, passed away this past school year. I vividly
remember how frustrated this whole sequence made him, but especially how disappointed he was
that some of his players chose devotion to AAU ball over school ball. RIP, Lloyd.

July 21
Go to the (Real) Men in Blue . . .
  In 1959, Northeast beat Central, 3-1, in 10 innings, at Germantown's field in a preplayoff for
fourth place. (In that era, only four teams made the playoffs.) In the eighth inning, Central
rightfielder Carter Roskow stole second and was halted at third when an overthrow rolled onto
a runway leading to the locker rooms. Wally Bennett, Central's coach, felt Roskow should
have been allowed to score and filed a protest. The PL baseball chairman, Jerry Kean, was
unsure how to rule, so . . . he went to Connie Mack Stadium where the Phillies were playing
the Cubs!! In a conversation with Bill Jackowski, Philly native Shag Crawford, Vic Delmore
and Al Barlick, Kean broke down the play and the MLB umps agreed: the Pub umps had
gotten it right. The protest was disallowed.
  Ted's note: This happened way before the Internet and cell phones, obviously, so I was
wondering about the assorted ins and outs. Did the coaches and one or two players from each
team also head to Connie Mack Stadium, so they'd know right away where things stood? Did
they sit around their houses all night, waiting for phone calls? I started thinking, "Carter Roskow,
how common a name can that be? Maybe I can track him down." That happened and we had
a nice phone conversation two days ago. Guess what? He couldn't remember anything concerning
the protest. How he found out. When he found out. Nothing. "Hey, do you know how long ago
that was?" he said, laughing. He did recall very clearly, however, getting tagged out on an attempted
steal of home earlier in that game. He said a picture of that play wound up in the Germantown
Courier (a weekly paper that ceased to exist a few years ago) and he always regretted not saving
that week's edition. Roskow said Northeast's catcher was straddling the baseline. He plowed into
the kid so hard, he said, the kid wound up against the backstop. "But he held the ball," he said,
sadly. "He came at me, a little. The whole damn team did. They wanted to do harm to me. Nothing
(explosive) happened. It was a clean play." Roskow, who lived near Hunting Park, said he was
playing youth ball that summer when an opponent walked up to him and said, "Do you know who
I am? The Northeast catcher." The two had a nice conversation and became friends. Roskow
joined the Marine Corps out of Central, later enrolled at Temple and played baseball there. In
the MC and through his professional life (TV executive), he was known as Elliott Roskow. Carter
is his middle name. E. Carter Roskow would not flush in the MC. "I put down my name as E.
Carter," he said. The drill instructor yelled at him full volume, "We do not go by middle names
here!!" He's still Carter to family and friends. . . . Except for championship games, baseball
received almost no in-person coverage back then. So the report I found on this game wasn't too
fleshed out. I would have loved being involved in this one (smile). Oh, one last thing. The coaches'
All-Pub first team in '59 included Gratz third baseman Leroy Kelly, who went on to make the
Football Hall of Fame as a running back. His brother, Harold "Pat" Kelly, was a long-time major
league outfielder.

July 20
Take Two and Run to Center . . .
  Here's something that occurred during the 1988 baseball season, when Gratz was still playing its
home games near 10th and Lycoming, in the southeast portion of Hunting Park . . .
  Simon Gratz High's baseball team will play only away games for the remainder of this season, and
is looking for an alternate practice site, in the aftermath of a bizarre, scary incident that took place
Wednesday.
  According to Nate Smigel, Gratz's coach, the Bulldogs' Public League game with visiting Edward
Bok Tech was interrupted "for 20 minutes, in the third or fourth inning" when two Gratz fans were
threatened, and briefly chased, by a teenager brandishing a gun.
  The game was won by Bok, 13-11.
  Smigel said the incident began when the teenager walked past stands containing Gratz fans, on the
third-base side, and hollered several times, ''Gratz bleeps."
  "Our kids, the two fans, answered him back, saying, 'Yeah, so what are you going to do about it?' "
Smigel said. "The other kid said, 'You'll see. I'll be back in a few minutes.' "
  Smigel said Gratz was batting and that he was coaching third base when all of his players, then all
of Bok's players, suddenly began running toward centerfield.
  "Because my head was turned to the field, I didn't know what was going on at first," Smigel said.
"Then I turned and saw this guy running up with a gun - it had a silver handle - and it started to
register, 'Hey, it looks like we have a problem here. ' What did I do? I just froze. I didn't know what
to do.
  "There was no way the kid was going to catch our two fans. They'd seen him coming and were
way out in centerfield by then. He walked to about where third base is - but on the other side of the
fence, not on the field. He tucked the gun in his pants, and covered it with his shirt, as he walked.
Then, he just turned around and jogged toward the corner of the park (9th and Luzerne streets)."
   Smigel said Gratz was leading, 5-2, when the incident took place.
   "Actually," he noted, "I think Tommy (DeFelice, Bok's coach) would have booked if a bus had
been there to take them back home. But there wasn't and we continued the game.
  "Tommy kiddingly said, 'Why don't you tell your shortstop and pitcher (Clay Lawson, Solomon
Hamilton) to go testify. ' Some of my guys were uneasy, honestly. Tommy's guys didn't seem to
be as affected."
   Ted's note: For my money, the coolest part of this story was Nate Smigel's use of the word
booked (smile). Anyway, Gratz did abandon that area and has long played in Fairmount Park, out
by 33rd and Diamond. Sadly, one has to think that something has changed in the 23 years since
1988: now there WOULD be gunfire, not just threats.      

