Area's gridiron rivalries were glorious in the 1950s
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Fred Sullivan Sports Rap

Last Friday evening, the Wildcats of Gardner High School and the Red
and Gray of Fitchburg High met on Watkins Field to renew their ancient
and honorable gridiron rivalry, which began during the last years of
the 19th century. Contrary to popular opinion, I did not attend that
initial contest in 1895, but have had the good fortune to watch many
of those Cats and Raider contests, particularly in the 1950s and
60s.

It was a very different time as the 1958 gridiron season
approached. Factories like Crocker-Burbank, General Electric, Simonds
Saw and Steel, Hedstrom Union and Independent Lock in Fitchburg and
Hayward-Wakefield, Florence Stove, Nichols and Stone Furniture,
Conant-Ball and S. Bent and Brothers in Gardner employed thousands of
workers, and everyone seemed to have enough money to put food on the
table. Unemployment was nonexistent, and if you worked in any of these
factories, you usually got plenty of overtime.

Main Street America could be found in Fitchburg and Gardner, only in
Gardner they called it Parker Street. Each community had its large
department store, where families could buy hats for Easter, toys for
Christmas and jewelry for anytime of the year. In Gardner it was
Goodnow-Pearson, while Fitchburg had Parke-Snow, found on the corner
of Oliver and Main.


On Friday nights you could take your best girl to the Mohawk Drive-In
in Gardner, while Fitchburg teenagers could go to the Tri-Town or the
Whalom Drive-In. Both towns had the Woolworth stores where you could
really buy things for a nickel or a dime.

But only Fitchburg had the Fitchburg Lunch, where all the kids met
after the Saturday afternoon football games, and just about every
afternoon after school. No wonder there were hundreds of people
congregating along Main and Parker Streets on any Friday evening,
particularly in the fall when everyone eagerly awaited that Saturday
afternoon football game played by the beloved hometown team.

The Red and Gray, under Coach Ed Sullivan, had endured some tough
seasons during the mid-1950s, but they were beginning to re-emerge
under Sully and a young assistant named Jim Meredith. Meanwhile, down
in the Comb City, Coach Charlie Broderick continually put strong
squads on the gridiron against a challenging schedule which included
Brookline, Arlington and Nashua, along with Gardner and Fitchburg.

But the 1950s truly belonged to Coach Walt Dubzinski and the
Wildcats. Using the old-fashioned single-wing offense with huge
linemen of Polish descent, the Cats rolled through the
opposition. They were truly awe-inspiring as they rolled onto Stone
Field on Saturday afternoons before a packed crowd of Wildcat
faithful, with nearly 100 players. Even their water boys looked big in
the 50s! Gardner High also had the luxury during this era of
getting kids from surrounding towns like Westminster, Hubbardston,
Ashburnham and Phillipston who could bring glory to Gardner
High. There were no regional schools like Oakmont or Narragansett in
the 50s.

The 1958 Gardner Wildcats would be Walter Dubzinski's greatest
squad, and truly one of the greatest ever seen in the
region. Fitchburg had the 1933 team led by Bill Mackie, which went
11-0 and was declared state champion by the Boston Globe's Jerry
Watson, and Leominster High had Ronnie Cahill's Blue Devils of 1932
and 1933, which only lost once in two years while facing the best in
the state. But Gardner had the Wildcats of 1958.

Led by an awe-inspiring 160-pound offensive guard named Ed Nobrega,
the Wildcat line, which also included Stan Gemborys, Dave Bujnicki,
Bud Smith and Bob Dill, dominated the opposition while the
Wildcats' backfield of Paul Hagen, Ron LeBlanc, Johnny Mims and
Walt Dubzinski Jr. ran Coach Dubzinski's single-wing offense with
the precision of a Swiss watch. The defense, with most of the same
players plus kids like Ray Stewart and Tommy Ryan, was just as
dominant. In nine contests in 1958, the Wildcats held eight opponents
scoreless while they scored 216 points. Think about that for a minute.

That gets us back to the Gardner-Fitchburg game of 1958. The Red
Raiders were no slouches themselves. Led by a pile-driving fullback
named Roger Kielty, FHS had opened its season with two easy victories,
and then they traveled to Holman Stadium to take on the mighty Purple
Panthers of Buzz Harvey on a warm October evening. Under the
lights of Holman, the Raiders were overwhelmed by Nashua in the first
half, but kids named Brian Sullivan, Alan Muir, Dana Valiton, Ronnie
Thompson, John DiGeronimo and many others had rallied and played
mighty Nashua even in the second half. Sometimes a defeat can make a
team stronger.

So the Raiders and their supporters were confident as they traveled to
the Chair City to take on Walt Dubzinski's Wildcats. A whirlwind
awaited! The Wildcat single-wing offense reminded many of the WWII
veterans of Patton's tank corps heading toward Berlin in 1945. John
Mims was throwing crack-back blocks which were killing the Raiders on
the powerful sweeps, and Walt Jr. and Paul Hagen were ripping off huge
runs up the middle as Gardner dominated. Bob Dill, who would later
play at the University of Miami at 175 pounds, harassed FHS' Ronnie
Thompson throughout the afternoon, and Kielty’s power running was
completely stymied. When the dust settled it was Gardner 32, Fitchburg
0. Fitchburg would pick itself up off the mat and have a solid season
which would be capped by an outstanding Thanksgiving victory over
LHS. What about the Wildcats on Thanksgiving morning? In a titanic
struggle, they knocked off Nashua 13-7 in a game for the ages.

So when I picked up my Telegram and Gazette on Saturday morning and
saw that the young Red Raiders of FHS had defeated GHS 21-0, my mind
could not help but wander back to that very special team who
represented the Chair City so many years ago. Three yards and a cloud
of dust; the Wildcats were something to behold.



Fitchburg High School Athletics and Competition Home Page