Page 12 Thursday, April 22, 2010 The Westfield Leader and The Scotch Plains – Fanwood TIMES A WATCHUNG COMMUNICATIONS, INC. PUBLICATION

A.D. Tranchina Has ServedWestfield H. S. With Class

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11

Devil’s Den

By BRUCE JOHNSONSpecially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times

Journey Into the Past:A Look at WHS, 1960

(Note: This is the second of a three-part series on WHS sports history;Last week we looked at 1935, todayit’s 1960, and next week will be 1985.)

As Westfield headed into the 1960s,it had almost doubled in size, from justunder 16,000 in 1930 to over 31,000 in1960. And it was like much of America… seemingly peaceful, blissful, livingthe “Happy Days” era of the ’50s. Butbeneath that serene surface, there wasmuch simmering. Here are just someof the goings-on of 1960:

Adolph Coors, head of the famousbrewing company, is kidnapped andlater killed. … A Soviet missle shootsdown an American spy plane, pilotedby Francis Gary Powers. … “To Kill aMockingbird,” a controversial bookby Harper Lee, is released. … RichardM. Nixon and Henry Cabot Lodge arethe Republican president/vice presi-dent nominations. … The Beatles be-gin a 48-night run at a club in Ham-burg, Germany. … Cassius Clay (laterMuhammad Ali) wins the Olympicheavyweight gold medal in Rome. …The first televised presidential debatebetween J.F. Kennedy and Nixon isheld. … Soviet leader NikitaKhrushchev pounds his shoe on a tableat the United Nations in protest. …The first successful kidney transplantis performed in England. … Kennedybecomes the youngest American presi-dent, at age 43. … Wilt Chamberlaingrabs 55 rebounds in one game. …The Supreme Court upholds a federalcourt ruling that Louisiana’s segrega-tion laws are unconstitutional. … Twoplanes collide over Staten Island, kill-ing all 128 passengers and crew alongwith six people on the ground.

Births: Diver Greg Louganis, prowrestler Kerry Von Erich, tennis play-ers Ivan Lendl and Yannick Noah,baseball’s Cal Ripken Jr. and KirbyPuckett, football’s John Elway, JimKelly, Howie Long, Marcus Allen,singers Bono, Joan Jett and MichaelStipe, actors David Duchovny, SeanPenn, Stanley Tucci, KennethBranagh and Hugh Grant, and John F.Kennedy Jr.

Deaths: Jesse Belvin, EddieCochran, Lord Buckley, Clark Gable.

Top movies: Psycho, Inherit theWind, The Magnificent Seven, Exo-dus, Elmer Gantry.

Best music: Cathy’s Clown (EverlyBrothers) was no. 1 on the BillboardTop 100, and Stay, by Maurice Will-iams and the Zodiacs, was no. 98. Inbetween, not much great.

WHS had not been a very scaryopponent in the 1950s. But the 1959-1960 school year saw the beginning ofa renaissance that would soon seeWestfield become the state’s premiersports town.

The Blue Devils’ combined recordfor 1959-1960 was 96 wins, 30 lossesand 1 tie (a 76.2 win percentage). And20 of the losses came in basketball andbaseball. There were two county cham-pionships (swimming, golf) but nostate team titles.

Here’s a look at each of the nine

GETTING TOGETHER AGAIN…Former WHS baseball players Joe Schurig,left, and Dave Kaplow get together prior to the recent three-game series betweenSusquehanna and Drew. Schurig (WHS, ’07) has a 3-1 record as a relief pitcherfor 14-15 Susquehanna; Kaplow (’06) is hitting .250 as the designated hitter for7-24 Drew.