July 19
So Nice, He Did It Twice . . .
  In 1988, a rule change finally permitted defensive players to pick up fumbles and run with 'em.
The first city player to notch a touchdown in that fashion was Gratz' Chris Rhone and, you know
what's coming, he did it TWICE in the same game. As the Bulldogs won their opener, 20-8, over
University City, Rhone scored the game's first TD on a 39-yard return and the last on a 43-yarder.
In that era, Pub teams did not start game action until the next-to-last weekend of September.
Nevertheless, Rhone was the first player in city history to score on a fumble return. (Judge's
Dave Stauffenberg came close to a fumble-return TD one week earlier, but was tackled at the 2
after a 40-yard rumble.) When asked about his presence of mind, Rhone said, "Some referee guy
came to our field a couple weeks ago. He was explaining the new rules. He was saying how
fumbles could be picked up and advanced. I remember thinking, 'Now that's gonna help us.' We
always caused fumbles last year, but we could never run with them." On each of his returns, the
5-8, 195-pound Rhone, a linebacker, pushed aside teammate Walt Taylor. "The guys told me
afterward," he said, "that I pushed Walter out of the way both times. I thought it was just the first
time. They said I was giving him elbows. I was being kind of greedy, I guess. Didn't want to take
any chances. Wanted to be careful, keep things on the safe side."
  Ted's note: Pubness at its merry best. Brand new rule. Guy walks into history, twice. Chris
Rhone, a great presence for the Bulldogs both for skill and energy, wasn't finished leaving his mark.
Later that season, he tied the city record for longest TD reception on a 99-yarder from Robert
Alston. That mark had been set just three years earlier by King's Ron Bryant (from Marc Wilson)
after standing at 98 since 1963 (Roman's John "Ace" Spino from Gene Marcinek).

July 18
Take Your Ball and Go Home; Never Should've Left . . .
  In the 2008-09 basketball season, the starting date for games was Dec. 5. On Dec. 4, somehow,
a pair of brand new varsity programs, Randolph and Science Leadership, met each other in their
respective first games and . . . Double forfeit! SL coach Matt Kay said he cleared the date change
through Charles Sumter, the Pub basketball chairman. We couldn't reach Sumter that night (hmmm),
but Robert Coleman, overseer of Pub sports, said he spoke with Sumter and was told by him,
"We have some younger coaches who don't know the rules.'' Coleman added, "Everybody knows
the starting dates" and said he intended to convene another coaches' meeting to "to read these guys
the riot act. This is our fifth year (in the PIAA). Everybody should know the rules . . . Guess Plaxico
Burress isn't the only one shooting himself in the foot.''
   Ted's note: OK, it was the thigh, but still a good line! The whole week was incredible. A guy who
took results for the DN and Inquirer estimated "at least 20 games involving Pub teams were called in.
We wouldn't take the results. Some of the coaches were upset. We just told them, 'You're not
allowed to play games. You can only have scrimmages before (Dec. 5). Two of them.' " Also during
that week, I received an email from a Pub player. He wanted to know why the result of his school's
game had not been published. "I scored 40!!" he added. This was the first time brand new programs
suffered the embarrassment of starting off with forfeits. It wouldn't be the last. We'll deal with Part
Two in a future posting.

July 17
The Kick From the 100 Is Up, and It's Good!! . . .
  In 2008, vs. Olney, Northeast's Tim Freiling had to kick the ball three times to get one point onto
the scoreboard and the distance covered was 100 yards! After James Rosseau ran 1 yard for a TD,
Northeast was hit with a dead-ball personal foul. Freiling hit the PAT from 35 yards, but Olney
had been called for offside an instant beforehand. Freiling hit the next kick from 30 yards, but
Northeast was guilty of procedure. He hit the next kick from 35. Total distance of the kicks -- 100!
"That was crazy. First time I've ever had to do three kicks to get one point," Freiling said. "We
were getting a kick out of it. Back. Up. Back again."
  Ted's note: Freiling, also a star in baseball, was one of those mixed-dominance athletes. Though
he threw and batted righthanded, he kicked leftfooted. Tim finished his career with 98 points on
53 PAT and 15 field goals. In '08, the holder was Raheem Groce and the long-snapper was
lineman Kenny Kline, who was killed in March 2011 in a motorcycle accident. RIP, Kenny.

