Nov 1, 2024
In 1962, there was a lot of optimism in Medfield over the high school football team’s prospects. Practically the whole team from the 1961 squad was back and ready to play. The freshmen of last season were now about to enter our sophomore year, but before classes began the Medfield Warriors were beginning double sessions in August just like the year before. All the sophomores had a year’s experience, and we felt confident about our chances of being much more competitive in the season of 1962. We practiced for the first couple of days in T-shirts and shorts with helmets and cleats. We all knew what was coming next on the agenda, as full equipment and contact would soon be upon us.
Like the year before, most team members knew each other, but there was one very enthusiastic and distinctive addition to the freshmen class. A new family had just moved from North Carolina into the large red brick house at corner of Main and Miller Streets, now the site of Park Street Books. Enter Graeme Justice, along with his mom, dad, and sister Leslie. As Graeme was entering his freshmen year at Medfield High School, he was hard to miss. He was a bit of a showoff, very sociable, outgoing and made friends quickly. He had a ready smile with a ruddy complexion, and he tanned up in the summer with a muscular frame.
“I don’t think people in Medfield know Graeme once had polio as a young child. He was paralyzed and spent some time in an iron lung. He now has good upper body strength, after years of physical therapy. The only lingering effect is that his right leg was just a bit thinner than his left leg,” his mom said with her musical southern twang.
Graeme was a very talented kid who we first noticed at the Medfield swim pond on Green Street, where he was a devoted member of the swim team. At Medfield High School Saturday night dances, Graeme was a big hit on the dance floor, with his hand stands and splits, which fell just short of break dancing. He even won a trophy with the words, “Medfield High’s Best Dancer” inscribed on it. Most everyone thought Graeme showed great potential as an athlete. His father was a member of the Republican National Committee. Later in the election year of 1964, Mr. Justice worked on the election campaign for Barry Goldwater. His mother was a housewife and his sister, Leslie attended the junior high school classes in the eighth grade.
Graham seemed comically boastful at times, so other players in the freshmen and sophomore classes wanted to test just how tough he really was in football practice. Some of the upperclassmen made sure they got to go up against him in the blocking and tackling sessions. One day after the morning practice, sophomore Ronnie Kerr thought he’d see if Graeme was all he claimed to be.
While everyone outside headed home for lunch, Graeme apparently said something that upset Ronnie. Ronnie shoved Graeme, and then Graeme pushed him back — and much to everyone’s surprise, he pinned Ronnie on his back, right outside the football locker room stairs on Dale Street. Ronnie struggled but couldn’t budge Graeme off him.
Graeme kept repeating he didn’t want to fight Ronnie, but he kept him pegged down long enough to make his point. Eventually, Graeme let go of Ronnie’s wrists, and the two of them stood up, shook hands, and went their separate ways.
This confrontation only seemed to add to the mystique gathering around Graeme Justice.
During practice at the Dale Street School in the final sweltering days of August ‘62, Coach Keyes had us split up into two different groups, those who would try out for backfield positions and those playing in the line. The backfield was made up of experienced players co-captain Mike Rogers, Doug Vliet, Bruce Allen, the Horgan twins, Paul Simpson, Chris Stagg, and Jeff Cook. The sophomores playing in the backfield were Donnie Clive, a halfback who would one day be the second highest scorer in the state of Massachusetts; Ricky Davidson and Peter Iafolla, both small but fast; and Joey Sabbagg, a rugged and durable fullback, a tough, punishing runner and blocker. Joey could throw a cross-body block that would drop a player twice his size. All the backfield players usually practiced at the far end of the school closest to the Memorial School under the watchful eyes of head coach Ed Keyes.
The linemen – co-captain Steve Harrison, John Miner, Billy Callachan, Jay Halloran, Michael Horgan, Ken Stockwell, Cameron Daily, Tommy Flanagan, David Clarke and Allen Dick – would practice on the left side of the practice field, a good distance away from the backfield players. Sophomore linemen included center Bobby Curry and end Craig Magnussen. They were two very talented, hard-working players who would become co-captains in the 1964 undefeated championship season. But that’s another story for another time. Bobby Emmel, Craig MacIntosh, Dave Nelson, Larry Moore, and yours truly Tim Flaherty all played the end position. The tackles were Ronnie Kerr, Wayne Limmler and Johnny Roskilly. The sophomore guards were Lee DeSorgher and Cal Fisher. Coaches Stu Langton and Burt Abel oversaw the practice of all the linemen.
In early September, the Warriors scrimmaged against Natick High School’s varsity team. Natick was a larger town than Medfield – Class B football division. At the beginning of the season, at least 100 went out for Natick’s team – a big talent pool from which the best players would be selected for the team. But in little Medfield, anyone trying out would make the team. In the years past, Medfield was lucky to have 20 players trying out for the team, with many of those players out on the field playing both offense and defense for the entire game.
So, there we were with just two weeks to go before the ’62 season got under way. The scrimmage was played at the Dale Street field. Medfield and Natick ended in a tie! The Medfield junior varsity was standing on the sidelines watching the scrimmage. In one play, a Natick halfback took the handoff and broke through Medfield’s defensive line, running up field for a possible touchdown. But from out of nowhere came Medfield’s Jay Halloran to catch the Natick player from behind. Jay just grabbed the halfback’s right foot and made a great one handed, shoestring tackle!
