Friday, February 8, 2008

Championship boys’ basketball team recalled

By Jeff Gressler Special To The Evening Times
Gatehouse News Service
Published: Friday, February 8, 2008 1:56 PM CST

LITTLE FALLS — The 2007-08 Pam Munger coached girls’ basketball team has enjoyed yet another highly successful season and is preparing for a sectional run. As noted in a recent Evening Times article, fan support has been strong. The buzz surrounding the girls’ success recalls a bygone era in Little Falls sports history of a half century ago.

The 2007-08 season marks the 50th anniversary of what many local fans still recall as the last dominant Wilbur Crisp coached boys’ basketball team. It is with this memory that this article is written.

As the 1957-58 basketball season began President Eisenhower was in his second term, the Soviets had launched Sputnik, the Little Rock Nine dragged a reluctant nation into the civil rights era and Jack Kerouac’s book On the Road was published. But here in the basketball-crazed city of Little Falls a half century ago many hearts and minds focused on something more local, the attempt by our local hoopsters to defend their sectional title against the best central New York teams. This was to be the last season of what is often times referred to as the Bob McCully era. This quest would fall just short in the finals against a much larger school from Syracuse West Genesee. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First, a little history about coach Wilbur Crisp.

The coach

Wilbur Crisp first coached in Little Falls for the 1926-27 season. His early coaching highlight was unquestionably the 1929-30 Sam Muccia led team that recorded a 21-2 record and captured the New York state basketball championship. From 1926-27 until his “first retirement” from coaching following the 1946-47 season, his Little Falls basketball teams combined for an impressive 263-127 record against the best competition that central New York had to offer. Readers interested in learning more about this early Crisp era should read Don Staffo’s book, Wilbur Crisp Coach and Inventor. When he returned to coaching for the 1953-54 season, Crisp predicted that he would produce an Iroquois League championship within five seasons. It would take him only three seasons and he would deliver three consecutive league championships and his 1956-57 team won the combined class Section III title. It is from this latter era that a number of former players were interviewed for this article.

First-hand impressions

Former player Bob MCuIIy remembers that he loved playing for Coach Crisp. He also recalls the elation of winning the overall class Section III championship in 1957 and the bitter disappointment of losing in the 1958 finals. McCully also mused about how well Crisp would relate to “today’s athlete.” Another former player, Bob McCumber, compares Crisp’s demanding three-hour practice sessions to his experiences in army boot camp. McCumber and his former teammate, Bob Kane, remember Crisp teams as being extremely well-conditioned and also how well their coach prepared them for each opponent. Overall team speed and outside shooting accuracy also were team hallmarks. Team member Gary Gregorka recalls Crisp’s constant attention to basketball fundamentals and innovation, including his fast break style of play and his use of the four comer stall Pittsburgh offense in the closing minutes of a close game when Little Falls was ahead. He also stressed team play above any individual accomplishment. Crisp was a coach ahead of his time. Former team manager and player, Gary Grabinski, fondly remembers Coach Crisp coaching practice sessions from the balcony of the Benton Hall gymnasium with whistle and megaphone in hand. He would stop play frequently to instruct players. Enough about the coach for now, what about those two magical seasons of the McCully era?

Little Falls Basketball 1955-58

The three consecutive Iroquois League championships began when Don Churchill led 1955-56 squad. The team won the league title with a 9-1 record and went 13-5 overall. Unfortunately, their season ended with a close 59-55 sectional loss to a tough New Hartford team. Disappointment yes, but the stage was set. The 1956-57 team started Paul Mosny at point guard, the 6-10 center McCully, Jim Brown, John Pawtoski and Ralph Carpenter. Jim Aekerman, Bob Kane, Gary Grabinski, Joe Cotter, Bob Cinquanta, Bob McCumber, Tom Paracka and Bob Miller rounded out the team. This team would repeat as Iroquois League champions with a 9-1 mark, recording double wins over Herkimer, Mohawk, Norwich and Oneonta, and a split with a tough Ilion team.

Crisp believed that for his players and teams to excel they needed to play against high level competition. This principle was in evidence as the 1956-57 team posted non-league wins over Utica Free Academy, Mount Pleasant, Nott Terrace (Linton High School), Utica Catholic Academy and Gloversville. They lost close games to Proctor and Mount Pleasant. Along the way, Brown broke the city scoring record by pouring in 42 points against Mohawk. LFHS prevailed in the always emotionally charged city championship game against St. Mary’s Academy. McCully scored 32 points and was the game MVP. The team’s rigorous regular season record was 15-3 and the stage was set for their sectional run to follow.

