Jimmy

THIS YEAR MARKS THE 40TH ANIVERSARY OF THE NOT SO WELL KNOWN “RIDGEWOOD KLOWNS” ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION. THEY SAY THAT NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER OF INVENTION, AND DUE TO THE FACT THAT NOBODY I HUNG OUT WITH, AND PLAYED SPORTS WITH, COULD GET PICKED UP BY A “REGULAR” LEAGUE TEAM, WE INVENTED OUR OWN TEAM. WE ORIGINALLY STARTED OUT BY PLAYING HALF COURT BASKETBALL AT THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 93 COMMUNITY CENTER, ALMOST EVERY NIGHT THEY WERE OPEN. ALL OF US WANTED TO PLAY ON AN ORGANIZED TEAM, BUT THERE WERE MANY OTHERS WHO WERE MUCH BETTER THAN OURSELVES, BUT WE HAD “HEART” ! WE DECIDED TO ENTER A TEAM IN THE LONG ISLAND PRESS LEAGUES FRESHMAN DIVISION, WHERE NO PLAYER COULD BE OLDER THAN FIFTEEN YEARS OF AGE, BUT THERE WAS ONE PROBLEM; WE NEEDED A SPONSOR TO DEFREY THE COSTS OF REFEREE FEES, LEAGUE FEES, AND MOST OF ALL, UNIFORMS, AND EQUIPMENT. ON A COLD AND RAINY NIGHT IN 1962, JIMMY KELLY, LARRY McMAHON, HARRY SKELTON, AND MYSELF, STARTED GOING FROM BUSINESS TO BUSINESS ALONG MYRTLE AVENUE, INQUIRING IF ANYONE WANTED TO SPONSER A TEAM. WE COVERED EVERY BLOCK BETWEEN WYCOFF AVE, AND THE TRESTTLE AT FRESH POND ROAD WITH NO SUCCESS. NOT BEING THE TYPE TO JUST UP AND QUIT, I PUT ON MY NAPOLEAN PERSONNA, INSTALLED MYSELF AS MANAGER, INSTALLED MY BUDDY JOHN CARECCIA AS ASSSITANT MANAGER, AND WE SET OUT TO DO IT OURSELVES! MONEY WAS A LITTLE HARD TO COME BY IN THOSE TEENAGE YEARS, AND COMING UP WITH THE REQUIRED FEES WAS LIKE PULLING TEETH, BUT SOMEHOW WE MANAGED TO GET IT DONE. EVERY PLAYER WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR PROCURRING THEIR OWN UNIFORM, SO WE ALL “ALMOST MATCHED”. EACH PLAYER WAS GIVEN OR PICKED A NUMBER, SOME WORE THEM ON THEIR UNFORMS, SOME DIDN'T. LITTLE DID I KNOW HOW MUCH LEGWORK I WOULD HAVE TO DO TO PUT THIS ALL IN MOTION. IN ADDITION TO FINDING A SUITABLE HOME COURT, I HAD TO TREK OUT TO JAMAICA BY BUS TO ATTEND LEAGUE MEETINGS, OVERSEEN BY JACK LEE, SPORTWRITER MIKE LEE’S SON. THERE WE WERE GIVEN COPIES OF THE RULES AND REGULATIONS, PAID THE REQUIRED FEES, AND FINALLY GIVEN A SEASON SCHEDULE. WE FOUND THAT WE WOULD BE PLAYING TEAMS THAT WERE PRIMARILY FROM THE JAMAICA AREA, SUCH AS THE “SUAVE CLEANERS”. WE WERE GOING TO BE LIVING ON PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION. OUR FIRST GAME WAS ON A TUESDAY NIGHT IN DECEMBER OF 1962, IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL GYMNAISIUM LOCATED SOMEWHERE ON LINDEN BLVD IN SAINT ALBANS, QUEENS. WE GOT LUCKY THAT NIGHT,AS MY