Matt Williams
MARBLEHEAD — Call it superstition or humility. But most of the Marblehead and Swampscott alums on hand at the Gerry 5 Club last night for the annual Old Timers gala were mum on predictions on Thursday morning's Northeastern Conference Small championship game between these old-time rivals.
Who could blame them? The match-up between the Big Blue (7-3) and the host Magicians (8-2) at Piper Field is as close as it gets.
"It's pretty even on paper," said Bob Latham, Marblehead Class of 1941, who joked, "I thought I'd be the oldest guy here, but I saw two guys who are even older. They must be fossils."
Held for the 28th consecutive year, the Old Timers night was a smashing success. It's put together by the Gridiron Clubs from both towns, headed up by Esso Haines for Marblehead and Myron Stone for the Swampscott side. The gathering is an opportunity to share laughs, memories and a meal in anticipation of Thanksgiving morning's big game, the 101st holiday meeting.
What of the holiday week's main event? The Magicians, behind super quarterback Hayes Richardson and a remarkable linebacking corps that includes Evan Comeau and Matt Evans, are in position to take their first league title in 37 years.
The two-time defending champion Big Blue, with their own all-star signal caller in Matt Barbuzzi, a punishing running game with three-year starter Kyle Shonio and an array of dangerous receivers, are bent on making sure that doesn't happen.
Thursday's showdown has it all — the scope, the stakes and the suspense of lacking a true favorite. It added a unique air to this most recent Old Timers gathering, was was sold out for the third consecutive year.
"I like Marblehead by a touchdown. Maybe we can get some revenge for last year," said Danny Sullivan, an Old Timers fixture who played in the last holiday tie (7-7) in 1942.
The Magicians' brethren on the Headers hockey team have gotten the better of rival Swampscott in two straight state tournaments. To do it on the gridiron, they have to stick to a simple principle.
"I have no idea who's going to win, but if Marblehead does they'll have to keep hitting. That's how you win football games," said Steve Tompkins, MHS Class of 1953. "I've seen this team a bunch — and they like to hit."
Guest speaker Dr. Hugh O'Flynn of Ipswich extolled the virtues of the common thread that bonds these men: football. He spoke of the lessons he learned on the field and the coaches that pushed him to work harder in school and eventually become an accomplished surgeon. Each Old Timer was no doubt thinking of a coach or mentor in their own lives that pushed them to greater heights as he spoke.
It's an especially friendly rivalry that brings these men together year after year for an event that ought to be duplicated in every North Shore town, as Dr. O'Flynn suggested for his native Ipswich. It's an organization that gives back, too — proceeds from last year's event and sales of 100th game apparel provided a $1,000 scholarship for since-graduated Chris Cameron of Swampscott and Marblehead's Nick Haller.
The Rev. Monsignor John P. Carroll Award, which alternates between Marblehead and Swampscott each year, went to Marblehead's Chip Percy. He's a former Magician and is also heavily involved in the town's youth program.
Thanksgiving week has not truly begun until the after-dinner coffee at the Gerry 5 has run dry. Now that it has, and yet another night full of nostalgia in the books, we can focus on the latest chapter in this storied rivalry.
It should be one talked about at these Old Timer nights well into the future.
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Matt Williams is a staff writer at The Salem News. Contact him at MWilliams@salemnews.com or 978-338-2669.