On the other hand, Medfield’s Donnie Clive had a bad day and fumbled three times. Coach Keyes lost his patience with Clive. Coach took a practice football and threw it to Donnie; he told him to start running laps around the entire football field, not stopping until Coach told him to. While the junior varsity watched the scrimmage from the sideline, they greeted fellow sophomore Clive with a “Hi, Donnie…bye, Donnie.” Donnie Clive never stopped jogging those laps until the end of practice, when the bus arrived to take us back to the then-new high school on Pound Street.
Start of the Season
The first game of the season was against the Medway Mustangs, a team that had beaten Medfield four straight years and had humiliated us and run up the score in 1961. But later in the ’61 season, Medfield started to get its act together, and that carried over into 1962. We defeated Medway 8 to 6! The two teams were evenly balanced, and Medfield was able to stop Medway’s last-minute scoring drive.
Second on the schedule was Grafton High School, entering its first-ever football season. Their linemen were big, and the backfield looked competitive, but inexperience was their undoing. On that hot early Saturday afternoon Medfield won, 30 to 12, finally beating another team by more than two points.
Up next was Millis High School, which had beaten Medfield for five years straight. But Millis was rebuilding, as many of the players from the previous year had graduated. Millis had just struggled to beat, 6-0, Fiskdale’s Tantasqua High School, a team that was just starting a football program in 1962.
Medfield got a jolt when Billy Toflin of Millis returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown. But not to worry, it seemed – Medfield offense scored on the next possession. But then Medfield got overconfident and sloppy. At the halftime break, Coach Keyes showed his displeasure.
“Can anybody tell me what’s going on out there?” asked Coach Keyes. Nobody dared answer the coach. He was very angry and for good reason. We all knew that we were by far the better team. But perhaps we had all underestimated Millis.
“When you all get back out onto the field, I wanna’ see some better blocking and tackling. Now let’s get out onto the field and win this game,” said Coach Keyes. And with that we all roared “Let’s go,” stood up, and charged back out onto the field. What Coach Keyes said worked; Medfield went on to beat Millis by a score of 34-14. The victory marked the first time Medfield beat Millis in five long years.
Skipper
Next up: Manchester-by-the Sea High School. That week of practice Coach Keyes told us Manchester had an NFL-sized (6’4”, 215-lb) quarterback named – I’m not making this up – Skipper Kool.
“I want you guys to know that when you hit him, you’re gonna’ have to hit him as hard as you possibly can,” Coach Keyes warned.
The game was played at 1 pm on a Saturday afternoon. Medfield received the ball and scored on the first possession. Manchester ran the ensuing kickoff up to the 50-yard line. On the very first play from scrimmage, Skipper Kool took the ball around his right end and powered his run up the sideline for a touchdown, leaving a wake of dazed and confused Medfield defenders in his path.
On Medfield’s next possession, the Warriors scored again, taking consolation in the fact that Kool didn’t play on defense as well.
On the ensuing kickoff, mindful of Keyes’ warning, Medfield’s Steve Harrison, Jay Halloran, and Michael Horgan gang-tackled Kool. Kool was slow to get up, and when he did, he returned to Medfield’s huddle instead of Manchester’s. Manchester’s coach took Kool out for the rest of the game. From that point on, Medfield was in charge for the remainder of the game and won by a score of 22 – 20.
The following week it was Hopkinton, which had a losing record but rose to the occasion and beat, 41-14, an overconfident, underperforming Medfield…our first loss of the ’62 season.
The next opponent we played was Apponequet Regional High School of Lakeville; we won an uneventful game 18 – 6 and treated our rivals to a frank and bean supper before they got on the bus to trek 40 miles back home. It proved to be our last win of the season.
We went to Leicester and should have won but came up short, 16 – 14. Coach Keyes summed up the day’s outcome with, “Today men, we didn’t lose the game to a better team. We lost because the other team wanted to win more than we did.” After the Medfield players got on the return bus, one of the Leicester players entered our bus and told us that we “should all try and overcome the loss and go out and defeat Holliston on Thanksgiving.” Although Leicester played hard to win, he told us that he wished it “hadn’t been Leicester that knocked Medfield out of standings for first place.” He was a noble, young athlete and many of the Medfield players thanked him for his kind words and wished him well.
The season ended in Holliston. We were tied into the fourth quarter. Holliston had the ball on Medfield’s 40-yard line and their quarterback dropped back to pass. Defensive safety Bruce Allen stayed with his man step for step until he suddenly slipped on the wet muddy grass and fell flat with face down. Holliston’s receiver caught the ball and ran in for their winning touchdown, handing Medfield their third and final loss of the season by 14 – 8.
We ended up at five wins and three losses, Medfield’s best season in many years. We had beaten the defending Class D Champions, Manchester, and an old nemesis in the Millis Mohawks as well as the Medway Mustangs. Perhaps just as important, the Warriors brought back Medfield football for our town and fans because we all believed we had something to prove.
Many of the players were seniors: Mike Rogers, Billy Callachan, Doug Vliet, Ken Stockwell, Cameron Daley, Steve Harrison, Jimmy and Joey Horgan, Michael Horgan, Alan Dick, and Chris Stagg.
But a lot of good players would be coming back, giving us a spirit of optimism and confidence for the fall of ‘63, with co-captains Jeff Cook and Jay Halloran leading the way to another successful football season for Medfield High School. And so it was.