THE HIGH SCHOOL YEARS (BY SEASONS)
FOOTBALL
Describing himself as a freshman at Manchester Central…“I was really skinny and wanted to get bigger legs. I figured the best way to do that would be to go out for the JV football team that fall. It was OK, but people need to remember that JV ball back then wasn’t anything like it is today. We played only maybe three or four games so that wasn’t much time for me to develop physically.
When I moved up to varsity as a sophomore, playing under the tutelage of Tony Sarausky, we used the single wing so I spent most of my time as a blocking back and did very little throwing. It toughened me up, but wasn’t my ’cup of tea’. Bud King took over to start my junior year, bringing the split “T” with him, and it was under that formation that I really blossomed…so much so that I was selected to captain the team in my senior year and was selected to the All-State and All-American teams. Played in the Shrine game, too, which we won!”
BASKETBALL
As winter set in, he decided to try out for basketball, made the team, and played a lot which was unusual for a freshman.
“I was a good shooter, thanks to all that time spent playing against tough competition at the BC, and played well enough to stay with the varsity for all four years, under the tutelage of Ed Brophy, and again was selected as team captain in my senior year. Mr. Brophy was a Social Studies teacher at Central and probably the most respected and loved coach I ever encountered. He had a way with young people, really knew how to handle them. He was always fair and never over-coached. He’d let you do your thing to bring the best out of you. If anyone needs further proof, just ask my teammates Frank Harlan, Ray Ouellette, or Dick Pingree. They’ll back me up.”
Don continued “We won the states when I was a sophomore. With seniors Bo Dickson and Brian Lamberts, we even played in the New England Tournament at Boston Garden against powerhouses like Weaver and Hillhouse from Connecticut and Ludlow from Massachusetts. We had a strong team with some great players and our little school from New Hampshire represented our state well, but we couldn’t take down those legendary hoop teams.”
“In my senior year, we had the best athletes that could be mustered together. We won the state title, then beat Old Town, Maine, in the highest scoring game ever in the N.E. Tournament, 92-86…and we had only 8 minute quarters back then…but lost to Lawrence Central Catholic. The running ‘joke’ about me in that highest scoring fiasco was that I scored 38 points, but the guy I guarded scored 38, too! That game was purely run and shoot. Having been selected to both the All-State and All-American teams, it was definitely a great final year for me.”
“To sum things up, I LOVED hoop. It was my favorite sport. For me, it proved that I could have an athletic gift, but I also had to have the desire to play with everything I had in every game. I was so nuts about the sport that I asked Coach Brophy if I could have a key to the gym so that I could go in and practice whenever it was possible. To my surprise, but knowing how much he trusted me, he gave one to me. Believe it or not, I went to the gym every single day or night. Not to brag (I know Don, and he wasn’t), I developed such a touch that could close my eyes and if you told me where I was on the floor, I could hit the shot. While most of the time I practiced by myself, both Frankie Harlan and Johnny Parsons joined me and, boy, were they good!”
BASEBALL
In the spring of his freshman year, being a pretty fair pitcher, Don tried out for Coach Wally Tafe’s varsity baseball squad…and made it easily.
“My Dad had taught me how to throw a curveball that he had learned from his dad and it was a good, make that REALLY good, one. In fact, the only other person who threw the same type of breaking ball, was a kid most people around here would know…and he also learned it from his Dad. (Writer’s Note: That “kid” went on to win the American League Cy Young Award in ‘79 as a pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles…kid by the name of Flanagan (or as his Mike’s mother, Lorraine, used to refer to him – ‘What’s his name’.)
Though he loved basketball, baseball was actually Don’s best sport. As a pitcher for the Little Green, he NEVER lost a game and, to me, as a former high school pitcher at Bishop Bradley, that’s absolutely remarkable!
SUMMER BALL
Don’s baseball continued after each high school season concluded. While in the Babe Ruth League, he was a three-year member of the Shoeworkers. At age 16, he turned to American Legion baseball, joining Jutras Post where he pitched and played the infield for his Dad.
THE SUM OF ITS PARTS
His success as a member of Central‘s athletic teams resulted in Don being offered “full boats” to Providence College for baseball, Holy Cross for basketball, as well Syracuse, Boston College, Michigan State, UNH, (and a number of other colleges/universities) for football.
