Tubby

Recently I received a phone call from "Tubby" Raymond, my college football coach at the U. of Delaware.  The College Football Hall of Fame member, and one of the very few coaches of all time with 300 or more wins, had read the book.  The first thing he said was "Bobby, I never knew any of my players could read or write!"  After that he was extremely complimentary; he was very impressed by my effort (something he drilled into us all the time!), and said he was proud of me.

He had never known much about my father.  And he never knew that Swede and Iron Mike Purzycki were Newark's best athletes back in the day, and were direct rivals in high school.  Iron Mike's sons, Joe and Mike, were Delaware teammates of mine and life long friends.  In any event, I was excited to receive praise from Tubby...he's not one to throw it around lightly.

A couple of days ago my son Max's friend remarked that her mother started to read the book and found herself in tears.  (I assume she wasn't bored to tears!).  Seriously, I like that "SWEDE" means different things to different people.      

Discovery

One of the most gratifying things in writing the book about Swede is that many of my contemporaries, after reading it, have emphasized that it was a great motivator for them to explore and assess their relationships with their own fathers.  Some have been quite emotional while describing this.  This is somewhat different from my father's contemporaries, who seem to have truly loved remembering old times, as well as remembering someone who clearly made an impact with his warm, gentle nature, combined, of course, with his athletic stardom.

But for my contemporaries, I think many have seized the opportunity to take a positive look at growing up with their families, particularly their fathers.  Like my own experience, many have a new appreciation of their fathers.  If so, it makes me feel great that I may have nudged some old friends in this direction.  

My father, in may ways, was very ordinary.  He wasn't a genius, he wasn't wealthy, he didn't invent anything, he did not aspire to lead people, he wasn't an artist, and he wasn't a hero.  But in researching "SWEDE", I learned that in his own way he did lead people, he was a genius in his own way, to some he was a hero, he was inventive, and he certainly was beloved, which made him very wealthy, but in a non-monetary way.  The same holds true for most people, and that is why I'm thrilled to have enjoyed discovering these things about my father, and I'm thrilled that others are discovering similar things about their own fathers.

There is nothing more satisfying and enlightening than a son realizing how extraordinary his ordinary father really was. 

Hall of Fame

My father is currently in 4 different Halls of Fame:  The Newark Sports Hall of Fame, the Panzer College Hall of Fame, the JCC Metro West Hall of Fame, and the Weequahic HS Hall of Fame.  In each case he was in the very first group of inductees.  I am in the process of preparing a bio of Swede's athletic accomplishments to send to another Hall of Fame for consideration of him being inducted.  His "credentials" are pretty incredible.  And what stands out the most is that, compared to the vast majority of inductees who tend to dominate in one sport, my father was dominant in virtually every sport he tried.  His versatility is what separates him from the rest.  A brief summary:

In high school, Swede was all-state mention in football, even while missing the majority of his games due to parental objections.  As a senior, he received the most votes of any player in New Jersey on the all-state basketball team, and in track and field he dominated the city of Newark in the shot put, discus, low hurdles, long jump, high jump, and sprints.  He was 2nd in the state in the shot put, losing to Al Blozis, who went on to be the best shot-putter in the world.

In 2000, the Star Ledger of Newark named Swede as one of the top 50 New Jersey high school athletes of the 20th century.

In college, Swede took up soccer, knowing his parents would not give him the okay to play football, and went on to make the Coaches All-American team as he was named the best center halfback in the country.  In track and field, he once again starred in many events, and was the state AAU champ in the shot put and discus.  He won the silver medal (discus) in the prestigious Penn Relays, again losing to the great Blozis.  As in high school, he was also his teams best jumper and sprinter.  

It was in basketball that Swede garnered the most attention, earning Little All-American on a spectacular team that won 44 straight games...at the time an all-time collegiate record.  The rave reviews in Swede's scrapbook were over the top, with some writers and opposing coaches suggesting he was the best they'd ever seen.  He captained all three teams in college.

