Before They Drew X's and O's, Football 2013

Before They Drew X's and O's . . .

As you can imagine, many of the head coaches and assistants currently associated with city
leagues' football teams are former players. Since I'm ancient (smile), I wrote stories about
many of them during their high school careers.
We hope you enjoy this feature.
Would you like to see a story about someone who played in the Public, Catholic or Inter-Ac
leagues and is now a coach (assuming I did one on him)? Send me a note at silaryt@phillynews.com.
Thanks,
Ted

This story was written in Nov. '02, a few days before Roman fell to
SJ Prep for the Catholic Red title. It concerns Roman C Tom Sugden,
who now coaches the offensive line -- with Prep grad John Connors
-- and coordinates the running game for . . . the Prep! (smile) Tom
played his college ball at East Stroudsburg and was a major supporter
of Roman hoops (and this goofy site) during his high school days. We
ran a basketball tourney for each school's most passionate fans back
then and Tom played for Roman. Look at his hard-guy pic here (ha ha).

Romanticizing Roman
Mayfair-bred Sugden delighted he chose Cahillites

By TED SILARY

When your home is two blocks from Father Judge High, there are easier
lots in life than being a student at Roman Catholic.

"There were times I was afraid to come out my door,'' Tom Sugden said,
laughing.

One time was 2 years ago, when the football Cahillites lost to Judge.
Another time was last year, when the outcome was the same.

"All my Judge buddies were razzing me hard,'' Sugden said. "They were
saying, 'You like Roman now? You sure you wouldn't rather be at Judge? '
I'm good friends with [current Crusaders] Mike Eaton, John Rinehart and
Pat Lynch and [ex-Crusader] Tom Lynch. We played for the Holmesburg Boys
Club together. Went to St. Bernard's together.

"Now's my time. I'm giving it to them. It's fun. ''

Judge this season failed to claim a playoff berth. But at 7 o'clock on
Sunday night at Northeast High, Sugden and Roman (10-2) will meet St.
Joseph's Prep (11-0) for the Catholic Red title.

The Blue championship - Archbishop Carroll (7-4) vs. West Catholic
(8-3) - will be decided at 7:30 tomorrow night at Norristown's Roosevelt
Field. The Public League semifinal doubleheader will be tomorrow at
Northeast: Central (6-3) vs. Frankford (8-1) at 10:30, Simon Gratz (6-3)
vs. George Washington (8-1) at 1:30.

The 6-4, 300-pound Sugden starts at center. Unless you have time, one
thing you don't want to do is get him started about Roman.

"I'm so glad I went there,'' he gushed. "Most kids in Mayfair go to
Judge without putting any thought into it. I wanted to look around, and
see what else was possible.

"When I went to an open house, I loved it. I liked that it was smaller
than Judge. I liked the teachers. I even liked the part about it being
downtown. That added something. The freshman coach, Brian Conroy, who's
now our defensive coordinator, was a young guy and I identified with
him.

"When I went down there, for the first 2 months I was joined at the
hip with [tight end] Derek Dopkin, since we were coming from the same
place. But we gradually became friends with kids from all over. ''

This time 3 years ago, thanks in large part to running back Joe
McCourt, who lived in the shadows of North Catholic, Roman won the
championship for the first time since 1947.

Sugden and Dopkin sat together at that game, also played at Northeast,
and of course were thrilled.

"I have vivid memories,'' Sugden said. "I can still see Joe McCourt
jumping over the pile to score the clinching touchdown. We were going
nuts in the stands, then we went down to the gate and rushed the field.

"I remember hugging coach Murphy . I remember seeing two players, Dan
Jankiewicz and Gordie Bayard, hugging each other and crying. I remember
thinking, 'Crying? What's up with that? ' I didn't understand. Now I do.
You put so much into it. ''

For Sugden, the last 2 years were hard to swallow.

"When you see other people go through those great times, you want them
for yourself,'' he said. "Last year, especially, was very hard. I have
to give credit to [then-seniors] Ryan Brody and Ryan Dopkin . They kept
the team together and pushed the underclassmen. We finished with wins
over North and Roxborough, which set a nice tone going into the
offseason. We didn't lose again until Prep. ''

Ouch. Did he have to mention that?

On Oct. 12, the Hawks did a hatchet job - to the tune of 41-7 - on
Roman. The Cahillites regrouped, though, and have advanced to the final
thanks to strong defense and just enough offense.

The line also features guards Frank Suplick and Jeff Grimmie, tackles
Lenny DeMalto and Chris Guinter and tight ends Kevin Cahill and Mike
Rosanova in addition to Dopkin.

One of the wideouts, John "Byrd'' Pendergast, kicked a 29-yard field
goal with 12.5 seconds left to lick La Salle. Pendergast and Sugden are
animated fans at Roman's basketball games.

"I couldn't believe Byrd,'' Sugden said, laughing. "It was crazy. He
shanks extra points sometimes. He had a blank look on his face. Wasn't
nervous at all. It was so great to see him kick that field goal under
all that pressure. ''

Sugden's father, Tom, played some nose guard for Cardinal Dougherty in
the mid-1970s. His mother, Margaret, is a Frankford grad. His brother,
Brian, is a freshman at Roman.

"There was no history of Roman in our family,'' he said. "I'm hoping
we can keep it going for a long time. ''

In school, Sugden is a Student Council rep and active in a
peacekeeping group. He owns a 3.5 grade-point average and has scored 940
on the SAT. Villanova, Towson and Georgetown are in contact. He wants to
major in business management, and envisions owing a chain of
bar-restaurants.

"That would be awesome,'' he said.

As would crying tears of joy Sunday night.