July 16
You Can't Score if You Don't Bat . . .
  In 1992, Fels made the baseball playoffs then wound up wishing it hadn't. The Panthers met
Washington in the round of 16 and lost by . . . brace yourself . . . 31-2. Washington slammed 22
hits, including six for extra bases, and benefited from 11 errors. They scored 11 in the first, five
in the second, none in the third, seven in the fourth and eight in the fifth, then declined to bat in
the sixth. Yes, declined to bat. (Mercy rules did not apply to playoffs at that point.) Joe Stanley,
the Pub's first-year baseball chairman, said Washington coach Joe O'Hara would not be
reprimanded for telling Fels to bat for six consecutive outs. "I'm sure Joe was trying to do them
a favor," Stanley said. "Enough is enough." O'Hara, indeed, was kind. He inserted all seven of his
substitutes in the third inning. As the fifth inning ended, pitcher Jordan Nicgorski purposely swung
and missed. But the pitch was wild, catcher Andy Albaladejo could not find the ball in the cage
and Nicgorski was safe at first although he had trotted in that direction in slow motion. Under
orders, Nicgorski then wandered off the bag and allowed himself to be tagged out. Before Fels
batted in the fifth, home plate umpire Jim Berghaier, after acknowledging he was unsure whether
the league's 10-run mercy rule applied to playoffs (again, at that time it did not), asked coach Wilt
Mitchell whether he would like to concede after three more outs. Mitchell declined. "I wanted to
give everyone on the bench an opportunity to play," Mitchell said. Alas, the substitutions created
confusion. Fels batted out of order in the sixth. Click here for boxscore.
  Ted's note: Even though this game was beyond messy, fun was still to be had. The DN story
began with some quips from Fels folks. Scorekeeper Jodi Blau asked, "Does this have to go in the
newspaper? Do you take bribes?" Mitchell Ritzen, the father of pitcher-first baseman Josh Ritzen,
at one juncture noted, "Only three touchdowns and a field goal. Do you think we can do that?"
Instead of waiting for an answer, he walked to his car and drove off (to umpire a softball game).
Just then, in an act of mercy, the number on the right side of the scoreboard in deep leftfield
changed from 24 to 0. "Hey, look at that," yelled an observant Fels fan. "They're not keeping
score anymore. They got tired of punching up runs." After the game, Josh Ritzen said, "We were
expecting, well, not to win, but to make it a closer game than this. Between our pitching and errors
and their hitting, it was just horrible. Terrifying. After that first inning, I was thinking, 'Things can't
get any worse. ' But they did. Our school was excited being in the playoffs. Some teachers and
students came to the game. But they'll all be ragging on us now. 'You lost by 31-2?!? ' I'll go to
school, though. Have to face it sometime. It'll be better to do it right away, then get it out of our
minds." Jim Berghaier, a family friend and great guy, is a very notable person in city history. In
1985, as a Philly policeman, he rescued Birdie Africa during the MOVE bombing/inferno on Osage
Avenue in West Philly. Oh, and Jodi Blau is now married to Josh Ritzen. Guess she forgave him
for helping to make her scorebook sheet so messy that day (smile).  

July 15
This Week on the Pub Trail Did Not Sit Well . . .
  One week in Feb. 2004, this was how things went for me: One game was postponed because a team
bus was never ordered. Three others began with only one referee on hand. In the Engineering and
Science at Mastbaum game, one ref went solo for the first 14 1/2 minutes. When the other guy,
an emergency replacement and George Carlin look-alike, arrived, he was wearing a faded striped
shirt. He proceeded to show horrendous officiating mechanics (wildly waving his arms after blowing
his whistle, for instance) while making a series of hard-to-believe calls that angered/humored players
and fans. Mastbaum coach Jim Taylor became so disgruntled, he called two meaningless timeouts in
the waning moments just to bust chops. He did apologize to the original ref for doing so. Oh yeah,
almost forgot. Mastbaum's gym had no stands. They were condemned and removed. The spectators
stood on one side behind a rope strung over orange traffic cones. Wait. About 12 people did get to sit.
Some on a metal bench. Some on folding chairs. And three - drum roll, please - on milk crates.
  Ted's note: The ref mentioned above was the all-time whack job. It was like someone went to nearby
K&A (Kensington & Allegheny), pulled aside a bunch of winos and asked, "Hey, anybody want to
make a quick buck by reffing a basketball game at Mastbaum?" I half expected someone to stop the
game at some point and say, "Ah, this is all a spoof. Just having some fun here. We'll replay the game
at a later date." That's how bad and comical the guy was. Oh, and his striped shirt appeared to be 40
years old, at least. The white stripes were severely off-color. By the way, Mastbaum's gym has since
been refurbished and now looks great.

July 14
You're Ineligible, Kid. Wait, No You're Not . . .
  Late in the 2001 baseball season, second baseman Brian Corbett was declared ineligible and
Lincoln was forced to forfeit seven victories, dropping its Division A record from 8-5 to 1-12 (en
route to 1-13). Then, 10 days later, as the playoffs began, there was the highly personable
Corbett, a true character and non-stop chatterbox (in baseballese), playing second as the
Railsplitters bested Roxborough, 11-1, en route to a spot in the championship game. We don't
make up this stuff, folks. At that time, Lincoln was partnered with Swenson for sports and
school district honchoette Linda McGee ruled that Corbett was not enrolled at Swenson as a
full-time student and, thus, should not have been playing sports. Oddly, he was taking one class
at Northeast each day and then working at nights as a "casual laborer" through a work-study
program sponsored by Swenson. Corbett's family hired a lawyer with designs on proving
erroneous paperwork at Swenson's end caused him to be declared ineligible. On May 17,
Corbett received word he had been reinstated. (The Roxborough game was May 18.) "It was
maybe 3:45," he said. "They faxed the word to my mom [Barbara] at her job and to the lawyer.
I was home, sitting around in flip-flops. I was so happy, I rushed over to the field. But practice
was over. I didn't cry when I got the word about being ineligible. I was just irritated and angry.
I felt bad for my mom. They [Railsplitters] got seven losses they didn't deserve because of a
situation involving me and next year's team will have to drop down to Division B [as the last-place
finisher in A]. That's not fair. The whole thing's not fair." McGee said the forfeits stood "because
he was not eligible during that time. He is eligible now. He has been re-enrolled." McGee would
not address the issue of whether paperwork indeed caused the problem. In the Roxborough game,
as every situation presented itself, Corbett yelled instruction to his mates. He also did his share of
trash-talking. "I like having fun out there," Corbett said. "Some of our guys are kind of quiet.
I figure if I draw attention to myself, they'll be able to do their job in peace. Anything anybody
wants to yell at me, I can handle it."
  Ted's note: I wonder whatever happened to Brian Corbett? He was a great kid to have on a team
and due to his large frame he hardly looked like a second baseman. The championship game that
year saw Central beat Lincoln, 1-0, as Noah White outdueled Ron Clarkson. Central rightfielder
Gabe Givnish played with a thin fake beard painted on his face. Repeat after me: Only in The Pub.

