By Ted Menswar Jr.
Part 1: Bob Kerrigan
A look back at an interview with Bob Kerrigan from the Ted Menswar Jr. archives.
To be honest, during the drive over to Bob’s house to do the interview, my stomach began to act up, making strange gurgling sounds, one of the sound effects that has accompanied the cold that I’ve been fighting for the past month and a half. Fearing things would get worse, I seriously contemplated turning around and heading back home.
But I didn’t, and as soon as I sat down at his kitchen table, even before I began my list of questions, I knew I was in the right place at the right time with the right person to be the subject of my article. Robert Kerrigan, better known as “Bob” (“Bobby” to his wife Marea).
What I didn’t know was how much I had in common with him, the first thing being of critical importance to me.
You see, I have double vision and, much to my surprise, so does Bob. As a result, I have to wear prism glasses to correct the problem. If I take them off, I see two of everything – two television screens, two faces, two golf balls – and I don’t know which one to look at.
Ironically, Bob told me that he has experienced the exact same problem.
But – and it’s a huge but – he DOESN’T have to wear prism glasses, doesn’t need them! Instead, he takes a prescribed medication that works to correct our shared “difficulty” and the only glasses he wears are for reading. That’s it.
As a result of the information he gave me, I’m going to contact his eye doctor and neurologist to see if I, too, can eliminate the vision problem we share – if I, too, can eliminate having to wear prism glasses.
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.
We both were made aware of our respective Dads’ WWII military “experiences” through people who were not our fathers.
We both changed our sports’ lives thanks to the wisdom of our wives.
We both wished we had played hockey as kids, but neither of us could skate well enough.
And, we both love baseball more than ANY other sport.
Bluntly put, the more Bob and I talked, the more I grew thankful that I had not canceled the interview.
Though we are alumni of Bishop Bradley’s Class of 1961 and were members of the Pioneers state championship baseball team that same year (I was a pitcher and Bob was my battery-mate), we never hung around together, and that’s something I wish had been different.
My “reason” follows.
The phrase, “He’s a really good guy,” is often heard, but often over-used. So much so, that it’s impact is almost non-existent, almost irrelevant. But NOT in this case.
Over my 70 years “on this side of the grass” (BTW, we’re both 70), I’ve had the good fortune to meet a lot of good guys, even a few REALLY good guys, particularly through sports. And though the phrase is definitely applicable to him, to me, it’s not enough.
Bob Kerrigan isn’t just a really good guy, he’s a GREAT guy, and I’m not the only person that feels that way. (More on that later).
And, for the record, there’s much that has gone into the “shaping” of who he is.
HIS YEARS AS A PLAYER
When Bob was only 13 months old, his Dad, Paul Kerrigan, a WWII reconnaissance pilot, was killed while returning from a mission. According to what Bob’s been told, his plane was shot down by “friendly” fire.
His mother, Dorothy, later remarried and his step-dad, Eddie Cullen, worked for the New England Telephone Company. The job often required him to be transferred to different parts of the state and the family obviously moved around with him.
While many children would find it difficult to cope with continually having to make new friends, getting used to new neighborhoods and new schools, not so with Bob. In fact, he actually enjoyed it, saying, “With each move, I got to meet new kids and that meant more friends. As I got older and played for different teams, I often ran into kids I had met in the towns and cities where my family had lived, and seeing them again, playing against them, was a lot of fun.”
His began his baseball career as a member of Notre Dame, a Little League team from Manchester’s West LL. “When I first joined the team, I thought it was named after the hospital, but that wasn’t the case. To my surprise, the club was named after a dry cleaning business on the West Side!”
The following year, his step-dad’s relocation resulted in Bob playing ball for the Indians, a LL team in Berlin, NH. However, the very next year, he was back in Manchester, this time playing for Press Club out of North Little League.
Following his final year in LL ball, his family again moved, this time to Littleton and from ages 13 – 14, he ended up playing in a league equivalent to Babe Ruth baseball.
While those early days playing sports may seem a little chaotic, they also provided him with some of his favorite memories, one in particular.
”In one Little League game when I lived in Berlin, I hit four home runs and an area ice cream shop gave away a free banana split to any player that hit a homer. The local paper carried a picture the next day with me standing behind my four sisters, each of whom had a banana split in front of her – all courtesy of my bat.”
During this “nomadic” period of his life, Bob also played CYO basketball over the course of three different seasons for three different teams – St. Patrick’s of Berlin, St. Raphael of Manchester, and St. Rose of Lima of Littleton, and that over-all experience provided him with his most embarrassing moment in sports.
“I was a pretty big kid back then, 5’7” or 5’8” and about 160 lbs. Put it this way: I wouldn’t have been eligible for Pop Warner football! I was playing for St. Rose of Lima from Littleton and we came down to Manchester to play St. Joe’s. Every kid on both teams had a uniform…except me because my club didn’t have one big enough to fit me. All I could think of was that the Manchester kids must have thought I was a real “hick” from the north country, didn’t even have a uniform, and that was definitely embarrassing.”
