Peter

Reflections from #9 ...  Peter

lt  is safe to say that some of my fondest memories of  my Dad and  brothers revolve around sporting events. My father was actively involved in baseball, basketball and football through high school and then took on the game of golf later in life. All of my brothers have played sports throughout their life  Baseball, Basketball, Football, Golf, Track, Swimming, Cross Country, you name it, we've probably played it.

Dad

My life to this point has been great. The only thing that I feel short changed on is the time I spent with my Dad. Dad passed away when I was 12 years old. Although the sports memories are few, they are my most cherished.

Basketball;

We had a basket attached to our garage at 124 Owasco street. The number of shots I took at that hoop would have to be in the tens of thousands. Winter, spring, summer and fall, it didn't matter. From time to time, when Dad would get home from work Bob and I would be shooting baskets. He always stopped and took a couple of shots with us. He had a funny looking set shot but rarely missed. Later on in my life (8th grade) I would follow in my Dad's footsteps and win the city foul shooting championship.

Golf:

Dad would not let us out on the golf course until we turned IO years old. That didn't stop me from hitting golf balls in the yard or practicing on the putting green. One day, Dad took me to the practice range at Skaneateles Country Club. I was so  excited not just because  I was going to hit golf balls but also to show Dad how well I could do it. One on one   time with Dad was rare but this day was mine. There was a practice sand trap on one side of the range. Dad quickly noticed that the highest lofted club I had was a 7 iron. He gave me his pitching wedge and told me to keep it in my bag. To this day, I still have his set of irons.

Father Son Tournament (1978)-Dad and all seven of his sons playing in the same tournament. Obviously we couldn't all play in the same group. I got to play  with Dad that day.  As a team we shot 44 for 9 holes.  It was one of the few times 1 ever got to play with him.

Baseball:

In the summer of 1975 Dad took us to Cooperstown to see the Baseball Hall of Fame. I could have spent three days there. Dad let us buy those little miniature baseball bats which unfortunately we use to hit rocks with when we got home. We stopped for lunch and when we were finished Dad asked us if we wanted anything else. I proudly said that I would like another hamburger. Sure enough, I got another hamburger!

In the summer of 1976 I was playing pony league baseball. One night we had a game at Herman Ave school. I cannot remember the team we played but Casey Jones was pitching for our team and I was playing shortstop. He was struggling on the mound and at one point  I threw my glove to the ground in disgust. In the last inning I was up to bat with two runners on base. At this field, there was a big hill in right field. If you hit the ball hard enough it would roll all the way down the making a home run almost certain. I wasn't the greatest hitter in pony league but that night I managed to hit one down that hill and I quickly ran around the bases for what would be the winning run. On the way home, I was sitting in the back seat talking to Bob about the game and just basking in the limelight. As we drove down Augustus  street, Dad suddenly pulled the car over. He put the car in park, turned around, looked me square in the eye and said "if you ever throw your glove again you will never play baseball". Dad didn't care about the homer, he was embarrassed by my actions at shortstop. Needless to say, I never threw a baseball glove again.

Summer of 1977: Somehow, Dad managed to find the time to take Paul, Dave, Bob and myself to  New York for the weekend to watch the Yankees. They played the Cleveland Indians and unfortunately the first game was rained out.  The second game was great.  The Yankees won and Lou Pinella hit a home run.  I didn't realize it then but we had really great seats. I am sure that we did other things while we were in  New York but I was so excited about baseball that I honestly don't remember anything else.

Summer of 1978: I was playing Little League at the time and our team (Columbian Rope) was undefeated halfway through the season. We had a huge game under the lights against Nichols who were also undefeated and were probably the most intimidating teams in the league. Mom and Dad were     In     The  stands (how they made it to all of those games, I’ll never know) as were some of my brothers. Without a doubt it was the greatest game I had ever played.  3-4 at the plate with two home runs (one a grand slam) and 7 RBI's. I pitched all six innings, made several defensive plays and our team won 14-7. I can only imagine how proud Dad was that day (and I didn't even throw my glove!). Unfortunately it was one of the last games he saw me play.

