EAST FAREWELL
NEWS
Thursday, October
4, 1956 Vol. C678
LOCAL
NEWS
NAGY PERFECT TO END TRAVELERS
SEASON
East Farewell - On
September 29, 1956, at the peak of his baseball career, Joe Nagy took the mound
against fellow lefty Bob Murray of the Albany Senators, and a pitcher’s duel
for the ages ensued. Nagy has had an excellent season racking up a 20-5 season,
but this game, a perfect game, will standout not only in the record books but
in town history. Nagy faced the minimum 27 batters and threw his final fastball
as fast as his first. The Travelers came
to finish of the season on a strong note with no chance of moving up in the
standings but with a loss possibly moving down into third place. The win
cemented their second place finish but the last game was a splendid history
making gem that will be remembered for a long time. There has been only one
other perfect game pitched in the league and that was back in 1930, long before
any current player was even in the league. Nagy has pitched a no hitter back in
1952 but this was his masterpiece. The Senators were held scoreless, while the
Travelers scored just one run, in the fifth inning. Traveler Dale Dunham walked
to lead off the inning, and then advanced to second on a sacrifice. He stole
third and then scored when the Senators catcher fumbled one of Murray’s throws.
As it turned out, one run was all Nagy needed to bring home the victory. His
fastballs, which seemed to rise as they reached the plate, whizzed past
batters. His curveball was typically devastating, buckling batters at the
knees, almost always crossing the plate as a strike after following its
parabolic path. As he closed in on a perfect game, Nagy faced the middle of the
Senators order. He struck out Chuck Thompson and Bob Franks in the eighth
before striking out the side in the ninth to secure his first perfect game.
The only unfortunate side of this
stellar accomplishment would be that the attendance for the game was not the
usual sellout crowd that the Travelers have enjoyed almost all season. Due to
the conflicting schedule with the opening of the Regional High School football
Cougars the attendance was only about half of the usual crowd, too bad for the
football crowd. This game will go down in Travelers history and in a few years
everyone in town will probably say they were in the stands.
Joe Nagy delivers
SPORTS
COUGARS START SEASON WITH
TOUGH WIN
East Farewell – The Cougars opened their season against their
arch rival Slate Mountain on Saturday with a win, 27-24. The Cougars had a
couple of new faces this year, most prominently at QB, Bill Dolan, who played
behind Jimmy O’Conner for two years and took the reins this year. The rest of
the backfield is intact, just a year older and a year more experienced. Reilly,
Wilson and Brown are all back and they came to the game ready to play. The only
other new face was kicker, Dave Galloway, a freshman trying to fill the huge
shoes of the legendary Charlie Cox who holds every record for kicking in the
school’s history.
The sold out crowd was evenly divided between Miners and the
Cougars and the noise was constant. Whenever either team approached the line a
roar erupted from the stands and several times both quarterbacks had to back
away from the line and regroup before calling the play. The Cougars tried to go
to a quick call offense in the third quarter but abandoned that after two quick
illegal procedure calls cost them ten precious yards. The Miners came out in the first half showing
an aggressive run oriented offense that focused on fullback, James Docket, who
carried the ball fifteen times and scored two touchdowns. Miners quarterback,
Morton Quigley, only took to the air six times in the first half but was able
to complete four, all to end Frank Luccassi. In a complete contrast the Cougars
came out throwing the ball and focusing on senior wide receiver Mitch “Merc”
McMaster who was running long routes and making his trademark catches on the
edge of the field. The Cougars were able to score two also but freshman kicker
David Galloway missed his second extra point attempt. The first half ended,
Miners 14 Cougars 13.
The second half
started with a bang as Cougars returned the kickoff back to the Miner’s 23. Junior
running back Doyle Richardson ran 100 yards back and forth across the field,
evading Miners, back tracking and sprinting forward finally getting corralled
by three Miners and brought down at the 23. That set up another Dolan to
McMaster connection for a quick score with a straight down and out with
McMaster leaping for the completion in the end zone. The Cougars set up for an
extra point but pulled a trick play and centered the ball to speedy halfback,
Joey Brown, who scampered in for the two points.
The Miners came
right back and marched down the field on the back of Docket with a time
consuming drive that ended with a Docket center plunge for a score. The drive
ate up almost seven minutes and most of the third quarter. With the score tied
and the fourth quarter beginning Dolan took to the air again but this time
focused on sophomore tight end, Richie McGee. Dolan worked the middle of the
field while the Miners tried to double team McMaster. McGee is new to the team
this year but has been quickly accepted and put on the first team thanks to his
5’11” frame and 165 lbs weight not to mention his magnetic hands. He was able
to haul in five quick passes and move the team down the field to the 18. Dolan
then changed things up and sent “Tank” Brown through the middle twice ending
with a five yard run in for the score. Young kicker, Galloway, kicked his
second extra point starting a new streak. He has a long way to go to break the
one the former kicker Charlie Cox set with a total of 68 extra points in a row
over three years. The Miners were not going to go down easyily though. After a
strong Galloway kickoff the Miners marched down the field and were in position
to score again but senior defensive end, Pat McKean stopped Docket in the
backfield that forced the Miners to try a 30 yard field goal. Miner’s kicker,
Al Cappelli, booted a beautiful kick, straight and true. The Miners hoped they
would be able to get the ball back for another try but the Cougars stayed on
the ground and ate up the remaining clock with runs by Brown, Wilson and
Reilly.
The fans did
not learn of Nagy’s perfect game until after the football game ended and there
were some mixed emotions. “Wow, I am sorry I missed that, it was historic. Oh
well, I had to see the Cougars on opening day, it’s what I do,” said sports fan
Tim Harrison after he got the news.
The stay at
home next week and face the Riverview Wildcats on Saturday. They will meet on
the High School field beginning at 1:45.
NATIONAL NEWS
IKE & ADLAI CAMPAIGN – COUSTEAU WARNS
YOUNGSTERS – PRINCE CHARLES HAIR BIG NEWS IN BRITAIN
President Eisenhower is hailed by big
crowds in Pittsburgh. In Seattle, Adlai Stevenson tells his audience that the
“undue delegation of responsibility and authority by the President” is
hazardous” in this Atomic Age and “diminishes the office of the presidency.”
Vice President Nixon says that insofar
as his campaign schedule permits, he intends to “nail personally on the spot
every distortion and every misrepresentation of the Eisenhower record” by Adlai
Stevenson.
President Eisenhower defines the central issue of the 1956 campaign as “the management of America’s affairs at home.” He said foreign policy has not become a basic issue. In lighter news October 14 - the President’s birthday is “National Ike Day” and will be climaxed by a TV show. He’ll be 66.
Capt Jacques-Yves Cousteau, the French undersea explorer who helped set off a world-wide wave of enthusiasm for skin diving by co-inventing the aqua lung and by writing the new film “The Silent World,” warns youngsters against buying diving gear and going under water without instruction. “Silent World” is a film covering the undersea explorations of Cousteau’s oceanographic expeditions aboard the converted French minesweeper Calypso. It won the highest honor at the 1956 Cannes film festival.
British papers are having a field day
with Prince Charles’ haircut, which now includes bangs. The Daily Express
remarked “the Prince’s hair was even closer to his eyebrows than usual.” The
young Prince, who is (7), gets his hair cut from a barber named Crisp, who
calls every two weeks at Buckingham Palace. Price is four shillings sixpence
(62 cents).
Many, many thanks to www.mrpopculture.com for
contributing to this section of the East Farewell News.