The Mounties defeated five teams en route to the Section III finals: Holland Patent, Ilion, New Hartford and Norwich. Next up would be the powerful Onondaga League champion Marcellus in a game played before 3,300 fans at the Onondaga War Memorial in Syracuse. The Mounties squeaked out a 62-61 win with McCully scoring 25 points. They were the Section III Class A-B champions and all that remained was the overall championship game against the outmatched class C-D champion Cherry Valley. The locals rolled to an easy 59-40 win and the overall sectional crown was theirs. The rigorous practices, excellent preparation and contests against top-flight opponents had yielded the ultimate prize possible at this time as teams did not advance beyond regional play.

One can only guess at how far this team might have gone if state level championships were played. A victory parade and banquet, with Boston Celtic great, Tommy Heinson, as guest speaker, capped off the magical 1956-57 season. The Little Falls Mounties were the best of the 110 teams in Section III. Elation had been realized but, unfortunately, bitter disappointment would end the 1957-58 season.

Despite losing several starters to graduation, the 1957-58 team entered the season with high expectations of defending their Section III title. The team would once again center around McCully who would be teamed with Gary Gregorka, Tommy Paracka, John Pawloski and Joe Cotter as the other starters. Other team members were Mike Bice, John Simpson, Bob Brown, Bob Miller, Jim Cramer, Gary Irving, Doug Ackerman and Don Clingen. The team would go undefeated in Iroquois League play, capturing a third straight title. They also would win the city championship game against the St. Mary’s Gaels with McCully establishing a new city scoring record with 43 points. The team would record an overall record of 14-3 and they were all set to defend their hard won sectional title of a year earlier.

With McCully, Gregorka and Paracka leading the way, the Mounties rolled through their first four sectional games against New York Mills, Mohawk, UFA and Norwich. For the Section III Class A-B championship, the locals were paired against Syracuse West Genesee. The Crisp-coached squad led by 15 points entering the fourth quarter and with five minutes to play, they held the same lead. But then the bottom fell out.

Gregorka remembers West Genesee employing a zone press defense which Crisp had difficulty recognizing and adjusting to and the Mountie lead slipped away amidst the ball handling turnovers. The unraveling intensified following a hotly disputed fifth foul call against McCully with around four minutes to play. Team manager Eddie Battisti recalls that the usual game time disciplined demeanor of Coach Crisp disappeared in the wake of the “blown call.” His star player had fouled out and Crisp was almost thrown out of the emotionally-charged game. The final score was 71-64 in favor of West Genesee. A second consecutive Section III title was not to be. The elation of the 1956-57 season was replaced by the taste of bitter defeat ending the 1957-58 season. The McCully era was over at LFHS, but the sweetness of the 50-year-old fond memories still remains for many of the Little Falls basketball faithful.

Same era - SMA

No recalling of this bygone era in Little Falls sports history would be complete without also remembering the excellent teams put on the court by St. Mary’s. The mid to late 1950s SMA teams were coached by later NBA coach Hubie Brown and centered around the stellar play of Dar Muccia and Bill McEvoy. The Gaels won the 1956-57 and 1957-58 Mohawk Valley League championships and were competitive against much larger schools from UFA and Amsterdam High School. They finished second in both seasons in the prestigious New York State Catholic School Tournament. Perhaps the highlight of the 1957-58 season was McEvoy’s breaking the city scoring record with a 55 point performance against St. Johnsville. The 1959 city championship game was won by the Gaels behind 38 points by Jack McCarthy. Two outstanding teams playing in Little Falls during the same 50 years ago era, truly a basketball fan’s dream.

How good were they?

Just how good were these players and teams? The 1,200 plus fans who routinely crammed themselves into the LFHS/Benton Hall gym, the hundreds of SMA faithful who were packed like sardines into their bandbox third floor gym and the many more who listened to the games on radio, certainly were treated to good basketball. But, how did these LFHS and SMA players later fare at the collegiate level?

This list has to once again begin with Bob McCully who was a three-year starter for nationally ranked Division I power St. Bonaventure. He also was drafted in the second round by the NBA Syracuse Nationals. Paul Mosny was a three-year starter for the University of Florida. Bill McEvoy led his University of Buffalo team in scoring in his senior year and played in the Division I NCAA tournament. Jim Palmer played at LaSalle. Dar Muccia was one of the all time scoring leaders for Utica College. Gary Gregorka started for Ithaca College. Other LFHS and SMA players from this era also played college basketball. The 12 month, seven-days-a-week dedication of many of these athletes, the excellent coaching of Crisp and John Mosny, who instructed basketball at the YMCA, which some recall as the “incubator of local basketball talent,” and the high level of opponents, yielded a virtual parade of local quality players. Fifty years ago and still worth noting and celebrating. In a mythical Little Falls sports hall of fame many of these names would certainly be enshrined.

We will have to leave it to the ages whether the 1929-30 state championship team or the 1956-58 McCully era teams would prevail in a dream match up.