Football:

Although I didn't play football competitively, I loved to play and watch it. One of the things that I loved to do was participate in the Pass, Punt and Kick competition. In 1974  I competed for the first time and won first place. The next round of competition was in Clyde New York and I won there as well. The next place was in Syracuse and if my memory serves me, we were late getting there. I was still able to compete but I don't think it counted. Anyway  the point of the story is someone hauled me around to these events - Dad.

Bills/ Patriots - 1975? I'm not positive about the year but I do know that it was the first pro football game that I ever went t We went with the Scherrers and OJ Simpson had a 23 yard touchdown run. We were high up in the bleachers and some fans behind us had too much to drink to the point that they were getting sick. I, being so  young just thought they  weren't feeling good! It was a long ride back to Auburn and we got in pretty late. When we got home, Mom cooked us breakfast which I thought was pretty cool.

In summary, all it takes is writing these memories down to realize how much Dad actually did with me when I was a kid. As I am now a father of two children, I often think about how busy I am. When I think about what Mom and Dad did, I can't even begin to compare myself to them.

Mike

My brother Mike is 13 years older than I so memories of playing sports together really don't begin until later in life. Most of my sports experiences with Mike have come on the golf course. The first one was when Mike and Marilyn were living in an apartment in Syracuse right after they graduated from college. I was just beginning to play the game and Mike had me over for the weekend and a round of golf One of the things that I admire about Mike is that he always sees the funnier sides of situations. Our round of golf was a perfect example. We were playing a municipal course (Burnett Park?) and on the last hole, the cup was actually twice the size of what it should be due to some wear and tear. I had what amounted to be a 2 foot putt to par the hole. Now with the hole being twice the size of a normal hole, there was no reason why I shouldn't make the putt. Of course Mike manages to say"I bet you miss it"' and of course I did. Mike found it to be very funny. Unfortunately, I didn't see it the same way.

Masters (1990 or 1991)- I was living in Columbia SC at the time and Mike and Bob came down for a road trip to see the Masters. On the way down, Mike hit something with the car and it ruptured the gas tank. Do you think it bothered him? Absolutely  not. They made it down a little later than expected but they still made it. Our plan was to play a round of golf in Columbia on Sunday then off to Augusta Georgia on Monday. Sunday was a  nice day,  we had a  nice day of golf and  then took it easy in preparation  for Monday. Mike slept on the floor that night and when Monday morning arrived, with it came rain. Mike took one lookout the window and said "you know what, I didn't even think of this and started to laugh". Despite the rain, we decided to drive over to Augusta anyway. On the way over,the rain started to get worse. There was absolutely no conversation in the car. By the time we got to Augusta, the rain stopped. We spent the entire day at the course and although it was cloudy, it did not rain at all. If you are a  true golf fan, there is nothing better than walking the back nine at Augusta. I still have the picture of  the three of us behind the 12th tee .

Stag Party at Skaneateles  Country Club - I decided to forego my first party when Mike and Marilyn were hit with one of the worst storms ever in Syracuse. They had significant damage to their house and without question, helping them out was the right thing to do. I still cannot believe the number of trees that were taken down, how long we worked and what seemed to be very little progress. Mike and Marilyn got everything back to normal and the next year Mike surprised me by having a golf outing in my honor at Skaneateles Country Club. There were probably 3 or 4 foursomes and believe it or not it snowed (Memorial Day!). We were the only ones out on the course  that day. We had so much fun and a nice lunch afterward. To be honest  it was a perfect Stag Party (even though I was already married and had a child!)

Tom

Baseball Bats - one of Tom's sales accounts used to be Adirondack Bat Company. Tom would have us sign a piece of paper and  then would get us a personalized bat with our own autograph on it. We were the envy of the whole neighborhood.