Devil of the WeekConnor Hewett

Lacrosse

varsity teams that year.Football: Coach Les Zorge’s team

went 5-4, beating A.L. Johnson,Roselle, Roselle Park, Bound Brookand Jonathan Dayton, while losing toRahway, Columbia, North Plainfieldand Plainfield. WHS’s single-wingattack consisted of Bob Mueller, JerryLuebeck, Bob Duncan, Pete Braun,Bob Maltbie, Scott Ellis and DaveReitze across the front, with BobWolfgang at tailback, Jim Kovacs andJohn Brownell at fullback, RossMannino and Dave Wilday atwingback and Dick Morash and JackMay at blocking back. Defensively,Morash, Mueller and Ellis were theends, Maltbie, Larry Scanlon, Duncanand Greg Weiss were the tackles, withJohn Griner and Luebeck at middleguard. Braun and Brownell, along withMay and Bill Bryant shared the line-backer shores, with Kovacs, Reitze,Mannino, Smitty Lanning, Wilday,Dwight Winn and Ron Viglianti in thesecondary.

Cross-country: Coach Lou Reccia’sfinal team went 8-2, losing to Colum-bia and Union. WHS was fifth at coun-ties and 19th at states.

Basketball: The team finished 14-11, with wins over SP-F and HolyTrinity. Jim Mowry (12.2 ppg) led thebalanced attack that included Phil VanKirk (9.6), Charles Hoppin (8.6), GaryHarnett (8.2) and Lowell Higgins (6.0).WHS won two county tournamentgames before falling to Elizabeth’s St.

Mary, and also beat Thomas Jeffersonin its state opener, before Perth Amboyknocked them out.

Wrestling: Coach Gary Kehler’ssecond-year team went 10-2, losing toCranford (25-20) in the opener andlater Plainfield (24-21). A 20-19 winover Roselle Park on Jan. 22 “put us onthe (New Jersey wrestling) map,”Kehler said. The lineup: Doug Wight(98), Barry Fritz and John Serijan(106), Skip Sims (115), Charles Wistar(123), Dennis Powers (130), Jeff

Shapiro (136), Ron Viglianti (141),John Anderson and Jay Benedetti(148), Bob Mueller (157), DickMorash (168), Bob Maltbie (178),Gene Barron (heavy). WHS was fourthat districts (Powers and Mueller wonindividual titles), while Powers be-came the school’s first state cham-pion.

Swimming: Coach Joe Kursar’s jug-gernaut went 16-0, moving its winstreak to 45 in a row. WHS won thecounty championship but was secondto Columbia at states. County winnerswere: Bill Smart (100 back), HankMarshall (100 breast), Dan Nichols(100 free) and Rick Wells (diving),along with the medley relay of Smart,Bruce Overbay, Rich Berkley and JeffHitchings. Nichols (50 free) and Wells(diving) also won state titles.

Baseball: Coach John Lay’s teamwent 6-9-1, with captain SmittyLanning and Pete Love doing most ofthe pitching. The infield included JohnLoepsinger (1b), Jim Wilday (2b),Dave Wilday (3b) and Charles Hoppin(ss), with Charlie Felter (left), ChuckGetter (center) and Ron Viglianti(right) in the outfield. Dick Myers wasthe catcher. Art Garvin (infield) andRoss Mannino (outfield) provideddepth. The team had problems scoringruns, with Felter the leading hitter at.289. Future NBA star Rick Barry ofRoselle Park threw a no-hitter at WHSon Memorial Day; a year later, Barry’stwo-out single in the seventh inning

cost Tony Reid a no-hitter. Lanningstruck out a school record 21 in a 2-010-inning win over Rahway and TomHoagland in the county tournament.

Golf: Coach Gary Kehler’s teamwas 15-0, won the county title at AshBrook and tied for fourth at states. Thelineup: Jim Grant, Barry Hardigan,Bob Michaels, Bob Daniels, LarryMacBean and Tom Pearsall.

Tennis: Coach Sam Bunting’s squadwas 14-1, losing to Fair Lawn in thesecond round of the state champion-ships. WHS won 63 sets and lost ninethe entire year. The lineup: Bill Gilson(first singles), Bob Durgan (secondsingles), Dave Richardson and JimThomas (third singles), JimMcNamara, Henry Marshall, BillShaffer and Malcolm Sargent atdoubles.

