NBHS Football Tradition Takes Another Hit
By Ken Lipshez | Sports Correspondent at November 23, 2023 | 9:30 am | Print
Change can be an imposing concept yet it remains the essence of our being.
I find that coping with change gets tougher and tougher as time goes on. That’s why my dad took to reminiscing with each passing day as he grew older. He told and retold stories of the Depression, the tribulations of his immigrant parents and meeting James Cagney when he was stationed in England with the U.S. Army during World War II. He relished the high points of his youth and young adulthood, and darned if I’m not doing the exact same thing.
Tradition has taken a beating in America, a change that will weigh heavily on my heart until my dying day. The traditions of the holiday season particularly come into focus as December nears.
Tradition in New Britain has been steeped in football. Did you know the New Britain High football team played DuPont Manual of Louisville, Ky., at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans for a national championship in 1938? Think about it.
In more recent times, New Britain won three state championships under the guidance of Jack Cochran in 2001, 2003 and 2004. Tremendous pride emanated from the grand accomplishments of the New Britain High football teams over the years.
I’ll discuss pride and tradition in terms of winning and losing later in the story, but right now, I’d like to focus on diminishing tradition as it relates to the spirit that has always surrounded New Britain football.
Rich DeLorenze continues to wear his maroon and gold colors with great dignity, so much so that he was the driving force behind an organization that would support the football team while celebrating that pride and tradition.
DeLorenze graduated in 1974 after a childhood spent looking up to the NBHS players of the era before him, like Tony Stawarz and the Hermanowski brothers Tom and Bob.
He recruited former players and began ECHO (Ex-Concerned Hurricanes Organization). DeLorenze and his comrades are a fixture in the Willow Brook parking lot before NBHS home games, dishing out hot dogs, chili and soft drinks, reminiscing about the old days.
“Our game plan is to establish a roster of ex-players that have a concern for the future of New Britain football,” DeLorenze wrote as part of ECHO’s mission statement. While he thrust the group into fund-raising activities, he stresses that ECHO is not totally about financial support.
“Foremost, it’s the lifelong friendships that will be reunited, the reminiscing of ex-great players, the teams and ‘what ifs’ we shared along the way.”
DeLorenze built it and people came, but the diminishing concern and respect for tradition smacked him like a blind-side tackle recently. He had to undergo knee surgery, and his recuperation would coincide with the Thanksgiving Eve Wishbone Bowl game against Berlin.
Unable to physically organize the hospitality gathering behind the Veterans Stadium press box, DeLorenze appealed to his ECHO minions and he was stunned by the apathy.
Initially, he couldn’t get anybody to step forward and take the responsibility to stage the pregame festivities, but DeLorenze said Monday that Brian Anderson, Erik Merkle and Ernie Pettinelli took the initiative. New Britain, there will be hot dogs!
But will such initiative survive as the current generation passes into oblivion and the traditions are left to the children of the late 1980s and 1990s?
In addition to operating the pregame party, DeLorenze maintains a website (www.echofootball.com), prints up caps and t-shirts to promote the cause and spends countless hours prodding NBHS football alumni to get in the game.
It’s distressing to think that the things that we held dear are phasing out, but the indifference of the new generation with its “all for one and none for all” attitude is palpable.
At press time, DeLorenze said he would be unable to attend the game, but as anybody with New Britain High football ties toasts the holidays, they should include him in their thoughts. He clings to one thread of maroon, one of gold and one of red (for Pulaski) to keep the shredding ties to past glory in place.
WINS AND LOSSES: DeLorenze said that as he was being prepped for his knee procedure, the anesthesiologist asked him where he was from.
When he said New Britain and that NBHS football remains his passion, the doc said something to the effect, “You’d really have something there if you could only hold onto your youth players.”
If the man was as good an anesthesiologist as he is a scholastic football analyst, DeLorenze must have slept soundly.
There’s no sense ripping head coach Tebucky Jones for the team’s shortcomings.
The youth football leagues (PAL Raiders and Junior Hurricanes) are divided. There’s no doubt where the loyalties of the Junior ’Canes lie, but the high school program’s divide with PAL continues to rip any progress off the hinges.
After a brief interlude that resulted in an unbeaten campaign last year, the NBHS freshman team was again weakened this season when kids chose PAL and the dream of heading to a national championship at some exotic southern city over steadfast dedication to what Jones is trying to build.
Until somebody with some clout, some thick skin and some intestinal fortitude can get the parties in one room and douse the egos, the problem will proliferate and the days of Cochran and great New Britain teams of the past will further dissipate into nothing but folklore.