THE COLLEGE YEARS
Playing sports was everything to Don. As he put it…“Being involved in athletics is a combination of opportunities and lost opportunities that will shape your life in so many ways. I had the good fortune to be offered scholarships from several different colleges for several different sports. Though I loved basketball and was best at baseball, I took the football scholarship from Syracuse. Why? Because it offered me the most opportunities. By that I mean I wanted to get married and I wanted to get an apartment. The colleges offering the basketball and baseball scholarships wouldn‘t permit that…football at Syracuse would and did.”
There is another reason why Don was happy with his decision to attend Syracuse, but that would come later…
IT WAS FAR FROM EASY
“I always took playing seriously and, as a senior in high school, I was at my personal physical best in every sport I played. Though I might laugh during a practice, game-time was never funny. Games were much too serious. For example, one of my best friends, Ed Ganem, was our punter at Central. We were playing Haverhill and had to punt on 4th down. It was fairly windy and Ed boomed one off his right foot. As we headed downfield, I noticed players from the other team looking over my head and behind me. I kept looking for the ball, but couldn’t see where it landed. That’s because the ball didn’t go forward. Instead, Ed’s kick went backwards and landed behind us. We laugh about it today, but it sure wasn’t funny back then.”
He strolled onto the Syracuse campus as a highly touted recruit who would soon be questioning his decision to join the Orangemen.
“The first time the team gathered, I took a look around and said to myself ‘Why did I come here?’ Everybody was so BIG and they had also recruited two or three other kids at QB. At the first practice, the coach called over the Frosh team (which included me) and said we’d be running the offensive schemes that the Varsity’s defensive squad would be facing as the weekly opponent. You have to remember that this was the same defense club that had played in the Cotton Bowl…and I was going to be facing them, but NOT at QB! Instead, I would be a running back. Well, on the first play from scrimmage, I saw a hole and cut through it, going all the way for a TD. As I came back through the defense, I was showered with obscenities. The head coach, a guy by the name of Scwartzwalder, as in Ben, was absolutely pissed at them and screamed at them to run the same play. Obviously I wasn’t too thrilled to hear that and, on my second trip to hell, got clobbered. After I picked myself off the ground, I looked around and thought ‘Hey, that ain’t so bad!’…and my “career” at Syracuse began.
Our frosh team, now with me at quarterback, first beat Colgate and then Army, both being played in front of the alumni. Thinking I was pretty much a “lock” at QB, I took the field (again with the alumni watching) against Colgate. This time, however, I threw five interceptions and there wasn’t a member of the alumni who would have supported me for any position. There’s nothing more humiliating and embarrassing than having 60,000 booing “fans”. I sank from starting QB to the lowest on the depth chart. In fact, I never got under center during my entire sophomore year. Unfortunately, I was now to become a member of the “greenie team”. We were used as “dummies” for everybody else (1st team, 2nd team, and 3rd team) to practice on in the hopes they (the coaching staff) could break us and get us to quit, which would mean our scholarships would be taken away and given to new recruits.
As “greenies”, we also were given other “jobs” to earn our food money. Mine was cleaning toilets for the janitors in one of the buildings at the school…and that was really humiliating. You can get awfully low, but you have to believe in yourself and wait for your chance again. Instead of quitting, every practice, every week that went by, I got angrier…and ANGRIER.
I made friends with Pat Stark, a former QB who was an assistant coach helping with the greenie team. I played offense, I played defense. I played any place. All I wanted was a shot. No matter which team we played against, I hit harder and harder.
One afternoon I was playing catch with Coach Stark and, after pulling down several of my throws, he yelled ‘You know, you throw the ball pretty good!’ to which I answered ‘I know. I’d show you just how well if I could ever get another chance!’
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS…
Schwartzalder wanted the Greenies to run the Oklahoma offense before the Orange Bowl game. We had flown down to North Carolina a week early to prepare for it. Ben wanted a live scrimmage to get the defense ready. Little did he know that the members of our team of “cast-offs” were loaded with talent just itching for the right time in the right place…and this, for each of us, would be both.
You see, the coaching staff at Syracuse really knew how to recruit, but once they “landed” us, they had no idea of how to use us and, for a few, even where to use us, but they were soon to find out.
We DESTROYED the 1st team defense, the 2nd team defense, AND the 3rd team defense. I mean they weren’t even close. I threw TD pass after TD pass. After the scrimmages were finished, Schwartzalder spoke to the press and one of the reporters asked ‘Is the green team the first team?’