July 13
Getting His Dual-Pronged Kicks . . .
  In 1998, Pat Creighton helped Northeast earn a 1-1 soccer tie vs. Central, a team coached by his
father, Jack, then booted a 23-yard field goal to lift the football Vikings over Bok, 9-6, in OT. Both
games took place at Northeast. When soccer ended, Pat quickly shook hands and then hustled to
the football field as his father boarded Central's team bus for the ride back to Ogontz and Olney.
"I didn't have my full uniform with me. Only my jersey,'' said Pat, who'd gone 10-for-10 on extra
points in Northeast's first two games. "When I came down the steps, I saw two minutes left on the
clock. Coach (Harvey 'Brew') Schumer saw me standing on the sideline with maybe 24 seconds
left and told me, 'Go get dressed.' I went up to the locker room with a backup running back; I don't
even know his name. I put on his football pants. He put on my soccer shorts. My soccer jersey was
under my football jersey.'' Bok went first in OT. On the first play, Dante Poole (12 tackles) and
Aaron Brown delivered a hard hit on Eddie Turner and Brandon Morgan recovered a fumble. Soon,
Northeast faced fourth-and-goal at the 6. Creighton's kick was perfect. "I can't say I knew we
weren't going to score a touchdown,'' Creighton said. ``But there was that feeling, it probably will
come down to a field goal. My adrenaline was pumping . . . Did I have time to stretch? Not really.
But I was stretched from soccer. The thing was, I hadn't kicked a football all week. My leg was
bothering me.'' Said Jack: ``I knew he was going to play in the soccer game. He wouldn't have
missed a chance to rub it in on dad.''
  Ted's note: Jack Creighton is now Frankford's athletic director. His other son, John, coaches
multiple sports in the Pub (football assistant at Washington, basketball head coach at Rush; not
sure of his springtime activity, if any). Pat was not a one-game FB wonder. He earned first team
honors on our Daily News All-Public team. Just to show that not all wacky moments occur in the
Pub, check out this experience for Ryan's Chris Webster in 2006 . . . At 3:30, 2 1/2 hours before Ryan
was scheduled to play La Salle, while working at a Soccer Post store in the Far Northeast, Webster
received a telephone invitation from injured kicker Bill George to be his replacement. Webster, a
deep sub sweeper on the soccer team, received permission from his boss to leave early (with pay),
rushed over to Ryan (the team buses were late; the game didn't start until 6:40) and then hit two
PATs in the Raiders' 14-12 upset victory. Also, he averaged 49 yards on his four kickoffs and sent
one into the end zone.

July 12
Well, Isn't This a Tyreeble Development . . .
  In the 1986 wrestling season, a student approached Gratz coach Rich Kozlowski one day in a
hallway and asked if he could try out for the team.
  "Sure," Kozlowski said. "What's your name?"
  "Joe Tyree," the kid answered.
  "What grade are you in?"
  "Twelfth."
  "How are your marks?"
  "They're cool. No problem."
  Just to be sure, Kozlowski rummaged through the records in Gratz's main office. He indeed
confirmed that Joe Tyree was a legitimate senior (meaning he had advanced grade by grade
through high school, without repeating any) and that his marks for the first report period were
more than acceptable.
  After several weeks of practice, Gratz opened its season by losing a Public League match at
Olney. But Joe Tyree, competing at 105 pounds, "tore the Olney kid up," according to
Kozlowski. "He was awesome."
  The next morning, the coach provided a list of individual winners to a school secretary for
broadcast over the public-address system.
  Shortly thereafter, another student approached Kozlowski in a hallway.
  "Mr. Koz, do you know who I am?" the student asked.
  "I've seen you around here, but I don't know your name," Kozlowski said.
  "I'm Joe Tyree. I'm not on your wrestling team."
  School officials tracked down the young man who had represented himself as Joe Tyree. At age
20, he was not so young. And his name was Chris Williams, not Joe Tyree. Because she was so
irate, principal Daisy Reaves immediately had Williams transferred to another school.
  Incredibly, the story is more involved than that.
  Gratz officials also discovered that Williams had wrestled five times as Joe Tyree in February
1985 when another coach, who did not teach at the school, was in charge of the program.
  "We had no clue at all" in either year, said athletic director Charlie Lotson. "We were all shocked
that something like that could happen.
  "Once in a while, when you grab a kid for a problem, he'll give you a fake name. But once you
get to the discipline office, the truth comes out. I'd never heard of a kid using a fake name in
connection with athletics."
  "I don't know about the previous year, but last year I seriously doubt that any of my wrestlers
thought that Williams was anyone but Tyree," Kozlowski said. "They all called him Joe. His
girlfriend, I guess, was the only person who knew something. She was even in on it. I can
remember her coming to practices and calling out, 'Come on, Joe.' "
  Ted's note: This was the beginning of a story in the 1986-87 school year about a rash of forfeits.
Here are two other snippets from that same story . . .
  Franklin football coach Vince Trombetta likes to tell a story involving Jerry Kleger, the school's
soccer coach.
  "A guy from one of the African countries comes up to Jerry and says, 'I want to play soccer,' "
Trombetta said. "Jerry asks the guy his age. 'Twenty,' he says. Jerry says, 'You can't play if you're
20. ' The guy says, 'Why not? My cousin played a couple years ago for such-and-such school. And
he was 20.'
  "I swear. It's a true story."
  Trombetta would have no trouble convincing Dave Krick, Southern's soccer coach, of that little
yarn's authenticity. In fact, Krick has a story of his own.
  In September, the Rams were getting organized when an Asian student appeared at a practice and
expressed a desire to play.
  "How old are you? " Krick asked.
  "I 20," the fellow said.
  "You can't play if you're 20."
  "I 19."
  "You can't play if you're 19, either."
  "Ah . . . I 18."
  "What year were you born?"
  "Ah . . . I no understand."
  "That's the problem," Krick said, unable to keep a straight face any longer. "You understand all
too well."