Buffalo New York (1980)- Steelers vs. Bills. It was the year after they won their 4th Super Bowl and my first Pittsburgh Steelers game. Tom had connections in the gate where we could get into the stadium without a ticket. Unfortunately the stadium was so full, we couldn't find a seat. Tom went back out and scalped tickets. I remember it was very cold that day. I have been to 4 Steeler games since then but this, was by far the most memorable.

Philadelphia, Pa (1981) - Sixers vs. Lakers. It was my first pro basketball game and although the Lakers lost (Andrew Toney had 46 points) I had a great time hanging out with Tom and meeting Marguerite for the first time .

Basketball - Tom could jump higher than any white person I know. I never got the chance to watch him play at Bradford street playground or at Auburn High School. However, I do know that he was a big influence on me taking up the game when I was older.

Jack

Swimming • I give credit to Jack for teaching me how to swim. Jack was a  lifeguard  at  Skaneateles Country Club and taught swimming at day camp. Most sports I could catch on very quickly but when it came to swimming, I was pretty bad. My biggest problem was learning how to dive. I could never grasp the concept of keeping my head down. Jack told me to just relax and fall into the water. I relaxed a little too much and literally fell so close to the dock that my legs scrapped against the wall. When I finally got out of the water, I had  huge scrape marks on both of my legs . Swimming is without a doubt my worst sport .

Baseball - I hate to say it but Jack has to take responsibility for my little league team losing to Nichols when I was t 1 years old. Jack had spent a semester of school over in England and we all went over to the airport to pick him  up. I also had a baseball game that afternoon and was scheduled to pitch. Sure enough,

Jack' s plane was late, I was late for the game by one inning and by the time I got there, we were down 4-0. Sure enough we lost by 4 runs. Thanks a lot Jack and by the way, I'm glad you're home!!

Trip to Washington - when I was in high school, Jack invited me down to see him for a weekend. We had a great weekend setup - two rounds of golf and the Virginia vs. Georgetown (Ralph Sampson vs. Patrick Ewing) basketball game on TV . The first round was memorable not because of the way I played but because of the time we had to get out of bed . In order to get a tee time, we had to get to the course before sunrise and get in line to get a tee time that was around 11:00. The second round was more reasonable. We played with one of Jack's friends (Chris Walski??) and after the round Chris decided that he was going to try out a new driver in the pro shop. In the pro shop was a driving net where you could hit balls. At the other end of the pro shop was an area to get lunch. Chris was hitting golf balls and really liking the driver he was hitting. Unfortunately the next shot he hit completely missed the  net and went all the way down into the dining area. (I still don't know how he missed the net). After he hit that shot, he decided that he really didn't like the driver after all (go figure)

Trip 10 Philadelphia - It was my first year out of school and I was working in Virginia. I gave my boss a lame excuse that I had to travel up to Pennsylvania to see a new piece of equipment that we were going to purchase. It just so happened to be close to Jack so I made a weekend out of it. Jack got tickets to the Phillies vs. Expos game at Veteran's stadium. What a boring game. 13 innings, Phillies lost 2-1 and probably left 15 guys on base. Overall a great weekend with Jack and Ceecy. The only unfortunate thing was that it was also the weekend of the Tianneman Square uprising in China.

Golf in South Carolina - I was working in South Carolina at the time and Jack and Ceecy were down for what would be their last vacation before the twins were born. The weather was great and Jack and I managed to sneak in a round of golf at Myrtle Beach National.

Paul

St Johns Game (1987)- Joe Hogan and I decided to take a road trip to Newburgh New York to visit Paul Paul managed to get tickets to the St.Johns vs. Boston College game which was actually played at their on campus court. Very tight quarters and we had really good seats. Willie Glass was playing for St. Johns at the time and you could literally feel the court shake when he ran up and down.

