Trending
From grades K through 9, I received my schooling at St. James School, which sat on the sight of the present Walgreen's Pharmacy on Jamestown's Prospect Street. Being that we had no playground outside our school, we made do (very well too) at what was/is called Fenton Park, which was (and still is) the site of the former home of New York Representative, Senator, and Governor, Reuben E. Fenton. Fenton was born near Frewsburg in 1819. He died in 1885 in Jamestown, and he was laid to rest in Lake View Cemetery.
Fenton Park was a nice area for outdoor lessons on warm days (no ACs in our Catholic School back then), for what many called Recess in their schools, and for outdoor P.E. classes, in our day, taught by Anthony "Tony" Milioto, who introduced us to the "Tony Chestnut" exercise, a repetitive exercise where we had to recite four body parts as we bent to touch our toes, (TOE) our knees (KNEE), our chest (CHEST), and our head (NUT), feet to head, in succession over and over until we did it the required number of times assigned. (Speaking of nuts, Fenton Park was also surrounded by Hickory Nut trees, and we'd sometimes fill our pockets with the fruit of the tree and snack on them after we got home.)
Although we didn't have many sports at St. James, we did have Football and Basketball for the Boys and Cheerleading for the girls. Mr. Milioto coached both the boys' teams. I remember football practice also being held in Fenton Park back then too.
Our home games were at Allen Park and were usually officiated by Ross Crucilla, who succeeded Coach Milioto, at St. James years later, Paul "Booter" Calannio Sr., and Basil "Cappy" Caprino, who also was a Pro Wrestling referee for television in Buffalo featuring the likes of Gorgeous George, Ilio DiPaolo, Dick "the Destroyer" Beyer, Coco Brazil, and the Gallagher Brothers, to name a few. Our road games were mostly played in Buffalo in the established league created there in the 1960s.
It's amazing how many memories are conjured up by a phone call from a friend with a mention of one detail from our shared past, which then sparks an urge to share them with as many others who were also involved in them. Just short of two weeks ago, that happened to me, and I share them now with those who were a part of the same experience.
A former schoolmate of mine at St. James called me recently. He is a veteran of the stage performance of A Cross on Calvary, a Passion Play, a former member of The Knights of the Altar (the name of our Altar Boys group), a former member of the Basketball team at St. James, and a former member of the Football team as well. We both also became members of the Jamestown School District as teachers, then he moved on to become an administrator for many years. We both coached sports for the Jamestown Public School System, and when we get a chance to catch up every now and then, it often opens up the dam to a flood of memories, and a deluge of nostalgia, passing back and forth. I'm proud to know him, and call him my friend. He is Mr. Felix Muzza.
As I said, Felix called me near a couple weeks ago and said he had been thinking about our football days playing for the St. James Green Hornets. (As time went on, the one team became three, as Coach Milioto added a "JV' team if you will, called the St. James Little Jimmies, and a "Post Graduate" parish team of post 9th graders called the Big Jimmies.)
Felix wondered if I remembered what all the letters of league we played in back in those days stood for in its name. It was a league comparable to the Jamestown Midget Football League, operating here (still today) for so many years.
I remembered the league being called the TYRO League and the league being sponsored by the Rich Dairy Products Family. The League Championship Game was eventually called "The Milk Bowl." I didn't know, though, the meaning of TYRO.
This league began in the 1960s and it ran until the mid-two thousand teens. Felix said the league began in Tonawanda and Riverside. I thought the "Y" might have meant, Youth, and the "O" might have meant, Organization, but my research couldn't pinpoint that, and the combination and sequence of letters in TYRO didn't sound right. I did go on though and find that the word tyro, as defined by Google, "is a noun that refers to a beginner, novice, or someone who is new and inexperienced in a particular subject, profession, or activity." "It stems from the Latin word tiro, which originally meant a "young soldier," or "new recruit." I kind of thought maybe the league's name might have connections with this Google definition, and the league being a beginning youth learning league, but I have no concrete evidence that could be considered proof of that notion.
Regardless of the accurate background on the name of the league, there is a group of boys [turned good OLD boys, some no longer with us (R. I. P.)] who, like me I am sure, have wonderful memories of donning their white St. James helmet with the green cross on its front (made with green electrical tape) and playing for the "little Jimmies," the "Green Hornets," and/or the "Big Jimmies," at St. James School and Parish, and a group of young ladies (now beautiful CLASSY women), who cheered their hearts out for those boys back in the glory days of St. James Football.
Thank you so much, Felix, for sparking the comeback and revisitation of some great memories we shared with so many great guys and gals at a special time in our lives, and in a special place, that will live in our hearts, forever. Since your call, I've been perusing through my memorabilia of our football banquets, our team rosters, some team pictures, class pictures, Passion Play programs. my "SJ" Letter, even my Baltimore Catechism, and other memorabilia of our "St. James Experience," and the reunions many of us have attended since our times at 10 Prospect St. in Jamestown. Great times, great people, great memories. Thank you, my friend!