DAD, AND KENNY SOMBROTTA’S DAD PROVIDED TRANSPORTATION. WHEN WE GOT TO THE SCHOOL WE FOUND OUT THAT NOT EVERYONE PLAYED BY THE RULES. IF THE CUTOFF AGE WAS 15, THEN WHY WERE MOST OF THE OTHER TEAMS PLAYERS DRIVING UP IN CARS, WITH THEIR WIVES AND KIDS IN TOW ? WE HAD BEEN TAKEN, ROYALLY ! NEEDLESS TO SAY, OUR SEASON AMOUNTED TO ONE BITTER DEFEAT AFTER THEN OTHER. THE ONLY GAME WE CAME CLOSE TO WINNING WAS A GAME AGAINST A TEAM CALLED ELECTCHESTER A.A. WE WERE UP BY 8 POINTS AT HALFTIME, THEN A LATE ARRIVING PLAYER FOR THAT TEAM NAMED “’GREENSPAN” SHOWED UP FOR THE SECOND HALF, AND OUR 8 POINT LEAD TURNED INTO A MEMORY. WE NEVER DID GET TO FINISH THE SEASON. AT THE FOLLOWING WEEKS FIASCO, AT A PUBLIC SCHOOL ON UNION HALL ST IN SOUTH JAMAICA, ONE OF OUR PLAYERS, SCOTT ARMSTRONG, WENT UP AN A REBOUND, AND WENT THROUGH A WIRE RE-ENFORCED WINDOW AT THE END OF THE COURT, AND HAD TO BE RUSHED TO MARY IMMACULATE HOSPITAL. IT WAS THEN, AND ONLY THEN THAT WE FOUND OUT THAT WE WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE SOME KIND OF INSURANCE. WE SHOWED UP FOR THE FOLLOWING WEEKS GAME ANYWAY, AND THEN FOUND OUT THAT OUR SCHEDULE HAD BEEN MISPRINTED, AND WE WERE THERE ON THE WRONG NIGHT. THAT WAS THE LAST TIME WE EVER PLAYED IN THE “PRESS LEAGUE”. OUR BASKETBALL PLAYING WENT BACK TO THE COMMUNITY CENTER AT JHS 93, AND IN WARMER WEATHER, FARMERS OVAL. SOME OF THE GUYS THAT PLAYED ON THOSE ILL-FATED TEAMS WERE, MYSELF, JOHN CARECCIA, LARRY McMAHON, JIMMY KELLY, KENNY SOMBROTTA, BOBBY GARDNER, ERWIN FINK, CARL CRAMER, A KID WE CALLED “BOSCO”, SCOTT ARMSTRONG, PAT ZITO, HARRY SKELTON, RAY McCARTHY, BOB LORRE, FRANK PEPITONE, CHARLIE BONO, MIKE MEHLING, PAUL BECKER, HOWIE REECK, BOB CERNI, JIMMY & JOHN WALSH, JIMMY MAUDSLEY, BRUCE McDONALD, RAY KOBER, AND MANY OTHERS WHOSE NAMES ESCAPE ME. THE RIDGEWOOD KLOWNS SOFTBALL TEAM RAN INTO THE SAME DIFFICULTIES. NOBODY WANTED TO SPONSER US. SO WE WENT OUT AND BOUGHT OUR OWN SHIRTS, AND PLAYED AGAINST WHOMEVER WE COULD WHENEVER WE COULD ! WE COULDN’T EVEN AFFORD TO HAVE LETTERING PUT ON THE SHIRTS, AND HAD TO BE SATISFIED WITH ONE LARGE “K” OVER THE LEFT BREAST OF THE SHIRT. OUR STATS WERE NOT AS IMPRESSIVE AS WE WOULD HAVE LIKED THEM TO BE, BUT WE PLAYED HARD, AND WE HAD LOTS OF FUN DOING IT. IN THE SUMMER OF 1993, WE MANAGED TO GET A FRIDAY NIGHT GAME UNDER THE LIGHTS AT FARMERS OVAL WITH A TEAM OF MIDDLE-AGED GENTLEMEN WHO CALLED THEMSELVES THE “HOT POPS”. EVEN THOUGH WE DIDN’T WIN THAT GAME, WE PUT UP THE GOOD FIGHT, AND THE FIANL SCORE WAS CLOSE !

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