Member Guest Tournament - Finally! I was invited to a member guest tournament. Having worked at Owasco Country Club for 5 years, it was really nice to go back and see some of the people that I used to work for.  Needless to say, Paul had one thing in mind winning. It had been so long since I actually played in a golf tournament that I was very nervous, especially on that first drive. We played 4 matches and despite losing two of them, we won the other two by enough to have a lead going into the last match. We were playing the team that was in second place so it was a perfect scenario for the last day. Thanks to Paul's chip in on #9 and birdie on #1, we found ourselves tied going into the last hole (#7). We both parred the hole and as a result, we tied the match and won the flight! I think we  were both emotionally spent by the end of that match. What a great weekend.

Black Jack at Turning Stone - no it's not a sport but I have to tell this story. During our last brother’s weekend at Turning Stone, Paul and I managed to play a few hands of blackjack at the casino. Now if you have never gambled before, one rule is to not to  get the other players around you distracted or angry at you. It' s unfortunate that some people take it so seriously but Paul is definitely not one of them. He sits down at the table and to the left of him was a guy from what appeared to be Russia playing some serious black jack.This guy new how to play and  was very serious about it. Paul begins by striking up a conversation with the dealer and essentially began to bust his chops. He then proceeded to tell the dealer and gesture to him that "I'm looking at you"( a quote from the movie "Meet the Parents"). Well the Russian must have seen the movie because when Paul did that, he started to laugh. Only Paul could get an entire table of black jack players to laugh.

Dave

Baseball and Basketball against Paul - there we countless number of games in the side yard and in the driveway. Dave and I always struggled to beat Paul.  (I still don't know how we managed to play baseball 2 on I but somehow we did). One day, Dad came out and decided to give us a hand. We ended up beating Paul that day for the first time and Paul couldn't argue because Dad was on our team!

Golf at Skaneateles - during the summer of 1976 our family had the opportunity to stay at our friend's house (Wait's) on Skaneateles Lake. What was great about the location was that it was only a  short walk away from Skaneateles Country Club. David was 14 at the time and I was 10. We both loved to play golf, but the biggest challenge was getting to the course. By staying at Wait's house we could walk down to the course whenever we wanted. That summer, Dave and I took full advantage of the situation. We played almost every afternoon, teed off the 3rd tee and finished up on 1I. Dave and I played together the first time he broke 40 for 9 holes,  and I broke 50.

Trip to LeMoyne -  when Dave was a freshmen at LeMoyne he invited me to spend the weekend.  Needless to say that I was able to enjoy college life to the fullest extent that weekend. We partied all night on Friday and Saturday morning, we went to the field house to play some hoops. I was playing pretty well until I suddenly didn't feel to good. I think it was something  I   ate the night before!!

Paul, Dave, Pete and Bob golf match at Drumlins - David was a member at the time and invited the three of us to play. Bob and I decided to take on Paul and Dave in a match. It was one of the most exciting matches I have ever played. The only thing we were playing for was bragging rights. It came down to the last hole. We were all square and Paul had a birdie putt to win the match. Not only did he miss the putt but he knocked it three feet by the hole. In the spirit of Jack Nickalus and Tony Jacklin in the Ryder Cup, I gave him the putt and we called it a tie. Great match!

Bob

Last but not least. Since David was much older than I when growing up, 4 years we didn't' t get a  chance to compete on the same levels at the same time. I was never quite old enough or big enough to go up to Bradford Street playground and play basketball with my older brothers. Bob on the other hand was a different story. Bob is about 2 years younger than I am, and was just old enough so that we could play all kinds of sports together. Although we only played on two organized teams together (Little League and Babe Ruth Baseball),  that  didn't  stop us  from  doing everything  else (football, basketball,  golf) In the driveway, in the backyard and even sometimes in the house!

Indoor Sports

Bob and I had quite an imagination when we grew up, especially when the weather wasn't nice enough for us to play outside. In our house there was a long hallway in the front of the house that separated the.Den and Living Room. Bob and I owned this section of real estate. What first started out as a nice place to play with toy trucks and building blocks early on in our life, soon became an indoor football, basketball hockey and golf area all the way up into our high school years.

