Abbott Blog: Attending Alumni Night at my high school was a good time and a great idea
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by Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling
Harborfields High School wrestling alumni on January 6 in Greenlawn, N.Y. Photo by Kathy Gardner Mazur.
Everybody in wrestling has a story and for most of us, a big part of that personal journey includes our experience on a high school wrestling team. According to 2015-16 statistics, wrestling is the No. 7 high school sport for boys and No. 19 high school sport for girls in terms of participation. High school wrestling is everywhere, an important part of so many communities across the nation.
My high school wrestling story goes back to Harborfields High School, in a small suburban district on the North Shore of Long Island, N.Y. which covers the towns of Greenlawn and Centerport. Those familiar with high school wrestling in New York will know about the school right next to us, Huntington High School, led by Hall of Fame member Lou Giani. The Huntington Blue Devils are a perennial wrestling power which produced numerous state champions and state placewinners. But back in the late 1970’s, little Harborfields put together some very good teams in wrestling as well.
The two best guys on our team, my older brother Jim Abbott and Gary Gardner, decided to try to bring together the best Harborfields team in history, the 1977 team which they captained as seniors. This year is the 40th anniversary of the ’77 team, and many of the members had not seen each other in decades. As a suburban community, so many of our classmates went away for college and a large number of us ended up living in other parts of the country as adults. I was the 119-pound starter as a junior on that team.
Led by Head Coach John Szokoli and Assistant Coach Pete Barros, our 1977 team was actually ranked No. 1 in Suffolk County (Section XI) going into that year. (Huntington chose not to wrestle us in a dual that year, FYI). We lost our first match at home against Riverhead, but had a great season anyway. We won our conference tournament and had a good showing at the Section IX meet. Back then, only the Section champions advanced to states, and Jim Abbott and Gary Gardner won our Section and went to the states. Jim placed third in New York State and Gary was fourth in the state, easily our best showing ever at the state meet. (Alas, I was a conference champion and seeded at Sectionals, but lost in a second-round match).
The current coach at Harborfields, Matt Billello, agreed to host the first-ever (that we know of) Wrestling Alumni Night on January 6. Once this was set up many months ago, I bought an airline ticket from Denver to New York Laguardia, because I wanted to see my family and check out some of my old teammates. Life got busy, and I was not able to do much help promoting the alumni meet, partially because I have lost track of my wrestling cronies from high school. I had no idea how successful this would be, but I wanted to participate and see if we could make it work. My college Boston University has dropped wrestling, so really, my high school team is the only wrestling alumni opportunity I have left.
My younger brother Ken still lives in Centerport, so I stayed with him at his home. Ken bought my parents’ home and rebuilt it, so staying at his place is very much like being at the home where I grew up. It was so very familiar, with a beautiful view of Centerport Harbor. Ken had gotten out of the hospital only a day prior and was not able to go to the alumni match this year, but we had a great visit during the weekend. My sister Carolyn also came down from upstate New York to visit with her brothers.
Harborfields faced Deer Park in a home dual meet that night. Back in the day, Deer Park produced some very talented wrestlers (including NCAA champion Nick Gallo, the Downey brothers and others), and is a town just on the other side of Greenlawn. There was concern that the meet might be cancelled because of the prediction of snow, but the storm held off until the next day.
I drove up there with my brother Jim and his son Nick, who wrestled in high school in New Jersey. The entry to the high school had been updated, but once we got in, it resembled the place we attended four decades ago. Prior to the meet, we wandered around some looking for people we might recognize. My brothers Jim and Ken are in the Harborfields Athletics Hall of Fame and we found their award plaques. My sister Carolyn and my two nieces Alli and Miranda are also in their Academic Hall of Fame for finishing in the top 10 of their class, and we found their names on the wall as well. (I am the only Abbott whose name is not plastered on a wall at my high school).
We first ran into our head coach John Szokoli, who has been retired for a while now but still lives in Greenlawn. He was not supposed to be able to make it because of a family health issue. It was great he was able to be there. We have kept in touch with John over the years, as he not only was a great coach but also became a friend. He had one of the driest sense of humors ever (and still does). Our assistant coach Pete Barros also showed up, and he was a longtime friend of my parents in addition to being one of our wrestling coaches. We have tried to keep in touch with both of these coaches because of what they meant to all of us.
They asked all of the alumni to sign in when we got to the school. Pretty soon, the dual meet started and people gradually started talking to each other. I have to admit that I didn’t recognize some of the teammates. We all look a bit different than we did way back then, although Coach Szokoli looks pretty much exactly the same. Some of the guys from the ’77 team that were there besides my brother, Gary Gardner and I were Bob Mazur, Chet Knapp, and Charlie Florentino. Mazur is married to Gary Gardner’s sister Kathy, who was one of the team’s biggest supporters back in the day, and she also came with Bob. Another friend who was there who was younger but went on to wrestle at Hofstra was Joe Franza.
