Special
Story by Huck
(Too good to be buried in Memorable Moments)
Return to Home Page
My most memorable moment dates back about fifteen
years ago. I was
a senior at West Catholic High School for boys. The basketball coach at the
time was Joe Donahue. For those of you who don't know Joe, let's just say he
can become excited at times. Prior to the start of basketball season, Joe had
found out about my obsession with stats. He approached me, asked if I would
be the manager for the basketball team for the upcoming season. I told him
that I was not interested in being the manager, but since I went to most of
the games I would sit in the stands with my boyz and keep the stats for him.
That's basically all he wanted anyway.
I had been keeping stats of Sixers, Big Five basketball, the
Phillies,
and the Eagles off the television since my grade school days at St. Barnabas
in Southwest Philly. My theory: Why wait for the paper the next day to see
the stats, when I can have them at my disposal right after the game. However,
those expereinces were for fun and I was pretty much the only one who would
read them. Doing the stats for West basketball, now that was a challenge. The
pace at live games was frantic, no replays or commentators to help you out.
On top of that, other people would be reading them. I had to be running on
all cylinders.
After wetting my beak (I stole that line from Godfather I, my
favorite
movie of all-time) with a couple of controlled scrimmages it was time for the
real deal in the big house (The Burrdome). I believe the game was on a
Thursday and Episcopal was the opponent.
On Monday, Mr. Donahue informed me that he had arranged for somebody
from the Daily News to sit with me and show me the ropes. Also, this person
would be able to answer any questions I may have about keeping stats. Can you
feel the pressure mounting?
After hearing this, one name came to my mind, Ted Silary. See I
read the
sports pages for hours and I played soccer and baseball for the Burrs. So
Ted's name was quite familiar to me. Though I had never met him. For the next
two days I took all the preparations needed, in order to make my debut a
success. Besides, a guy from the Daily News was coming to help me, it had to
be Ted. Right?
Thurday afternoon, I had Mr. Donahue for 7th period English, and
the second
I walked in his room he got in my face. Are you ready, my lad? Do you have all
the stuff you need, son? Today's a big one, gotta be sharp. In those days if
I said 25 words in three hours I was blabbing. "Yeah, I'll be all right,
Mr. D."
School has ended and only an hour remains until I'm thrown to the
wolves. On top of that, Ted Silary will be here. I stayed in the coaches' room
with Mr. D and waited for him to head into the gym. After his pre-game talk
with his players he sent them out to run layups. He then had a talk with his
assistants. When he was through, I was standing only three feet from him. He
blurted out, "Where's Eddie? Where did he go?" I'm right next to you Mr. D.
"Let's go son, I want you to meet my man from the Daily News before the game
starts." As we walked into gym Mr. D. said, "Good, he's here." We started
to
walk across the floor and as we got closer to this man, who was the only one
in that area, I said to myself, "Ted doesn't look how I pictured him to
look." Mr. Donahue said the man's name so fast I couldn't really hear him.
The next two hours were the most bizarre of my life. Ted didn't
say much,
and he kept pretty much to himself. I figured he must be nervous, because he
had gotten more than a few streaks of ink on his face during the game.
Imagine that, I'm intimidating the high school sports guru Ted Silary. Also, I
figured Ted must have been working on a deadline of some sorts. He seemed a
little disheviled, and wore pants really high. I asked him a few questions,
but his answers didn't come across clear to me. But, man could he keep stats.
During the game he would state everything that happened. For instance, "#12
shot, #42 offensive rebound and shot, #33 defensive rebound, you get that?".
This went on for what seemed like hours. When the game had ended, I thanked
him, he replied,"Yeah, see ya." I shook it off and just thought he had to get
to that deadline.
After the game, Mr. Donahue came up to me asked how things went. I told
him ok. "Was my man from the Daily News a help?" I said, "Sort of."
"Did he
teach you anything?" I said, "Yeah, a little." Mr. Donahue said, "He's
a
character, isn't he?" "He sure is."
I asked him, how long he's worked at the Daily News. He replied,
"Ah, he's
been helping Teddy out for years."
"Wait, that wasn't Ted, Mr. D?"
"No, that was his helper, Hockey."
"Oh, what's his real name?"
"I think it's Tom McKenna, but everybody calls him either Hockey
or Puck."
As long as I live I'll never forget the Thursday afternoon I spent
with my man, Tom "Puck/Hockey" McKenna.
--------
RESPONSES TO HUCK'S STORY
Absolutely hilarious!!!!! The sad thing is that I remember the whole story. Reminds me of the time that I had the honor of sitting next to "Hockey" @ Roman when I was doing the book for West. You know how it is, 9 people squeezed onto the 6 foot table at center court, with the draft creeping up your back. He got so excited after a follow-up jam by Allen Watkins, that he knocked his glasses off....."I sorry"......no problem. I have the pleasure of calling Huck one of my friends. Not only
is he a great stat keeper, he is a very good athlete of his own and to top it off a great
human being. I have played on numerous teams with Huck from little league baseball to high
school soccer to men's league basketball and he even keeps statistics on these games. I
don't know where he ever became hooked on keeping stats, but he even made up sports. We
(the boyz, as he calls us) would play night wireball on Theodore Street in Southwest
Philadelphia until close to midnight. I still have fond memories of the fence that
has left some scars. Then there was a game that combined street hockey, basketball, and
lacrosse only it was played without sticks. The people that share the driveway between
Theodore Street and Buist Avenue will never forget it.
---- Dave Bertoline
(Ted's note: "Bert" was a four-sport star at West;
football kicker, soccer, basketball, baseball).