Bob and I would use this area to play any type of sport:

Hockey - on our hands and knees using either a racket ball or a pair of rolled up socks

Basketball -  we used the area where the door would open as the basket.  Once again, racquetball or  pair of rolled up socks. We played basketball in the hallway even when we were in high school. At that point it became full contact basketball The whole in the wall behind the door is proof of  that!

Football - hands and knees. AlI of our jeans had holes in the knees because of this.

Golf- we used the little silver tray that catches golf balls. Not only did we putt in the hallway, we often started holes out in the living room.

Outdoor Sports

Baseball in the side yard- we used anything, waffle ball,  softball, hardball. The side yard took a beating.1st base was the tree next to the driveway, 2nd base was the old tether ball base, 3rd base was the walnut tree and home plate was in between the two giant pine trees. Pitcher's mound was as good as first and imaginary men were utilized when we couldn't field a full team. Bernie would sit in the window and be the umpire.  I can't tell you the number of times we would hit a line drive at the window, watch in horror as Bernie would hit the deck and then breathe a sigh of relief when the tree branches would knock the ball down.

Football and Fumbleitis in the side yard- Mom and Dad's favorite time of the year when we totally trashed the yard. I'm surprised we didn't have any broken bones from this. We would also use the side yard to practice for the Punt, Pass and Kick contest held every year in the fall.

Basketball - The basket was attached to the garage. How many nets did we go through? We played all year round. In the winter when there was snow on the ground, we would just carry the basketball and traveling was allowed. Later on when we got older we would use on old metal container (used to hold wood for the fireplace) as a stepping block so that we could slam dunk the basketball. I never understood why Bob would jump off his right foot when he went in for a layup.

Golf- we used all three yards (side, front and back). Various trees and shrubs served as holes. One hole was a par 5 that went completely around the house. We figured if you could hit the ball completely over the roof(by Bernie's apartment) you could make an eagle three. It was definitely risk/reward, if you make the shot, you get a good score and if you miss hit the ball, you could end up with a broken window.

Hockey - we had the perfect driveway for hockey. When the driveway was  plowed, we would dig a goal out of snow on each end. Often times a shot would go up over the goal and into the yard. Sometimes we would never find the ball, that is until the springtime when all of the snow would melt away. After Hockey we would take our boots off and put them down by the furnace to dry out and then go upstairs to  the kitchen for a cup of hot chocolate.

Organized Sports

"Our Greatest Game Together" - in  l978 I  was in my last   year of  Little League baseball  and Bob was in his last year of Pony League. Pony League season had finished and we were in the middle of playoff season. Our coach thought it would be a good idea if he brought up Bob for the playoffs. We were playing Byrn's Sporting Goods. It was a very tough game that would come down to the last inning. In the bottom of the 6th, we were tied and Pat Rowley led off with a single. The coach decided to put Bob in as a pinch runner mainly because Bob had a set of wheels on him! I was up and with Bob at first base, I hit one into the gap in right-center field. As I ran down the first base line, I wasn't worried about me as much as I was Bob. The last thing we needed  was for him to get thrown out at third base.  As I rounded first base, I looked over towards third anticipating a throw, but Bob wasn't there. That little son of a gun had not only made it to third, he was heading home! I literally stopped dead in my tracks to see the play at the plate. Billy Gunger had the relay and threw the ball towards home. Bob made a perfect slide and beat the play at the plate. The game was over Columbian Rope had won. All of those days together in the side yard had finally paid off.

Babe Ruth - My only championship and Bob was on my team. I pitched and played shortstop and Bob played third base.

As I relive all of my sporting memories, the one thing that I regret is not doing enough with Bob as we got older, just like my older brothers did with me.  I have been so fortunate to have done some many things with my older brothers. I missed out on some opportunities (the Masters being one) where if I had taken the time to realize the opportunity, I would have done more with him. Bob is going to be a father pretty soon and he will be a darn good one. I will definitely use our kids as a means to see each other more and give our kids the same opportunities that my Dad and older brothers have given to me.