July 11
"Get the Ball Into Yourself" . . .
  In 1985, when report cards first were issued, Kensington's basketball team lost seven players to
bad grades, including four would-be starters. When they again came out in early February, coach
Sonny Edelman lost five players, including three starters, but regained the services of a previously
ineligible guard, Bruce Taylor. Anyway . . . when the Tigers hosted Frankford on Feb. 5, only
FIVE players were in uniform. Four fouled out and, per the rules, the game was halted with 0:16
remaining, leaving Frankford a 57-47 winner. Asked about that crazy development, Edelman said
with a laugh, "Geez. And we had a play set up for that, too. We called it, 'Get the ball into
yourself.' " The other Tigers that day were Rupert Jones (16 points), brothers Purcell and Darren
Trammel and Darryl Patterson. Kensington had no official JV squad; the Trammels had been
promoted from a loosely organized group that played about a 10-game schedule. Two days later,
Kensington visited Northeast. There was no repeat fiasco. Kensington had eight players in uniform
-- seven played, two fouled out -- during an 83-71 loss. One of the missing guys vs. Frankford was
soph Emanual "Vel" Davis, who'd go on to play in the NBA. He returned vs. Northeast after
getting a reprieve from the principal. I covered the Northeast game and here's what Jones said
about his (self-inflicted) academic woes: "I used to cut class so much, it was ridiculous. I used to
cut all the time. I talk to guys here, try to tell them what's up. But they act like they're grown, like
nobody can tell them nothing. Hey, I can talk from experience." And here are Harvey's thoughts:
"Before, I only went to class when I felt like it. That was maybe three days a week. I was hanging
around with the wrong people. But I wanted to get back to playing ball, so I started going to class,
and I started doing my homework and I turned in some back reports that I owed. There comes a
time when you think, 'I better turn my life around.' "
  Ted's note: Back then, ineligible players were required to sit out entire marking periods; Davis
was allowed to return because Kensington's rule (two failures) was tougher than the School
District's (three failures). Just a short time beforehand, the SD had just ONE rule regarding
athletic eligibility: You had to be in school on the day of the game. Incredible, right?! You could
stay home or roam the streets all other days and never do a hint of homework, but if the coach
wanted to use you, hey, no sweat. Luckily, most coaches had principles. Under PIAA rules, kids
can regain eligibility after a very short period of time. Verrrrrry interesting. Folks around the state
always looked down on the Pub. Turned out, Pub rules regarding academic eligibility (once they
were instituted for the 1982-82 school year) were much tougher than the PIAA's.   

July 10
Winners on Field, Losers on Paper . . .
  In 1986, like almost always, Edison's football team was in one of its patented futility streaks
when the schedule called for a Mid-City Division opener at Gratz. The Inventors (the nickname
later changed to Owls) had been blanked in nine consecutive games and had lost 27 of 29 on
the field dating back to the start of the 1983 season. Thanks in large part to two-way end Tony
Garcia, who made two big catches for 39 yards and a fourth-quarter tackle for a safety that
snapped an 8-8 tie, Edison won, 10-8. "This is great," Garcia said. "Now we can go to school
tomorrow and be happy." And coach Larry Oliver can stumble on some disturbing info . . .
Garcia was in his fifth year of high school and, thus, ineligible. "It was something we discovered
on our own," Oliver said. "The next day in school, I was checking the eligibility of some other
players who wanted to join our team and I noticed on Garcia's card that he should have graduated
last year. I called Gratz 's athletic director (Charlie Lotson) and told him the situation. We need
wins, but we don't want them tainted." Garcia, a senior, was a sophomore at Olney in the
1983-84 school year, Oliver said, and came to Edison as a repeat sophomore in September 1984.
"I asked him twice if he was in his right grade, and he said, 'Yes, I'm all right,' " Oliver said.
"When you ask a kid something, you figure you're going to get an honest answer. I'm deeply hurt
by this, as are the kids. Since we first had sign-ups, I must have gone through 70 players. Our
area is so transient, guys come and go all the time. They stay on the team a week; they stay a day.
You're constantly checking on records and grades. When he told me he was in his correct grade,
I went to check his grade-point average and it was acceptable. I figured, 'Great, I've finally got a
big end with some talent.' "
  Ted's note: We could have an Edison Football Week for this project, and then some, so there'll
be more tidbits about the Inventors/Owls along the way. Scoring the TD in this game was QB Joey
Jefferson, who wound up earning first team All-City honors in basketball. His uncle, Harry Jefferson,
was Edison's QB in the '82 season, when the Inventors snapped a national record scoreless streak of
27 games. Yes, nothing but zeroes for 27 consecutive games. (Just whetting your appetite for a future
posting, folks -- smile).