Track: Coach Bob Duncan’s lastteam was 8-1, losing in the seasonfinale to Bound Brook (60-57). WHSwas third at counties, won theWatchung Conference, was fifth atCentral Jersey and fifth at states. BobDuncan (shot, discus) and Ed Miner(sprints) were the big guns.

‘T’ TIMEIt’s perhaps fitting that Ed Tranchina

was known to most of his footballplayers as “T.” Now that the formercoach is about to become the formerathletic director (he announced hisretirement last week), you know there’sgoing to be a lot of “tee time” for “T.”

Beloved by his staff and players, butmisunderstood by many of the “ex-perts” who love to “Monday, Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Satur-day and Sunday quarterback,”Tranchina brought a professional andclassy touch to the often cut-throatworld of high school sports.

He had some outstanding footballteams (87-90-5 in 19 seasons), coachedsome outstanding players and hasmaintained a staff of coaches that haskept WHS among the state’s elite pro-grams in most sports. WHS has onlyhad four athletic directors in the past80 years: Bob Duncan (1930-1963),John Lay (1964-1983), Gary Kehler(1984-1993), Tranchina (1994-2010).

Among the all-state players “T”coached were: Paul Wampler, DaveBrown, Clint Factor, Jim Mozoki,Leroy Gallman, Lou Rettino, TomNorton, Brian Cheek, Maurice Barnett,Seth Coren, Ron Mammano, RasheedHawks, Jason Osborne, BrandonDoerr, Tom Langton, Lamont Turner,Gabe Perez, Matt Daly and JanCocozziello.

DEVIL OF THE WEEKThis week’s winner of a free sub

from Westfield Subs (261 South Av-enue East) is Connor Hewett. Thesenior attack had the last three goalsof the game as the lacrosse team im-proved to 6-1, rallying from a 3-0,halftime deficit to defeat Randolph5-4.

The Devil’s Den appears Thursdayin The Westfield Leader during theschool year. Contact me with com-ments, complaints and suggestions atbj1019@aol.com. Win or not,WHS4EVR!

we were 7-2,” Tranchina said.During the summer, he got involved

with the Kehler Football Camp.“At that time, it was a high school

camp. It was a week before the seasonstarted. We had a great staff [verynotable area high school headcoaches], and they all brought theirteams,” Tranchina said.

Tranchina became a “Blue Devil”once again when he accepted the po-sition of football Head Coach/Assis-tant to the Athletic Director job in1985.

“When this job opened up, Gary[Kehler] asked me to apply for it. Iwas obviously thrilled that he actu-ally asked me to apply,” Tranchinasaid. “It was probably the best job Iever had. He had so much wisdom.”

When Kehler retired, Tranchinabecame Athletic Director in 1993,while still coaching. Jim Benedictbecame the head football coach thefollowing two years. When Benedictleft to coach at Rutgers University,Tranchina did double duty for nineyears as football hCher, 98° headcoach/athletic director until JimDeSarno became head coach in 2006.

During that second nine-yearstretch, Tranchina, who was namedCoach of the Year in 1997 and laternamed Athletic Director of the Year,had many memorable experiences ashead coach.

“In ’98 when we went to the Mead-owlands to play, that was so muchfun. We had a great team, great par-ents. We lost that game but having theopportunity to be at Giants Stadiumwas a thrill,” Tranchina recalled.“How we got there was also a thrill.We were big underdogs againstParsippany Hills. I think like 21-pointunderdogs. We went out there an ab-solutely hammered them [44-13 –See The Westfield Leader, November26, 1998 archives]. Even the gamebefore that, West Morris Central![Westfield won 30-6]. In between allof that, it was probably one of the bestPlainfield games ever, becausePlainfield [ranked no. 3] was unde-feated. They were playing in the statechampionships. We [ranked no. 18]had one loss. We were playing in thestate championships, so you had twostate playoff teams playing on Thanks-giving Day. It was actually postponeduntil Saturday, because they wantedto rest the quarterback’s [DarrylKennedy] shoulder. [December 3,1998 archives].”

