Still crazy after all these years

“Stupid is as stupid does” … Overpaid, now must get a real job For the record, I had never heard of Rick Dennison. After his ridiculous move last week, no one else will ever hear of him either.  For the record, football coaches as a whole on the professional and college levels are overpaid.  However, Dennison does not have to worry about ever getting an NFL paycheck any more.  Maybe he believes that he did the right thing, and maybe he did.  For the record, he did the stupid thing.  He will never again get the kind of money that he was making as a line coach with the Minnesota Vikings.  What did he do? Perhaps he thought that he was acting out of principle. For a man who lost his wife to cancer and who tried to save her through science, this is an incredibly stupid thing for a coach to do, even if he is 63 years old and the father of two boys.  After refusing to receive a vaccine for COVID-19, Rick Dennison is out as a Minnesota Vi...

Chet Beres was a special human being … The 1968 championship QB is calling audibles from heaven On a few nights in late October 2010, I slept overnight at the Conemaugh Hospital palliative care unit. My brother, Father Jim, was clinging to life at the end of a long battle with cancer, and this unit was designed to make life easier for those in the final stages of disease — and for the families who wanted to spend their last days with their loved ones. It was at that time that while wandering through the hall, I noticed a plaque on the wall that warmed my heart, albeit in a sad way.  The palliative care unit was dedicated to Dr. Chet Beres, M.D., an advocate for those in hospice care. My mind flashed back to the Lilly Raider quarterback on the 1968 championship team, a young man who was bright, exuberant, and so popular with his teammates.  Chet went on to college at Pitt and to medical school after graduating from Penn Cambria. We knew that he was bright, but we also knew that...

Denny Lazar, a member of the 1967 team, still has his Raiders jacket 56 years later … we exploded in a great start to the season While the preseason started inauspiciously, the regular season erupted with an explosion as the Raiders rolled out to two consecutive victories. The wins over St. Aloysius of Cresson and Holy Name of Ebensburg were not close.  I have the starters listed below, to the best of my recollection, with John (Boob) Saparo the quarterback, Joe the tailback, and Dave McLucas and John Sweeney the halfbacks  We were using the offense that Jack had for his first six years, one that Coach Emil Salony used in the 1940s and 50s. After rolling to two rather easy wins, we went to Portage to face St. Joseph’s, and that game was tougher, as Joe Sweeney recalls, leading to a change in strategy, As the season progressed and we continued to having success running the ball and as the team continued to succeed (win) our confidence continued to grow, at one point ma...

The first undefeated team, 1967 … three straight undefeated seasons, four titles in six years To say that the 1967 season of the Lilly Raiders Grade School Football Team started inauspiciously would be an understatement.  The preseason was filled with question marks — big time. The talent was good, but the coaching was questionable.  The reason was that the founder of the Raiders, Jack Inman, had indicated that he would not be able to coach during the early season. That meant that he had to look for some people to coach the team during those two weeks.  That was where Paul (Butch) Erzal and I entered the picture.  Here is the recollection of that start.  Jack’s call From a previous blog post, I recalled what had happened, Jack called me about the end of July and said that he was having some health issues. He asked if I would be willing to coach the Raiders for two weeks, and then he would return. That was good with me.  He said that Butch...

1923-24 team: William ( Swites)  Wheldon, coach; Leo (Spike) Smith, Les Piper, Paul (Red) Eckenrode, Hugh Conrad, Carmen (Piggie) Iappalucci, Julius Yingling, Martin George … a little history of Lilly basketball Just 25 years after their memorable season, members of what is arguably the greatest basketball team in its history met to recalled those years.  The old clipping from 71 years ago, circa 1950s, shows members of that team and its coaches at a reunion in March. The story is one that is special because the team compiled the best record of any team in history.  The Raiders, though they were not called by that moniker in 1924, started their basketball season in 1921. My dad was one of those first players, but it was not an easy task.  The coach, or coaches According to Pennsylvania school law, the coach of any athlete had to be a professional employee, either a teacher or a principal. Therefore, an unlikely man emerged to start the program in 1921. Hi...