Good morning!
West Deerfield native Erik Abramson wasn’t surprised to hear UCLA had lured football coach Bob Chesney away from JMU to coach the Bruins for five years and $33.75 million. The former Frontier quarterback played two seasons for Chesney when they were at Assumption University in Worcester. After the first team meeting he called his father and said, “I’ve never met a coach like him, this guy is going places.”
Chesney is in Oregon today to coach the Dukes against the heavily favored Ducks in the first round of the CFP playoffs and will leave for LA at season’s end.
Born and raised in a small Pennsylvania town west of I-81 between Scranton and Harrisburg, Chesney attended nearby Dickinson College, majored in religion and was an All-Conference defensive back.
His climb up the coaching ladder began as a grad assistant at Norwich University in Vermont, and from there he grabbed assistant coaching gigs at Delaware Valley State, Kings College and Johns Hopkins.
Salve Regina in Newport gave him his first opportunity to run his own program, followed by head coaching stints at Assumption, Holy Cross and JMU. His overall record was 132 – 51 when UCLA came calling.
Assumption was coming off a 3-7 season when Chesney was hired in 2013. “We had a lot of talent but we’d always find ways to lose,” said Abramson. “We’d be ahead and give it away.”
The players got their first look at Chesney when they were introduced to him by the athletic director. “He was buttoned up in a suit and tie,” Abramson remembered. “It was different from what we were used to.
“It started with the culture, not just on game days but in the classroom and in campus activities and the local community. He wanted us to be more than players, he wanted us to become phenomenal husbands and fathers.”
Abramson said team discipline was mostly “player-led” but that Chesney had a unique way of dealing with those who were late to a team meeting or missed a class. The offending player would roll a dice to determine his punishment. A snake eye meant he’d do a 100-yard sprint, a boxcar meant he’d do six.
“‘You have the freedom of choice,’ he’d tell us. ‘You don’t have the freedom of consequence’ and that stuck with me.”
The Greyhounds finished 6-5 in Chesney’s first season, and 7-4 the next. Abramson started at safety and played all 22 games, finishing second in tackles and making Second Team All Conference both years.
“He’s a defensive minded guy. I loved his aggressive schemes a lot more than our vanilla schemes of previous years. He’s a great tactician. He was fun to talk the game with, especially with his ability to talk x’s and o’s.”
Abramson and his wife live in Boston where he works in health care technology sales. Last month they drove to Harrisonburg and watched James Madison come from behind to beat Washington State, 24-20, on a 58-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter.
Abramson quickly realized when they met afterward that success hadn’t spoiled their friendship. “He was still the same guy I remember walking into the first team meeting.”
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Longtime reader and contributor Doug Stotz asked if he could write a few words about the passing of his childhood friend and former GHS hoop star Bruce Cannon, so here goes:
“GHS grads of a certain age mourn Bruce Cannon, who passed away before Thanksgiving at age 65 in Kansas City, Missouri. An outstanding basketball player, Bruce was the only junior starter on the 1978 club under Bill Beauregard that made it to the WMass Finals. There, they ran into the buzzsaw that was Springfield Commerce and future Minnesota Gopher star Mark Hall.
“Joining Bruce on the court were Bill Zwemke, the late Joey Andrews, Steve Call, and Artie Belanger. Cannon was named captain the following season and started alongside Jay Rice, Larry Wall, current Harvard Baseball coach Bill Decker, and the late Scott Woodcock.
“Bruce was beloved by his classmates and teammates alike. At the time of his illness, he was seeking to move home to Greenfield. Instead, his brother, Dr. Mark Cannon of Overland Park, KS., will bring his ashes home for a remembrance ceremony this spring.”
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Sadly we bid adieu to another former member of the Franklin County community. Ed Dornig died on Dec. 6 in Nashua, New Hampshire, from “complications of advanced Alzheimer’s Disease.”
An enthusiastic automobile lover and stock car racing enthusiast, Ed did a radio show on WHAI and wrote a regular racing column for the Recorder. He was an IRS agent — “Don’t tell anyone” he’d say— but his only power trip was behind the wheel at Monadnock Speedway in Winchester.
Condolences to his wife Laurie, the former Orange clerk magistrate, their daughter Bethany and the rest of his family.
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My grandson Carter came off the bench for TFHS junior varsity coach Jat Liimatainen on Monday and rang up a basket against Mohawk. Nobody gets out of the gym without bumping into George Bush who’s always got a story to report.
Somehow Father Stan’s name came up, short for Father Stan Askamit of Our Lady of Peace Church. “Best student I ever had,” said George, who will turn 100 in ten months. “He graduated No. 1 in his class at Holy Cross.”
A few feet away, Montague Reporter photographer Dave Hoitt pointed to a student who was standing near the concession table and said Olivia Wolbach was “one to watch” on the TFHS tennis court.
Meanwhile TFHS AD Jen Luciano confirmed that the swimming pool had been renamed in honor of former coach Wes Snapp who died in Florida two months ago at age 92. It is now the Wes Snapp Aquatic Center.
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SQUIBBERS: Ohio University fired football coach Brian Smith this week for stashing a bottle of bourbon in his office and sharing an occasional drink with his assistants. You’ve got to be kidding, even Lou Grant kept a bottle in his drawer at WJM-TV. … WFAN’s Chris Russo says he wouldn’t watch Travis and Jason Kelce’s “New Heights” podcast “if it was in my living room. I’m not interested in breaking down Taylor’s new album. … “Down goes Dartmouth!” yelled UNH TV’s Andrew Gardner on Sunday after Brendan Fitzgerald’s overtime goal snapped the Big Green’s 11-game win streak. It was only the North Reading native’s second goal in 78 collegiate games. … The Post’s Phil Mushnick got a note from a Delay Beach resident saying he’d canceled the annual bus trip he planned each spring for 50 seniors to watch the Mets host the Yankees in Port St. Louis because tickets that cost $37 last year had been “dynamically priced” up to $131. … After back-to-back losses by Kentucky to North Carolina and Gonzaga, the headline for Front Office Sports declared: “Kentucky’s $22 Million Basketball Roster Looks Like a Dud.” … Former Bruin Brad Marchand has 19 goals and 18 assists in 32 games for the Panthers. It might go down as one of the worst trades in Bruins history considering it only cost the Panthers a conditional second round draft pick. … The ACC released its conference football schedule this week and BC will host Florida State, Pitt, Syracuse, and Virginia Tech, dates and times TBA. The MAC doesn’t release its conference gridiron schedule until the end of February. … A VICE-TV documentary about diva wideouts quotes former Bengals coach Lovey Smith saying Chad Johnson “crossed the line” when he donned a warm up jacket that said “Future Hall of Famer” on the back. “He cost a young fellow his job,” said Smith. “One of the ball boys [got fired] because the coat got to the sideline.” … That’s all for now except to say Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and pray for the Red Sox.