July 9
They Couldn't Give the Job Away . . .
  In 2003, Germantown's baseball team began the season with six phantom losses. Say what?
The Bears never made it onto the field. The school, literally, could get NO ONE to coach the
squad after Ted Horne had to step aside for health reasons right before tryouts were to begin.
By the time Thomas Monson was appointed to take over, the season was one month old and
forfeits went into the books for games vs. Dobbins, Southern, Strawberry Mansion, Prep
Charter, Penn and West Phila. The Bears' season finally began on April 22 and the squad did
very well, actually, battling back to attain a 7-7 record. I covered a 10-1 win over Gratz on
May 5 and there was some loose talk that the squad would be allowed to replay all those games
that had resulted in forfeits. Didn't happen. Probably would have been messy anyway because
almost every day would have featured a game and no way a team has that much pitching.
  Ted's note: Yet another legendary Pub development. Coaching jobs pay decent money and the
time commitment in something like lower-level baseball is minimal. Teams almost never play
on Saturdays and most don't even bother with non-league games. Nonetheless, these kids had to
sit around for what must have seemed like forever until the situation finally got resolved. This
Bears' squad was led by junior righthander Haneef Hill, who went on to have a great career at
Virginia State and whose name still makes appearances on the Daily News' scoreboard pages
due to his exploits in the Fairmount Park League . . . Meanwhile, in 2004, Germantown
somehow wound up short of uniforms. Click here for the Pub team pics from that season (the
fifth one down the page) to see what some G-town guys did for shirts and numbers. A classic!!
Also, that pic includes two of the Johnsons mentioned below in the June 23 posting. 

July 8
It's Never Too Late to Start the Season, And Enjoy a Championship . . .
  In 1989, after missing the entire season due to academic ineligibility, defender Walt Ziolo joined
Frankford's squad for the title game and . . . you got it, he scored the winning goal as the Pioneers
bested Lincoln, 2-1, in overtime. Ziolo could have played in the semis vs. Central (report cards were
issued that day), but instead was having his tonsils and adenoids removed at Northeast Hospital. In
the title game, Ziolo mixed baggy, blue-and-white gym shorts with Frankford's standard tricolored
jersey. Coach Bill Snyder said Ziolo was one of several players who battled back from ineligibility.
The others were not permitted to rejoin the team. "Walt's been on the team three years," Snyder
said. "He was a starter last year. He's not new to the team, not new to the system. He's dedicated
to the sport. He made a mistake and made up for it, so he should be able to come back. He was an
integral member of our team even when he was ineligible. He'd come out to watch the games."
  Ted's note: A search in our Daily News database showed this was the first time I used "Only in
the Pub" in a story. After a few setup paragraphs, where Ziolo of course was mentioned, I asked
the question, Guess who scored the winning goal? Then came this: If the response was not Walt
Ziolo, consider yourself ineligible to follow the Public League - any sport - for the rest of this
marking period. And this was the end of the story: "It was horrible being ineligible," Ziolo said. "I'd
usually been all right (academically). As a sophomore, I just slipped up." Yesterday, he slipped on
half a uniform and slipped the game-winner into the net. Only in The "Pub."

July 7
Is That a Pigskin or a Greased Pig? . . .
  In 2007, at Northeast, in a game pitting Mastbaum vs. Gratz, there were turnovers on FIVE
consecutive plays! All were lost fumbles. And the weather was perfect. Beautiful, even, so it wasn't
as if slippery conditions played a role. Here we go . . . On the game’s third play, Mastbaum's
Rasheen Tookes dropped a pitchout and Gratz' Muhammad Dudley recovered. Next play: Gratz'
Hal Chambliss dropped the ball and Mastbaum's Jamil Thomas recovered. Next play: Mastbaum's
Hason Franklin you-know-whated and Gratz' Elijah Akbar made a scoop and return for 15 yards
to the 10. Next play: No fumble. Woo-hoo!! But, a 10-yard scoring run by Dudley, on a reverse,
was wiped out by a holding penalty (Because the penalty was behind the line of scrimmage, that
play did not count as a "play.") Next play: Mastbaum's Donald Vodopija sacked Dominic Marrow
for an 11-yard loss and Mastbaum's John Turner recovered. Next play: Tookes coughed up the
rock and Dudley recovered again. It was craaaaaaazy! But the lunacy was hardly over. Five plays
later, Vodopija again caused a fumble and teammate Andrew King recovered. So, that’s six lost
fumbles in 10 official plays. You want more? Four plays later, against the wind, with the line of
scrimmage the 14, Mastbaum's Robert Fitzhugh sent a punt pretty much straight up. The ball
bounced backward and settled on the 1 for a minus-13-yarder. Chambliss ran 1 yard for a TD.
Oops. There was motion and the ball was placed at the 6. Chambliss carried four more times in a
row and finally scored from the 1 on fourth down.
  Ted's note: That's Pubness squared, then squared again. Unbelievable. Don't the five consecutive
lost fumbles have to constitute a world record? Just the fumbling was crazy enough. But doesn't it
stand to reason that the guilty team would recover at least one of them? Flip a coin five times. Will
it ever be heads OR tails five consecutive times? Smile.

