Memories of Medfield High School Football

Memories of Medfield High School Football

by Gerry Finn, Class of 1970

I want to mention a couple things about our undefeated and twice tied 1969 football team and I still today eagerly grab the sports section each week to see how the Warriors are faring and am happy to see we are back winning, where we belong. Playing football for Medfield High School was the most important experience of my life, other than marriage and kids of course. I remember the fans always cheering us on, the coaches barking out orders, the smell of wet grass and mud, the cheerleaders jumping around and the band at half time. I remember being in the most pain ever during the dreaded “double sessions ” where you learned a little something about yourself, your teammate on either side of you and what it means to defy the odds and have a little town, like Medfield “CRUSH” the bigger towns with twice as many kids who for some reason always looked bigger. I remember the 1969 undefeated season where I was privileged to be named co-captain with the fastest best runner I’ve ever known, Gary Vollmuth.

I remember a team that switched a linebacker to running back and watched him bull and dance his way to 19 rushing touchdowns “the wizard of grid,” Dave Blake, who’s dad was the superintendent of schools and the people of Medfield honored by naming a school after the good works he performed for the town. I remember that we only threw about 15 passes the entire year even though we had a great quarterback in Kevin Minnaert.  Hel, we did not believe in the pass we just got down, grabbed a fist full of dirt, and occasionally the face of our opponent and just kept going forward– it didn’t matter we believed in our selves and our coach, “Basic Bill” Young . He was an excellent coach, nothing fancy just—out push them to the goal line then stop—then push them away from the goal line. For you see in those days we all played both ways—hell, we only had 34 kids on the entire team.

The most memorable game for me was the battle of the two undefeated 5-0 teams, Medfield against Holliston. It was the night before the game and the entire team gathered at Steve Girouard’s house (to keep out of trouble) and watched ZULU. A movie about an out numbered British force in Africa of 400 men against 4,000 Zulu’s. The Globe picked Holliston by 10 points and pegged it as the class D game of the week. After our warm ups the merry band of 34 Medfield Kids were on the field when four busloads of Holliston football players pulled up on top of the hill. They had dressed their entire football team (122 kids) down to the freshman. They ran down onto our field for what seemed like forever and then ran the perimeter of the field to blow our minds. That was their first mistake– as we stood there in awe someone mentioned that they looked like a bunch of Zulu’s and we commenced laughing at them. It broke the tension and when they warmed up they pushed us down to our own 20 yard line due to their shear numbers. Now that got us mad and fights almost broke out and the game had not even started yet. Boy this was going to be soooo much fun. After the coin toss we got it on. What a battle and the “wizard of grid” came calling early and often. I think we may have even thrown a pass for a 2-point conversion just to keep them off balance. I met with Tom Caito, the head coach of Holliston and later of B.C., years later and he told me that his plan in dressing all those numbers was to blow our minds. Guess we forgot our minds that day as we beat them 35 to 18 or something like that.

I would like to leave you with a couple of thoughts regarding Medfield Football—it was not just another sport offered at Medfield it was “THE Sport.” Pep rallies on Friday nights with the whole town turning out; bus rides around and thru town in a parade after away games with fans cheering at Lords and offering us soda as the busses went thru. I remember the last game, by this time both Gary and I were out due to injuries (hamstring for Gary and me facing a knee operation) but “the TEAM” played on and we won the Tri Valley title again and the town hoisted us up on fire engines and we took a victory tour thru town. The difference for me was the fans but most importantly the parents. My mom and dad were at every game as was every other kid’s parents. That meant a lot to me and as I played on in prep school and then college, I can still see in my mind my parents and those of my teammates cheering us on. I hope they are still cheering on the kids today because it is the most important thing you can contribute to your son or in my case daughter. If Medfield has that commitment from the parents they will be successful.

One last thing I was once asked who was the toughest person I ever knew in football during high school. With out even stopping to think of all the great players, it was your friend and mine Kevin Burr. Kevin never got the headlines and in fact really did not play much. But he had the task of running the opponents plays in practice to help us learn their tendencies and help his team win. I remember time and again picking him up off the ground with him looking out his ear hole in his helmet. He used to say to me “nice hit” and struggle back to the huddle. He never complained, he just worked to help the team. Boy do I admire him. Also I want to mention another person I really admired, Coach Lee DeSorgher, Medfield’s “Mr. Hockey,” who meant so much too so many of us and who helped to keep most of us straight and out of trouble, as well as winning a lot of hockey games for Medfield High School.