Some of the guys said they had not been in the high school since they graduated 40 years ago. I may have travelled the farthest coming from Colorado, but others also came a long way to attend. I did a lot more visiting with people than I did watching the wrestling dual meet. I see wrestling all the time, but for sure have not seen these people for a long time.
Midway through the dual, they introduced the alumni in attendance out on center mat. There were some really young alumni, wrestlers from the last few years who were probably home from college on winter break. In all, there were about 25 wrestling alumni there, spread over a few decades. They had us all pose together for some pictures as a big group and they even had a picture of the 1977 team together. Kathy Gardner Mazur texted me the group photo afterwards.
Harborfields got way behind, but scratched their way back as the dual went on. We saw some good wrestling, and some young kids with promise on the team. Somehow, the match went down to heavyweight with either team able to win. The alumni joined in with the parents and fans who were there in cheering for our big kid, who scored a takedown and ran a bar arm to secure the fall. The Harborfields Tornadoes even won their match for the alumni.
Afterwards, the alumni were invited for some snacks and soft drinks in the cafeteria, along with the present wrestlers and their parents. It was laid back, but a nice thing for them to do. The team had a tournament the next morning, so the kids left pretty quickly.
As a group, most of us went to a restaurant/bar in downtown Huntington called Meehans, which is run by the Meehan brothers who wrestled at Harborfields. Mike Meehan and Pat Meehan were from our generation of wrestlers. Meehans had actually opened in Greenlawn, but they moved to Huntington when the business started to grow. It is now a well-known and respected establishment in a busy part of town. At Meehans, we also ran into Don Hamlett, who was also on that 1977 team but was unable to attend the actual match. We had a good time visiting, talking a lot more about the past than the present or the future.
I had a fun time, and we are hoping that Harborfields will hold an alumni night every year from now on. Perhaps a certain graduating class can take the leadership each year, like the guys from 1977 did to get it started this year. I am not sure I can go every year, but it could be a nice excuse to go visit my family.
I am sure there are a lot of high school wrestling teams which do alumni activities. Mine did not, and I am very glad that the decided to give it a go. Hopefully, we can get more organized and make a bigger deal out of this moving forward. I can say that if you are involved with a high school wrestling team, and you don’t have an Alumni Night, it would be a good deal. High school wrestling was very meaningful for so many people. Having those from the past come back and support those in the present is a great way to make sure there is a future for high school wrestling in your hometown.
Everybody in wrestling has a story and for most of us, a big part of that personal journey includes our experience on a high school wrestling team. According to 2015-16 statistics, wrestling is the No. 7 high school sport for boys and No. 19 high school sport for girls in terms of participation. High school wrestling is everywhere, an important part of so many communities across the nation.
My high school wrestling story goes back to Harborfields High School, in a small suburban district on the North Shore of Long Island, N.Y. which covers the towns of Greenlawn and Centerport. Those familiar with high school wrestling in New York will know about the school right next to us, Huntington High School, led by Hall of Fame member Lou Giani. The Huntington Blue Devils are a perennial wrestling power which produced numerous state champions and state placewinners. But back in the late 1970’s, little Harborfields put together some very good teams in wrestling as well.
The two best guys on our team, my older brother Jim Abbott and Gary Gardner, decided to try to bring together the best Harborfields team in history, the 1977 team which they captained as seniors. This year is the 40th anniversary of the ’77 team, and many of the members had not seen each other in decades. As a suburban community, so many of our classmates went away for college and a large number of us ended up living in other parts of the country as adults. I was the 119-pound starter as a junior on that team.
Led by Head Coach John Szokoli and Assistant Coach Pete Barros, our 1977 team was actually ranked No. 1 in Suffolk County (Section XI) going into that year. (Huntington chose not to wrestle us in a dual that year, FYI). We lost our first match at home against Riverhead, but had a great season anyway. We won our conference tournament and had a good showing at the Section IX meet. Back then, only the Section champions advanced to states, and Jim Abbott and Gary Gardner won our Section and went to the states. Jim placed third in New York State and Gary was fourth in the state, easily our best showing ever at the state meet. (Alas, I was a conference champion and seeded at Sectionals, but lost in a second-round match).
The current coach at Harborfields, Matt Billello, agreed to host the first-ever (that we know of) Wrestling Alumni Night on January 6. Once this was set up many months ago, I bought an airline ticket from Denver to New York Laguardia, because I wanted to see my family and check out some of my old teammates. Life got busy, and I was not able to do much help promoting the alumni meet, partially because I have lost track of my wrestling cronies from high school. I had no idea how successful this would be, but I wanted to participate and see if we could make it work. My college Boston University has dropped wrestling, so really, my high school team is the only wrestling alumni opportunity I have left.