July 6
We're So Excited to Resume Our Football Program! Oops, Check That . . .
  This one's a first cousin of yesterday's item. In the fall of 2004, the Pub began its PIAA football
experience and, at the same time, William Penn fielded a team for the first time since the end of
the 1984 season. So, what happened on Sept. 3, when the Lions were supposed to make their
triumphant return with a game at King? They backed out, citing too many injuries. And did so
that morning, just a few hours before gametime. Ex-Roxborough coach Cliff Hubbard, then the
Pub's director of athletics, said he read coach Manor Prewitt "the riot act." Football chairman Joe
Stanley, whose son, Mike, at that time was King's coach (he's now Roxborough's), was similarly
livid. "This sets a bad precedent, and it's not fair to the King people," Stanley said. "Their kids
work hard all this time, practicing, scouting and preparing for the excitement of their first game,
getting all pumped up, and the other team calls up and says, 'We're not coming.' It stinks."
  Ted's note: This time, Penn's program lasted through the '09 season. The school closed in June
2010 and we'll see if it reopens at some point. This has been a bad century for debuts. We'll have
at least two more along the way (from basketball). For that story, by the way, I changed Only in
the Pub to Only in the Twelve because District 12 was just being born.

July 5
A Tisket, a Tasket, The Ball Went in the Wrong Basket . . .
  The Pub began competing in the PIAA in the 2004-05 school year and the first team to play a
state tournament basketball game was Class AAA Bok -- vs. Phoenixville, at Germantown. The
Wildcats' first basket was "scored" by forward David Lorn, but not really. With Phoenixville ahead
by 3-0 and while fighting for a defensive rebound, the pony-tailed Lorn, one of the few Asians in
Pub hoops history, inadvertently knocked the ball into the wrong basket!! You could not have
made that up. Not in one million years. The Pub's first-ever PIAA state playoff points were
scored in the wrong basket! Gotta love that, right?! (Of course, Lorn did not get credit for the
points and in fact went scoreless for the game. Paul Lewis was the closest Phantom so the two
points went to him.)
  Ted's note: This is a personal favorite. Pubness at its wacky best. I wonder if David tells people
that story in watering holes, at family gatherings, during lunch breaks at work, etc. A side issue
that night was the makeup of the crowd. Phoenixville is not exactly around the corner from
Germantown, but its fans outnumbered Bok's by at least 4 to 1 and maybe more like 5 or 6 to 1.
There were no more than 40 people rooting for Bok. Why no bus? Why no attempt to make it a
night to remember? If the players sense their school doesn't care, doesn't that make enthusiasm
harder to generate? . . . Oh, in case you're wondering, Bok's first real points were scored with
6:22 left in the first quarter as star guard Marquise Salley hit a 17-foot, left-wing jumper.

July 4
Just When the Scoreboard Thought It Had a Day Off . . .
  In 2009, Dobbins and Roxborough played a football game that dragged through regulation with
neither team scoring a point. Even the final play was unsuccessful at stopping the futility as Dobbins'
Kevin Gransby missed a 36-yard field goal. Then . . . let the fireworks begin! The teams combined
for 46 points, scoring six, six and eight apiece through the first three OTs. Roxborough went first
in the fourth and Martin Culbreth posted an interception. On third down for Dobbins, Terrance
Stafford ran 3 yards to end it at 26-20.
  Ted's note: Had to post something fireworksy on July 4, right? Oh, Roxborough wasn't finished
with the boredom-excitement gig. The next week the Indians AGAIN plodded through a scoreless
regulation, this time vs. Penn. And then lost again, 14-8, in two OTs.

June 27-July 3
  No posts.

Posted June 26
Take Your Balls and Go Into Pub Infamy . . .  
  In 1991, this complicated, two-part baseball scenario occurred. Rather than pull out bits and pieces
and risk confusing you, we'll post the stories (smile).
PUBLIC LEAGUE GAME IS HALTED IN BALL DISPUTE
BY TED SILARY
 A flap over the quality of balls, compounded by a plate umpire's mistake, resulted yesterday in a "no decision" in a Public League baseball game between Engineering and Science and host University City.
 Al Chancler , the league's baseball chairman, said the game will be replayed in its entirety, probably tomorrow.
 U. City held a 10-6 lead in the sixth inning when E&S coach Charlie Brown informed plate umpire Joe Beard that he was taking his team off the field.
 Said Chancler : "The umpire said, 'OK, that's the game. ' Charlie had already protested in the fourth inning. He should have been made to continue. "
 The problem arose when UC coach Alex Saddic took only three new balls to the game. They were lost, or no longer usable, by the fourth inning and Saddic began giving the umps practice balls.
 "I don't know where they got those things," Brown said. "I caught one (in the third-base coach's box). It was cheap. You could tell just by the touch. "
 At that point, the coaches met with the umpires, Saddic explained the situation, and it was agreed that the game would continue.
 "But my pitcher couldn't throw those balls," Brown said. "When I switched to another guy, he couldn't throw them, either. That's when I lodged the protest (with his team still ahead, 5-4, in the fourth inning). "
 Said Saddic : "I think it was sour grapes. We don't have an endless supply of new balls. This isn't the suburbs. How come Charlie left when we were up, 10-6, and rallying? When he was ahead, everything was fine. It wasn't like we were using pingpong balls. They were baseballs. "
 Engineering and Science (9-2) is fighting for a National Division playoff spot. UC is out of contention.
---
PUBLIC LEAGUE NIXES E&S' INFERIOR-BALL PROTEST
May 16, 1991
BY TED SILARY
 A failure to follow proper procedure likely will cost Engineering and Science a Public League baseball playoff spot.
 In a game last Monday at University City, E & S coach Charlie Brown, two innings after filing a formal protest over the use of inferior game balls, left the field with his team - with the permission of home plate umpire Joe Beard, he says - in the sixth inning of a game his team was losing, 10-6.
 That night, Al Chancler , chairman of PL baseball, said the game would be replayed in its entirety.
 Then came yesterday . . .
 Tom Jacoby, the chief overseer of PL sports, overruled Chancler and awarded U. City the win.
 Thus, E & S finishes the regular season at 9-3. Lamberton and Gratz have already clinched two of three National Division playoff spots. Because of tiebreakers, Furness (8-3), a first-year entrant, can claim the third today by beating lowly West Philadelphia (2-9).
 Jacoby said he made his decision for two reasons.
 "No. 1," he said, "baseball rules regarding protests were not followed by coach Brown. First you protest, then you finish the game. He left the field.
 "No. 2, our league rules on protests call for the chairperson to get written reports from both coaches and the umpires, then confer with me. None of that was done by Al (before a decision was announced). "
 Brown expressed severe disappointment with the verdict, largely because he feels that Jacoby has not been given the complete story.
 "I did not pull my team off the field," Brown asserted. "We did not leave (without permission). With my kids still in the field, I asked the umpire, 'Do we have to continue playing with these baseballs? ' He said, 'That's the ballgame. ' That was it. He ended the game. I would not have just walked away. "
 On the subject of how damaging the loss could be to E & S, Jacoby said, ''Let me say this. If I'm a coach in the running for a playoff spot, and I've already filed my protest, I'm going to make darn sure I finish that game. I'm not going to give up and walk away. "
 According to Brown, his players were preparing to leave for yesterday's would-be makeup game when the word came from Jacoby.
 "They were in shock," Brown said. "They don't know everything that's going on. I'll meet with them (today)."
  Ted's note: E&S indeed lost out on that last National Division playoff spot to Furness, which then fell in the first round to Lincoln . . . By 21-0!  