Tranchina also recalled a 7-0 vic-tory over hosting Morristown underpeculiar circumstances on November11, 2001. The game was scheduledfor Saturday, November 10, but noreferees showed up, so the game wasbumped to Sunday – November 15,2001 archives.

Another memorable game was a28-21 victory over Union after trail-ing 21-0. Jan Cocozziello was theBlue Devil quarterback – November14, 2002 archives.

“We were big underdogs up atShabazz when they had Amir Pinnix.They were beating everybody, and

we shut them down. There are somany memories,” Tranchina said. The“Devils’ Brigade” defense shut downPinnix and won 10-6 – See October10, 2002 archives.

But as the fond memories mounted,so did the thought of retirement.

“My wife [Susan] and I made thedecision in the fall. I just knew that Ihad been the A.D. for 17 years, and Ineed some time for myself. I needtime to exercise and eat right. Oftentimes with this job, I don’t have thetime to do that,” answered Tranchina.“I am excited about doing something.Help with football. I have been out acouple of years. I still love it. That’swhy I got into this profession. I’vehad some offers to be an assistantcoach some place. I don’t want to bea head coach.”

Tranchina added that he has a lot ofwork to do around his house and willmost likely help his sons, Nick andDerrek, with some construction workaround their houses.

“Nick and Derrek teach in the LongBranch system. They both are footballcoaches, and Nick is also an assistantwrestling coach. He’s also the headgolf coach. I am a big wrestling fan.I’ve always loved that. I go out to a lotof Long Branch matches. I enjoywatching my sons coach,” he said.

Additionally, his daughter Marisajust graduated from Penn State Uni-versity. “She’s a big Joe Paterno fan,so I will enjoy spending time withher,” he said.

Tranchina also wanted to point out,“The Westfield Leader has alwaystreated me exceptionally well, theway you cover all of our kids. It reallymeans a lot to me.”

Lady Blue Devils TramplePlainfield, Rahway in TrackThe Westfield High School girls

track and field team began its regularseason on the right foot by tramplingPlainfield, 109-30, in Plainfield onApril 7 and Rahway, 90-49, inWestfield on April 13.

Sirena Van Epp with a distance of31’8.5”, Kelly Irving at 31’5” andClaire Stevens-Haas at 29 feet sweptthe triple jump against Plainfield. LisaNehring at 2:39, Becky Castaldo at2:43 and Leigh Heinbokel at 2:43.1swept the 800 meters. Sophia Devitaat 1:13.7, Daniella Ciampa at 1:15.3,Eileen Cook at 1:15.8 and TiernyCummings at 1:28.4 swept the inter-mediate hurdles.

Alyssa Hatch at 5:51.5, ShannonMooney at 6:03.1 and Alana Basil at6:22.4 swept the 1,600 meters. KatyPonce at 59.4, Ashley Edwards at1:00.3 and Irving at 1:03 swept the400 meters. Alex Hawkins at 4’8”,Devita at 4’2” and Alexis Murphy at4’0” swept the high jump. Edwardsand Ponce with respective times of26.0 and 26.7 crossed 1-2 in the 200meters. Danielle Grimes at 13:41 andHatch at 13:52.2 finished 1-2 in the3,200.