My younger brother Ken still lives in Centerport, so I stayed with him at his home. Ken bought my parents’ home and rebuilt it, so staying at his place is very much like being at the home where I grew up. It was so very familiar, with a beautiful view of Centerport Harbor. Ken had gotten out of the hospital only a day prior and was not able to go to the alumni match this year, but we had a great visit during the weekend. My sister Carolyn also came down from upstate New York to visit with her brothers.
Harborfields faced Deer Park in a home dual meet that night. Back in the day, Deer Park produced some very talented wrestlers (including NCAA champion Nick Gallo, the Downey brothers and others), and is a town just on the other side of Greenlawn. There was concern that the meet might be cancelled because of the prediction of snow, but the storm held off until the next day.
I drove up there with my brother Jim and his son Nick, who wrestled in high school in New Jersey. The entry to the high school had been updated, but once we got in, it resembled the place we attended four decades ago. Prior to the meet, we wandered around some looking for people we might recognize. My brothers Jim and Ken are in the Harborfields Athletics Hall of Fame and we found their award plaques. My sister Carolyn and my two nieces Alli and Miranda are also in their Academic Hall of Fame for finishing in the top 10 of their class, and we found their names on the wall as well. (I am the only Abbott whose name is not plastered on a wall at my high school).
We first ran into our head coach John Szokoli, who has been retired for a while now but still lives in Greenlawn. He was not supposed to be able to make it because of a family health issue. It was great he was able to be there. We have kept in touch with John over the years, as he not only was a great coach but also became a friend. He had one of the driest sense of humors ever (and still does). Our assistant coach Pete Barros also showed up, and he was a longtime friend of my parents in addition to being one of our wrestling coaches. We have tried to keep in touch with both of these coaches because of what they meant to all of us.
They asked all of the alumni to sign in when we got to the school. Pretty soon, the dual meet started and people gradually started talking to each other. I have to admit that I didn’t recognize some of the teammates. We all look a bit different than we did way back then, although Coach Szokoli looks pretty much exactly the same. Some of the guys from the ’77 team that were there besides my brother, Gary Gardner and I were Bob Mazur, Chet Knapp, and Charlie Florentino. Mazur is married to Gary Gardner’s sister Kathy, who was one of the team’s biggest supporters back in the day, and she also came with Bob. Another friend who was there who was younger but went on to wrestle at Hofstra was Joe Franza.
Some of the guys said they had not been in the high school since they graduated 40 years ago. I may have travelled the farthest coming from Colorado, but others also came a long way to attend. I did a lot more visiting with people than I did watching the wrestling dual meet. I see wrestling all the time, but for sure have not seen these people for a long time.
Midway through the dual, they introduced the alumni in attendance out on center mat. There were some really young alumni, wrestlers from the last few years who were probably home from college on winter break. In all, there were about 25 wrestling alumni there, spread over a few decades. They had us all pose together for some pictures as a big group and they even had a picture of the 1977 team together. Kathy Gardner Mazur texted me the group photo afterwards.
Harborfields got way behind, but scratched their way back as the dual went on. We saw some good wrestling, and some young kids with promise on the team. Somehow, the match went down to heavyweight with either team able to win. The alumni joined in with the parents and fans who were there in cheering for our big kid, who scored a takedown and ran a bar arm to secure the fall. The Harborfields Tornadoes even won their match for the alumni.
Afterwards, the alumni were invited for some snacks and soft drinks in the cafeteria, along with the present wrestlers and their parents. It was laid back, but a nice thing for them to do. The team had a tournament the next morning, so the kids left pretty quickly.
As a group, most of us went to a restaurant/bar in downtown Huntington called Meehans, which is run by the Meehan brothers who wrestled at Harborfields. Mike Meehan and Pat Meehan were from our generation of wrestlers. Meehans had actually opened in Greenlawn, but they moved to Huntington when the business started to grow. It is now a well-known and respected establishment in a busy part of town. At Meehans, we also ran into Don Hamlett, who was also on that 1977 team but was unable to attend the actual match. We had a good time visiting, talking a lot more about the past than the present or the future.
I had a fun time, and we are hoping that Harborfields will hold an alumni night every year from now on. Perhaps a certain graduating class can take the leadership each year, like the guys from 1977 did to get it started this year. I am not sure I can go every year, but it could be a nice excuse to go visit my family.
I am sure there are a lot of high school wrestling teams which do alumni activities. Mine did not, and I am very glad that the decided to give it a go. Hopefully, we can get more organized and make a bigger deal out of this moving forward. I can say that if you are involved with a high school wrestling team, and you don’t have an Alumni Night, it would be a good deal. High school wrestling was very meaningful for so many people. Having those from the past come back and support those in the present is a great way to make sure there is a future for high school wrestling in your hometown.
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