In past issues, I’ve given you updates on people that were talented athletes whose names were often found on the sports pages of our local newspapers. the Union Leader. However, this week’s Manchester Ink Link edition will be different since I’m not only covering a former very talented player, but also a well-known former coach…Pete Poirier.
Wally began his athletic career at Bakersville, playing hoop (under the guidance of Mr. Walsh) with the likes of George “Winky” Basoukas and Tommy Fisher. He also played baseball there joined by Paul Evans, Bill Lewis, and Nick Macenas. “I think Nick pitched pretty much every game we played because no one else could reach the plate!”
Don’s time in the pros was brief…by choice. After graduating from Syracuse, he was invited to try out for the Saskatchewan Rough Riders of the Canadian Football League. He drove, by himself, all the way from Manchester to Saskatchewan because he wasn’t sure he’d make the team and didn’t want to bring his family with him and put them through that difficult period.
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.
Let me begin by telling you that no question I would ask Don could top the one posed by his editor-in-chief grand-daughter as she was interviewing him for her school newspaper, Central’s “Little Green.”
Of equal importance is the fact that, the more we talked, the more we reminisced. The more we reminisced, the more information we shared. The more information we shared, the more things I realized that we had in common.
Larocca’s story is one of Ted Menswar’s favorites. His only regret is that he wished he could have been one of Greg’s coaches. Read more for why
Remember MLB player Greg Larocca, West grad who made it to the pros?
June 23, 1972.
My guess would be that few if any readers would have a clue as to the significance of that date in United States history. To be completely honest, when I first saw it, I didn’t have a clue either.
He reminded me of a conversation we had back in 1993, after he retired from 37 years as a classroom teacher. I had asked him what he was going to do now that his teaching career was over. He looked me square in the face and said, “Teddy, in the classroom I’ve had students who wanted to learn, who made mistakes, but still kept trying. Well, coaching is still teaching and my classroom is still the field. You know where you can always find me.”