Nehring, Ciampa, Cook and Devitawon the 4x400 relay with a time of4:32. Grace Mustard with a toss of71’1.5” and Caitlin Coleman at 63 feettook 1-2 in the discus. Elizabeth Penczak

won the javelin with a toss of 84’4”.Stevens Haas with a height of 9’6” andAlex Kapadia at 7’0” took 1-2 in thepole vault. Stevens Haas at 16.8 andMurphy at 20.0 finished 2-3 in the 100hurdles. Stevens-Haas at 15’5” andDevita at 14’4” placed 2-3 in the longjump. Kyla Grodzka placed third in theshot put with a shove of 28’4”

Grodzka at 28’2.5”, Jill Pate at25’1” and Oria Alexander at 23’4.75”swept the shot put against Rahway.Hatch at 12:45 and Grimes at 12:51finished 1-2 in the 3,200. Mustard at66’11” and Hannah Weeks at 62’6”took 1-2 in the discus. Stevens-Haasat nine feet and Kapadia t 6’6” took 1-2 in the pole vault. Stevens-Haas at15’3” and Devita at 14’11” took 1-2in the long jump. Stevens-Haas alsowon the 100 hurdles at 16.9.

Edwards and Hannah Kronick took1-2 in the 200 with respective timesof 27.1 and 28.3. Edwards and Poncetook 1-2 in the 400 with respectivetimes of 1:00.4 and 1:00.9. Edwardscrossed first in the 100 meters at 13.2.Devita won the 400 hurdles with atime of 1:11.6. Stevens-Haas tooksecond in the triple jump with a dis-tance of 31’2”. Hatch finished sec-ond in the 1,600 at 5:38.5.Hawkinstook second in the high jump with aheight of 4’4”. Heinbokel finishedsecond in the 800 at 2:41.6.

Baseball Raiders TapUnion City Nine, 4-1Mike Ridge ripped two hits and

had three RBI, and Marcus Riverahad two hits and scored twice for theScotch Plains-Fanwood High Schoolbaseball team in a 4-1 victory overhost Union City on April 17.

Motown-Beard StopsSoftball Raiders, 6-4Morristown-Beard plated five runs

in the bottom of the first inning andheld on to defeat the Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School softball team,6-4, in Morris Township. ChristineMonroy had a pair of hits and an RBIfor the Raiders.

SPORTS SHORTS:

Blue Devil Boys RapColumbia Laxers, 8-6

The Westfield High School boyslacrosse team got three goals andtwo assists each from JohnBohlinger and Sam Rosenburgh inan 8-6 victory over Columbia inWestfield on April 14. Jeff LaForgehad seven saves for the 5-1 BlueDevils.

Westfield Netmen FallIn Bennett Semifinals

The Westfield High School boystennis team defeated Dwight-Englewood, 3-2, in the first roundand Millburn, 4-1, in thequarterfinals of the Bryan BennettMemorial Tournament at Delbartonin Morris Township on April 17before falling, 3-2, by eventual tour-nament champion Chatham in thesemifinals on April 18.Westfield 3, Dwight-Englewood 2First singles: Dan Shutov (D) d JustinSnyder, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4Second singles: Scott Bernstein (W)d Max Sacks, 6-4, 6-2Third singles: Tom Kowalski (W) dJason Katz, 6-2, 6-1First doubles: Francis Loh and EricRosengart (D) d Graeme Stahl andAlan Chu, 7-6 (7-4), 1-6, 6-2Second doubles: Josh Simmons andScott Thompson (W) d Luke Shermanand John Enokida, 6-2, 6-2

Westfield 4, Millburn 1First singles: Snyder (W) d Rob Xie,6-2, 6-1Second singles: Bernstein (W) d TedMoskowitz, 6-4, 6-1Third singles: Kowalski (W) d JaredWishnow, 6-3, 6-3First doubles: Stahl and Chu (W) dDan Feldman and Nikhil Vohra, 6-1, 6-2Second doubles: Nicky Chen-Schmidt and Sebastian Chen-Schmidt (M) d Simmons and Thomp-son, 6-1, 6-3

