You never know what to expect when opening a piece of mail addressed to you personally at the Greenfield Recorder newsroom.
This was no ordinary letter, however.
“We are two young at heart ladies who graduated in 1952 and have an amazing sports story to tell you,” it began, scribbled in very neat cursive on lined paper.
Take that sentence in for a moment. So much said in just a few words, and to a fella like me, who has a particularly keen interest in historical tales of the Franklin County sporting community, I was immediately on board. Perhaps the only way that letter was going to get better was if the words “free beer” followed.
The note was signed by Priscilla and Patty, and a phone number was attached to follow up. That’s exactly what I did last week, and Priscilla Rittall LaLonde picked up on the second ring.
“Oh, I’m so glad you called,” she gushed after introducing myself over the phone.
LaLonde and twin sister Patricia Rittall Lanfair were members of Greenfield High School’s Class of 1952.
There have been many outstanding athletic years at the school. Few can rival the 1951-52 campaign.
“It was a season in sports at Greenfield High School you will never see again,” the letter read. “We were witnesses to this great sport season at our school. The young men who played on those teams played hard, listened to their coaches and received four trophies for all their hard work.
“Please tell the story of an amazing group of young men who brought joy to our school.”
The autumn wind swept through Greenfield, and the town’s football team rode it to such great heights.
Before 5,000 fans at Mackenzie Stadium in Holyoke, the Greenies dusted the hometown Purple Knights, 13-0, on Nov. 17. Archie Roberts’ club couldn’t find the scoreboard against Greenfield’s vaunted defense, and touchdowns from Charlie Harris and Jimmy Budrewicz gave the visitors their first Western Massachusetts Class A title since 1946.
The win saw Greenfield improve to 8-1 on the season, champions of the Valley League. Their lone loss came to eastern Mass. powerhouse Weymouth, 32-6.
“We were the only team that scored on Weymouth in like three years,” Class of 1952 member Dean Chickering told the Recorder’s Ace Kelley in a 2002 article. “They were the champs of eastern Mass. for two years in a row when we played them.”
Greenfield’s 10.8 power rating was a hair better than No. 2 Agawam (7-1, 10.5), while Cathedral sat in the No. 3 ranking at 7-1-1, 9.55. The combination of having the highest rating, mixed with a convincing 26-0 win over Agawam during the regular season had Greenfield alone as Valley League champs.
Coach Carl “Ump” Nichols’ team had another game left however. The veteran head coach, the man for whom the school’s gymnasium is named after, wasn’t going to be satisfied unless Greenfield handled its business on Thanksgiving Day against rival Turners Falls.
On a chilly Nov. 22 at Sheff Field, the Greenies did just that. Harris, Budrewicz and Billy Lewis all found the end zone, and 4,000 fans watched Greenfield add another shutout to its impressive resume behind a 20-0 win over the Powertown.
Don “Moose” Godzinski won the Western Mass. scoring title for Greenfield, scoring nine touchdowns to help ring up a total of 57 points.
Six members of the team earned All-WMass honors that season while co-captain Lewis, an offensive end, was selected to the National High School Football All-American team, that year’s only WMass player to receive the honor.
As Valley League champions, Greenfield earned the right to represent Massachusetts in the annual Peanut Bowl on New Year’s Day in Columbus, Ga. The Peanut Bowl, a high school variation on the major bowl games of the day — Rose, Cotton, Sugar and Orange — was created by Lon Gammage, president of the Exchange Club of Columbus, Ga. Its inaugural tilt took place in 1948, pitting a Western Mass. team against the AAA champion of Georgia, and the rivalry lasted five years.
Greenfield’s 1951 team did not accept a bid to the game however. The Greenies declined, reportedly because their African-American players were not welcomed to participate in the event held below the Mason-Dixon Line, according to LaLonde.
“They called Ump on the phone, invited our team to Georgia but not the whole team,” recalled LaLonde. “He was so insulted because we didn’t feel that way up here. He said, ‘No, these three black players are part of our team and they helped us win that championship. If they can’t come, we’re staying home.’”
In the pages of the Recorder, the school board announced that it was their decision to decline the invitation.
Instead, second-ranked Agawam accepted a bid, and the Brownies upended Richmond Academy of Augusta, Ga., 20-12, on Jan. 1, 1952.
Check Saturday’s edition of the Recorder for Part II.