Besides the sports he played in school, my father was an amazing swimmer and diver, volleyball player (nobody could spike like Swede), racquetball and tennis star, and a great ice skater.  

I don't think I'm going out on a limb when I suggest that Swede might have been the most versatile, all-around Jewish athlete...ever.  No wonder his contemporaries referred to him as "God-like", "Superman", "Tarzan", etc.

Despite his extraordinary versatility, the most impressive thing about my father was his humility.  He never really took athleticism too seriously.  And that's what we loved about him the most.

I inadvertently came across a post/comment by one Bob Knuppel.  He was responding to someone else's post about Swede on a website that discusses various novels...in this case "American Pastoral".

Bob Knuppel's father, Herman Knuppel, was the great 6'8" center, and Swede's teammate, on Panzer College's dominant, record breaking (44 straight victories, which at the time was an all-time collegiate record) basketball team.  Like Swede, Herman went on to play professional basketball in a league that was a precursor to the NBA.

In his post, Bob said that his father received plenty of acclaim for his basketball ability.  But Herman always talked about Swede Masin, and that he was easily the star of the team. He said his father claimed Swede was by far the best all around athlete he'd ever known, and added that besides being competitive, was also gracious.  He also remarked that it was interesting how well they got along...the German and the Jew.

I love the accolades I've been hearing about my father since I wrote "SWEDE".  They just keep on coming.

Another Contemporary Reaches Out

Yesterday I heard from yet another contemporary of Swede.  He was two years behind my father, and he was very emotional on the phone as he remembered the big guy, despite the fact they were not close friends.  He was particularly saddened by the last chapter, which describes my sadness and frustration of being 3000 miles away as Alzheimer's Disease was taking it's toll on Swede.

Coincidentally, this man related that he lived downstairs from "Iron Mike" Purzycki, South Side High's super athlete and my father's direct competitor whom I highlight in the book.  Iron Mike and Swede would become good friends later in life.

One of the things this gentleman said was that my father's "name was so famous!".  It seems every person I talk to about Swede introduces another superlative to describe him.  And nothing would make him more uncomfortable than to hear people talk about him that way!  

 

Word has gotten out about the book to old friends from as early as grammar school.  Guys I haven't communicated with for years (decades in some cases) have reached out via email, and the comments are pretty identical...they absolutely love the reminders of our childhoods growing up in South Orange, and in particular, our own little universe that was the Montrose Grammar School playground.  The modest school grounds is where we played softball, hardball, touch football, stickball, basketball, flipped cards, and just hung out.  We argued over the Yankees and Giants, Mantle and Mays, and all other things related to sports.   The name-dropping has been hilarious; I'm talking about people we haven't seen, in some cases, since the late 1950's, and yet we remember them as if we were with them last week.  We've all remembered Gene Carcia, a playground star and one of the leaders, who tragically died at age 13 when he took his mother's car and crashed into a tree just a few blocks from the playground he thrived in.

All have said they read the book in one day after receiving it.  I think it's proof of what a great childhood setting we had.  All remember Swede so well, as he often would join us in the playground and "compete" with us.  All heartily agree that "gentle giant" is the perfect description for him.

These communications, which are coming from Maine to Florida, are soooo enjoyable to read.  They are great reminders of how good we had it!

Radio interview broadcast

A taped interview of me discussing "SWEDE" will air tomorrow (Thursday, Dec. 3rd), at 11:00 A.M.  Ed Goldberg conducted the interview for Portland's KBOO radio station (90.7 FM).  The session is approximately 1/2 hour, and I think it will be enjoyable to hear.  At the time I felt Ed did a great job conducting the interview, asking questions that I have not heard before about my father, my family, and the book in general.  

If you would like to listen live from out of the area, it will be streaming live from KBOO's website http://www.kboo.org/.  You may want to test the site beforehand to make sure it works!