(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.
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