Posted June 25
Fourth and Goal and 70 Yards to Go! . . .
  Yes, you read that correctly. In 2002, Overbrook faced fourth and goal on its own 30! Incredible.
The opponent was Edison. The sequence began on the 9. A procedure call moved the ball to the
14. Quarterback Neil Fisher then kept retreating and bobbing and weaving and retreating some
more and finally dumped the ball, drawing an intentional-grounding penalty. The ball was placed
on the 'Brook 45, meaning that play cost the Panthers 41 yards! Fisher threw an incompletion,
then was dropped by Brad Parker for a 15-yard loss. On fourth down, coach Ken Sturm declined
to show all-time brass. Keenan Brooks punted.
  Ted's note: I covered this game, played at Roxborough, and happened to be standing on
Overbrook's side when this crazy scenario unfolded. I almost begged Sturm to go for it (smile),
but he was having none of it. I've always wondered if this is some kind of national record, not that
anyone would possibly keep track of something like this.

Posted June 24
One and Done and Not Much Fun . . .
  In 2009, that was the first line in my story reporting that Esperanza had dropped out of Pub
football after one disastrous season. Far after that season, actually. The season was '08 and the
Toros made this decision just as '09 was about to begin. Reason? Low numbers and inexperience.
In '08, after not even having a JV team beforehand, Esperanza was allowed to jump right into
varsity play. It went 0-11 and broke the city record for points allowed in a season (455). In their
final game in '08, the Toros lost to Freire, 24-6. The Dragons were so happy, THEY dropped
the sport.
  Ted's note: I still can't get over this one. How can a school -- especially one where the basketball
and baseball teams are dominated by short and/or skinny kids -- be permitted to jump right into
varsity football with no JV season(s)? Brutal. They were lucky no one got seriously injured.

Posted June 23
If Johnson & Johnson ever needs guys for its ads . . .
  In 2003, in a late-season game vs. University City, Germantown used six players named Johnson
(all unrelated). Akeem ran for 46 yards and two TDs. Jarell started at guard. Christen caught a
50-yard scoring pass. Gabriel had an interception. Justin had a fumble recovery. Phillip played
special teams.
  Ted's note: Shortly after the game ended, I asked coach Mike Hawkins if we could gather
the five Johnsons for a quick photo. After that, we learned of the sixth Johnson, Phillip, who'd
been down at one end taking the padding off a goal post. He'd recently been promoted from the
JV; "Hawk" had momentarily forgotten about him. In this same game, UC quarterback Kayon
Walton (illness) was unable to play, but got off a classic line when he saw teammate William
Gray pick up a ballcarrier and slam him to the turf. "Let me introduce you to my friend called
Ground!!" Also, the head linesman had a tattoo of a naked girl on his left arm. The breast
area was covered with a Band-Aid.

Posted June 22
Three teams in one championship football game . . .
  In 1967, in an era before scheduled playoffs, three teams finished the season tied for first. League
honchos decided to play two half-games -- same day, same site (Northeast) -- to decide the
champion. First, Central beat Bartram, 13-6. Central scored the first two TDs on short runs by Rich
Weaver and Jack Gorman, then Marv Frazier returned a kickoff 95 yards for Bartram. After a short
break, during which Central coach Ed Veith had no time to discuss preparations for Edison, Edison
stormed downfield in 11 plays and Pedro Barez scored from the 1. But in the second "quarter,"
(half, actually), Paul Lobosco's fumble recovery gave Central the ball at Edison's 5, Johnnie
Williams immediately ran for a TD and Gorman passed for two to Handsome Wearing.
  Ted's note: Pedro Barez was also a top-flight basketball/baseball player and probably still ranks as
the city's No. 1 Hispanic athlete. Handsome Wearing also starred in hoops and makes anybody's
Coolest Names Ever squad, right?

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