(Today’s article is by Michael E. Tirone and will certainly bring back some great memories.) Thanksgiving morning, for so many of us "old-timers", would mean Windham-Manchester football. In the 50s and 60s, high school football was a big deal. Many of the footballers that played for Windham High had played either in the Willimantic midget football program, or had just played backyard football in their rural towns. Back in the 50's kids came to WHS from the rural areas like Coventry, Hebron, Lebanon, Willington, Hampton, Chaplin, Scotland, Columbia.  In the late 50's the CCIL conference (Central Connecticut Interscholastic League) was formed. It consisted of Windham, Manchester, Hall, Conard (West Hartford), Wethersfield, Bristol's Central and Eastern, and Platt, and Maloney from Meriden. Back then the home games were held at Guild Field on Mountain Street and the games would begin around 10:00 am. If the Whippets won the game, there would be a victory parade going down Mountain St. to Bridge St., down Main St. to Bank St. then up Valley to High St. and to the back of the high school. The Thanksgiving Day game with Manchester, if memory serves me started around 1959 or ‘60, maybe a little later. The game was a morning contest with Manchester and this game always brought out the town. It was, in a sense, a reunion of sorts. Kids who had graduated, and were back on Thanksgiving break, some, that might be home of leave from the military, others that just wanted to renew old acquaintances.   “Maul Manchester” pins were sold at WHS in the mid 60's. Many people coming back to see family, friends, classmates, and enjoy scholastic football.  Of the nine CCIL team schools, Windham was the rural school.....OK let's say what we were called...... THE FARMERS, HICKS, RUBES, etc. Seems that Manchester, and the other three greater Hartford schools took the insults to an art form.  Many can recall the trips to Manchester or when Manchester would travel down old Route 6 to Willimantic to Guild field on Mountain St. During the early 60s, the Army-Navy club of Manchester sponsored the Thanksgiving day trophy. If either school won it three years in a row, that trophy would be retired. There were also awards for various other accomplishments during the game. In the late 60's and early 70's Windham was the powerhouse. Some of the names come to mind, like Coach Ferrigno, Coach Stanzione, Coach Banning, FARMER POWER, Brian Vertefeuille , John Green , Michael Green, Robert Francis, Eddie Ferrigno, Jack Noheimer, Butch Smith, the colors MAROON AND BLUE, Windham High marching band, and on on and on. Many can recall players like Marty Hammon, John 'Opie' Green, Jim Nelson, Tom Heinonen, Hank Reed, and so many others.  The one game that stands out in my memory is the Thanksgiving day game of November 1968. Windham was 9-0 at the time. It had been many years since WHS had an undefeated season. That club was led by Marty Hammon at FB, John Green at QB, pass recievers like Mike Green, Art Smith, Pete Wielock, RB's Rich Ducheseau, Robert Francis, Doug Robinson, linemen like Brian Vertifuille, Donald Pelc, Jack Nohimer, Jim Hammon, Ed Ferrigno, and a cast of others. Manchester had a good club, but the Windham team was far and away much better. Coach Ferrigno normally pulled the starters midway through the game, because by then the game was out of reach. It was always thought that Windham could have run up the scores much higher than they did. The  Windham-Manchester game of the fall of 1968 was a rout from the word go. Windham pretty much scored at will, and by the middle of the 3rd quarter, Coach Ferrigno had pulled his starters, and allowed the JV's to complete the game. The Thanksgiving game rivalry with Manchester continued, until the late 70's, early 80's. By then the CCIL had morphed into the CCC, with the addition of quite a few other teams. Manchester ended the game with Windham on Thanksgiving day to play crosstown rival East Catholic. Windham left the CCC, and bounced around conferences in eastern Connecticut. For a while they played Killingly, then E.O. Smith, which, after many years started to play football, but like many things, it never approached the excitement that those games with Manchester from those days. The photo is of the 1963 WHS team.