Ben was livid and canceled the plane that was supposed to fly us to the game the following day. Instead, he said we were going to have another day of practice. Because we didn’t want to spend any more days there, we told the 1st team we’d try to make them look good, but told the 2nd and 3rd teams they wouldn’t have the same good fortune. We kicked the crap out of them.
By the way, five members of the greenie team were STARTERS on the National Championship team. The coaching staff didn’t know what the heck they had in front of them until we were given another opportunity. We were all good and now we were ALL angry.”
On a more personal note, I enjoyed it immensely because these were the same guys that had beaten the shit out of me all season long so payback was good…REAL good!”
THE BOWL GAME
We were losing and in the third quarter the coaching staff in the press box radios down to the field saying that to have a shot at winning, we have to pass. Out of the blue, Schwartzalder grabs me off the bench to try to save face. Problem was I hadn’t been given any time to warm up. It’d be like going to the bullpen in a baseball game and grabbing a reliever, putting him on mound, and telling him to start pitching without ever allowing him to take a single warm-up toss. Thankfully, shortly after I’d been pushed onto the field, Ben’s offensive co-ordinator, Rocco Pirro, came running out, grabbed me from behind and pulled me off, all the time yelling at Ben ‘If he goes in, he’ll lose a year of eligibility if you play him!!!’ I had been red-shirted and just one play in that bowl game (regular season is over remember) would have wiped a year of my remaining time at Syracuse.
We lost, but on the return trip home, Schwartzalder came up to me and said ‘Well, Don, we think maybe you can help us next year.’ (Writer’s comment…‘Yeah, right!’)
In the Spring Game played against the alumni, the starting QB is Bobby Thomas and I’m the #2 guy. Thomas is hit and is out for the season. Figuring I’ll finally get the nod, I’m kept the #2 QB, but am replaced by the team captain, halfback-made-quarterback, Gear Schwedes.
Next game, I’m still #2, but starting in front of me is the #3 QB because they still don’t trust me! In desperation, and down two TD’s, the roof coach calls down and says we have to throw the ball, that we have to use the ‘boom-opposite’ play, which just happened to be my favorite, during which one receiver goes short and a few yard behind him, another receiver goes deep.
In I go, call the play, and it works to perfection…with one exception. I see the short man come open and just as I’m about to release the ball, I spot the deep guy…WIDE OPEN. What do I do? I stutter stop in mid throw and deliver the ball IN-BETWEEN them. I look over to the sideline and Ben’s going nuts, absolutely nuts. He starts down the sideline to grab my replacement, but before he can do it, I call a quick huddle and call the same play. Bang – Touchdown!
Next series I figure if it was open on the left, it should be open on the right. Sooooo.
Bang – another TD. I ended up throwing three TD passes and am named national back of the week. Ben now comes to me and says I’m his starting quarterback until I graduate. And, oh yeah, the club I threw the five interceptions against as a freshman that put me in my nightmare, Cornell University.
We beat them that year 70 – 0!
CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON
In our Championship year in ‘59, we ruled every statistic possible. We had a great team and just got better and better with every game we played. The starting backfield that year was Gera Schweber at right halfback, Art Baker at fullback, Ernie Davis at left halfback, and me at QB.”. Davis went on to win the Heisman Trophy. That was the other reason why he considered Syracuse the best place he could have played…the opportunity to play alongside Davis.
Over the remainder of his career he only lost one game that he started. In his final year at Syracuse, they lost 2 games, and he was hurt and missed both. He was selected to All-East Team, was National Back of the Week, and had played in both the Cotton and Liberty Bowl during his career there.
BASEBALL
Some readers may be surprised to find that though he’s most known for his football years at Syracuse, Don also played for the Orange. During his first two years at Syracuse, he wanted to try out for the baseball team, but was denied the opportunity because the baseball season took place at the same time as the football team began its training in the spring. However, in his junior year, he was given permission and, not surprisingly to those who knew of his baseball talent, he made the ball club not as a pitcher, but as an infielder, playing second and third. He ended up being their best hitter, batting in the #3 spot in the order, and helping his club make it to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, where he stung the opposition with a .400 BA (batting average).
Next: Part 3, The Pro Years
Ted Menswar Jr. is a life-long resident of the Queen City and a retired member of the English Department of Memorial High School who has been involved in local sports for 70 years as a player, a coach, a mentor and a fan. He can be reached at tedmenswar@outlook.com