He spent his freshman year of high school at Littleton High where he played football, basketball, and baseball.
However, before the start of his sophomore year, his family returned to Manchester. Now a student at Bishop Bradley High School (nicknamed “Bradley”) he again played the same three sports. Though he was on the JV team in basketball his first year at BBHS, he was a member of the varsity squads in both football and baseball. During his junior and senior years, Bob, who played several different positions in football, forward in basketball, and catcher in baseball, was a varsity starter for all three sports.
Of all the schools Bradley faced in each of the sports he played, he most enjoyed competing against two well-known three-sport powerhouses: Manchester Central and Nashua (which at that time had only one high school).
“I really looked forward to playing against Bill McKee and Mike Kobilarsik from the Little Green and Frank Ulcikas and Carl Tamulevitch from the Purple Panthers. We knocked heads in all three sports and that’s probably something that wouldn’t happen today because most guys don’t play all three of those sports anymore…and that’s too bad. Now there’s too much ‘overlaping’ with sports being in conflict with other sports, particularly when kids start ‘specializing’ in one more than another.”
Bob also mentioned several other athletes he loved to play against during his high school years: West High’s Mickey McBride and Memorial High’s Bill Jajesnika and Wally Rozmus.
All extremely talented athletes, as was Bob, who served as co-captain of all three varsity teams as a senior. Additionally, he was selected to the Class “L” All-State team in football and played in the NH – VT Shrine All Star football game.
When I “pressed” him to pick just one school from those that he mentioned (Central, Laconia, Memorial, Nashua, and West) that he loved to face, there was no hesitation in his response. “CENTRAL – because they were always so good.”
Remember…every season, Bob faced the same players from the same schools in all THREE sports, not just in one or two, and from that foundation, some strong friendships were created that still last to this day.
Following graduation, Bob headed to Tilton Prep School for a year where he played alongside a high school foe, Laconia High’s Dick DeVarney.
From there, at the request of a family relative, he moved on to Notre Dame University where he played guard and tackle as a member of the Irish freshman football team, but the experience was not a good one.
“As members of the freshman team, we never played against other colleges. We practiced five days a week only to end up facing the 3rd or 4th team varsity…the guys who didn’t get to play in that particular week’s game. It was during this time that I decided to come back to New Hampshire and play baseball and football (under legendary head coach Andy Mooradian) at UNH.”
Though he enjoyed all his years on the football fields, the baseball diamonds, and the basketball courts, it was his time at the college level that he MOST enjoyed simply because, as he put it, “The players were better and, as a result, the competition was better. And I’ve always liked playing against good players from good teams.”
‘Nuff said.
It should be noted here that Bob also played semi-pro baseball in Manchester competing against a number of other clubs, including Nashua and Laconia.
How did he benefit from playing those three sports for all those years? “Playing those sports, all of them, taught me how to compete, how to work hard, how to develop a good work ethic. Most importantly, it taught me how to be a better person.”
When I asked him who the most influential coach he played for was, and he played for some “Hall of Famers,” his answer, a good one, really didn’t surprise me because I knew the man he picked. I played for him, too.
Bob’s choice was local coaching icon Ed Kissell, one of five brothers from the infamous Kissell football family – each of whom played professional football.
“I played two sports under him, football and baseball. He played pro football for the Pittsburg Steelers and was really tough, hard to play for. Wouldn’t take any crap from anyone and neither would his brother, John, his assistant over my last two years, who played for the Cleveland Browns during their heyday.
Coach Kissell always stressed fundamentals. His teaching was so intense, so well done, so instrumentally sound that when I got to college, I found that I already knew whatever was necessary to play at that level. In fact, what he taught me was what I used as the foundation for my own methods of instruction during all my years of coaching.
He’s also my choice because of who he was, not only a great coach, but a really good man.”
Speaking of great coaches and really good men, Bob also played American Legion baseball for Sweeney Post #2 under legendary coach John “Jumbo” Reilly – even won state titles during his time there.
“When we won the Class ‘L’ state baseball championships in ’59 and ’61 at Bradley, we (Sweeney) also won state championships in Legion ball. We had a great bunch of guys, really talented. Players like Bobby Healy, Jackie Boyle, Mike Cullinan, Pete Kearns, Johnny Keane, and Jack Maher. Guess you could say those clubs were loaded with it.
Ironically, the only year I ever coached Legion ball, for Manchester Post 79, we were playing Sweeney at Gill Stadium and I went to the plate for the pre-game exchange of player line-up cards. As I handed mine to Coach Reilly, I looked directly at him and said ‘You probably don’t remember, Coach, but it was 30 years ago that I walked with you to this plate as a member of Sweeney Post, representing my team, as you exchanged cards with Post 79’s head coach.’
He looked at me and said ’30 years ago – Really.’
Why does that still stick with me? It was the last game he ever coached and I even remember the year, 1991.”
Come back tomorrow for Part 2 of Spotlight on Bob Kerrigan.
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