Ramapo High’s Championship Baseball Team Takes 46-Year Time Machine Ride To School’s Hall of Fame Induction Event
ADVERTISEMENT
Shop at Jay’s Market at 190 East Flamingo Road at the Koval Lane intersection east of the Strip.
ADVERTISEMENT
By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — It was May 20 and at 3:38 PM I was working at my home desk when the phone rang.
“Carl Wolfson,” the cell phone said.
I had not talked with Carl for 46 years.
We were good friends from high school and we played on the Ramapo baseball team that surprised Rockland County north of New York to win the county championship in 1979. Carl was the starting catcher while I manned third base. Our friendship dated back to junior high.
The local newspaper in Rockland picked us to finish eighth out of 11 schools. We ended up winning more games that season than any other Ramapo baseball team.
More than four decades later, I still smile about that championship squad.
Eight of our 17 wins were comeback victories, including two hellacious wins over two terrific baseball teams.
We defeated Clarkstown North, 13-12, after we were down, 11-0, in the sixth inning.
A few games later, we beat a talented Nanuet team, 8-7, after we trailed, 7-2, to the county’s best pitcher, Kurt Lundgren, to clinch a tie for the Rockland County championship. I scored the winning run in the bottom of the last inning against Nanuet thanks to a perfect bunt by outfielder Pat Fucci and then a line-drive, game-winning single by our star shortstop, Andre Jacas. The very next day, we knocked off another good team, Clarkstown South, 3-1, to win the county title. We had won 17 of our first 19 games to claim the Public School Athletic League (PSAL) championship. It was Ramapo coach Fred Bloom’s third county baseball title in four years.
Carl had called to chat about our 1979 team being inducted into the Ramapo High School Sports Hall of Fame in October.
“You have to come,” Carl told me. “Let’s face it, if you don’t come, you’ll never see these guys.”
With reasoning like that, I didn’t have a choice.
Four months after Carl’s call, I was sitting with guys in their 60s in Rockland County with memories of their faces when they were 17 and 18 years old.
*
Carl was right.
When would I see the boys of 1979 if not at the high school hall of fame induction event Oct. 18?
I despise airports and jet travel. I find the stress awful. I drive everywhere in the western U.S., from my home base in Las Vegas to places like Seattle, Denver and LA.
But the Elks Lodge hall in Pearl River, NY was 2,500 miles away, too far away to drive.
I sucked it up and booked flights and a rental car.
Carl and I had talked for an hour and 18 minutes on that late afternoon in May.
We swapped so many funny stories and memorable anecdotes from our Cinderella season.
Carl and I talked again two months later during the summer. The game plan was for our team to meet for dinner at Nanuet Restaurant, a casual Italian eatery, on the Friday before the Saturday HoF induction ceremony.
It was game on for a reunion after 46 years.
*
As soon as I saw Carl at his condo in Ramsey, NJ, maybe a half-hour or so from our old high school, we began gabbing away, our chat filled with lively banter and laughs before our team-only dinner Oct. 17.
We talked about how amazing our season turned out to be back in 1979 when our team used solid frontline pitching, steady defense and timely hitting to win the county title. The team hit only two homeruns, but the Gryphons put the ball in play and everyone contributed.
Sixteen fellas out of a school of 2,000 students. I did not fathom the significance of it all at the time, but that championship season turned out to be a sweet life landmark event. There was a great line in the last episode of the TV comedy show. The Office, when a fictional character, Andy Bernard, said during a reflective moment, “I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you’ve actually left them.”
I was a 17-year-old high school senior at the time. I didn’t fully appreciate how special the accomplishment was and what it would mean for me later in life. We had shocked the world, even if our world was a New York City suburban county filled with good high school baseball players and teams.
Carl was a fantastic catcher, a gritty, hustling ballplayer who was our “Player’s Player.” The dude hit .320 and blossomed under coach Bloom. We had a talented pitcher in Tony Pelio, a lefthander with a wicked curveball, balanced by our other ace, a bulldog strike-throwing righthander, Marc Stockman. We had other good starters like Eddie Moss, Wayne Fabbri and Lenny Adametz. Our second baseman, Ron Malin, drove in 23 runs in 22 games, and Joe Pagano, was a gifted centerfielder and talented hitter. Both Tony and Ron were among the ten Ramapo athletes inducted into the school’s HoF Oct. 18.
There was Howie Suckle at first base and DH, our friendship born in elementary school. Bobby Conklin, the versatile and talented number 20, played anywhere and was a big contributor. Fucci, our reliable outfielder, traveled from Boca Raton, Florida, while Les Saland, who played 2B, came from Tampa for our reunion. It was great to see outfielder Gene Badolato, as humble a dude as you will find, and, of course, Andre, the shortstop. We manned the left side of the infield. We missed infielder Vinnie Favia. Of the 16 of us on that roster, 11 attended the induction dinner.
Carl and I chuckled that at the end of our senior year in 1979, the school principal, Howard Jacobs, had one final gathering of the senior class in the auditorium to wrap up the year. At the end of his talk, he congratulated the baseball team for winning the county crown and asked that team members stand. A few of us stood and I heard a few claps echo through the big room.
It took only 46 years for the boys to receive our flowers.
*
The Friday dinner with seven of us plus coach was a tremendous opening act to the Saturday HoF event, which drew more than 275 people and lasted four hours from 6-10 PM. Four more of the boys were in attendance Saturday. After 46 years, the band was back together. Well, most of it.
It was a time machine experience as mini-reunions broke out in the big dinner room. Even coach Bloom’s wife, Barbara, who attended our games, was there to share memories from 1979.
A big thank you and tip of the Ramapo cap to HoF committee member Tony Russo, who worked hard with his fellow selfless committee members to put on the event. We were among the four teams that were inducted after the ten Ramapo athletes drew their honors.
It was cool to see Tony, our great southpaw pitcher who was a helluva competitor, and Ron, the clutch run-producing second baseman, get recognized for their hall of fame awards. During Tony’s speech, he singled out Carl for being a terrific battery mate. It was a nice touch.
I could tell how much the weekend meant to Carl.
I’m glad I traveled to see that.
And I was proud to share the stage with the boys. I’m the goofball wearing the same green-and-gold Ramapo ballcap I wore from 46 years ago.
So many years had passed, but the hugs, laughs and stories bridged the time gap.
Our coach looked great. Fred looked fit as he approached 80. It’s hard to believe he was just 34 years old when he led this bunch of teenagers to a Rockland title.
Several good friends have died this past year, so I’m more focused on squeezing as much life as I can out of every day now.
And that meant seeing the fellas from that wonderful, crazy and memorable spring of 1979.
Addendum: After the team received its Hall of Fame plaque, it went missing. You will notice our post-ceremony team photo does not include the HoF plaque. If you stumble upon a 1979 Ramapo High School HoF baseball plaque, please contact coach Fred Bloom.
