Back in that fantastic summer of 1960 (they're all fantastic when you're 12), my pals and I were eagerly awaiting the opening kickoff of the Attleboro High School football season. At that stage of our lives, our most immediate heroes were the local high school athletes and sports figures in general, although in my own particular case, a presidential hopeful named Kennedy was quickly making inroads as my interests broadened.
Our appreciation of sports had grown. Though we wildly cheered our hometown heroes, we had learned to value a virtuoso performance by an opponent as well. Over the course of that summer, we speculated on and anticipated the Attleboro-Mansfield game, promising the matinee matchup of Attleboro's hard-running dynamo halfback, Jim Gravel, and Mansfield's human howitzer shell, fullback Ron Gentili. Longtime area gridiron fans know they both may justifiably be considered among the top premier schoolboy running backs of the latter 20th century.
The entry below, written by Doug Reed, leapfrogs Gentili's Boston College years, focusing on the Boston Patriots training camp, appeared July 26, 1966, in The Attleboro Sun.
ANDOVER - A slightly obese man dressed in a gray T-shirt and a pair of drooping blue shorts was barking orders.
"Okay you guys, hustle over here; anyone who lags does 10 laps."
About 30 first-class specimens of manhood jaunted to the older man. One of the 30 was impressing Sun district football fans less than five years ago with feats of grandeur. Ron Gentili is now training with the Boston Patriots.
It was the Patriot's rookie camp, and Gentili, along with those 29 others, are seeking spots on the roster. Ron was perhaps overshadowed by the antics at Philips Exeter Academy of one John Huarte, who was signed for a $200,000 bonus by the New York Jets, then traded Boston's way during the off-season after spending a year on the bench. He looks good. He's playing like a quarterback should. He'll make the roster.
For Ron Gentili, the row is a bit rougher to hoe. He shined as a quarterback and fullback for the Hornets, and he also scampered in the Boston College backfield, drawing offers from the Patriots and the Cowboys of Dallas. Now, he's fighting for a backfield slot again., but this time on defense. The Mansfield High Hornets certainly remember Gentili; he isn't going to be easy to forget! In '59 as a sophomore, Ron carried 700 yards in 100 trips as a fullback. He scored 100 points as the signal caller there the following year and returned to fullback for 108 points in his senior year.
Attleboro remembers him well, also. He scored two touchdowns in a 16-14 triumph over the previously undefeated Bombardiers, racing 80 yards for one score and 14 for the other. But baseball was his favorite. As a pitcher in 1962, he threw left and hit right - as right as anyone could. His junior year, Gentili compiled a .358 batting average and in his senior year, he hit. 435. Boston College lured him. He was a three-year letterman there, filling in as quarterback and halfback. One Boston sportswriter named him All-New England last season.
Right now, Ron has a tough job at Andover. He arrived at camp last Tuesday and has been rushing through drills twice daily in preparation for the rookie game against the Jets tomorrow. There have been two squad cuts so far. Ron is still hustling. The Pats' director of public relations, Gerry Moore, has Ron listed at 205 pounds." I'm 212 or so now," Gentili confessed. "But I'll get down there."
This is the biggest team in the Patriots' brief history. "I think I can make it," Ron said." I'm going to give it all I can."
Meanwhile, Gentili is engaged. His wedding plans do not have a definite date as yet; he'll have to wait and see what develops here. He'll know more after tomorrow - and, he'll still be hustling.
The eagle-eyed Mr. Hardt came across this result of a Church School Division basketball contest from December of 1966: St. John's 97, Murray Universalist 2! We agreed that had we played in that game, regardless of which team we had been on, we would have wanted to completely forget it at the final whistle.
A grand tip of the old Irish Scally cap to successful outgoing coach Natalie Ferrara and her AHS cheerleading squad for winning the co-ed varsity national title at the U.S. Spirit Nationals competition in Orlando, Fla.
Hardly is the cap back on me head than I have to doff it yet again to AHS coach Richard Seibert and varsity co-captains Joe Curti and Ari Nerenberg and their squad for capturing the state gymnastics championship in Braintree.
Job well done to AHS junior student-athletes Tim Rement, Tim Christensen, Matt Elliott, Elizabeth Gulino, Sarah Nordberg and Kimberly Runey for receiving the MIAA Student-Athlete Citizenship Award.
Congratulations to Blessed Sacrament School, 5th and 6th grade division champions for the Boston Archdiocese, skinning St. Anthony's of Everett 47-29.
Kudos to longtime North Attleboro High School wrestling coach Wayne Griffin for his induction into the Rhode Island Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Sincere condolences to the families of Roger Legere, Stanley Grant and Millie Riviello, friends all. Rest in peace goes out to one of the world's greatest entertainers, Mickey Rooney - vaya con Dios...
Please be good to one another out there and practice the Golden Rule always. Peace.
Thomas McAvoy's commentaries appear Tuesdays in The Sun Chronicle.