Chatham 3, Westfield 2First singles: Pat Monaghan (C) dSnyder, 6-0, 6-7 (1-7), 6-1Second singles: Quentin Monaghan(C) d Bernstein, 6-0, 6-4Third singles: Matt Romel (C) dKowalski, 2-6, 7-5, 6-4First doubles: Stahl and Chu (W) dMatt Evans and Andrew Coppola, 6-2, 6-3Second doubles: Simmons and Th-ompson (W) d Chad Gildersleeve andAlec Weber, 6-2, 6-3

Blue Devil BohlingerMakes Lax Top-20

Westfield High School boys la-crosse team captain John Bohlingetrecently broke into the New Jerseytop-20 in scoring. In seven games,Bohlinger netted 23 goals and 13assists.

©2010 Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. Coldwell Banker® is a registered trademark licensed to Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.An Equal Opportunity Company. Equal Housing Opportunity. Owned and Operated by NRT LLC.

Westfield-West • 600 North Avenue • 908-233-0065

www.ColdwellBankerMoves.comColdwell Banker Mortgage Services 866-835-4557

Visit ColdwellBankerMoves.comfor more information

Homebuyer Tax CreditOpportunity is Knocking

*Certain income, purchase price limits, and primary resident rules may apply.

• Extended until April 30, 2010, close by June 30, 2010.

• Expanded to include buyers who have owned their current home at least 5 years; eligible for tax credit of up to

$6,500*.

• Continues to apply to fi rst-time homebuyers or anyonewho hasn’t owned a home inthe last three years; eligible

for tax credit of up to $8,000*.

Follow us on Facebook @ Coldwell Banker Westfield NJ

FANWOOD $519,000Great locn in heart of Fanwood! Charming col W/chestnutwdwrk thruout, hwd flrs, wd-burning fpl, kitchen w/brkfstrm. Close to all. DIR: LaGrande to Helen.MLS: 2763604 908-233-0065

Sophisticated split in very desirable locn. LR w/vaulted ceil-ing & fpl; formal DR; updt Kit & BAs; 3BR; nursery; CAC;parklike yard off large FR. Conv location.MLS: 2748309 908-233-0065

WESTFIELD $499,900NEW LISTING! Warm inviting home one block to Tamaques Pk.1st flr fam rm w/wdbrng fplc, hwd flrs. Many updts incl thermalwndws, vinyl siding, roof, furn, CAC & more. DIR: Rahway to Leigh.

MLS: 2764320 908-233-0065

MOUNTAINSIDE $765,000Fabulous CH Col w/great flr plan, updt Kit opens to FamRm, Din Rm & Sun Rm, Master w/Updt BA, ample clstspace, upgrd elec, all lrg BR, quiet culdesac, conv loc.MLS: 2754499 908-233-0065

SCOTCH PLAINS $699,000Spac. col in fabulous setting. Fam rm w/raised hearth brick fplc, hwdflrs, delightful 3-season screened porch, lndscpd yard. Easy access toall. Home offers a perfect combination for today’s busy lifestyle.

MLS: 2756785 908-233-0065

WESTFIELD $1,195,000Exquisite one of a kind home w/new state-of-the-art Butler’sPantry & Kit. w/French drs to Brkfst Rm, new 1st flr BA,box beam ceil, mldgs, archways, hwd flrs. Impressive prop.MLS: 2752946 908-233-0065

WESTFIELD $789,000Spacious Custom Split on quiet culdesac. Eat-In-Kit w/granite cnters & SSappls! Formal LR w/wd burning fplc & fab parkviews! Lrg BRs w/ampleclsts. Bright sunroom w/skylights, pvt bckyrd, 2 Car Gar & lrg bsmt.

MLS: 2761229 908-233-0065

SCOTCH PLAINS $525,000

OPEN HOUSE SUNDAY, 02/21 1-4PM • 42 Maddaket

OPEN HOUSE: SUNDAY, 4/25 1-4PM 59 Helen Street

OPEN HOUSE: SUNDAY, 4/25 1-4PM 608 Leigh Drive